Tuesday night we went to bed about 1 am. We got up about 4 am. Very short night. We left the hotel just after 4:30, got gas, and returned the car by 5. Checking into the airport was a little crazy. They won't let you take fruit home (sad. I'd love some pineapple or even coconut)so they have you go through that scanner. The people their direct you around like you're an idiot. We got thru everything okay though and just had to wait for the plane. Aaron sat and tried to sleep. I was just sad to be leaving Hawaii.
On the plane it finally caught up to me. I slept for at least an hour. I couldn't believe it. I was exhausted. Aaron just read his book the whole time. I read too when I wasn't sleeping. Most of the plane was asleep for most of the flight.
In San Fransisco we talked to some German's that were heading home from Hawaii. They still had a long way to go and wished they were going to Vegas with us. I also talked to a lady that said she could tell I was from Utah. I asked why and she said she could tell we were LDS too. We just don't dress the same as the majority of people. I'm thinking it was a good thing she could tell.
Our flight was delaid getting to Vegas by about 20 min. The plane we were taking got in late. It was nice to finally be in Vegas. It was hot and dry; but we knew we didn't have to go anymore. After picking up our car (that we only had to pay $57 for at travelodge) we went to the New York New York hotel for the night. I'm so glad we didn't drive home. We were both very tired and probably wouldn't have made the drive safely. We had talked a lot about just driving home.
Aaron is funny in hotels in Vegas. He gets lost and turned around very easily. We road the roller coaster there which was a lot of fun. I didn't think it was going to have all the turns and speed it had. I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the ride. We then shared a Panda Express meal and went to bed.
We got up about 10 Vegas time and commented that we had really liked our bed in Hawaii. This bed in Vegas hurt both our backs. We'd stay at the same hotel again in Hawaii. It didn't have a desk or a big breakfast but all we needed the hotel for was sleeping, so it did it's job.
On our drive back to St. George the kids started calling us. Apparently they missed us. We missed them too. They came out and met us at the road. They gave us a card and welcomed us home. We took them out to smoothies and went swimming. It was nice to be back with the kids.
We've been asked what our favorite things about Hawaii were. I'd say, parasailing, the Dole Plantation, the 2 luau's, the temple, seeing Pres. Uchtdorf, snorkeling, all the animals in the ocean, and waterfalls. Isn't that pretty much the whole trip? We talked about what we miss. The green, humid air, food, and the quiet of being together. We are enjoying being home too. Eventually we'll have to start going to bed earlier than 1 and getting up earlier than 11 or 12.
Mattina left for Youth Conference yesterday morning. She had to be at the Stake Center just before 6 am. EARLY! I hope she has a fun time. I'm sure she will.
We had a Pioneer Day Breakfast with our ward this morning at 7. EARLY! Aaron and I came back home and went back to sleep.
We have a few pictures of us coming home but Aaron isn't here at the moment and he's been doing the pictures during the trip. Maybe he'll get them on tomorrow. We hope all of anybody whose been reading this has enjoyed it. I'm glad we've been able to write it all down as it happened so we'll have a good account of what we did.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Spirit of Aloha!
We got up really early this morning and left about 7:15. We wanted to take pictures at the Laie Temple before doing a session. The roads weren't too bad but still a little backed up. We got to the temple about 8:30. It was raining and very cloudy. We decided to take pictures after.
We went to a 9 am session. There were 22 women and 14 men. This temple is one of the first 10 temples so it's set up for a live session, with the moving and such. I think I sat next to the lady we saw at church on Sunday. She was from New Mexico. I didn't talk to her though. We had a really nice session. My opinion, it's a very square building. I was surprised it had a round chandelier. Very beautiful! I think that was temple 32 for us.
We then went to the cafeteria for lunch. The only option was to have Hawaiian Stew and carrots. It was good. We spent $8 for renting clothes and $6 for lunch.
The sun was shining when we came out of the temple. We took pictures from many angles. I couldn't get over being able to see the ocean from the front doors of the temple. We walked down to the meditation garden. It is practically on the shore. The walkway had tons of giant yellow hibiscus. The grounds and area are just beautiful.
On the way back to the car I started to realize how humid it was. It hasn't really bothered me while we've been here. We didn't have water to stay hydrated so I think that's why I started thinking it was hot and humid.
We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the rest of the day. We had purchased the Ambassador Package months ago. This package gave us a tour guide from 12:30-5. We got a shell lei and were off on a canoe ride. We went around to many of the villages there. We saw Tahati, Hawaii, The Canoe Pageant, Fiji, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Samoa (in that order). In Samoa Aaron started fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together. He was fast at it too. It was interesting to see buildings that have made it through hurricanes and that there are only 3 left of in the world. The Canoe Pageant was fun to see all the different cultures and styles of dancing. Aaron did okay with the Poi balls. With some practice I think we could have a lot of fun with those. We also learned the tahitian dance and the hula from Hawaii. We had coconut bread (which we liked) and I got the recipe for it. We saw how they make poi. I found that I really like fresh poi. It is the Aotearoa Island that sticks their tongues out when dancing. During the Canoe Pageant we shared a shaved ice. At this point it was so hot and we really needed something. We hadn't had water or anything. The shaved ice hit the spot. We both felt much better after that.
The guided tour was nice; I just felt like it was repeatitive of what we had already learned all week. In some ways it would have been nice to go off on our own, and in other ways we did learn some new things. It was a good day.
We then went to dinner and the lua part of the evening. We got a flower lei when we went to dinner. We tried raw fish. Aaron actually ate it. I couldn't even eat one piece. We had chicken and long rice; which tasted like chicken noodle soup. We had kaluah pig and rice, salad, piece of seasoned beef, a poi roll which was yummy, and pineapple. I had a lot of pineapple because it's our last night here. I didn't care about my swollen mouth. We got plenty of desserts; pineapple bars, chocolate cake, white cake with red something on top, coconut cake, apple cobbler thing like a bread pudding almost, and of course coconut pudding. I couldn't eat all the desserts. I tasted all of them and then ate my 2 coconut puddings. During dinner and the lua they had people celebrating an anniversary come up on the stage and dance. Aaron and I of course went up.
We then wondered the shops while we waited for the show to start. We found a lot of expensive things. There were some cute things, turtles etc. and we even thought about buying some poi balls; but we were good and didn't get anything.
At the show "Ha" we had 4th row seats right in the middle. We did that on purpose months ago. They were perfect seats. We ended up sitting next to somebody we had seen at the temple this morning. They are from Roy Utah. We talked for a bit and found out that Pres. Uchtdorf was at the PCC today. The show then started. I would have to say the show is absolutely FABULOUS! Incredible! During intermission we had tickets for free ice cream with fruit. YUMMY! I started looking around while Aaron got the ice cream and found Pres. Uchtdorf. He was sitting 4 rows directly behind us. Wow! So cool!
After the Great show, I had to get a picture of Pres. Uchtdorf. I didn't have enough guts to shake his hand, but I did take pictures of him just by being around. Pres. Uchtdorf went down to the cast and told them how great they were and that they are doing a great thing. The cast then sang "Army of Heleman". WOW! That was the same song sang on Sunday. It was great. Pres. Uchtdorf then got a picture with the cast. We left then and talked to the people from Roy for a bit at the parking lot. Just as we were pulling out we saw Pres. Uchtdorf again. It was so fun to see him and hear him and just to have him around. It brought a neat spirit to the evening.
It is really late now and I still have to pack. I don't want to leave Hawaii. We have been having so much fun and just enjoying our time. We hope the time change won't kick us too hard. At least we have 1 day to try to recover before going back to life.
We went to a 9 am session. There were 22 women and 14 men. This temple is one of the first 10 temples so it's set up for a live session, with the moving and such. I think I sat next to the lady we saw at church on Sunday. She was from New Mexico. I didn't talk to her though. We had a really nice session. My opinion, it's a very square building. I was surprised it had a round chandelier. Very beautiful! I think that was temple 32 for us.
We then went to the cafeteria for lunch. The only option was to have Hawaiian Stew and carrots. It was good. We spent $8 for renting clothes and $6 for lunch.
The sun was shining when we came out of the temple. We took pictures from many angles. I couldn't get over being able to see the ocean from the front doors of the temple. We walked down to the meditation garden. It is practically on the shore. The walkway had tons of giant yellow hibiscus. The grounds and area are just beautiful.
On the way back to the car I started to realize how humid it was. It hasn't really bothered me while we've been here. We didn't have water to stay hydrated so I think that's why I started thinking it was hot and humid.
We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the rest of the day. We had purchased the Ambassador Package months ago. This package gave us a tour guide from 12:30-5. We got a shell lei and were off on a canoe ride. We went around to many of the villages there. We saw Tahati, Hawaii, The Canoe Pageant, Fiji, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Samoa (in that order). In Samoa Aaron started fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together. He was fast at it too. It was interesting to see buildings that have made it through hurricanes and that there are only 3 left of in the world. The Canoe Pageant was fun to see all the different cultures and styles of dancing. Aaron did okay with the Poi balls. With some practice I think we could have a lot of fun with those. We also learned the tahitian dance and the hula from Hawaii. We had coconut bread (which we liked) and I got the recipe for it. We saw how they make poi. I found that I really like fresh poi. It is the Aotearoa Island that sticks their tongues out when dancing. During the Canoe Pageant we shared a shaved ice. At this point it was so hot and we really needed something. We hadn't had water or anything. The shaved ice hit the spot. We both felt much better after that.
