Surfing on the Sand

So we went to the beach this evening for a nice stroll so we could enjoy the lovely weather. Along the way we saw a pod of dolphins, some driftwood we pretended was a sea monster, and took time out to pose like surfers. Love you all. We had a great day-with tee ball and just relaxing. I will put some pics up on the blobs soon of our allstars. Until next time. Alofa tele.

Dinner with my dear dear wife @ Macaroni Grill

This is was what I ordered when we went out after going to a wedding yesterday. Very yummy! It looks like a picture out of a food magazine.

Family Day Projects

Welcome to Family Day Projects. The show where we follow families that attempt to do something fun and or need to get something done. First up, our do-it-yourselfer decided to make a "run" for his dog. Without a fenced in backyard, Cisco, the family's fun-loving pooch cannot run freely. So first, we take some coated wire and make some loops. We then attatch both ends to two trees in the backyard. Lastly, we take three D-rings and attatch Cisco's leash and voila!

Second project of the day was to attempt to build a hot air balloon. Supplies: 23 gauge wire, wire cutters/pliers combo, tea light candle, a third of a soda can, and tissue paper.Form the wire into a frame that you can hang the tissue paper.Here is a picture of our supplies (minus the tissue paper and candle). Poor design (namely the distance between the can/basket and the balloon) and rushed workmanship equals:

So, the maiden voyage of the Airship Tupua was a little less than stellar. Maybe next time. Talk to you all later.

Random Pictures

Oh! Hello, there. I did not see you standing there. Please come on in. We begin our tour with this suit of armor from the blah-blah-blah period. As you can see, it still has the tags on it. Obviously the knight never saw battle. We can tell by the markings on the helmet that this helmet belonged to the legendary Hawk Man. Here is another look at the suit of armor. Spiffy.

Here are museum's Artists in Residence - Master Painters Jarod and Dianna showcasing their latest master pieces: piggy banks.

Here is a wax sculpture entitled "A Dog and His Boy."

This is an artist interpretation of super hero Dianna saving the city from this massive wreath that came loose and threatened to crush innocent passersby. Dianna swooped down just as the wreath was about a foot from the head of the tallest pedestrian and lifted it to safety.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit to our little museum. Until next time. Be well.

Disney Photographs

Hello, everyone! On behalf of Tupua Vacations, Ltd., we would like to thank you all for your patience as we were updating our uploading software (and by "updating" I mean, I lost my jump drive and now I found it). So prepare for some serious sensory overload, people. Buckle up and hold on tight.
Our first stop is Mexico to visit with our very favorite mariachi band "Mariachi Cobre." We first took a picture with the children closer to us, but being the classy group that they are, the mariachis told us to take another picture with the children right in the front of them as they performed. They are awesome!!

While we were at Disney, we decided to celebrate Jarod James' birthday. So we went to Publix and got him a cake and celebrate we did. What a happy soon-to-be four year old! Cutie!!

Here are the children taking in a breathtaking view of Cinderella's Castle at Disney's Magic Kingdom.

Here the beautiful Tupua women posing after a stirring performance by the "Voices of Liberty" (the acapella group that performs at EPCOT's American pavilion).

Oh to have the energy of the young! Here the children are running to the bus stop so we could head back to the resort for a break. I love action photos!

Calling all Space Rangers! To infinity and beyond! I think that says it all.

Pausing to send you all greetings from Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. We love you all!

Here is a family photo at the Animal Kingdom. Momma and Jarod James in line for something that I do not remember.

Hamming it up at EPCOT. Simply adorable!

Another opportunity for a family photo at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Still not there yet. Maybe next time.

Three Polynesians at Disney's Polynesian Resort.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a traditional Nativity Scene at Hollywood Studios.

Here I am with the munchkins at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. Ready to start our adventure. Res, see my jacket?

Well, that is all for now. Tune in next time at the same bat time and same bat station. Love you all very much.

