Hawaii

We decided last minute to take an extreme family vacation during spring break to O'ahu Hawaii.  We booked some airline tickets and found a beach house to rent for the week and loved every minute of our stay.  We got in on a Tuesday night and went straight to Costco to do some shopping for the week.  By the time we got to our beach house on the North Shore it was quite late.

As soon as the boys walked into their bedroom the were met with this fellow.  He was quite large and Jaxon was not impressed.  The giant centipede had crawled under a piece of furniture for the night.  The next morning he made his way out to say hello much to my surprise.  Even though the boys had told me that he was big, I was completely taken off guard!  The boys--Jeremy included-- took a slow motion video of it.  This guy was really moving fast and I didn't like it one bit!  (The video below was filmed in Slo-Mo.)  Thankfully he was the end of the welcoming committee and we saw no other large insect life in our home after that.

Welcome to Hawaii!

Wednesday morning we woke up quite early because of the four hour time difference.  So we decided to may our way over to Honolulu to visit Pearl Harbor.  Once we got there we were only able to obtain tickets for later in the afternoon to see the USS Arizona.  So we decided to take a quick drive over to the Dole Pineapple Plantation to satisfy Kayden.  He was itching to conquer the Pineapple Maze.

I must say we all thought the Pineapple Maze was going to be made from pineapple plants.  But nonetheless we had a great time solving the puzzle and we made it through in excellent time.

We conquered that Pineapple Maze!

We then took a ride on the Pineapple Express to see the real pineapple plants.  It was quite interesting and educational.  I love pineapple and now know how it is grown and harvested.  I also learned that the Dole Plantation is not the cheapest place to buy pineapple in Hawaii.

Pineapple Boys

After enjoying some Dole Whip Ice Cream, we headed back to Pearl Harbor where we really enjoyed seeing the Arizona as well as learning the history of Pearl Harbor.

 

We all loved the feeling that the USS Arizona has.  Hard to imagine all that happened in that harbor in 1941.

We also enjoyed all museums and exhibits.

Thursday we still had not adjusted to the time difference so we were up early again.  This time we headed down to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.  We enjoyed snorkeling there and playing in the sand.

Hunauma Bay was beautiful.

 It was a bit of an overcast morning and we even had some rain drizzle.  But we still enjoyed snorkeling and relaxing in the water.

 Kayden's first sandcastle of the week.  He told me, "It's not as easy as it looks you know."

 The sun came out in the afternoon just as we decided to leave.  We really enjoyed ourselves.

At the top of the bay as we were leaving.  The view was amazing.

We decided we wanted to tryout some boogie boarding.  So we found a great beach--our favorite of the week.

Waimanalo Beach Park

 The boys loved boogie boarding once they got the hang of it and this beach had some great waves.

After a couple of hours at the beach, we decided it was well past lunch time and decided to go and get some lunch.  We Googled where a good spot would be and found a great food shack called Ono Steak and Shrimp Shack that had fantastic fish tacos, shrimp, burgers, and gravy drenched deliciousness.  After lunch, we decided we loved Waimanalo Beach so much we went back.

McKay and I enjoyed relaxing and soaking up some Vitamin D while the boys played in the water and in the sand.  We also learned a hard lesson this day.  When you aren't wearing your swim shirt, apply sunscreen liberally.  Poor Josh got a nasty sunburn on his back.  He thought he was immune to the sun.

Friday morning started early again. (We just couldn't get adjusted to that time change!)  This time we stayed close by our house and visited the temple where the boys did baptisms for family names with Jeremy. 

Kayden and I wandered the temple grounds and played Eye-Spy since the visitors center wasn't open.

 McKay and Jaxon selfie while wandering the grounds.

The temple grounds are beautifully tropical and peaceful.

After visiting the temple, we went back to the house to change our clothes and then went over to the Polynesian Cultural Center. 

We loved the Polynesian Cultural Center.  It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

 We were able to tour around the center and learn about all the Polynesian countries.  This was a stick game that people in New Zealand play.  It was fun and Jaxon ended up the champion.

We watched a man scamper up a coconut tree while learning about Samoa.  We were also able to taste some cooked banana in coconut milk (bottom left).  It tasted a lot like a potato.  On the top right, Jaxon was relaxing while watching the canoe parade.  Bottom right McKay was trying out Hawaiian Poi.  It wasn't very tasty.

 After touring around all day, we finally sat down and enjoyed a Hawaiian Luau.

 

 At the end of the night they boys were "Hanging Loose" with Hamana Kalili.  He was the originator of the Hang Loose sign, also known as the shaka.  He lost his three middle fingers and when he waved hello it involved into the shaka.

Saturday we tried to sleep in, but it just didn't happen.  We drove up to the North Shore and watched some surfing at Banazi Beach.

Those waves were huge!  Jeremy also said he saw a whale in one of the waves.  The rest of us were sad to have missed it.

 

Jaxon took various selfies that I would find on my phone through out the week.  They sure shows his personality!