The guided tour was nice; I just felt like it was repeatitive of what we had already learned all week. In some ways it would have been nice to go off on our own, and in other ways we did learn some new things. It was a good day.
We then went to dinner and the lua part of the evening. We got a flower lei when we went to dinner. We tried raw fish. Aaron actually ate it. I couldn't even eat one piece. We had chicken and long rice; which tasted like chicken noodle soup. We had kaluah pig and rice, salad, piece of seasoned beef, a poi roll which was yummy, and pineapple. I had a lot of pineapple because it's our last night here. I didn't care about my swollen mouth. We got plenty of desserts; pineapple bars, chocolate cake, white cake with red something on top, coconut cake, apple cobbler thing like a bread pudding almost, and of course coconut pudding. I couldn't eat all the desserts. I tasted all of them and then ate my 2 coconut puddings. During dinner and the lua they had people celebrating an anniversary come up on the stage and dance. Aaron and I of course went up.
We then wondered the shops while we waited for the show to start. We found a lot of expensive things. There were some cute things, turtles etc. and we even thought about buying some poi balls; but we were good and didn't get anything.
At the show "Ha" we had 4th row seats right in the middle. We did that on purpose months ago. They were perfect seats. We ended up sitting next to somebody we had seen at the temple this morning. They are from Roy Utah. We talked for a bit and found out that Pres. Uchtdorf was at the PCC today. The show then started. I would have to say the show is absolutely FABULOUS! Incredible! During intermission we had tickets for free ice cream with fruit. YUMMY! I started looking around while Aaron got the ice cream and found Pres. Uchtdorf. He was sitting 4 rows directly behind us. Wow! So cool!
After the Great show, I had to get a picture of Pres. Uchtdorf. I didn't have enough guts to shake his hand, but I did take pictures of him just by being around. Pres. Uchtdorf went down to the cast and told them how great they were and that they are doing a great thing. The cast then sang "Army of Heleman". WOW! That was the same song sang on Sunday. It was great. Pres. Uchtdorf then got a picture with the cast. We left then and talked to the people from Roy for a bit at the parking lot. Just as we were pulling out we saw Pres. Uchtdorf again. It was so fun to see him and hear him and just to have him around. It brought a neat spirit to the evening.
It is really late now and I still have to pack. I don't want to leave Hawaii. We have been having so much fun and just enjoying our time. We hope the time change won't kick us too hard. At least we have 1 day to try to recover before going back to life.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Dream's Come True!
We got up as early as we could and went to Diamond Head Crater. That is quite a hike. It is straight up hill plus 185+ stairs, tunnels, and tight spaces. There were people everywhere. We went from 200 ft above sea level to 800 ft above sea level. During the tunnel I almost panicked. I felt like I might never get out of there. The view from above was great. You can see in every direction. I liked the lighthouse. We tried to find the geocache but there were tons of people around. It just wasn't to be found today. I'm very happy we took our camel packs with us.
We then went to Costco and found Coconut Pudding. That is the white dessert we've been eating that I really like. We got a big package for a little price. I'm so excited to go home and make it for everyone.
We were going past The Dole Plantation so we decided to have lunch there. I finally had Loco Moco. It was so fabulous. We listened to bamboo pipes being played while we ate. We bought some pineapple snow macadamei nuts and white chocolate pineapple. I guess we really liked the Dole Plantation. Every time we go there we spend plenty of money.
We then hiked up to the Waimea Falls. They have gardens on the way up that were nice to look at. When we got to the falls, (more up hill climbing) I told Aaron that we were getting in. I have always wanted to swim in the pool under a waterfall. The lifeguard gave us directions as to what we couldn't do and then we got in. It took us a few minutes because it was cold. Finally I just went for it and dived in. It didn't take too long to get use to it. The pond was 30 ft deep so we had to tred water most of the time. We swam over to the rocks by the falls. I would have jumped off the rocks by the falls but it was against the rules. It was so fun to achieve this dream.
We then found a beach to play at. Aaron was dieing to get into the water and play. At first I just sat on our mats while Aaron went out snorkeling. When he got back we layed down and rested. Finally I decided I was ready to snorkel. While snorkeling I saw an eel. I told Aaron and he asked where and wanted to see it too. Then I found out he had seen an eel on his first time out. Me scared? Sorta. I just kept thinking that if we leave them alone they'll leave us alone too. I took some pictures and video of Aaron diving down but the camera now isn't working and we can't get the info off of it.
When we snorkeled back into the shore I scrapped my same knee that I scrapped last week. It doesn't look like much but it sure hurts. I also grabbed in a rock to throw myself onto shore and thought, "Stupid! What if an eel had been in there?" I'm so glad there wasn't It was fun to see so many different fish and sea cucumbers and coral etc. We really enjoyed snorkeling in the ocean.
After trying to relax again, it started to rain. Aaron asked if I wanted to go somewhere else to watch the sunset? I said yes so we packed up and left. We drove not very far down the shore and stopped again. I had heard about a place where turtles come up on the shore and just warm up. We found this place. It was so cool. We could see a whole bunch of turtles in the water and found at least 4 turtles out on the shore. 2 of them had ropes around to protect them. I talked to some volunteers that take care of them and they said they have seen as many as 10 at one time on shore before. This was a fun stop.
We then drove down shore and saw some people boarding with a parachute of some sort. It was cool. I would want to learn how to do that if I lived here but probably couldn't do it because my back is so bad. Further down the road the road ended. We got out and walked down the rocky beach a little and watched the sunset. It was full of color tonight because of the clouds. The waves were also coming in. The North Shore really has some big waves that are fun to watch.
We tried to have dinner at Teddy's but it was already closed so we went to Wolfgang Puck's and had a Hawaiian pizza. The pineapple is grown here on the island. It was really good. Then we went and got another shaved ice. Yummy!
Now it's really late and we have to be up early tomorrow for a long yet fun day.
We then went to Costco and found Coconut Pudding. That is the white dessert we've been eating that I really like. We got a big package for a little price. I'm so excited to go home and make it for everyone.
We were going past The Dole Plantation so we decided to have lunch there. I finally had Loco Moco. It was so fabulous. We listened to bamboo pipes being played while we ate. We bought some pineapple snow macadamei nuts and white chocolate pineapple. I guess we really liked the Dole Plantation. Every time we go there we spend plenty of money.
We then hiked up to the Waimea Falls. They have gardens on the way up that were nice to look at. When we got to the falls, (more up hill climbing) I told Aaron that we were getting in. I have always wanted to swim in the pool under a waterfall. The lifeguard gave us directions as to what we couldn't do and then we got in. It took us a few minutes because it was cold. Finally I just went for it and dived in. It didn't take too long to get use to it. The pond was 30 ft deep so we had to tred water most of the time. We swam over to the rocks by the falls. I would have jumped off the rocks by the falls but it was against the rules. It was so fun to achieve this dream.
We then found a beach to play at. Aaron was dieing to get into the water and play. At first I just sat on our mats while Aaron went out snorkeling. When he got back we layed down and rested. Finally I decided I was ready to snorkel. While snorkeling I saw an eel. I told Aaron and he asked where and wanted to see it too. Then I found out he had seen an eel on his first time out. Me scared? Sorta. I just kept thinking that if we leave them alone they'll leave us alone too. I took some pictures and video of Aaron diving down but the camera now isn't working and we can't get the info off of it.
When we snorkeled back into the shore I scrapped my same knee that I scrapped last week. It doesn't look like much but it sure hurts. I also grabbed in a rock to throw myself onto shore and thought, "Stupid! What if an eel had been in there?" I'm so glad there wasn't It was fun to see so many different fish and sea cucumbers and coral etc. We really enjoyed snorkeling in the ocean.
After trying to relax again, it started to rain. Aaron asked if I wanted to go somewhere else to watch the sunset? I said yes so we packed up and left. We drove not very far down the shore and stopped again. I had heard about a place where turtles come up on the shore and just warm up. We found this place. It was so cool. We could see a whole bunch of turtles in the water and found at least 4 turtles out on the shore. 2 of them had ropes around to protect them. I talked to some volunteers that take care of them and they said they have seen as many as 10 at one time on shore before. This was a fun stop.
We then drove down shore and saw some people boarding with a parachute of some sort. It was cool. I would want to learn how to do that if I lived here but probably couldn't do it because my back is so bad. Further down the road the road ended. We got out and walked down the rocky beach a little and watched the sunset. It was full of color tonight because of the clouds. The waves were also coming in. The North Shore really has some big waves that are fun to watch.
We tried to have dinner at Teddy's but it was already closed so we went to Wolfgang Puck's and had a Hawaiian pizza. The pineapple is grown here on the island. It was really good. Then we went and got another shaved ice. Yummy!