Day Two: Animal Kingdom

We awoke this morning to start our day that will be spent in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park! We had a delicious breakfast of bagels and muffins before we set out for a wild day. The Animal Kingdom rank's as our family's second favorite theme park here at Disney World because of the memories. It is another special day due to the fact that Dianna is tall enough to ride one of Disney's headliners - Expedition Everest. On this ride, you board a train that will take you on a jouney up Mount Everest and perhaps to a "chance" encounter with the legendary Yeti. Well, anyhoo . . . Dianna rode it with Barbie and at first did not like it. There is a section that you go backwards and apparently, she liked that but not the rest. Her chief complaint was that she felt bounced around too much, but at least she tried something new. After Everest, we rode Triceratops Spin (the Animal Kingdom's answer to Dumbo). The children always enjoy this ride. We ate lunch of sandwiches, egg rolls, fried rice, and orange chicken. Yummy! We then walked a little trail called the Maharajah Jungle Trek where we were able to see tigers, birds, and other exciting animals from the continent of Asia. News flash: Bengal tigers are HUGE!!! Next stop, Kilimanjaro Safaris, where you board a "raggedy" beat up truck that takes you on a "two week" safari where we got to see way more animals than we ever had. From elephants, to rhinos, to cheetahs, to giraffes, to hippos, to flamingos, to ostriches, and I am pretty sure I missed some animal. But really amazing stuff! We also took in shows of Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo: the musical (both musical versions of the popular Disney movies). After leaving the park, we went to visit our Disney "house" at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We took in the Christmas decorations and rested at one of the animal viewing areas. after all that we headed back to our resort for some much needed rest and nourishment. What an exciting day! We will post again later with more exciting news from Walt Disney World! Love you all!

Day One: Disney Christmas Vacation 2010

Merry Christmas, everyone! Well, after a long wait, the time has finally come for the Tupua family to make another long-anticipated trip to the Happiest Place on Earth! On Saturday (the eighteenth of December) we made our way to Grandma Bailey and PopPop's house in Palatka. We had a great visit, albeit short, but we will be back after Christmas. Thank you to Grandma and PopPop for giving us a place to stay for the night and the great biscuit and gravy breakfast to send us on our way.

We then set off in search of wonder and magic. We found both! We arrived safely on property and aimed to visit the Polynesian Resort to see the decorations and to play a game. Our game actually started several months ago. Barbie read about this game online somewhere and we liked and decided to try it for ourselves. I give you "The Monorail Game." (Dum-da-da-dum!!!) The rules are simple. Each of us chose a favorite monorail (by color -- Barbie chose the purple line, Dianna the silver line, Jarod the orange line, and I chose the blue line.). The person whose monorail we see first gets to choose the park that we would go to for the day. There are several monorails in use on Disney property, so there was no guarantee that any of us would win. We headed to the Polynesian because we knew it had a monorail station, therefore a good chance of seeing one of our choices. And the winner is: Jarod James! Jarod picked Disney's Hollywood Studios. We did not do a whole lot because of the time of day we arrived at the park. To start with, we went to a live show of "Beauty and the Beast" (a broadway-style musical show performed daily right here in Orlando, Florida). The children really enjoyed the show, since they only recently saw the movie. After the show, we watched a parade that we had never seen before - it was the "Disney-Pixar Block Party", featuring characters from "Toy Story", "A Bug's Life", "Monsters, Inc.", and "The Incredibles". It was really fun; I mean, how many places can you be and see all of those characters and get hollered at by a green "plastic" army man? Fun, right? It was a great time (say that as Scotty from Star Trek)! Well after that great fun, we went to ride the ride that Dianna has waited for months to ride -- The Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror, or as Dianna calls it "the ride that people scream on because they are having fun." This trip marks a new era in how the Tupuas do Disney, in that the chidren are now tall enough to ride new rides ("big kid rides" as Jarod calls them) So this was the first time for both of the children on this Headliner. This ride is computer-controlled and takes riders up in an "elevator" and drops them randomly. Up, down, up-maybe-no down. Jarod and Dianna (and myself) were screaming out in sheer terror. Dianna said she would not ride it again until she was a little older -- it makes her dizzy, all the ups and downs. Jarod said he would never ride that ride again because it scared him too much. After being scared out of our wits, we figured it was time to check into our resort (Pop Century) and get some dinner. Barbie made triple cold cut sandwiches for dinner (very yummy), which we ate with chips. For dessert, chocolate muffins that Aunt Terri made for us (super delicious). And now Jarod and Barbie are asleep and I am working on this post and Dianna is watching the Disney Channel. Well, we are off to bed; busy day tomorrow. Animal Kingdom opens at 7:00 am! We will post something tomorrow. Alofas to all. E Mauia le Kerisimasi!!