We heard legends about Hawaiian Shave Ice so we went and tried some out at Motsumotos.  It was tasty, but very sweet!

We decided to be adventurous by going and doing a shark dive.  Kayden was a bit worried at first, but he ended up loving it!

  We took a boat ride out into the middle of the ocean and got in a cave while sharks were swarming all around us.  It was one of the coolest things that I had ever done.  We were in the cage for about 20 minutes, but that was all that was needed--especially because I starting having motion sickness.

 Going down and into the cage. 

 Having some fun watching the sharks.

There were too many sharks to count.  It was surprising how many there were!

After the sharks.  The boys were great.  I on the other hand had to spend some time hanging over the side of the boat.  Thankfully all we had eaten before was Shave Ice.  That was some pretty colorful throw-up that I hope the sharks enjoyed.

After the shark dive, we were pretty hungry so we went and got some lunch at a great burger shop called Teddy's.  Jeremy saw some tide pools as we were driving back down south that he wanted to explore for sea life. 

McKay and Kayden went exploring with Jeremy while Josh and Jaxon relaxed with me in the shade.  They were ready to have some respite from the sun and ocean.   They were tired!

Since we had been waking up so early every morning, we decided to go to early church Sunday morning.  Sacrament meeting started at 8:00.  I enjoyed visiting another ward in a new place Sunday.  My boys didn't mind either until we told them we were planning to attend Sunday School.  Suddenly they weren't so comfortable anymore.  We were met with resistance, but in the end we all went.  Josh, Kayden and I attended the 11 year old class--the class that was just younger than Josh and just older than Kayden.  They wanted to attend together and I toted along.  Our class visited the Visitor's Center on the temple grounds (next door to the chapel).  We watched a movie on the restoration that went right along with what we have been studying this year in the Doctrine and Covenants.  We enjoyed it so much that when we met up with the rest of the family we all went back over to the Visitor's Center and watched another film.

While Jaxon was waiting for us all to meet up after church to go to the Visitor's Center, he was able to chat with a member of the Tongan ward that was meeting after us.  He told Jaxon that he played the father in the original Jonny Lingo movie.  Jaxon was impressed, but he was even more impressed by what the Polynesian men wore to church.  He decided that he wanted a Men's Polynesian skirt.  We hunted one down later in the week and bought him one.

Jaxon dressed for church the Sunday after we got home.  Handsome and confident.

After we took the traditional Sunday nap, we decided to venture out.  Jeremy and McKay went hiking up the mountain that was behind our house.

 They found some amazing views!

 I love this picture of McKay sitting on an overlook.

They saw the beach and park that was across the street from our house as well as our house (left).

 They also found some old World War II bunkers.

 McKay climbing down and into a bunker.

While they were off hiking and exploring, the rest of us paid a visit to the beach across the street from our house.

Kayden and Josh enjoyed playing in the water and the waves while Jaxon and I relaxed on the sand.  We all had fun building sandcastles then protecting them from the incoming waves.  We also had fun looking for shells.

After the beach and hiking, we played some games, had some dinner at home and called it a night.  We were in bed early every night!

Monday morning we decided to head back up the the North Shore and hike to Waimea Falls.  The hike did not disappoint as it was beautiful.  There were tons of plants and flowers.  Jeremy went camera crazy!  He wanted to remember all the flowers he saw.  For the sake of time, I will just tell you he took at least 25 pictures.  I can't post them all!

 The boys like the plant life too. They found when they blew through these leaves just right it would cause the leaves to make a funny buzzing sound.  They got quite good at it.

Waimea Falls was beautiful and we enjoyed the hike, the view and the swim.

 They boys swimming next to the falls.  It was nice and refreshing.

 After our hike, we decided to drive further up the North Shore and get some food.  We found a taco shop called Crazy Tacos and enjoyed tacos and nachos for lunch.

After lunch we did some shopping and then went looking for a beach to hangout at for our last afternoon on the island.

Along our way we found some turtles that were looking for a beach too.  It was pretty cool to see them so close up and like beached whales.

 Jaxon had seen some people jumping off this big rock and decided he wanted to give it a try.

Jaxon talked Jeremy into going for a jump as well so Jeremy got a top view of Jaxon jumping.

Jeremy jumping with the camera.  He used the Slo-Mo setting for his jump.  We found a waterproof sleeve for our iPhones since we left our GoPro at home.

We found a great beach, but the waves were a little too big for boogie boarding.  So the boys spent their time running from the giant waves.  They also build some sand forts, but they were destroyed by the waves as well.  The last wave of the day gave us a good scare by it's height and power so we called it quits at this beach and decided to do some more souvenir shopping.

We had our last meal on the island at the food truck roundup.  It was great because there was tons of variety.  Jeremy and McKay loved the Korean BBQ, Jaxon, Josh and Kayden loved the burgers and I enjoyed some Thai food.

We had a such a great vacation and made some fantastic memories.  I love my family and am so thankful that we were able to get away together for a few days!