Now it's really late and we have to be up early tomorrow for a long yet fun day.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Relaxing Day
This morning I woke up about 7. I was thinking about the kids and realized that Mattina Ann was probably home alone; so I called her. We talked for about 40 min. We miss the kids but all of us are having a great time.
At the beginning of the week I read in a magazine about a Ukelele festival happening today. It was about 1/2 mile from our hotel so we went. We went to the tents and saw many people selling the Ukelele's. I didn't even check the price. One tent was offering a free 5-10 min. lesson. Aaron sat down and picked it up quickly. He loved it. Now we have a few pieces of music and the chord sheets so he can learn more. I guess he has some Ukelele's at school he can practice with and maybe teach the students. I think this made Aaron's day.
We then sat on the grass and listened for about 1/2 hour or so. To me it's very relaxing music. It was fun to see little children playing as well as older people. We had a great time. On the walk home we saw Art on the Fence of the Zoo. It made me think that I want to get something together with plumeria and hibiscus and have Marilyn paint it.
We went to church at 1:00. I had a really hard time staying awake. They had a missionary farewell for 2 boys. The boys sang with 3 missionaries and 2 younger boys. It sounded awesome. I could listen to that all day. We found our way to Sunday school and again I tried to sleep. Something just came over me I guess. Then I went to Relief Society. That has to be my favorite meeting. They gave all the visiting sisters a crochet lei and we had to introduce ourselves and say where we are from. There was a whole family there from Gunlock, Veyo, and St. George. We didn't know them but what a small world sometimes. Anyway, they were having a hard time finding someone to play the piano so I volunteered. I'm grateful I have that talent to share. The church house has outdoor hallways and is really "hawaiian" if you will. We got a nice picture of it.
We tried to go to Diamond Head after church. We took our dinner but when we got there we found we were about 45 min. late, so we decided to try our luck at Monoa Falls. Rita can't find Monoa Falls so we decided we'd try to find it on our own. Rita found the University of Hawaii for us and then we took over. We drove straight there. We hiked up a slippery and very rocky trail. Slippery because it had been sprinkling and there was a lot of muddy spots. The scenery was beautiful though. Bamboo trees and many other kinds too. We don't think the pictures will do justice but they might come close. The fall was just beautiful. I have seen pictures of falls in Hawaii and really wanted to see one; which is why we went tonight. It was so long, tall, and beautiful.
Aaron and I talked about what we learned in Relief Society and Priesthood on the hike. He was asked what he would say if he knew this was going to be the last time with me? (He said he knew this wasn't the right time to talk about this due to the fact we were on a slippery trail) He was also asked to remember what it was that made him think "This is the girl I have to marry!" We had a really nice conversation on the trail.
We made our jokes about the signs (we heard a radio announcement yesterday talking about how some signs shouldn't be necessary and yet they are)and then back to the car. We made it back just in time for it to be dark. We then ate our dinner in the car.
After we got to the hotel, Aaron wanted to go down to the beach. He would be a great beach bum if we lived closer. He complained that we haven't been to the beach enough this trip. We sat on mats and just listened to the waves. It was so relaxing and peaceful.
Now we are headed to bed because the next 2-3 days are going to be very busy. Thank goodness we had Sunday.
Photos of our day:
Manoa Falls
At the beginning of the week I read in a magazine about a Ukelele festival happening today. It was about 1/2 mile from our hotel so we went. We went to the tents and saw many people selling the Ukelele's. I didn't even check the price. One tent was offering a free 5-10 min. lesson. Aaron sat down and picked it up quickly. He loved it. Now we have a few pieces of music and the chord sheets so he can learn more. I guess he has some Ukelele's at school he can practice with and maybe teach the students. I think this made Aaron's day.
We then sat on the grass and listened for about 1/2 hour or so. To me it's very relaxing music. It was fun to see little children playing as well as older people. We had a great time. On the walk home we saw Art on the Fence of the Zoo. It made me think that I want to get something together with plumeria and hibiscus and have Marilyn paint it.
We went to church at 1:00. I had a really hard time staying awake. They had a missionary farewell for 2 boys. The boys sang with 3 missionaries and 2 younger boys. It sounded awesome. I could listen to that all day. We found our way to Sunday school and again I tried to sleep. Something just came over me I guess. Then I went to Relief Society. That has to be my favorite meeting. They gave all the visiting sisters a crochet lei and we had to introduce ourselves and say where we are from. There was a whole family there from Gunlock, Veyo, and St. George. We didn't know them but what a small world sometimes. Anyway, they were having a hard time finding someone to play the piano so I volunteered. I'm grateful I have that talent to share. The church house has outdoor hallways and is really "hawaiian" if you will. We got a nice picture of it.
We tried to go to Diamond Head after church. We took our dinner but when we got there we found we were about 45 min. late, so we decided to try our luck at Monoa Falls. Rita can't find Monoa Falls so we decided we'd try to find it on our own. Rita found the University of Hawaii for us and then we took over. We drove straight there. We hiked up a slippery and very rocky trail. Slippery because it had been sprinkling and there was a lot of muddy spots. The scenery was beautiful though. Bamboo trees and many other kinds too. We don't think the pictures will do justice but they might come close. The fall was just beautiful. I have seen pictures of falls in Hawaii and really wanted to see one; which is why we went tonight. It was so long, tall, and beautiful.
Aaron and I talked about what we learned in Relief Society and Priesthood on the hike. He was asked what he would say if he knew this was going to be the last time with me? (He said he knew this wasn't the right time to talk about this due to the fact we were on a slippery trail) He was also asked to remember what it was that made him think "This is the girl I have to marry!" We had a really nice conversation on the trail.
We made our jokes about the signs (we heard a radio announcement yesterday talking about how some signs shouldn't be necessary and yet they are)and then back to the car. We made it back just in time for it to be dark. We then ate our dinner in the car.
After we got to the hotel, Aaron wanted to go down to the beach. He would be a great beach bum if we lived closer. He complained that we haven't been to the beach enough this trip. We sat on mats and just listened to the waves. It was so relaxing and peaceful.
Now we are headed to bed because the next 2-3 days are going to be very busy. Thank goodness we had Sunday.
Photos of our day:
Manoa Falls
Saturday, July 16, 2011
East Coast Oahu
We got up this morning at about 8. I thought about what time it was in Utah and decided the children should be about to St. George. I was surprised they were only in Cedar. We texted for a minute and then Aaron sent this text: "You have reached our atomatic texting system. The party you are trying to reach is not available. See you on the blog." Aaron hasn't been too thrilled that I brought my phone. It has been good though because we got some calls confirming some reservations. Other than that we haven't been using it.
We were off by 9 and went to the Halona Blow Hole. We had good timing there. There weren't a lot of people at the time and the blow hole was doing it's thing. We tried to figure out when it would "blow", but that wasn't as easy as you would think. We only stayed 10-15 min. and it didn't seem to be doing much anymore and there were suddenly a lot more people.
We then stopped at a place where we thought we might see the Makapu'u Lighthouse. When we got to the lookout Aaron automatically started talking to some Italians. He asked if he could take their picture for them and then talked about why he knows Italian etc. They were from the Milan area and touring all the islands here. They talked for about 5-10 min. and then we were on our way. While they were talking I walked around and couldn't find the lighthouse. We drove down the street about 1/2 mile and could see it from the road.
We had tickets to go to the Sea Life Park. We had won one of these tickets on Tuesday at the welcome breakfast. We saw some stingrays and a lot of fish we had seen in the ocean. Then we came upon the dophins and Wolphin. This is the only wolphin in the world. We watched some people having their adventure in the water with the dolphins. We watched the people move the dolphins from tank to tank. This was the best part. We watched a dolphin blowing air rings and swim through it. We saw turtles and sea lions too, but all this was very anti-climatic. After been in the water with all these animals the day before and seeing how happy the wild animals are, these just didn't seem happy and too caged up. We were there about 2 hours.
We then went North up the East coast. On our way to Chinaman's hat, we found a Macadamei Nut Farm. Or we thought we did. The sign is a little misleading. We paid $20 each to go on a tour. As we waited we found some raw nuts to open. That was fun. The raw nut made my mouth itch though. I got 4 extra to take home to the kids. Our tour guide was hilarious. He was always saying funny things and making wise cracks. We saw a lot of plants and trees; flower and fruit plants and the macadamei nut plant. We got to pick some starfruit and eat it. It is really good. That was our lunch today. We also saw where they filmed "Lost", "Fantasy Island", "Giligan's Island", "Off the Map", "Mighty Joe Young", "Jurasic Park", "50 First Dates", "You, Me, and Dupree", and "Pearl Harbor". There are many shows filmed here and this is all I can name tonight. It's a beautiful place and very famous. Our tour guide showed us how to start fire with just wood, what "material" to use when making a grass hula skirt, we smelled the ginger root flower, MMMMMM, and a little how they use the Ti leaves here. He also showed us how to open a coconut. I wasn't shy this time and got to drink the juice. Aaron and I both liked it. We then tasted the fresh coconut. I'd eat coconut if it always tasted fresh. That was way good. The tour guide also did a fire dance for us and gave all the women a crown with a hibiscus flower. Aaron got to blow into a conche shell. He did a great job. He was an excellent guide and we were very happy with the tour.
