5 SUMMER ACTIVITY IDEAS

eeding some ideas to do this summer? I gotcha covered because I came up with 5 summer activity ideas! All of these activities are perfect when you're wanting to do something a little out of the ordinary, plus doesn't involve too much money! If I left out any awesome ideas leave them in the comments below, because I'd love to have other ideas for myself as well! Hope you enjoy, and find these helpful!

This is such a fun activity with friends! In Orange County there's an outside mall that has this ferris wheel (shown in the photo above), and my favorite is to go on at night when all the lights come on. I love this activity because it's something totally different, and very special because it's something you can't do everyday!

 Not able to relax by the water? No problem; instead meet up with some friends for some refreshing smoothies. I love doing this and I think it's the perfect mix-up for summer instead of coffee dates. Yes, coffee is great but for a summer day I enjoy my fruit flavored drinks!

This may sound pathetic, but I'm not a beach person. So the fact that I am sharing this activity is kinda funny; but hey, soaking up some sun equals the perfect summer day! This photo was taken in Maui from my trip about two summers ago. Maui is the one place I can truly say I LOVE the beach, because the water is absolutely beautiful and clear. I suppose the jetty in Oceanside here in So-Cal will have to do!

Woo exercising! For me a hike is such a fun outing and something completely different than my normal summer activities! Whether it's the mountains, backroad trail, by the beach, or an actual hiking trail at a plateau. It's nice to get out into the wilderness and enjoy some country air, while having a beautiful view when you reach the top!

This is one of my favorites, attending a baseball game! Honestly, I just go for the cotton candy, and hot dogs - haha. I'm personally a Yankee's fan, but for the night I blend in and agree to root for the Angels which is my family's team! What's better than watching a baseball game live in action during the summer? 

TRIPS & TRAVELS

                                   MAUI, HAWAII 

               HELLO MAUI                        WHALE WATCHING                  GOODBYE MAUI

             SAIL AWAY WITH ME          DON'T LOOK DOWN                 HAWAII HIKE

          VIRGINIA

           MONTICELLO'S                       VIRGINIA'S FLOWERS           VIRGINIA LOVE    

     CALIFORNIA

                  PALM SPRINGS                  RILEY'S FARM                        HUME LAKE

                DISNEYLAND                    BASEBALL GAME                    SUNSET CLIFFS        

            

                                 OAHU, HAWAII 

              ALOHA OAHU                    WAIKIKI BEACH                 PINEAPPLE PLANTATION

   SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS           HAWAII ADVENTURES                SEA LIFE PARK

                           PORTLAND, OREGON

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 6

ell this completes my little series of my trip to Oahu! To finish it off with a bang, I put together a whole video of my trip! I had high hopes of vlogging everyday, but sadly I never really did, rather it's all here and there clips that don't make too much sense, nor show you exactly what I did. This video displays 15 things I love about Hawaii. A lot of it is common to just Hawaii in general, but a few are special to Oahu, like Waikiki Beach. I hope you enjoy this video, and I can't wait to travel somewhere new again because I'd love to learn more about videography. I'm so thankful I was able to go on this trip, it was such a blast!

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 5

wimming with dolphins is by far the most incredible experience I've ever had in my life! I don't even know where to begin. The whole encounter was amazing, and I loved every minute of it! So we began our encounter with touching the dolphins back, and warming up to it swimming by us. The package I bought included a dolphin kiss, belly ride, and snorkel time. Words cannot even express my love and excitement I had for these dolphins and this day. The photos our personal photography took were amazing and I'm so glad to have them for memory sake. The belly ride was so exciting and felt so good. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that I was swimming with a large water mammal, because dolphins are just so tame and friendly. Literally reminds me of a dog ha-ha. The one dolphin we swam with was named Maui and he was such a sweetheart.

When I first got in the water and lined up to touch the dolphin, I thought to myself how glad I was that I bought this particular package because I was getting nervous. I wanted the interaction with the dolphin personally, rather than just touching it and playing ball with it. However, once our time ended I realized how I could have totally done the royal swim. Once I felt very comfortable around the dolphin, it made me want to do even more with it. It was amazing to watch the trainers swim underwater with it and have the dolphin give them a nose lift with her foot. It blew my mind away at all the abilities these creatures are made with.

