Mid-State Fair Part II

|| ANIMAL FARM ||

Apparently here in the outback, they have competitions for raising animals, sheep, goats, cows, rabbits, you name it, they’ve got it. You know that quintessential picture of a boy and his loyal dog that never leaves it’s side? Well replace that with a cow or goat and you’ve got one of the main Mid-State Fair attractions. Like I’m talking these kids are so attached to these animals, they’re lying around in the sawdust, leaning against them, or naming them. (P.s. thanks Uncle Dolan for cooking my goat for dinner instead of bringing it home for me to have as a pet, so jealous of these kids).

The sheep were hilarious because they had all be sheared for the contest, so they had different blankets around them. Top two designs? Putting a sheep in a zebra/cheetah cover and a camo one. I think their owners were a little confused about the nature of their pet, but if I had my own sheep, I would definitely put a wolf blanket (with the wolf face hoodie part) over it, I mean come on, the opportunity is just too good of one to pass up, who wouldn’t laugh at a sheep in wolf clothing?

Then we went to the pig competition and those suckers are HUGE. They get more free reign than the horses (pun intended) and therefore are walking around from station to station with their owners, while you’re walking the same aisles observing other ones. What does this exactly mean for me? Well one second I’m taking a nice picture next to Wilbur on steroids, and the next second another pig is bounding down the same aisle after me about to take a nice chomp out of me. Umm excuse me pig, but I don’t even eat you! You think they would be kind enough to extend the same courtesy and if anything, they should eat Kelly first, she loves pulled  pork sandwiches. But I wasn’t one to argue with 125 pound pig, so I just jumped behind Kelly, and hope they had a nice luau featuring it for dinner.

We saw the tail end of a cow competition (boy am I on a roll!) and I dare you to keep a straight face when they talk about the qualifications of one heifer over another…they all looked about the same to me, so thank goodness I’m not buying any cows soon, because I am sure underqualified for the part. I really am curious as to what their standards are, because everything, and I truly me everything, had a judge and ranking, even all the identical looking vampire bunnies had ribbons.

I’m saving the best part of the farm for the last because it was all the horses! We missed the roping and the barrel racing, but some of the cowboys were running tomorrow’s paces and these animals were AMAZING. I mean it. They went from full on gallops to short stops in 2 seconds and don’t even get me started on their tight circles. I don’t know who was better, the rider or the horse, if I had to guess though, it was definitely the two working together. If your horses back legs completely drop to make that short stop and you aren’t holding one, you’re going to go flying over the rink rails. Maybe next year I’ll make it out for the rodeo, who knows, maybe I’ll star in it myself hehe.  

|| RUNAWAY JUNE ||

You know your best friend loves you when you drag her out to the straight up country concert (before John Mayer) and make here sit there for an hour with you. Thanks Kelly! I was so close to line dancing, too bad I’ve forgotten most of the steps since my CMC days, otherwise I would have taken Kelly’s embarrassment of me to a whole new level. She thought it was already bad enough that I knew every word of most of the songs they covered and was shamelessly singing along. The band was pretty good, and one of the three girls was John Wayne’s granddaughter. She happened to co-write one of my favorite Eric Paslay songs, which I had no clue about! If you’re ever looking for a good country fix, just listen to “She Don’t Love You.”

Kelly and Carolyn ft. the sleeping cowboy child and family in the back

|| JOHN MAYER ||

O.M.G. I’m going to try my best to explain this concert with words, but I am so enamored with this artist it isn’t even funny. Before, I enjoyed his songs, and I really liked his latest album, but that was about it. Now, major fangirl crush, not as bad as Pablo, because we all know that he is my one true love, but it is definitely up there. John Mayer has a quirky music nerd personality which most people don’t really get, I mean who tries to crack grammar jokes or use words like “superfluous” on stage? Slight shout out to my mom for being such an English stickler, it came in handy this concert. He is totally obsessed with his guitars, and I swear he brought a new one out for every song. Also his band has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen in concert because John Mayer will randomly start free-styling in the middle of a song, and even with my musical ear I did not notice a hitch in the beat from the keyboard, drummer, or guitarists on stage. That says something for sure, because it is not easy to keep up when your lead is going off the sheet music, I have a feeling he does it pretty often though. To his credit, John Mayer is an amazing guitarist, and I am pretty picky about who I listen to, thanks to my mom practically raising me on 80s rock. I mean when you’ve listened to the best 12 string guitarists of all time – ie Tom Petty or Eric Clapton – it’s tough to top that, but I’ve got to say that John Mayer did an amazing job and you could tell that this was his passion and he was living it. Kelly and I stood the whole concert and sang the night away….