We then went to Chinaman's Hat. The wind was blowing a lot and it had been raining on and off all day. The original plan was to Kayak to the island but we didn't have any way to rent one. We talked about snorkeling over but with the wind and current and everything we decided against it. I was dissappointed we didn't get over there but we did get as close as we could without getting in the water.
We then grabbed something at Burger King (it was after 3:30 now) and went to Nu'uanu Pali Lookout. When we rented the car the guy said we had to go here. The wind was sooo hard, you could lean into it without falling. The lookout was great but cold, raining, and VERY windy. I didn't want to stay very long. One of the locals said it is always windy like that there.
We no longer had our directions to Manoa Falls so we went into Honolulu where we found Hilo Hattie. This is the company that made my hawaiian dress that I love. It is a very expensive store and I can't believe I got my dress for less than $20. We then did a little shopping for a CD that I've been wanting to get. I didn't like the price at the "ABC Store" so we looked at "Sam Goody's". It was a dollar less there. We decided to look at Walmart and see if they had it since we were going there anyway. Apparently at Walmart they have vendors who bring in the CD's and stuff and so they didn't know when they'd have it or even send it store to store. Bummer. It would have been $3-4 cheaper there. We went back to SamGoody's to get the CD in the long run. We tried to find "Coconut Pudding" at Walmart too. That's the white dessert both of us like. They didn't carry that either. What a cheap Walmart. We did get Aaron some material though to make him a Serong. They didn't have sub sandwiched at this Walmart so we went across the street and got Subway for tomorrow's food. We are still trying to keep the sabbath the best we can.
We had Panda Express for dinner and got smoothies at the mall where SamGoody's is (Aaron's Ocean Breeze and mine Strawberry Pina Colada).
My right arm has a rash or something all over it. This is the same arm that lady rubbed $160 lotion all over. I'm hoping it's not bug bites. I don't know where I got it but they itch. Aaron is tired and wants to sleep all the time. I guess he's not used to going quite so much. I'm tired too, just not nearly as much. Tomorrow will be a nice day. Hopefully the weather will be too.
Day 6 Activities Photos:
Halona Blowhole:
We were off by 9 and went to the Halona Blow Hole. We had good timing there. There weren't a lot of people at the time and the blow hole was doing it's thing. We tried to figure out when it would "blow", but that wasn't as easy as you would think. We only stayed 10-15 min. and it didn't seem to be doing much anymore and there were suddenly a lot more people.
We then stopped at a place where we thought we might see the Makapu'u Lighthouse. When we got to the lookout Aaron automatically started talking to some Italians. He asked if he could take their picture for them and then talked about why he knows Italian etc. They were from the Milan area and touring all the islands here. They talked for about 5-10 min. and then we were on our way. While they were talking I walked around and couldn't find the lighthouse. We drove down the street about 1/2 mile and could see it from the road.
We had tickets to go to the Sea Life Park. We had won one of these tickets on Tuesday at the welcome breakfast. We saw some stingrays and a lot of fish we had seen in the ocean. Then we came upon the dophins and Wolphin. This is the only wolphin in the world. We watched some people having their adventure in the water with the dolphins. We watched the people move the dolphins from tank to tank. This was the best part. We watched a dolphin blowing air rings and swim through it. We saw turtles and sea lions too, but all this was very anti-climatic. After been in the water with all these animals the day before and seeing how happy the wild animals are, these just didn't seem happy and too caged up. We were there about 2 hours.
We then went North up the East coast. On our way to Chinaman's hat, we found a Macadamei Nut Farm. Or we thought we did. The sign is a little misleading. We paid $20 each to go on a tour. As we waited we found some raw nuts to open. That was fun. The raw nut made my mouth itch though. I got 4 extra to take home to the kids. Our tour guide was hilarious. He was always saying funny things and making wise cracks. We saw a lot of plants and trees; flower and fruit plants and the macadamei nut plant. We got to pick some starfruit and eat it. It is really good. That was our lunch today. We also saw where they filmed "Lost", "Fantasy Island", "Giligan's Island", "Off the Map", "Mighty Joe Young", "Jurasic Park", "50 First Dates", "You, Me, and Dupree", and "Pearl Harbor". There are many shows filmed here and this is all I can name tonight. It's a beautiful place and very famous. Our tour guide showed us how to start fire with just wood, what "material" to use when making a grass hula skirt, we smelled the ginger root flower, MMMMMM, and a little how they use the Ti leaves here. He also showed us how to open a coconut. I wasn't shy this time and got to drink the juice. Aaron and I both liked it. We then tasted the fresh coconut. I'd eat coconut if it always tasted fresh. That was way good. The tour guide also did a fire dance for us and gave all the women a crown with a hibiscus flower. Aaron got to blow into a conche shell. He did a great job. He was an excellent guide and we were very happy with the tour.
We then went to Chinaman's Hat. The wind was blowing a lot and it had been raining on and off all day. The original plan was to Kayak to the island but we didn't have any way to rent one. We talked about snorkeling over but with the wind and current and everything we decided against it. I was dissappointed we didn't get over there but we did get as close as we could without getting in the water.
We then grabbed something at Burger King (it was after 3:30 now) and went to Nu'uanu Pali Lookout. When we rented the car the guy said we had to go here. The wind was sooo hard, you could lean into it without falling. The lookout was great but cold, raining, and VERY windy. I didn't want to stay very long. One of the locals said it is always windy like that there.
We no longer had our directions to Manoa Falls so we went into Honolulu where we found Hilo Hattie. This is the company that made my hawaiian dress that I love. It is a very expensive store and I can't believe I got my dress for less than $20. We then did a little shopping for a CD that I've been wanting to get. I didn't like the price at the "ABC Store" so we looked at "Sam Goody's". It was a dollar less there. We decided to look at Walmart and see if they had it since we were going there anyway. Apparently at Walmart they have vendors who bring in the CD's and stuff and so they didn't know when they'd have it or even send it store to store. Bummer. It would have been $3-4 cheaper there. We went back to SamGoody's to get the CD in the long run. We tried to find "Coconut Pudding" at Walmart too. That's the white dessert both of us like. They didn't carry that either. What a cheap Walmart. We did get Aaron some material though to make him a Serong. They didn't have sub sandwiched at this Walmart so we went across the street and got Subway for tomorrow's food. We are still trying to keep the sabbath the best we can.
We had Panda Express for dinner and got smoothies at the mall where SamGoody's is (Aaron's Ocean Breeze and mine Strawberry Pina Colada).
My right arm has a rash or something all over it. This is the same arm that lady rubbed $160 lotion all over. I'm hoping it's not bug bites. I don't know where I got it but they itch. Aaron is tired and wants to sleep all the time. I guess he's not used to going quite so much. I'm tired too, just not nearly as much. Tomorrow will be a nice day. Hopefully the weather will be too.
Day 6 Activities Photos:
Halona Blowhole:
Aloha and Mahalo!!
Oh Boy! We had quite a day again today. We started out by going to Ko Olina Resort. I found some parking just outside the marina parking lot that didn't cost anything. SCORE! We walked through the parking lot that would have cost us $10. It wasn't that far either. If we had taken the shuttle it would have cost $40.
Once we got inside they gave us some chips and a drink. After a little more time they divided us up into 2 boats. I'm going to say right now, we got assigned the right boat.
We left our shoes on shore and we were off. Our captain, Mark, took us to see some dolphins. They were sooooo cool. We even saw a baby one. CUTE! Mark new how to play with them and make them follow us. He got them to play in the wake. They would swim, jump, flip. It was so much fun. Mattina Ann would have loved it. So would the boys.
After playing with the dolphins, we went up shore and got in to snorkel. Of course there were tons of fish. They were nice. Aaron and I even snorkeled over to 2 turtles that got rather close. They were on the water catching some air and then swimming again. They were so neat. Before we even got in the water our crew member put baby shampoo on our lenses. This was so they wouldn't fog up. It was nice to learn this trick.
After snorkeling some we went North on the West coast again. We had to watch out for the military out in the ocean. The other boat got caught by them but we didn't. We found a spot where we could get in the water, slowly, hold still, and swim with the dolphins. AWESOME!!!! One day you'll be able to do this Mattina Ann. :) They got kind of close. It was neat. I couldn't count how many there were. There were 2 baby dophins again. It was AWESOME!! The only bad thing was, our battery for the camera had died at this point. Oh, but what a memory.
We then took the boat South down the shore. We stopped at a place that pipes pump out warm water. Aaron and I both were cold there though. Anyway, some people fed the fish there. Aaron and I just snorkeled and enjoyed the experience. I saw several beautiful Angel fish that were yellow, black and white. Big too. Aaron saw a fish he really liked that was yellow, purple, and turquoise. There were so many fish. What a great experience. On the boat ride back Aaron and I spotted another turtle just off from the boat. WOW!
When we got back to shore we had a nice lunch provided by the Ko Olina Adventures people. It was good. Especially since we were starving. During lunch I listened to some people from the other boat talking and found that they didn't have a photographer on board, didn't see turtles, and didn't swim with dolphins. We were definatly on the right boat.