After we swam with the dolphins, we watched a dolphin show just like SeaWorld in San Diego! From the show I was able to capture the most beautiful photos of them jumping out of the air, twirling around, spinning a ball on its nose, and racing around the tank. Believe me, it was very hard for me to chose which photos to share here on the blog, because I have so many! Throughout the show I was also able to film some awesome footage of the dolphins jumping out of the water, and I cannot wait to show you all in an upcoming post once I'm done editing a YouTube video for my main channel. The grand finale of the show, they had all four dolphins jump out of the water two times, and I was able to capture that all on video (score!). Swimming with the dolphins was like never I've ever experienced before, and I hope that I can do it again very soon here in California with my family. Interacting with these dolphins touched my heart in a way I cannot describe. I've always had a love for animals, but never knew I could have a passion so strong for dolphins. Watching and observing those trainers made me crave the same opportunity everyday. Working with animals everyday of your life seems like a complete dream to me. Dolphin trainer...sounds like heaven! Who needs to be a dental hygienist anyway? Right?

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 4

ea life park is a mini version of SeaWorld here in So-Cal and it's a park that has beautiful sea creatures! Sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, sea lions, and fish were all beautifully showcased at this park. It ended up being a great day and so fun to take photos of all the animals especially when I don't own a underwater camera, to take some photos and footage of the underwater life in Hawaii. It ended up being a great day, and I loved watching and observing these wonderful animals. It totally made me want to take a trip down to San Diego and explore SeaWorld!

These photos of the ocean, was our view the entire drive to this park. It reminded me so much of Maui and I loved every second of it. It is a blowhole so that was super cool to see in person! I also got some great footage of it because if I haven't mentioned yet, I'm putting together a video of 10 things I love about Oahu! This was definitely one of them! As I'm editing the video it makes me wish I would have done the same for when I went to Maui and Virginia! In about five days (fingers crossed) the video will be uploaded on my YouTube channel!

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 3

n Waikiki beach we took a catamaran boat trip! The package came with snorkeling for about an hour and a half, and then a boat ride near diamond head. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to these two hours, because I get terrible sea sickness (which I got in Maui when whale watching) so it seemed like torture. I took some medicine and hoped for the best, and thankfully it worked like a charm. Second, my fear for the ocean is strong and jumping out into the middle of the ocean to snorkel with sea creatures made everything seem worse. I made no promises to jumping in the water, and prepared my friends for my lack of interest. However, I let my mood determine that factor and see if I felt comfortable and prepared for the snorkeling part of the tour.

I couldn't be more proud of myself, because I'm happy to report that I bravely jumped in feet first with no regrets. I was the last person on the boat to jump in, and last person to head back up! I didn't feel comfortable using the breathing piece, just used the mask instead. Floating for a few seconds and then immediately coming up for air was the process for a straight hour, but somehow I didn't mind. My heart was racing and I had to calm myself down once when I jumped in, but then once I realized how I was swimming in the most deepest and largest masterpiece of God, all my fears were pushed aside. Staring at the most incredible fish of the sea, I floated there in awe of my Saviors creation. I had the opportunity to see four sea turtles up close, and they were absolutely beautiful. They were big, green, and tame. The boat ride overall became one of my highlights for the week in Oahu, and being able to swim with such amazing sea life gave me much joy!

POSTCARDS FROM OAHU PT. 2

ole pineapple plantation was our next stop for the week, and it ended up being really neat. We took a train ride to view the whole plantation, it was only a 20 minute ride but it showcased their pineapple fields, sugarcane, breadfruit trees, and banana trees! I'll admit I was expected much more from this plantation and tour in general, because it consisted of tiny planters of pineapple, a gift shop filled with nerdy cartoon pineapple phone cases or pineapple plush toys, and lastly a food court for their famous dole whip. Give it one hour and you'll be completely done seeing everything at this plantation. All in all pineapple is my favorite fruit (guilty of eating a whole one at once;) so obviously this trip was a must. If you follow me on Instagram (which you should) then you will have seen the pineapple smoothie I ordered and oh my gosh was it amazing! They made it with fresh pineapple chunks and pineapple juice, it was pure heaven!

If you have the chance to visit Oahu and have any interest in pineapple, then I recommend going just for the fun of it! I had so much fun and I snapped some great photos, enjoyed my smoothie, and purchased some pineapple postcards. Other than that, your not missing much (if you dont have time to go) but if you want to kill an hour or you simply enjoy touristy things than the Dole pineapple plantation will be right up your alley!