Hawaii Part II

Day 4- We woke up and went to Tom's Bakery again:) and then headed to the temple. We made sure to pack our recommends, but forgot clothes to wear into the temple! ACK! I had a maxi dress and flip flops, but Doug didn't have anything. We were far away from a Walmart or a mall, so we just went to the distribution center and bought new white pants and a shirt. We got some looks, but were happy to be there and attend a session with some locals. It is a beautiful temple, very similar to the Mesa Az temple. I love attending the temple with my sweetheart, especially temples I have never been to before...

After the temple we took our fancy rental car and headed up the coast to Waikiki. We stopped at this park to let Doug change, and the scenery was so beautiful we had to stop and take a picture.

We then stopped at this awesome cattle ranch Kuoloa Ranch, and had a tour of the mountain. The whole time while driving around the island, Doug would say, "I want to go drive up that mountain and explore..." But there were no roads that we could find. This was our chance...to be driven and told some cool facts about the ranch along the way.

Since it is private land, Tons of Hollywood movies and TV shows have been recorded there. Lost, Jurassic Park, Journey 2, and tons more I can't remember...

 Plus we were up high on the mountain and got an amazing view of the ocean....

 Plus it's a working cattle ranch...making lots of money these guys are...

 Breathtaking right?

We continued our drive down around the island to Waikiki-which was a huge difference from the quiet landscape of the North Shore...I was bummed when we got the city, because of all the hustle and bustle. Big shops, people trying to sell you stuff on the corner, homeless people asking for money, and jammed packed with people. But it was closer to the swap meet and Pearl Harbor- two things that we wanted to do.
Day 5 we payed for a tour with a group so that we for sure got into Pearl Harbor. We got to tour the U.S.S. Missouri-which is where WWII was finished. They signed the documents on that ship. A huge cool battleship. Doug loved it....and we only wished our patriotic dads could be there with us.

The USS Missouri....

Next stop was USS Arizona Memorial-we walked in and there was this guy...
I instantly burst into tears. What an honor to be in the presence of a Pearl Harbor Veteran. I can't imagine what he and so many others have endured, defiantly a humbling experience. 

This is the gun touret base of the Arizona above ground...their was oil still seeping out of the ship. The veterans say that it represents the tears of those trapped underneath. 

 The names of the fallen- The memorial had a very special spirit around it-and I'm so grateful I got to experience it.

 We spent the rest of the evening walking the streets, and eating at cheesecake factory...yum...
The next day we went snorkeling at Hanamea Bay-it was good! You can't touch the coral the water was really shallow, so I felt like my belly was going to scrape the whole time...its a really cool bay that is protected with some crazy cool big fish. I wish I had an underwater camera.

 The Bay where we snorkled...

 This is a view from our hotel room-The Hyatt-FANCY! It even had a beday (don't know if that's how you speell-never used one of those before:)

On our last day, we went out with a bang! We ate at the incredible Orginal Pancake House-Macadamia Nut Pancakes with cocunt syrup...holy AWESOME....the best meal we ate on the trip.

 Don't I look fatter just from eating there?    We also stopped by the swap meet and got some good deals on suveniors... definatly fun!

 Our last stop was on this GORGEOUS beach-Kualoa Beach-one of the top travel channel beaches. The water was incredible and the sand was so soft...we walked up and down the beach taking in the last day of our awesome trip. I started missing my kids around this time...I  know they would have loved playing in the warm ocean, and building sand castles out of the sand...

My best friend-my sweetheart-my everything...He makes me feel so special....

 So long Hawaii----until next time...thanks for reading the long novel and letting me share the pics with you...

Hawaii Part I

 

Since we were there for a week, I thought I would break up the posts into 2...that way I can blog the pictures easier and it doesn't get to overwhelming....Also, I'm too lazy to make collages of the pictures so you get them big in all their glory one by one:)

So One week ago we jetted off on Hawaiin Airlines to GORGEOUS Hawaii...It was a big plane...the biggest I have ever been on. It had a middle aisle with 3 seats and 2 sides with 2 seats...so fancy! We had a direct flight over there-about 6 hours and we watched 2 movies and were so excited to get there! 

