Hawaii - Oahu

there are more pictures on facebook.

ALOHA!!!! We had a great trip to Hawaii, especially being our first time. The weather was perfect as was everything else. It was Christian and I and his parents. NO KIDS!!!

My mom was awesome and came to our house to watch the kids for us. She did the school/soccer mom stuff and everything. It was great timing because she was cleared just a couple of days before our trip, by her doctor, to lift Cait. She is not even a year out from a major back surgery. What a trooper. Brenten didn't even want us to come back since that would mean Grandma would leave. I have been told lots of things since Grandma has left.....

Brenten "Grandma makes pancakes and eggs in the morning. They are not really for dinner mom"
Landon "Grandma's car is a LOT better than yours"
Brenten "Mom did you notice, Grandma fixed everything....the garage door, my door and the oven door" (they all squeaked really bad)

Everyday they find a way to tell me how great Grandma is. I love that they have such a connection with her and I never questioned that they would be in better care than when I am here. In fact that was such a comfort. I didn't have to worry about the kids because I knew they were well taken care of.

Back to Hawaii. We had a great time. Sorry but this is more for when I scrapbook that I can remember it all. Lets see.

Sunday we got in late around 8pm. Once we got the rental figured out and checked into the hotel (in Waikiki) we were starving so we got Subway. Not exactly what I was planning on eating in Hawaii but it worked great.

Monday we just checked out the area. Our hotel was in a great spot. Next to lots of shopping and next to the beach. What else does a girl need. So we checked out the beach for a while and then got food for in the hotel. We ate lunch. Then Christian and I headed back out to swim in the ocean. It is awesome. We were warned the Waikiki beaches are not the best but we found some great areas not to far and the waves were fun. And we saw some giant sea turtles. We couldn't get close but they were still so cool. I didn't have my camera and was bummed so I was going to bring it back. We didn't see turtles there the rest of the trip. I couldn't help but think how much the boys would like it. After a few hours we came back got ready and went to eat dinner and check out the shopping.

Tuesday we did a tour on a bus around the island. It was great because I saw all the places we NEEDED to go to. And we got to go to the dole plantation. At around noon we showed up to the Polynesian Culture Center (PCC) we had a guide there. I loved our guide mostly because our names are the same. Well not really she was from Mongolia so she had like 24 letters in her name and then beke at the end so that is what she goes by. She showed us all around. They have made up all the islands and we took a little boat through and they told us about it. Then we went to all the "islands" and they had a show. They were great. Very entertaining and interesting. And they had a boat parade. At five we finished our tour and then we went to the Luau. It was great food and of course they had dancing. they had these little guys about Landon and Brenten's age doing the Hula. they were so cute. I wanted to bring them home with me. We had a little time before the show so we took a tram over to the temple and to BYU Hawaii. At about 7:30 the show started. I knew it would be good but I was really surprised. It was so impressive. Better than I could have imagined. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 11 or so.

Wednesday We went to Pearl Harbor. I am a little ashamed but I don't know a lot about our history, Pearl Harbor in particular. It was pretty cool. We didn't have to wait in line so that was great. We took a boat over to the monument. We could see where the ships are still today. Well parts of them. and you can see the oil that still comes up from the ship. they can't fix it with out disturbing all the bodies that are still in the ship. After Pearl Harbor we went to a flee market at their Stadium. It was huge. I mean HUGE. We didn't even see half of it. We found some lunch and headed back to the hotel. Christian and I, of course, headed out to the beach. At night we went to check out the shops. they have all these street vendors out selling random things, dancing, or playing music.

Thursday We went snorkeling in Hunama bay (i don't remember how to spell it). It was great. I have never tried snorkeling and I think it may be my new favorite thing. After I got over my freak outs. I had a hard time relaxing and not hyperventilating and my back would get super tight. But once I made myself relax it was so awesome. We swam over the coral reefs and there were fish everywhere. I swam with a little sea turtle (but didn't know it) Every time I would turn so would the turtle. Everyone said it was practically on my shoulder. Christian would swim down and scare things out of their holes. A 3 foot long eel came out and swam right at me and swam under me. I freaked out of course, which meant I took in a bit of ocean water. It was really so cool. We decided to drive up the east coast line of Oahu. So we drove and checked out different beaches. Incredible how the beaches are so different even though they are so close. We went to one with a blow hole (of course Christian's favorite to say). And we went to Laniakea Beach which is the home to about 20 sea turtles. So cool. It made the whole trip for me. This time I had my camera ready. I got some pretty good pictures. I could have touched it we were so close but since they are endangered we are not allowed to. We also went to La'ie beach (Pounders). Christian and I wanted to go back there with boogie boards or something. The waves were great.

Friday We drove up the west side of the beach to more of the North Shore. The beaches were great. We swam at Waiamea Bay The sand was great. And the water was like a swimming pool. No waves and it was so clear. You could see 20ft down. Christian jumped off Jump Rock. I guess he had to with a name like that. There was a bouldering (climbing) spot too. Christian was so bummed he didn't have his shoes, but he climbed a little anyway. Just couldn't help himself. While we were there this lady told us about Sharks cove. So we went and checked it out. We decided we needed to go snorkeling there. We also went to Banzai Pipeline (where they have the big surf competition in the winter)

Saturday We went back to Shark's Cove and got snorkel rentals and went snorkeling. This one was a little harder to get into because of all the rocks but it was fun. We like Hunauma bay better but this was good. It was deeper in parts and I saw big schools of fish. We were there most of the day. And then we drove the rest of the coast we hadn't gotten to yet. it was the south west side. This is definitely the poorer area. Christian's mom made the comment "look there is camping on this beach" As we went they were definitely not campers. There were so many homeless people and they have their own community. So sad. There will little babies and it was so dirty. They had tents up and enough stuff that they had been there for many months if not years like this. We continued down the road and found a great beach. And the waves were huge and crashed right on the beach. We weren't allowed to swim only surfers. I could just stare at the waves all day. After we got back we had a late lunch and then Christian and I went to the beach for our last swim in Hawaii.

Sunday We hung out and got packed. We checked out of the hotel at 11am and then found a church. We went to a couple of hours and then headed out to check out the Capital Building. We don't know if we actually saw it but there were a few that could have been it. And then we went to Hilo something (I'm sure you all know the name) but it makes me think of Hello Kitty. Its a big store of Hawaii stuff. After that we headed out to turn in the rental car and then to the airport to wait and wait.

We got in Monday morning. Christian headed off to work and I came home to let my mom leave and hang with the kiddos.