What an amazing day, can’t wait for more adventures!!!!

Much Love,

Carolyn

Mid-state Fair Part I

Howdy y'all,

Guess where I am? At the mid-state fair! And omg, nothing Kelly could have told me would have prepared me for this experience. I mean we are talking real cowboys and farmers up in here, not that pseudo LA stuff they host down there. Culture shock in my own state? Yup...well done universe, you got me on this one haha. 

||ROAD TRIP||

On the drive up we took a random highway because it said it would be faster and ended up in this national park with a Chumash reservation right across the way! It was so cool to drive through these hulking trees, and thanks to Downey's emergency potty break, we actually found this spectacular lake and viewpoint! It was no Maui green, but it was dazzling enough to make me reconsider my lack of desire to camp.

We might have been a little worse for wear, but we made it here safe and sound!

||DOGGY DAYCARE||

You know you are really out in the woods when your doggy daycare drop off, also includes a goat drop off too...just kidding! But actually the daycare center was a farm, so they did have goats right across from the dogs. Also, there was a Great Dane literally as tall as me, I refused to get out of the car, that sucker was barking and the fence was only 6 feet, you can't tell me that that would have kept the beast inside. I have no clue who owns that dog, but I'd bet my money they own a Ford, Chevy, or maybe even a crane to transport that dog around.

(yes I brought my cowboy boots to this affair hehe) 

Goat Daycare lol

|| PARADE||

Well, if you've never been to a mid-state parade, here's the layout folks. You've got a tractor as the opener, a bunch of cheerleaders following, superman on a unicycle juggling, and a Clydesdale drawn beer wagon. Yup, it just got weirder and weirder. Although I have to say, I was pretty impressed by the juggling superman's on unicycle. Being a circus freak myself, I always love to support the arts, that is until the superman comes over and delivers possibly the worst line ever referring to my best friend's father: "Excuse me ladies, is this man bothering you?"....ummm what is the right answer to that question sir? "He's my dad," "He just drove an hour to bring us to this fair," "He's with us, even though I don't look like him"....yeah...I just went with a silent smile and just laughed it off. Still thought it was funny, talk about a foot in mouth situation. But that wasn't the best part of course, it was the HORSES!!! Ugh, I wanted to take one home so badly, they were just so pretty. You are very lucky mom and dad that I am not an early riser, or else that 8 am show horse exhibition most definitely would have included a large credit card purchase, and my own two thousand pound friend to road trip home with. Who cares about logistics? I'm sure we would have figured it out later hehe. 

I'm tempted to start driving this around LA, it would be the height of fashion

Circus Superman (pre-faux pas)

HORSES

If you know me, then you know this smile is the one that automatically follows any equine interaction or spotting, I just can't help that I love them so much

Last Day in Hawaii

Hello Everyone,

I'm am back home safe and sound!

Here's the update on yesterday :

Last day in Hawaii…but we had an amazingly packed day. Of course the boys didn’t pack their bags the night before and they stayed up ridiculous hours, so it made for quite the scramble at 9 am. But we made it, and then proceeded to spend the next 3 hours in the car driving the volcano Mt. Haleakala.

It’s an inactive volcano that stands at about 11,000 ft (hello flashbacks to Cusco) and ironically everyone but me felt a little altitude sickness. Too bad they don’t sell mate de coca here in the U.S., mom and matt could have definitely used it. The crater was cool, but it was so foggy and windy, it was all I could do to stand out there for two seconds just to take a picture! It kind of looks like a Martian land up there, there is very little vegetation and then there are these silver metallic plants everywhere. It’s so hard to believe they are real since they have such an odd coloring that doesn’t seem inclined to be natural, but they are. I was too cold so I mostly sat in the car, while Matt and Nick walked around the crater. Plus I needed a break….there’s only so much time I can spend with two very crabby boys.

True feelings about this cold windy weather

Only smiling for you guys

The very the top of Mt. Haleakala!!

Then we ate lunch at…wait for it…Beach Bums Grill again! And before you ask, no I didn’t suggest it, Matt did. For the amount of complaining they did the first time I chose it I thought there was no way they’d make their way back to that country dive…but sooner or later the country bug bites everyone I guess lol.

The Kealia Pond Natural Wildlife Reserve was just around the corner so we explored them. OMG it was amazing, the birds just do their own thing around you, and you can get pretty close to them if you are quiet and still. It also has a sea turtle nesting grounds on the beach it parallels but it was not the right season (guess I’ll just have to come back again haha). I spent my time just walking the beach and enjoying my own company. It was so peaceful and the perfect way to end this vacation.

