Hanuama Bay

On Thursday Kerry was able to take another day of vacation and we went to Hanauma Bay, one of favorite places on the Island to snorkel. What we didn't plan on was the overcast sky and rainy weather. But we went ahead and went to the beach despite the weather. I showed them the landing pad where "T.C." landed his helicopter on Magnum PI. We also discovered the home that was used for the staging of the show as well.

Because the weather was bad there were a lot less people on this beach that is typically crowded.

I promised myself and Kerry that I would snorkel so I finally got ready and went into the water. I was surprised by the number of fish that I saw so close to the edge of the water. I played for a little while with them and then Kerry and Natalie ventured into the deeper water and I went back to the beach. Here are just three of the fish. The Parrot fish (the first picture) was eating off of the coral and you could hear him snapping things off it was pretty wild.

Dave and Rebecca set about making a sand castle and being silly in the sand.

You can take the man out of the office for a day but not necessarily the office out of the man if he has his Blackberry with him!

With the sun behind the clouds it was quite cool on the beach after we got out so Natalie took advantage of her dry towel to warm up.

Just goofing around on the beach.

After we all warmed up we went up the the park above the Bay and had lunch. Then we climbed in the car and went back up to the North Shore to play at Waimea Bay Beach. This beach is also typically packed but because the weather was not the best there was no trouble parking or finding a place on the beach to play. We actually didn't plan on going into the water again because we had finally warmed up but a "sneaker wave" caught us and we got quite wet. Natalie had really wanted to play in the water so Kerry dove in and we had fun just playing in the waves. It was so much fun. The one thing we forgot was that despite the rain we were still on a tropical island and getting a lot of sun and we hadn't put on enough sunscreen. The next day we were feeling the burn a little bit.


I am amazed at the growth of plants on the North side of the Island, this tree is overgrown with philodendron . What I hadn't expected was the desert part of the island as well.

Rebecca had been told by a friend who had been at BYU-Hawaii that when she went to the North Shore she needed to stop by Matsumoto's for "Shave Ice" we had driven past this place and had seen the long lines but didn't know what it was, now we know. It is a really fun place to stop for shave ice, the tropical flavors and ice cream are delightful. Because it was a "cold" day it was a good day for us to try it out. We now understand the long lines on hot days.

On our way back to the hotel these guys crashed, I couldn't resist the picture it reminds me of the saying "speak no evil..."

It was such a fun, relaxing day! Until.....

At least they got to see what traffic is like on a typical day going into and out of Honolulu

The speed limit sign posted was for 50 mph and this is the speed we went for miles and miles. And there are still those who say there is no need for rail on the island despite the fact that it was passed in last November's general election. Seriously?!!

This day is one of those that will be a fond memory for me, it was just so much fun!

Typical Tourists

The next two days Kerry had to work so we busied ourselves by playing the typical tourists and seeing more of the sights and places on the Island. Of course we wandered through the International Market and along Waikiki later meeting Kerry for dinner at Tony Roma's, we would have never lived it down with Natalie if we hadn't gone there.

These bike racks were just too tempting for Dave not to play with. Check out the expression on his face.

We went to Pearl Harbor and the Swap Meet all in one day.

This is waiting to get into the movie before you go out to the memorial. No matter how many times I have seen this movie is still has such an impact on me, very sobering!

You can almost always see oil coming up from the Arizona it has for sixty seven years now but Rebecca and I couldn't believe the size of some of the spots that were floating up while we were there.

I love to take pictures of the flag through the memorial top. It always takes my breath away.

After we were at the memorial we went to the Swap Meet and wandered around for awhile and got treats to take back to friends and family at home. It was so hot that we gave up and went back to the hotel, we only made a third of the way around the stadium. We were very tired after being in the hot humid heat of the day, and a little sunburned on top of that.

More North Shore Activites

Kerry is working so much that he is always getting warnings about not using his vacation time so this trip he actually took some time off to play a little with us. We started by going to the North Shore again to a place called Sharks Cove. Natalie, Dave and Kerry tried to snorkel. The "Little Steedling" was making it hard for Natalie not to be sick, so she finally gave up and just played in the water. Dave and Kerry were able to snorkel a little before the surf got to rough. Reb cut her foot on the coral so she wasn't able to play in the water much. It was a beautiful day on the Island again.

These two walked around a little bit in the water laughing and playing.

After we played in the surf for awhile we dried off and went to the Dole Plantation to get a Pineapple Whip and to wander around the plantation a little bit. Who knew there were so many different kinds and colors of pineapple. Who cares as long as it is fresh right?

After we played a little bit we went back to my favorite restaurant on the island "Rosie's Cantina" for dinner. Who knew that I would have to travel to Oahu to get the old fashioned Mexican food that I crave.

After a long day of play we headed back to the Hotel to clean up and crash.

Punchbowl

On Sunday we always attend the Makiki Ward at the Tabernacle in Honolulu. Rebecca ran into a missionary serving there from here. She knew him in Elementary school. There are several there from this area now. Ever heard the song "It's A Small World"?

After church we went back to the Hotel and fixed dinner, thank goodness Kerry now has a place to stay that has a real kitchen so that he (we) can fix a meal without having to eat out all of the time!

One of my favorite places on Oahu' is Punchbowl, a National Cemetery inside of an old volcano. The Memorial is for the veterans of World War II, Korean, and beyond. Of course I still try to figure out where my Dad served during the first time he was in the Pacific but still have not gathered any additional information. We didn't have much time before it closed but we got some fun pictures. I loved the sun peaking through the clouds and tried to be artistic but the sort of turned out.

There was another family there from Utah taking a slower day on the Island as well, they took this picture for us.

These three definitely had fun being silly! It was fun to watch them.

This is looking out from the Memorial into the actual cemetery.

This is Kerry waiting for us to come down the stairs to keep us from getting locked in for the night! The cemetery was set up for a funeral of a soldier who had been killed in Iraq, coincidentally the first one the was filmed as the casket returned to the US after President Obama lifted the ban.

These three never stand still so Kerry and I were taking pictures of them from both directions.


We literally had to run and get in the car to beat the gate being locked.

North Shore Activities

On our way to the PCC we stopped at the Pali Highway Lookout. It was such a beautiful day.

The temple is currently being remodeled and so the color is just not as pretty and of course it is not lit up at night so it seems really strange but we still had to pose for a picture.

When we went to Chile to pick Rachel up from her mission that was as close as we got to Easter Island, at least we can pretend we made it there. It is only visual display at the PCC not an active village.

Part of the fun at the PCC is going on the canoe from one end to the other. Our guide this day was Justin from the Island of Arizona.

Touring the Samoan village is my favorite spot at the PCC no matter how often I have heard his presentation he still makes me laugh. What will they do with out him?

This trip to the PCC was one of our hottest and there is never enough time to see everything in one day. The heat was starting to get to Dave at this point in the day you can tell by the look on his face. The parade is always fun to watch even knowing the tricks are coming. How they do some of the dances on these canoes I will never know.

After we went to many of the villages and saw as much as we could we headed to the Luau. Unfortnately the day had been a little much for Dave and he was stricken by a migraine. He ended up going to the first aid station and getting out of the heat and noise for awhile. He was able to rejoin us for the evening show a little while later.

(Part of the fun was watching Dave and Kerry learn to dance in the village of Tahiti but Dave made me promise that I wouldn't put the video on here, if you want to see it check out Kerry's blog post!)