5th day called for some snorkeling!

 

 

When we booked our PCC tickets with the activities guy at our

hotel he asked us what our plans were for the rest of the week.

We both kind of stood there and said uhhhhh, good question, we don't know!

We did want to snorkel but didn't know exactly where.

I have been to Hanauma Bay before but didn't think it was anything spectacular.

The guy agreed then HIGHLY suggested we do this 4 hour snorkeling excursion.

He said it was the best snorkeling spot on the island.

So we booked our tickets.

The only downfall was that we needed to get up at 6:30 and we went to bed

really late the night before. But once we peeled our eyes open and threw on a swimsuit

we were good to go!

This excursion would bus everybody from our hotel to the boat harbor in Ko'Olina.

Ko'Olina is where the new Marriott hotel, condo and Disney resorts are.

I had looked into staying there but once again, it was big $$$.

 

It was an absolutely perfect day weather wise.

At first a little windy but still enjoyable.

We all walked down to our boat the Kai'oli'oli.

 

 

There was a girl who was the boat photographer.

She looked to be in her early twenties and was absolutely hysterical.

She was definitely a free spirit and had us laughing all day!

I wish I had a picture of her!

We bought a cd at the end so most of these pictures came from her camera,

 including the under water ones.

 

Once everybody was on the boat they did  brief safety instructions then we were off!

When we first set sail the crew said there were muffins from a local bakery for all of us

as well as an ice chest full of soda and aloha juice.

The views were incredible.

A picture of the crew and captain.

They were all so nice and it was fun getting to know them.

A fun job they have I might say!

Manny the photographer let us go up to the captain's chair for a bit.

There were 45 people on our voyage.

At first we didn't know how they were going to fit everybody on.

But once we got going and everybody spread out it was perfect.

It was fun standing at the front of the boat and getting splashed as we cruised.



After about 45 minutes of sailing we came upon the dolphin cove.

There were TONS of dolphins! I want to say at least 40 of them.

They were swimming right in front of us and all around and under the boat.

It was the coolest thing watch.

You would see them flipping out of the water all around you.

 We watched them for about 30 minutes then starting cruising to our snorkeling spot.

In the meantime they had everybody start putting on our gear.

Right when we jumped in we saw a turtle.

They warned us not to touch the turtles because they are extinct and there a huge fines

if you do. I had no worries because deep sea life freaks me out a little and I wasn't about to go touching anything! Surprisingly the fish didn't really bother me. Getting used to breathing out of a tiny tube and trying not to inhale water was  the tough part.

 

 

But we got the hang of it and started getting brave.

Getting a little deeper.

Casey got the farthest down out of the two of us.

We were shocked how bad our ears would hurt not even going down that far.

 

 

We snorkeled for an hour then got back on the boat.

On the drive back in to shore they served us a fabulous lunch!

I wish I had a picture but it was the traditional kalua pork and grilled chicken,

rice, macaroni salad and fresh pineapple!

 

It was such a FUN adventure!

We got back around 2 so we decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach at our hotel.

There are rental booths lined all up and down the beaches.

All week we had been watching people do the stand up paddle boards so we decided to try it out.

We thought it would be fun to rent one and go out together.

Haha, it's not as easy as it looks!

They suggested the lighter person sits in front and the back person is on their knees with the paddle

until you feel comfortable standing up.

I was able to get up without tipping us over, probably because I am lighter.

We did take turns swimming behind the board in the water while the other was standing up by

themselves. It was really fun. And a workout!

 

We stayed on the beach till the sun went down then walked along

the Waikiki beach line. Casey spotted a Mexican restaurant so we ate dinner there.

It was pretty good. We had a hard time finding an ice cream shop so we went into an ABC store

and got some pints of Ben and Jerry's then headed back to our room for a movie and ice cream in bed! We were bushed so it was a nice ending to another perfect day!

 

 

Day 4, and a milestone anniversary!

 

 

Wednesday was an extra special day.

Casey and I marked 10 years of marriage!

It honestly doesn't feel like its been TEN years since we got married.

I blinked and all of a sudden I had 3 kids and have been married a decade.

Casey makes marriage life easy.

He never has raised his voice to me. Like ever.

He is always first to forgive.

He is patient, loving, and encouraging.

Don't get me wrong we have had our ups and downs but

with my stubborn personality I was fortunate to have

been blessed with a husband with such an easy going spirit.

Sometimes I don't know how I deserve such an amazing guy.

I feel lucky he chose me to love for the rest of his life.

To be his partner in crime.

To share the hard times with.

To be the first person I text when I need to vent,

or when our kids say or do the funniest things.

I love how he chooses to sit on the couch and watch tv with me at

night even though he is dead tired.

Because he wants to spend time with me instead of sleep.

I love how he loves to make us waffles and homemade syrup  for breakfast.

And it's nice having a husband who is always on board for getting blizzards

or making homemade cookies!

He is one in a million!

 

We had tickets to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center that day.

They don't open until 12:30 so we decided to do a temple session first.

We took a different route to get to the North Shore than on Monday.

 Boy, it was the most gorgeous drive I have ever been on!