So after this great time out on the boat, we changed our clothes in the car, Aaron did my hair in the wind, and we went down the street to the Paradise Cove Luau. This is one of the top 3 Luau's on the island. We'll go to another top luau on Tuesday.
We started by getting a shell lei. Nice. Then we found our seats for dinner. We were then set free to explore the games and activities. We started out with the Cataran ride. Just Aaron and I and the guide went out. The guide asked where we were from. After we told him Utah he asked if we were LDS? That's the first time we were asked that after telling them we're from Utah. He was LDS too he just called himself a "Jack Mormon". When we got out though and said Mahalo he said he'd see us at church on Sunday. Kind of fun.
We then went and made some palm leave crowns. They are easy, and so pretty. We also learned how to make lei's. We made bracelets though. All flowers go on the left if married and right if not married.
We then played 2 Hawaiian games. The first you roll a lava rock between 2 sticks. Then you slide a short poll between the 2 sticks. I had no problems with this. Aaron missed the rock though. At this game we got another shell lei. Then we moved to the spear throwing game. I hit the target but didn't get it to stick. Aaron did really well and hit the target too. At the end of this game we got another shell lei.
We then went and took some pictures of ourselves and each other. We had a nice place and backdrops so they turned out nice. Then we started to hear a conche shell being blown. We found that more activities were happening where this was being blown. They were teaching men how to tie and wear a Seraong. I made sure Aaron was watching. Then they did a hula lesson and wanted volunteers. I volunteered Aaron and I. It was a lot of fun. I hope to write all the directions down soon so we don't forget it.
They then gave a coconut instruction on how to open it. That was fascinating to watch. I almost volunteered to drink the coconut milk but wasn't fast enough. We then moved on to another hula dance. After we watched a "cousin" climb a coconut tree. He went way high. That is where they did the "Shower of Flowers". Fun. We then went onto the beach where we watched the "Hukilau Ceremony". We watched them throw the nets out and watched "cousins" dance.
We then went and redeemed one of our drink vouchers. We got Pina Colada's, virgin of course. They were good. We drank them while watching the "Imu Ceremony." This is where they pulled the pig out of the ground. It smelled SOOO good. We took a picture with the queen and king of the night and then went to our seats. When we got our food, (buffet style) I got way too much food. It was so good though. We had fish, kahlua pork, rice, rolls, salad, SA had lomi salmon, Aaron had Poi and fried chicken, and then we had dessert. White and chocolate cake, 2 pieces of delicious pineapple, and the white jellotin yummy stuff. I told you I had too much food, but it was so good.
The luau dancing started then. At one point they celebrated love and those who wanted to dance could. Aaron couldn't get me out of my seat fast enough. It was nice to dance on the beach under a full moon. Very Romantic.
After more luau dancing and the fire warrior, saddly enough the night was over. We drove back to our hotel and didn't have a parking place. The guy at the front desk found us a place to park and told us he'd put it in a real parking place when one opened up. Aaron was really relieve about that.
What a long day. We were gone from 9:45 until 10:15. It was a fabulous day and we'd do it again. But for now, ALOHA!
PS. Hawaiian's believe that everybody is family, or "Cousin".
Our Day 5 Activities:
Dolphins!
Green Sea Turtles:
Shower of Flowers:
Aloha!
Once we got inside they gave us some chips and a drink. After a little more time they divided us up into 2 boats. I'm going to say right now, we got assigned the right boat.
We left our shoes on shore and we were off. Our captain, Mark, took us to see some dolphins. They were sooooo cool. We even saw a baby one. CUTE! Mark new how to play with them and make them follow us. He got them to play in the wake. They would swim, jump, flip. It was so much fun. Mattina Ann would have loved it. So would the boys.
After playing with the dolphins, we went up shore and got in to snorkel. Of course there were tons of fish. They were nice. Aaron and I even snorkeled over to 2 turtles that got rather close. They were on the water catching some air and then swimming again. They were so neat. Before we even got in the water our crew member put baby shampoo on our lenses. This was so they wouldn't fog up. It was nice to learn this trick.
After snorkeling some we went North on the West coast again. We had to watch out for the military out in the ocean. The other boat got caught by them but we didn't. We found a spot where we could get in the water, slowly, hold still, and swim with the dolphins. AWESOME!!!! One day you'll be able to do this Mattina Ann. :) They got kind of close. It was neat. I couldn't count how many there were. There were 2 baby dophins again. It was AWESOME!! The only bad thing was, our battery for the camera had died at this point. Oh, but what a memory.
We then took the boat South down the shore. We stopped at a place that pipes pump out warm water. Aaron and I both were cold there though. Anyway, some people fed the fish there. Aaron and I just snorkeled and enjoyed the experience. I saw several beautiful Angel fish that were yellow, black and white. Big too. Aaron saw a fish he really liked that was yellow, purple, and turquoise. There were so many fish. What a great experience. On the boat ride back Aaron and I spotted another turtle just off from the boat. WOW!
When we got back to shore we had a nice lunch provided by the Ko Olina Adventures people. It was good. Especially since we were starving. During lunch I listened to some people from the other boat talking and found that they didn't have a photographer on board, didn't see turtles, and didn't swim with dolphins. We were definatly on the right boat.
So after this great time out on the boat, we changed our clothes in the car, Aaron did my hair in the wind, and we went down the street to the Paradise Cove Luau. This is one of the top 3 Luau's on the island. We'll go to another top luau on Tuesday.
We started by getting a shell lei. Nice. Then we found our seats for dinner. We were then set free to explore the games and activities. We started out with the Cataran ride. Just Aaron and I and the guide went out. The guide asked where we were from. After we told him Utah he asked if we were LDS? That's the first time we were asked that after telling them we're from Utah. He was LDS too he just called himself a "Jack Mormon". When we got out though and said Mahalo he said he'd see us at church on Sunday. Kind of fun.
We then went and made some palm leave crowns. They are easy, and so pretty. We also learned how to make lei's. We made bracelets though. All flowers go on the left if married and right if not married.
We then played 2 Hawaiian games. The first you roll a lava rock between 2 sticks. Then you slide a short poll between the 2 sticks. I had no problems with this. Aaron missed the rock though. At this game we got another shell lei. Then we moved to the spear throwing game. I hit the target but didn't get it to stick. Aaron did really well and hit the target too. At the end of this game we got another shell lei.
We then went and took some pictures of ourselves and each other. We had a nice place and backdrops so they turned out nice. Then we started to hear a conche shell being blown. We found that more activities were happening where this was being blown. They were teaching men how to tie and wear a Seraong. I made sure Aaron was watching. Then they did a hula lesson and wanted volunteers. I volunteered Aaron and I. It was a lot of fun. I hope to write all the directions down soon so we don't forget it.
They then gave a coconut instruction on how to open it. That was fascinating to watch. I almost volunteered to drink the coconut milk but wasn't fast enough. We then moved on to another hula dance. After we watched a "cousin" climb a coconut tree. He went way high. That is where they did the "Shower of Flowers". Fun. We then went onto the beach where we watched the "Hukilau Ceremony". We watched them throw the nets out and watched "cousins" dance.
We then went and redeemed one of our drink vouchers. We got Pina Colada's, virgin of course. They were good. We drank them while watching the "Imu Ceremony." This is where they pulled the pig out of the ground. It smelled SOOO good. We took a picture with the queen and king of the night and then went to our seats. When we got our food, (buffet style) I got way too much food. It was so good though. We had fish, kahlua pork, rice, rolls, salad, SA had lomi salmon, Aaron had Poi and fried chicken, and then we had dessert. White and chocolate cake, 2 pieces of delicious pineapple, and the white jellotin yummy stuff. I told you I had too much food, but it was so good.
The luau dancing started then. At one point they celebrated love and those who wanted to dance could. Aaron couldn't get me out of my seat fast enough. It was nice to dance on the beach under a full moon. Very Romantic.
After more luau dancing and the fire warrior, saddly enough the night was over. We drove back to our hotel and didn't have a parking place. The guy at the front desk found us a place to park and told us he'd put it in a real parking place when one opened up. Aaron was really relieve about that.
What a long day. We were gone from 9:45 until 10:15. It was a fabulous day and we'd do it again. But for now, ALOHA!
PS. Hawaiian's believe that everybody is family, or "Cousin".
Our Day 5 Activities:
Dolphins!
Green Sea Turtles:
Shower of Flowers:
Aloha!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Hanging Loose
What a fun day. We experienced some of the things that we really wanted to do here. We started out by being picked up in a Trolley and going to the Parasailing place. We rode on the High Flyer with 10 other people plus the 2 crew members. Everybody was a lot of fun. We were the 4th couple to go up. I had to sit on the deck first and got hooked up and then Aaron got next to me and got hooked up. We told the crew we wanted pictures taken for only $30. We got over 70 pictures of the experience. They are great. Almost the whole time I had a death grip on the ropes. I was having fun but my body was VERY tense. I couldn't even move my legs. I guess you could say I was scared stiff. They didn't drop the first couple in the water and I liked that; but they did drop the rest of us in the water for a little dip. I think it was more fun to have a little dip than to not. Aaron and I loved the view and had a wonderful experience. We will definately do this again some time.