Isn't it so beautiful? The Hawaiians have the concept of Ha'aha'a (to be  humble), which is the idea of being part of nature instead of separate from it. You could really see the time and care that scientists and locals alike have put into this wetland to help save the native wildlife. Even random people strolling along the adjoining beach were collecting rogue trash. And it's true, I really believe we need to work harder to be more sustainable and preserve the nature that we have before it is gone. we all could use a little more ha'aha'a in our lives.

Anyways, that's it for Hawaii! I'm officially crazy and booked back to back trips so now I'm off to Pismo. Stay tuned for more adventure!

Much love,

Carolyn

Surfers, Sailors, and the Sea...Oohrah!!

Thursday:

I survived!!

Just barely, hence why I am a day behind blogging, so I just thought I'd wrap the past two days into one. Okay let's start with yesterday...I was on a boat

A three story boat named Calypso and it was pretty cool! The boys were too good for me, so they ran off and this actually worked in my favor, as they were infamous within two seconds on the boat for their wild comments and shenanigans thanks to their portable speaker. Unfortunately they did boat checks by family, so I had to fess up when the captain asked if my entire party was on board...ugh. 

We sailed out to Molokini Crater, which is a natural preserve off of Maui. The waters were crystal clear, and we had a good amount of sun, so the visibility was amazing. I saw a 15 foot eel and a gazillion different types of fish. No sharks though! Thank goodness...still don't know how I feel about them, no matter how misunderstood they are. I also jumped off the second story of the boat! It was pretty cool, I wanted to show off my semester of CMC diving skills, but the captain was watching and there were no dives...boo. It might have been for the best though, since my lovely diving buddies used to call me the flying shrimp (apparently I could never figure out how to enter the water perfectly straight whoopsies). The boys were all over this jump. How did they get around the no diving, flipping, or running rule? By doing a belly flop, face first, into the water....twice. I don't think I will ever understand them. However, if you want to instantly become famous among 150 people in less than 60 seconds? Belly flop off the second story of a huge boat.

My favorite part of the day was sailing out to TURTLE COVE. Ugh, I love love love sea turtles and was super fortunate this trip to see four of them! One swam right under me and was like two inches away. Thank you Finding Nemo for teaching me that turtles ride the undercurrent. My trick? Find where the cold water shoots through, then let the sea carry you in that direction...if you are just patient and float, BAM, sea turtles. The entire hour all I could think about was "you so totally rock dude!" (if you don't get the reference, go watch Finding Nemo now, it'll be worth it). After that it was lunch out at sea, and then a pretty casual evening/dinner in Lahina, since we were so tired from snorkeling and spending all day out in the sun and the brutal 5 am wake-up call. 

"Work Like a Captain, Party like a Pirate" thanks CMC for this perfect sailing shirt

Look at this ocean guys!!

When you ask the boys to smile

Boys didn't want to take another picture of me, so I had to selfie it

Post boat survival pic

I think the hotel staff was ready to hire me after I got all of us fresh towels and carried them to our room like this! You can thank my Bangladeshi heritage???

Friday:

Another early wake up call, but this time I could not have been more excited as I went SURFING, for the first time ever. Everyone knows how I am all about trying new things...well I may have found my next big "thing" for the time being. We had an amazing instructor, Lawrence, who showed us the ropes on the beach for a quick bit and then was like okay lets do this. We were surfing near a harbor, so the waves were nice and easy beginner ones. The boards were huge, and basically since we were an odd number, Matt and Nick tag teamed two boards on either side of them, while Lawrence and I balanced our 8 ft boards on our heads! See? Who knew last nights towel training would come in handy? The universe was preparing me for this moment...or more likely Lawrence took one look at me and thought I couldn't carry the board by myself using my arms, whatever I'm not about to complain, I looked like a pro. 

We then went out to sea, Nick totally nailed his first wave, Matthew ate it, and I feel somewhere in between. But by the end I rode the entire wave to shore, didn't fall off, and even steered around other riders. Now I'm not going to participate in any US Surfer Open, but I think I held my own pretty well. My arms are SO SORE though. And I definitely did not see that one coming since silks has given me extensive arm strength, looks like there is always something else to improve on. I had a blast and now have even more respect for the surfer dudes who lived next door to me my senior year. 

