Hawaii - the Oahu one.

Island 1 - Oahu (Sunblock 70SPF everyday!)

Flew to Honolulu on the 4^th of July, picked up mini-van, and headed in crazy traffic to our hotel/condos: The Royal Kuhio. Angie, Mark, Levi and Dallin in one room, steph, Lauren and Luke in the cool room J We toured our area a little to find out what was around. McDonalds across the street, IHOP down the road a block, ABC stores, Starbucks, souvenirs, and that is all we could see from our balconies. We were starving so we ate dinner/lunch at IHOP with the “Despicable Me” minions. Food never tasted so good and our moods were much improved.

We tried swimming; I made it to my middle and never went deeper. The kids didn’t seem to notice that it was FREEZING! They played and played until their lips were purple. My room stayed up and watched the amazing fireworks over the buildings and some in the reflection of other buildings. They were spectacular!!

We headed to Kailua Monday morning. We looked for the scenic overlook, but ended up chasing chickens and going the wrong way. Finally we made it! The extended Vostis were there, as well as Auntie Lolie/Dave and his family. We played for hours in the ocean and on the deserted beach. We were practically alone. The water was clear and refreshing. We boogie boarded and buried Dallin. After a few hours we ate sandwiches at Auntie Lolie’s before heading back to the beach with everyone else. I took a nap with a shirt on my head (no need to sunburn on day 1). Dinner was deliciously BBQed ribs and corn. (A lot of fish in salads and ravioli!) It was a packed house and we ended the evening with a ping-pong tournament. I held my own against Tim (who took second place). Ryklyn won, but no one was surprised. There were a lot of laughs and much mocking! I spent most of the time tickling backs, ears, and heads. Lots of chaffing.

July 6 - We ate breakfast – yogurt, cereal, and toast… then headed to Pearl Harbor. Vosti went golfing while we went to tourist stuff. We arrived around 8am and received tickets for 11:30am, so we went to see USS Missouri. We got iPod touch headsets. There was a tour and video to go along with the entire ship. We went up top and down below, it was fascinating! I hadn’t realized that it was used in Desert Storm. It was enormous, but at the same time so claustrophobic (small and cramped spaces).

We finished the tour with Dippin Dots and root beer. The rains sprinkled us, but never enough to cause problems. The sun was ever present and soon shone strong… enough to cook us! I took pictures left and right, and nobody objected, always posing when I asked and smiling big. We bought souvenirs and then waited for our turn to boat out to USS Arizona and the memorial site. There were ginormous ships all around (the Reagan had planes and helicopters – HUGE). There was oil still leaking from the sunken ship (60 years later) and members from that ship can still be buried there, with a gun salute and everything out in the water. They are cremated and put into an airtight capsule and scuba dived down. One crewmember had passed away just a few months ago. We did our reverent observance and then headed back.

We met Mark back at the condo (super happy Mark... who shot an EAGLE!). We wanted to sleep the rest of the day away, so Angela started with 2 choices… “To go, or not to go” and Levi chose “not to go!” Ha ha! The choice was whether or not we hike Diamond Head, a volcano crater with a gorgeous view of the ocean. I could have slept, but thought that I should see what I could see and do what I could do. We hiked a steep mountain side in the blazing sun, sweat dripping and Angie claiming to be dropping the McDonald’s fries from her hips left and right (and I was too)! We climbed the switchbacks then a stairway to heaven and through barracks to the top. The view included the oceans several colors blue, from turquoise to navy, a lighthouse, and a beach town. Angie was terrified of Levi jumping to his death, so didn’t enjoy the beauty as much as we did. As we descended, a rainbow appeared in the bright blue sky.

Hanauma Bay – 7:30am. Because of Angela’s perfect planning, we beat most of the crowds and found good parking, grass for our home base and snorkeling before it became too murky to see the fish. We watched a video on how to take care of the plant life (coral) and to be kind and not walk on it. Several people still did, idiots. I took about an hour to warm up to the idea of snorkeling. I went out with Angie and Lauren. We found several species and enjoyed pointing at them and giving each other a thumbs-up for our discoveries! We swam around with our heads under water for a long time. I felt too close to nature sometimes and tried to keep from hyperventilating, remaining calm for Lauren’s sake. At one point I was a foot above a dark hole that had tentacles coming in and out – an octopus. I froze. Remained calm. Slowly I forced myself to propel away from it. PHEW! I didn’t alarm anyone, but we did get out shortly thereafter.

Luke and I snorkeled a bit later… he was terrified, but did a great job. At one point we were pointed out the glowing clear fish when out of nowhere a fish, on its side, elevated from the ocean floor and swam a few feet, covered in sand, and disappeared back on the floor. Luke and I smiled at our discovery and called it a day. The boys chased pigeons and chickens for hours and Angela fed us with delicious egg salad sandwiches. Lauren, Luke and I played made up games in the waves and the beach, by trying to stay in one place. We ate pizza at Auntie Lolie’s.

The Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) July 8 (happy birthday grandma Ruth)

Our first stop was the Dole Pineapple plant. We saw their acres of pineapples, some regular with others mixed with different fruits. We didn’t stay long. Just enough to take pictures talk to a couple missionary and learn the distances to cities around the world.

Hawaiian Temple was closed for remodeling and construction. We were still able to visit a little of the grounds and take pictures. The welcoming missionary gave us flowers for our hair (or nose, if you’re Luke). Lauren took some great photos with my camera! It is a beautiful place! Some tour buses pulled up after us. We drove through BYU Hawaii, and I wished, deep down, that I had gone there for a semester back in the day. Lastly, we ended up at our destination – the PCC.

The Church just knows how to make places successful and organized. The grounds are beautiful. The park is split up into different Islands – Fiji, Tahiti Tonga, and Samoa, Hawaii, New Zealand… The sun hung high and hot! We were melting. We visited a few countries – tasting Poi (tastes like bland oatmeal), tattooing our arm, neck, leg, or foreheads, playing games with jumping or sticks (Angie and Mark are competitive), and finally sitting a moment to watch the canal parade of cultural dancing. Each boat represented and island and their dances and costumes. They were amazing. We didn’t finish it because we couldn’t stand the heat anymore. SNO CONES!! They were $4.00 big, and we could barely finish them. HEAVEN. We learned the hula, watched the funniest comedian ever explain how to make fire, open a coconut, get the juice, make the milk, and how to climb a palm tree.

We ate a buffet dinner. Everyone got what they wanted and enjoyed sitting in the air conditioning. We were exhausted. The big show HA was later that evening, so we watched the IMAX movie of the island’s story before heading to the outdoor theatre. The fire dances were eye catching and awesome. I slept through some of the quieter dancing. It was a production!! Loved it!

We slept in and relaxed Friday. Souvenir shopping at the outdoor market/International Market. The crazy trees were fascinating and we commented on them each time we saw one – with roots growing from the branches and into the ground all around it. Straight out of The Hobbit or something. After each kid got their souvenir from grandma and grandpa Doyle, we got ready for the beach, Waikiki Beach. Just to say we did. We had to go through the hotels to get to it. Everyone was towel to towel packed on the beach. The kids played with the rest of the world, while I sat under a towel and took pictures (and a nap). We watched the line of the sun slowly move the shade across the beach until it finally encompassed all of the sand. We packed up and headed home. More chaffing.

Early morning flight to Kauai!