We got back to the room and tried to quickly leave for Hanauma Bay. We decided to buy something to put our car keys in and hopefully they not get wet. (If our key gets wet it's a $125 charge) We finally got something at "ABC Store" and left for the bay. At this point I was frustrated that it was taking so long to get to the bay. I wanted as much time at the bay as we could have. We kept thinking that if we hadn't scheduled the photo shoot today then we'd have all the time we wanted.
On the way to Hanauma Bay we stopped and got lunch. I had to eat. I was worried we wouldn't eat until after the photo shoot. This just added to my stress. After we ate, all seemed to be so much better. We finally made it to Hanauma Bay where we had to watch a movie before going to the water. UGH!!! JUST LET ME GO SNORKELING!! But it's state law to watch the movie first.
After the movie we finally made it to the beach. We put everything in our snorkeling bag and hooked it on Aaron. We went into the water and had a great time. The first task was getting over the rocks. Oh my gosh! They seemed so close. We had big waves coming in too. I scrapped up my left knee pretty bad. OUCH! It was around the rocks that we finally started seeing fish. And then from NOWHERE, this Turtle appeared. It tried to piggy back me. Then a wave came along and flipped it over a little and we swam away. I couldn't believe how close I got to that turtle. It just happend. We saw another turtle later too. All the fish were great. There were times the waves really moved us. Aaron said we were "body surfing". On the way back to the shore I made sure my knees stayed up. We snorkeled for just under an hour. That was all the time we had. We had such a fun experience. We hope to go back sometime during this trip.
I had a headache on the way back to the hotel. I was really worried it was turning into a migraine. I drank a lot of water and that seemed to help somewhat.
We quickly got ready and went to the photo shoot. The photographer couldn't get my name right. She kept calling me Lori. She did a nice job with the pictures. She took at least 55 shots. It was fun. People would walk down the street and comment on what they saw. At one point we got into the water. (We weren't in our swim suits:)) We really enjoyed this time.
As we waited for the pictures to get ready we walked across the street to the International Market for dinner. On the way in I saw a man all in silver and trying to be a statue. I commented on him on the way in. We found dinner and then headed back to the photographer. When we passed the man in silver again, he jumped out at me and I jumped and grabbed Aaron. People around were laughing. It was funny except moving like that made my back twinge. I had to be extremely careful on the way back to the hotel after that.
At the International Market a lady grabbed us and wanted us to buy a jar of salt, a lotion, and then a stone. She wanted to charge us $160. We told her she was crazy. Plus I told her the smell was driving me nuts. We tried to explain that I don't do well with smelly stuff. She said to take 2 jars of salt then. Last I checked, salt doesn't cost that much.
We saw a Ferrari Store and had to take some pictures. We thought Tanner would love that.
When we went back to get our photo's we found out they wanted to charge us $1250.00 NOT!!! We had been told that we would get a free 8X10 and could buy a disk of all the pictures for $50. We were in SHOCK for what they wanted to charge. Just for a CD it would be $500. To say the least, we didn't get that much. We bought 1 8X10 and got a free 8X10 and that was it. I was dissappointed we didn't get the CD (because we had some fabulous pictures) but there was NO WAY we were going to pay that much. They'll be getting a hold of Expedia and telling them not to false advertise.
On our walk back to the hotel we took a few sunset pictures and then stopped off for some Hawaiian Shaved Ice. We had been told we had to have this. They were right. I couldn't believe how big one of them was. You had to choose 4 flavors. We chose Pineapple, Mango, Passion Fruit, and Guava. Those flavors mixed well. We just sat across from the ocean and watched the people and ate them. Then slowly walked back to the hotel so my back wouldn't flare up anymore.
We have some video of the snorkeling including a turtle with it. It will take 80 min. to download it so we'll have to show it when we get home or download it another time.
We are very proud of Tanner for being tall enough to ride the rides at the water park. Not just being tall enough but brave enough. We can just imagine how proud he is.
We got back to the room and tried to quickly leave for Hanauma Bay. We decided to buy something to put our car keys in and hopefully they not get wet. (If our key gets wet it's a $125 charge) We finally got something at "ABC Store" and left for the bay. At this point I was frustrated that it was taking so long to get to the bay. I wanted as much time at the bay as we could have. We kept thinking that if we hadn't scheduled the photo shoot today then we'd have all the time we wanted.
On the way to Hanauma Bay we stopped and got lunch. I had to eat. I was worried we wouldn't eat until after the photo shoot. This just added to my stress. After we ate, all seemed to be so much better. We finally made it to Hanauma Bay where we had to watch a movie before going to the water. UGH!!! JUST LET ME GO SNORKELING!! But it's state law to watch the movie first.
After the movie we finally made it to the beach. We put everything in our snorkeling bag and hooked it on Aaron. We went into the water and had a great time. The first task was getting over the rocks. Oh my gosh! They seemed so close. We had big waves coming in too. I scrapped up my left knee pretty bad. OUCH! It was around the rocks that we finally started seeing fish. And then from NOWHERE, this Turtle appeared. It tried to piggy back me. Then a wave came along and flipped it over a little and we swam away. I couldn't believe how close I got to that turtle. It just happend. We saw another turtle later too. All the fish were great. There were times the waves really moved us. Aaron said we were "body surfing". On the way back to the shore I made sure my knees stayed up. We snorkeled for just under an hour. That was all the time we had. We had such a fun experience. We hope to go back sometime during this trip.
I had a headache on the way back to the hotel. I was really worried it was turning into a migraine. I drank a lot of water and that seemed to help somewhat.
We quickly got ready and went to the photo shoot. The photographer couldn't get my name right. She kept calling me Lori. She did a nice job with the pictures. She took at least 55 shots. It was fun. People would walk down the street and comment on what they saw. At one point we got into the water. (We weren't in our swim suits:)) We really enjoyed this time.
As we waited for the pictures to get ready we walked across the street to the International Market for dinner. On the way in I saw a man all in silver and trying to be a statue. I commented on him on the way in. We found dinner and then headed back to the photographer. When we passed the man in silver again, he jumped out at me and I jumped and grabbed Aaron. People around were laughing. It was funny except moving like that made my back twinge. I had to be extremely careful on the way back to the hotel after that.
At the International Market a lady grabbed us and wanted us to buy a jar of salt, a lotion, and then a stone. She wanted to charge us $160. We told her she was crazy. Plus I told her the smell was driving me nuts. We tried to explain that I don't do well with smelly stuff. She said to take 2 jars of salt then. Last I checked, salt doesn't cost that much.
We saw a Ferrari Store and had to take some pictures. We thought Tanner would love that.
When we went back to get our photo's we found out they wanted to charge us $1250.00 NOT!!! We had been told that we would get a free 8X10 and could buy a disk of all the pictures for $50. We were in SHOCK for what they wanted to charge. Just for a CD it would be $500. To say the least, we didn't get that much. We bought 1 8X10 and got a free 8X10 and that was it. I was dissappointed we didn't get the CD (because we had some fabulous pictures) but there was NO WAY we were going to pay that much. They'll be getting a hold of Expedia and telling them not to false advertise.
On our walk back to the hotel we took a few sunset pictures and then stopped off for some Hawaiian Shaved Ice. We had been told we had to have this. They were right. I couldn't believe how big one of them was. You had to choose 4 flavors. We chose Pineapple, Mango, Passion Fruit, and Guava. Those flavors mixed well. We just sat across from the ocean and watched the people and ate them. Then slowly walked back to the hotel so my back wouldn't flare up anymore.
We have some video of the snorkeling including a turtle with it. It will take 80 min. to download it so we'll have to show it when we get home or download it another time.
We are very proud of Tanner for being tall enough to ride the rides at the water park. Not just being tall enough but brave enough. We can just imagine how proud he is.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
One Long Sweet Song!
I was right. We both crashed hard last night. We slept great. We were too exhausted not to. We casually got up this morning and left about 9:15 for the Dole Plantation.
The drive wasn't too bad. The Dole Plantation was a lot of fun. We started with the maze. This is the largest maze in the world. They time you. You have to go to 8 check points. It was fun. I guided most of it while Aaron watched the map so he didn't feel lost. It took us 49 min. to complete the whole maze. Record times were 5-8 min. We decided we just wanted to enjoy it, and we did.
After the maze we enjoyed lunch. I had the Kalua Pork and Aaron had Teriyaki Chicken. It was good. Flowers came with the meal so Aaron put them in my hair. While we were eating we saw a lady get "attacked" by a bird. We decided the bird was probably injured. The lady freaked out. It was funny to watch.
After lunch we walked around a bit and found out some interesting facts about pineapple. A pineapple takes 18 months to be grown. Then the plant will only grow 2 more pineapples. The whole process has to be done by hand. It is quite the process.
After watching some fish be fed, we went on a garden tour. That was fun too. We listened to devices that told us about lei's, hibiscus flowers, plemaria flowers, gum trees, and so much more. Those 4 items were my favorite though. The tour took us about an hour. The title of this blog was a saying Jim Dole said about the pineapple growing business in Hawaii. Pineapple tastes so FABULOUS here. It had sprinkled a bit during the day but it was still warm. We got a Pineapple Dole Whip; Pineapple ice cream with pineapple as a topping. YUM YUM YUM!!! My mouth hurt but it sure was great. We really enjoyed the plantation.