Since it took me a little longer to finally paddle back to shore (and I thought Kayla arms was the worst workout I've done or Anthony's 21 salute), Lawrence took pity on me and decided to carry both our boards back. The boys, being who they are, just casually started walking back to the shop instead of waiting for us, so Lawrence started jogging after them when we returned our boards. Now Lawrence is pretty buff, since his job is literally to be out at sea all day surfing, but at the same time he's short, and more on the lean side rather than bulky. Me, being me, challenges him to a race back to the shop, and I swear, I totally thought I had this race, I knew it was going to be close, but I had the advantage of shoes and longer legs. So I went for it, and that's exactly how I got my ass whooped by a Marine who still can run a 5:18 mile. Well no one told me that! I even tried cheating and cutting a corner and he STILL had me by a few blocks. When he fessed up and told me that he was a Marine, I laughed and realized that this would happen to me. But it was all in good fun, and I am now going to start running so that next time I accidentally challenge a Marine, I will be ready. (Anyways, huge shout out to Maui Wave Riders, if you're in the area, definitely recommend you go.)

After surfing, the family and I met up with my mentor for lunch and then spent the rest of the evening on the south side of the island. We actually tried to go snorkeling again today in the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Reserve, which is supposedly even better than the ones we did yesterday, but the universe had other plans. As soon as we made it there, it started pouring rain and the waves were pretty rough around the rocks. So we started driving back up north until we found the Kamaole State Beach. It was a beautiful park and beach. Mom and I sat on the benches and enjoyed the view while Matt and Nick explored, and obviously I took a photo :)

Then the boys wanted to hike around and be on their own, so mom and I left for bigger and better things, aka ice cream sandwiches. But these weren't just any ice cream sandwiches, these were kona coffee chocolate chip cookies with cappuccino chip gelato in the middle. And yes, they were every bit as heavenly as they sound, can't you tell by the look on my face? haha

Post sugar induced coma, mom and I had a long ride back in class Maui traffic, but we enjoyed the view, and I made it back to our hotel just in time to sit outside our beach and enjoy the sunset!

 Ugh okay now I have to stop procrastinating my packing by blogging. Tomorrow we adventure to a volcano before hopping on our flight back home.

Love you all and see ya soon!

Aisha 

Mommy and Me

Aloha Ohana!

Today we sent the boys off on a fishing boat (thank you Big G for that blessing in disguise) so mom and I got to spend some quality time together. Net net realization? My mom is the worst stereotypical girl's day person (she apparently doesn't like mani/pedis, spas, and massages,  I know I was so confused myself), but the she is the best road trip adventurer. We took the car, blasted some good 80's rock, and just drove up the north end of the island, stopping wherever we wanted and following random roads to see where they would lead to. My favorite was a RANCH up in the middle of nowhere! I will definitely need to add horseback riding in Maui on my bucket list, since we don't have space for this trip.

We also scoped out some really nice mansions to eventually buy for when she finally retires (if ever lol). I found a burial site that had bodies from the 1800s (unfortunately we couldn't go in, apparently they don't want tourists there, which I had to respect). Mom and I also illegally walked around a golf course because we got lost on a trail that took us to the most gorgeous beach. Boo for the fact it was a red flag day, I pretty much stayed out of the water today , but it killed me because I was ready to hop in clothes and all.

The best part of the day was getting shaved ice at our favorite place in Lanai! Mom and I had a major sugar crash later on, but it was sooooo worth every bite. She and I had a totally slow day (that is until we picked up the boys at 4:30 lol) and I loved it! (especially when my phone died, and hers lost service, so there were no business calls hehe, sorry office but I'm stealing my mom back)

Tomorrow's the boat ride out for snorkeling, wish me luck because it's just me and the boys (eekkk!). If all else fails I'm activating my emergency plan of "boys? what boys? I've never seen those two in my life and I'm DEFINITELY not related to one of them" hehe, sorry mom and dad.

Goodnight everybody!

Much love,
Aisha

Burial ground behind the hedge (I peeked over but it was nothing but grass, no tombstones either)

Golf course trespassing, I figured so long as we are already doing something bad may as well take the time to get some good pics!

Not Pictured: two seconds later a golf course maintenance guy coming for us, don't worry we ran back to the lot before he could scold us hehe

Reppin' my fave sorority (this one's for you Rita & Kelly)

Thank you mom for never complaining about the eight million pictures I make you take

Literally no clue where we are, but it looked pretty! Perks of wandering and getting lost 

Being an adult means I make good decisions, like dessert for lunch

Look of true love between me and my lava flow shaved ice

The answer is no, I could not wait one more second for another picture before eating mine

The only way mom got this pic was because I had to stop from a brain freeze. See that smile? No one smiles with a brain freeze unless their dessert is just that good

 Isn't this the best mural ever!!! Just waiting to become the next "it" place