Can I just say that when God created Hawaii he must have been smiling and extra happy, because it is breathtaking. We got out rental car....a convertible(ohh la la) and we completely in love with the scenery. So green and lush everywhere you look! We did lots of driving around the island and LOVED it! We stayed at Turtle Bay on the North Shore and just took out time seeing the sights getting there. We stopped at a shrimp truck on the way and were in love with the fields and the landscape.

We also stopped at the famous Matsumoto's Shaved Ice...it was awesome! We went back again too on this trip. They put ice cream in the bottom....YUMM-O!

 

This is the view from our hotel room...sigh...we slept with the windows open everynight and listening to the ocean waves...incredible.

Our hotel was really beautiful and private....Here are some shots from our walk around the first day.

We took a drive and found this cute place for dinner...food wasn't good but the atmosphere amazing...

 Doug told them this trip was for our anniversary-they brought champagne and then exchanged it for sparkling cider...

Crazy roots huh? Trees like this were everywhere!!

On our way to snorkel at Shark's Cove-Day 2

 This was one of my favorite things that we did on this trip-it gets a little scary to relax with your face in the water, but once you get going it awesome! I didn't buy an underwater camera, and we didn't take our camera down to the beach with us...so here we are a few hours later at sharks cove. The sea life was awesome and the water was clear! It's a work out for my preggo bigness but I loved it. The only down side was that later on that day it was killing me to sit...I look back at my giant butt and wouldn't you know I forgot to sunscreen the back of my thighs...OUCH! By the next day I was feeling much better, what a smartie I am!

 Another shot of the Cove....

 We headed up the road to the Dole Plantation...it was cool to learn about pineapples....I didn't know they grew in the ground? And that there were lots of different varieties...

They have crazy cool foliage....

 Pineapple ice cream...almost too sweet but good.....

As we were cruising back home we stopped at some random beach...we saw a bunch of people gathered around...hum...we thought let's go check it out...

It was so awesome to see real Sea turtles just resting on the beach!! Craziest thing...they come to the shore to rest...they looked like big rocks!

Okay-so I have heard of the plumeria flower, had lotions or soaps with the smell, but nothing compares to the real thing! They were in full bloom while we were there and the scent was incredible. I tried to have one in my hair as often as I could just to get a wiff every once in a while. Doug loved the smell too...

The classic preggo pose....

We went for breakfast on day 3 to the famous Ted's Bakery-Doug got yummy friend rice, we actually went back again it was that good. I got a macadamia nut donut....wow....

 Off to the next big adventure...SKY DIVING! Doug has always wanted to do this and now that is 100+ lbs. lighter, it was a breeze for him! He loved it and said it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be. He jumped tandem from 14,000 feet and loved looking down on beautiful Hawaii... They landed on the air strip, his guide told me look for the orange and red parachute...well wouldn't you know there was like 5 other orange and red ones in the sky at that time...shesh! So I didn't see him land, but he got to land standing...cool!

 Next thing I knew he was on the ground....yay! Safe and sound...I'm so happy. Happy to see him, and happy that he was able to do this for himself.

After that we headed to the PCC or the Polynesian cultural center and spent the rest of the day there. What a cool thing that the church has going on there! Giving kids from Polynesian islands a chance to come to BYU Hawaii and share their culture. Its kind of like a big amusement park with it separated out by islands. We were able to go and see most of the different islands and learn about each of them...really unique! I also ran into 2 people from my hometown..crazy small town Mormon world I tell you

 We also got to eat some authentic luau food...some was a litte wonky for my tastes, but it was fun to try it...

We ended the evening with a cool broadway type show, with dancing, fire, and music...a little like an Easter pagent or other church production...uplifting and amazing.
We weren't allowed to take pictures at it, bummer...but it was awesome...

Day 4 coming next....