We tried to find the Kawela Bay because Aaron wanted to find something off the beaten path. We tried to park at Turtle Bay Resort but couldn't so we drove back a few miles. After parking we walked in sand and rocks a little more than a mile back up shore to get to the Kawela Bay. We found it but it was a long ways. We put our blankets under a coconut tree (we found coconuts all over the ground)and went snorkeling. We have practiced snorkeling for about a year and finally got to snorkel in the ocean. It was disappointing. It was murky and we couldn't see anything. You could see more in Sand Hollow Reservoir than you could at this bay. We snorkeled for a little while and then decided to leave. On the way back Aaron walked next to the water and was fascinated by the fish and hermit crabs. I told him to take one and put it in our water bottle but he said he's had enough crab water for a lifetime. (You have to know what happened on our 7th anniversary trip to get that.) Some fish got scared and would jump from pool to pool. It was fun to see. There were also tons of crabs running everywhere on the sand. (Aaron forgot the camera so there aren't any pictures of this stuff) We walked forever and were frustrated with the snorkeling but we still had fun. Kawela Bay was not a total bust.
We decided to drive around the island the long way and see a few things. We saw the temple (which is closed until next Tuesday), and Laie Point. That was cool. The water had large waves. I've never seen them so big. Plus they would crash up against the rocks and spray. You could look down the island and see the mountain range. It was so pretty. We enjoyed this stop.
We were headed to the Pali lookout when we decided just to go back to the hotel. The lookout had rain and clouds and we decided it would be better to go another time. We made it back to the hotel about 8:00 We finally got dinner at the Rainbow Drive Inn. Aaron got the loco moco and loved it. We walked to dinner and then went to the "ABC Store" for macadamia nut chocolates. Yum!
Today was another "longish" day but a lot better on us since we didn't walk everywhere. We just walked a lot. Another great day of our trip.
The drive wasn't too bad. The Dole Plantation was a lot of fun. We started with the maze. This is the largest maze in the world. They time you. You have to go to 8 check points. It was fun. I guided most of it while Aaron watched the map so he didn't feel lost. It took us 49 min. to complete the whole maze. Record times were 5-8 min. We decided we just wanted to enjoy it, and we did.
After the maze we enjoyed lunch. I had the Kalua Pork and Aaron had Teriyaki Chicken. It was good. Flowers came with the meal so Aaron put them in my hair. While we were eating we saw a lady get "attacked" by a bird. We decided the bird was probably injured. The lady freaked out. It was funny to watch.
After lunch we walked around a bit and found out some interesting facts about pineapple. A pineapple takes 18 months to be grown. Then the plant will only grow 2 more pineapples. The whole process has to be done by hand. It is quite the process.
After watching some fish be fed, we went on a garden tour. That was fun too. We listened to devices that told us about lei's, hibiscus flowers, plemaria flowers, gum trees, and so much more. Those 4 items were my favorite though. The tour took us about an hour. The title of this blog was a saying Jim Dole said about the pineapple growing business in Hawaii. Pineapple tastes so FABULOUS here. It had sprinkled a bit during the day but it was still warm. We got a Pineapple Dole Whip; Pineapple ice cream with pineapple as a topping. YUM YUM YUM!!! My mouth hurt but it sure was great. We really enjoyed the plantation.
We tried to find the Kawela Bay because Aaron wanted to find something off the beaten path. We tried to park at Turtle Bay Resort but couldn't so we drove back a few miles. After parking we walked in sand and rocks a little more than a mile back up shore to get to the Kawela Bay. We found it but it was a long ways. We put our blankets under a coconut tree (we found coconuts all over the ground)and went snorkeling. We have practiced snorkeling for about a year and finally got to snorkel in the ocean. It was disappointing. It was murky and we couldn't see anything. You could see more in Sand Hollow Reservoir than you could at this bay. We snorkeled for a little while and then decided to leave. On the way back Aaron walked next to the water and was fascinated by the fish and hermit crabs. I told him to take one and put it in our water bottle but he said he's had enough crab water for a lifetime. (You have to know what happened on our 7th anniversary trip to get that.) Some fish got scared and would jump from pool to pool. It was fun to see. There were also tons of crabs running everywhere on the sand. (Aaron forgot the camera so there aren't any pictures of this stuff) We walked forever and were frustrated with the snorkeling but we still had fun. Kawela Bay was not a total bust.
We decided to drive around the island the long way and see a few things. We saw the temple (which is closed until next Tuesday), and Laie Point. That was cool. The water had large waves. I've never seen them so big. Plus they would crash up against the rocks and spray. You could look down the island and see the mountain range. It was so pretty. We enjoyed this stop.
We were headed to the Pali lookout when we decided just to go back to the hotel. The lookout had rain and clouds and we decided it would be better to go another time. We made it back to the hotel about 8:00 We finally got dinner at the Rainbow Drive Inn. Aaron got the loco moco and loved it. We walked to dinner and then went to the "ABC Store" for macadamia nut chocolates. Yum!
Today was another "longish" day but a lot better on us since we didn't walk everywhere. We just walked a lot. Another great day of our trip.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Change of Plans
We slept okay last night but we were still up by 6:00. I'm sure after today the time change will be even more in our systems.
We started the day out trying to find stamps for postcards. We had to go to the "ABC Store" to get them. So we walked down the street. "ABC Stores" are EVERYWHERE!!!
We had a welcome breakfast to go to at 8:00 at the Maui Divers Jewelry. This was a sells pitch for Expedia. They wanted us to book things to do on the island. We couldn't believe how many people go on vacation and don't know what they are going to do until after they are there. We found that we booked all of our things for cheaper prices and we booked all the popular and fun things. We are so excited. At the end they had 3 door prize drawing. We won one of them. We now are going to go to the Sea Life Park on Saturday. We loved winning, it just made us move some things around. They took pictures of us and wanted to charge $16-20 for postcard size pictures. NOT! They did have a free photo shoot with a free 8X10 also. So once again we rearranged things and will be doing that on Thursday.
We then went on a "free" tour of the Maui Divers Jewelry. Whatever. They sold us a pearl right out of the shell and then tried to make us buy the jewelry to put it on. The cheapest jewelry we saw was $170. Once again, NOT! We got out of there as fast as we could.
We then went to "The Cheesecake Factory" for lunch. We have never been there and I really wanted to go. We had to have cheesecake for dessert of course. We decided on the Hawaiian cheesecake, the "White Chocolate Carmel Macadamia Nut Cheesecake". What a mouthful. Litterally. That was a sugar high for me. We worked it off later though.
We then went to the International Market Place. It had tons of shops and most of the shops had the same things. We found a Sarong for me and a nice shirt for Aaron. I also got some things for my hair. It was fun. I have such a hard time buying things for myself. Aaron does it well though.
On our walk back to the hotel, we walked down on the beach, sometimes being in the water. We were supposed to go look at the statues in downtown Honolulu but Aaron now had a giant craving to get in the water. We changed into our suits, borrowed some boogie boards from our hotel, and went to the ocean. I immediately swam out as far as I wanted. After a time Aaron asked me go back closer to the shore with him. He was riding the waves in and having a lot of fun. I was trying to ride the waves but just was not getting it. Finally Aaron helped me a bit and I started to get it a little. We played for about 2.5 hours. The water was a nice temperature and there were people around but not too many. It was just plain old fun.
Aaron decided that the camera had too much sand in it so we went back to the hotel and "fixed" it. We couldn't believe how much time had gone by. We decided we had better have dinner. We looked in some dining books we have and I found "Ono Hawaiian Foods". It looked kind of close so we walked again. We saw a side of town we hadn't seen yet.
This restaurant makes you wait outside before being seated. It's a quaint and small place. We wanted to try "real" hawaiian food and that's what we got. For $20 we shared Laulau (pork wrapped and cooked in taro leaves), Kalua Pig, rice, poi, (which Aaron really liked, and I liked it with the onions. Aaron decided that the taste is SNABBY!) Picalaula (meat that tasted like beef jerky but tender, really good) Loni Salmon (which had tons of tomatoes so I ate it. Yum!)and they gave us some dessert thing. We don't know the name of it. We loved all this food, the atmosphere, and the hawaiian feel. We are so glad we went there.
When we walked out we found that it was raining. Almost like a heavy sprinkle. It was nice. We walked back to the hotel in it. After a short rest, (my back isn't liking being up and going without rest) we went out to a gazebo on the end of a pier. The waves were Huge! I should tell you that it was way dark by now. We enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing and could see the moon shining across the water.
We then walked up the beach by the shops. It was crazy to see all the people and the way people are in touristy places. We walked all the way back to the International Market Place and a little more. We liked looking in some shops and just seeing what they have. We found a really nice dress but not willing to pay so much money. We took some pictures in front of the Duke of Kahanamoku. He's the father of modern surfing. If you get on some website, you can see Waikiki live from this Dukes statue. We found that we had been close to this statue a couple of time and even past it before we realized it was there.
After walking for 2 hours we have finally made it back to our hotel. We are exhausted and worn out. I can't see us not sleeping well tonight.
We started the day out trying to find stamps for postcards. We had to go to the "ABC Store" to get them. So we walked down the street. "ABC Stores" are EVERYWHERE!!!
We had a welcome breakfast to go to at 8:00 at the Maui Divers Jewelry. This was a sells pitch for Expedia. They wanted us to book things to do on the island. We couldn't believe how many people go on vacation and don't know what they are going to do until after they are there. We found that we booked all of our things for cheaper prices and we booked all the popular and fun things. We are so excited. At the end they had 3 door prize drawing. We won one of them. We now are going to go to the Sea Life Park on Saturday. We loved winning, it just made us move some things around. They took pictures of us and wanted to charge $16-20 for postcard size pictures. NOT! They did have a free photo shoot with a free 8X10 also. So once again we rearranged things and will be doing that on Thursday.
We then went on a "free" tour of the Maui Divers Jewelry. Whatever. They sold us a pearl right out of the shell and then tried to make us buy the jewelry to put it on. The cheapest jewelry we saw was $170. Once again, NOT! We got out of there as fast as we could.
We then went to "The Cheesecake Factory" for lunch. We have never been there and I really wanted to go. We had to have cheesecake for dessert of course. We decided on the Hawaiian cheesecake, the "White Chocolate Carmel Macadamia Nut Cheesecake". What a mouthful. Litterally. That was a sugar high for me. We worked it off later though.
We then went to the International Market Place. It had tons of shops and most of the shops had the same things. We found a Sarong for me and a nice shirt for Aaron. I also got some things for my hair. It was fun. I have such a hard time buying things for myself. Aaron does it well though.
On our walk back to the hotel, we walked down on the beach, sometimes being in the water. We were supposed to go look at the statues in downtown Honolulu but Aaron now had a giant craving to get in the water. We changed into our suits, borrowed some boogie boards from our hotel, and went to the ocean. I immediately swam out as far as I wanted. After a time Aaron asked me go back closer to the shore with him. He was riding the waves in and having a lot of fun. I was trying to ride the waves but just was not getting it. Finally Aaron helped me a bit and I started to get it a little. We played for about 2.5 hours. The water was a nice temperature and there were people around but not too many. It was just plain old fun.
Aaron decided that the camera had too much sand in it so we went back to the hotel and "fixed" it. We couldn't believe how much time had gone by. We decided we had better have dinner. We looked in some dining books we have and I found "Ono Hawaiian Foods". It looked kind of close so we walked again. We saw a side of town we hadn't seen yet.
This restaurant makes you wait outside before being seated. It's a quaint and small place. We wanted to try "real" hawaiian food and that's what we got. For $20 we shared Laulau (pork wrapped and cooked in taro leaves), Kalua Pig, rice, poi, (which Aaron really liked, and I liked it with the onions. Aaron decided that the taste is SNABBY!) Picalaula (meat that tasted like beef jerky but tender, really good) Loni Salmon (which had tons of tomatoes so I ate it. Yum!)and they gave us some dessert thing. We don't know the name of it. We loved all this food, the atmosphere, and the hawaiian feel. We are so glad we went there.
When we walked out we found that it was raining. Almost like a heavy sprinkle. It was nice. We walked back to the hotel in it. After a short rest, (my back isn't liking being up and going without rest) we went out to a gazebo on the end of a pier. The waves were Huge! I should tell you that it was way dark by now. We enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing and could see the moon shining across the water.
We then walked up the beach by the shops. It was crazy to see all the people and the way people are in touristy places. We walked all the way back to the International Market Place and a little more. We liked looking in some shops and just seeing what they have. We found a really nice dress but not willing to pay so much money. We took some pictures in front of the Duke of Kahanamoku. He's the father of modern surfing. If you get on some website, you can see Waikiki live from this Dukes statue. We found that we had been close to this statue a couple of time and even past it before we realized it was there.
After walking for 2 hours we have finally made it back to our hotel. We are exhausted and worn out. I can't see us not sleeping well tonight.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Aloha!
We have had quite the day. I was in a panic to get to the Las Vegas airport. The security check was nothing. Once we got to the gate we walked around for just over an hour waiting for our flight. While walking around we found somebodies boarding pass. When we turned it in to our attendant, she bumped us up to economy plus, which means we had more leg room. That was nice. My ears were fine until the descent. All was fine again in LA.
We scarfed down a fast burrito in LA and then we were off (with no time but to eat and go)and on our way to Honolulu. I have never been more than one time zone away. I have been so excited to get here. We didn't have the leg room on that flight but it wasn't too bad. They played a game on the plane of trying to guess the half way time of how long it took for us to get here. The flight was 5.5 hours long. This too was a new experience. Aaron and I read our books for a good part of it. Then they showed the show "Hawaii Five O" which we decided to watch. I continued to watch an episode of "Friends" and then played some games on my computer. The time passed relatively fast. I managed to keep my ear good until the descent again. I was so glad it didn't bother me the whole time.
When we arrived in Honolulu we had a lei greeting. Our flowers are pretty and it was fun to be able to do that.
By the time we got our car it was already 4:45. On the way to the hotel it was a traffic jam. We saw an apartment on fire and the ambulance was trying to get thru on the freeway. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out this car. We saw a beautiful rainbow over the island as we drove thru Honolulu. The lanes here are small and people drive crazy. People cross where ever and there are TONS of one way streets. I'm hoping it won't be so bad once we get further away from the city.
After we checked in to our hotel, (which I managed to make the car honk as a warning of theft and it took me a bit to figure out how to quiet it up while Aaron checked in :))we left on foot to find somewhere to eat. (It was now 6:00 and we were starving.) We came upon this Korean Food place called "ME B B Q" We had to choose 4 sides. It was a lot of food. We really enjoyed it. They only took cash. We were aware this happens here so we were prepared when we normally wouldn't be.
As we ate I kept asking Aaron if the people we saw walking by were tourist or locals. It was kind of fun to watch the people. Aaron decided that where we were in town most of the people were probably tourist.
After dinner we walked to Waikiki Beach. It was only a few blocks away. We walked down the beach with our shoes off and watched the sunset. With the clouds in the sky it sure was pretty. There were trees that grew but out of the branches they'd grow down and attach to the ground. It is incredible to see. We continued to walk further down the beach. They have some piers so we walked out on one. As we got about half way across Aaron stopped and pointed out there were crabs all across the top and not to step on them. They looked like giant spiders. We tried to get a picture but it was too dark by then. It's really nice that our hotel is so close to the beach. Just a nice evening of strolling and enjoying the time.
We are really enjoying our trip so far. It has now been 20 hours since we got up. We are definately going to bed when I'm done posting this.
We scarfed down a fast burrito in LA and then we were off (with no time but to eat and go)and on our way to Honolulu. I have never been more than one time zone away. I have been so excited to get here. We didn't have the leg room on that flight but it wasn't too bad. They played a game on the plane of trying to guess the half way time of how long it took for us to get here. The flight was 5.5 hours long. This too was a new experience. Aaron and I read our books for a good part of it. Then they showed the show "Hawaii Five O" which we decided to watch. I continued to watch an episode of "Friends" and then played some games on my computer. The time passed relatively fast. I managed to keep my ear good until the descent again. I was so glad it didn't bother me the whole time.
When we arrived in Honolulu we had a lei greeting. Our flowers are pretty and it was fun to be able to do that.
By the time we got our car it was already 4:45. On the way to the hotel it was a traffic jam. We saw an apartment on fire and the ambulance was trying to get thru on the freeway. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out this car. We saw a beautiful rainbow over the island as we drove thru Honolulu. The lanes here are small and people drive crazy. People cross where ever and there are TONS of one way streets. I'm hoping it won't be so bad once we get further away from the city.
After we checked in to our hotel, (which I managed to make the car honk as a warning of theft and it took me a bit to figure out how to quiet it up while Aaron checked in :))we left on foot to find somewhere to eat. (It was now 6:00 and we were starving.) We came upon this Korean Food place called "ME B B Q" We had to choose 4 sides. It was a lot of food. We really enjoyed it. They only took cash. We were aware this happens here so we were prepared when we normally wouldn't be.
As we ate I kept asking Aaron if the people we saw walking by were tourist or locals. It was kind of fun to watch the people. Aaron decided that where we were in town most of the people were probably tourist.
After dinner we walked to Waikiki Beach. It was only a few blocks away. We walked down the beach with our shoes off and watched the sunset. With the clouds in the sky it sure was pretty. There were trees that grew but out of the branches they'd grow down and attach to the ground. It is incredible to see. We continued to walk further down the beach. They have some piers so we walked out on one. As we got about half way across Aaron stopped and pointed out there were crabs all across the top and not to step on them. They looked like giant spiders. We tried to get a picture but it was too dark by then. It's really nice that our hotel is so close to the beach. Just a nice evening of strolling and enjoying the time.
We are really enjoying our trip so far. It has now been 20 hours since we got up. We are definately going to bed when I'm done posting this.
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