It was an overcast day so it was more misty and cloudy than normal.

We were on a typical looking highway then had to drive through a

long, dark tunnel. When we drove out of the tunnel this was what

we were greeted with:

 

It was so green and lush everywhere.
It was like that the rest of our hour drive.

I know it sounds cheesy but the primary song My Heavenly Father Loves Me

kept popping in my head as we were driving along.

It was a beautiful scenic route and a perfect way to start a temple session.

 

 

This is Chinaman's hat.

People will actually swim out to it.

I think they might be a little crazy.

When we pulled up to the temple it started to sprinkle.

I didn't think much of it because in Hawaii the weather is so unpredictable.

I felt bad for Casey.

I didn't pack real church clothes for the sake of space in our suitcases.

 Plus we were going to the PCC right after so he was a

good sport and wore this to temple.

I figured Hawaii is the only temple we could get away with it.

I knew he was feeling a little uncomfortable walking into to the

temple like that. Luckily the man behind us was wearing an aloha shirt:)

 

Our session was great.

 I was anxious to see if the weather had let up.

It hadn't. In fact it was pretty much raining when we walked out.

I wanted a picture but we were getting soaked so we went into the

visitor center to see if it would let up.

We talked with the sister missionaries for a bit then looked outside and it

had stopped raining! It was more like a light mist.

They sister's walked out with us and took our pictures.

 

 



 

Then we drove down the street for some lunch at the Hukilau café!

The place is a dive but it was really good!

They are well known. They were on the show Diners, Drive In's and Dives

with Guy Fieri. LOVE that show!

 





I got the traditional Hawaiian meal.

Bbq chicken, beef, macaroni salad and rice.

We could have easily shared it.

 Casey got a burger that was really good.

Then we were off to the PCC!

The Polynesian Cultural Center is run by the church.

However most of the tourists that go are not members.

It is world known and is AMAZING!

BYU Hawaii offers scholarships to students.

Mainly those that live on other Pacific Islands like Fiji, Tahiti, and Samoa.

They offer free schooling and board in exchange for them to work at the PCC.

The PCC is like Sea World in a sense.

There are different Islands you visit and learn about their culture.

Most of them have shows you sit down and watch.

 

We started in Fiji. The show had already started so we decided to watch the

demonstration on how to make coconut oil.

We were the only ones that showed up so we got our own little lesson.

This guy had come to BYU  Hawaii 4 months ago from Fiji.

It sounded like the village he lived in was poor.

Like grass hut houses, and no windows.

Part of their weekly chores was to make coconut oil for the family.

And this is exactly how they do it at home.

 

First they had to pick the coconuts which is a task in it's self.

You have to get the coconut out of the husk by pounding it on a stake.

 



 

Then you crack the coconut open with a big rock and dump out the juice.

Then they sit on a wooden bench with a metal scrapper nailed on the edge.

They say this is the worst part, scrapping the meat out of the coconut shell.

then you get some hairs from the husk of the coconut and put some coconut

meat in the middle and squeeze and strain the milk out of the meat.

 

That is the milk he strained out.

Then you let it sit and ferment for a few days.

The oil separates from the milk and voila, you have coconut oil!

He says they put flower pedals in the oil to make it smell pretty.

They don't cook with their coconut oil, just us it as lotion and in their hair.

It was so interesting!!

 Then we went to Tonga where we laughed our heads off!!

These guys were a hoot.

They grabbed 3 men from the audience to participate in their drum show.

They try to make it funny and pick people that don't know English or who look

super shy. Oh my, we were rolling by the end of that one!

We had a guy from Canada who was eating the attention up.

Then an older man from Korea who was flippin funny and kept saying I fro KoreA!

Haha, then a black man from Nashville TN who had a deer in headlights look

the whole time. When it was his turn to copy the Tongan with drum beats,

the Tongan guy went crazy then started yelling in the microphone a chant of some sort.

Now it was his turn to copy so he did a few pounds on the drum then sang, who let the

dogs out and we all lost it!!!

I WISH I had a picture of it!!!!

 

 



 They do a canoe boat show in the middle of the day.

But first we had to indulge in their special treat they serve at the PCC,  Island Delights.

 They were selling their desserts off of canoes.



Its fresh tropical fruit cocktail with rainbow sherbet.

I am not a sherbet fan but this was good.

Back in the day they used to serve it in a fresh, hollowed out

pineapple.

 

 

Then the show began.

They had each of the 7 Islands come out on their own canoe

and do a dance while being rowed to the river.

 

The Tahitian dancers are my favorite.

I seriously don't know how they move their hips that fast.

I made a mental note to myself that if I was ever having a

bad hair day to remember these poor girls and that it could be a whole lot worse!

Ok, this guy was a riot! He served his mission in Samoa so since he knew

the language they let him be with the Samoa group. He was getting way into the dance

and you can see how is chest is all red from him pounding on it with his hands.

 



 

After the show we bee lined it to the Samoa show.

This guy was a crack up as well.

He had a Rico Suave soft voice and mannerism.

 



 Then he showed us how they climb up the coconut trees.

 Some of the food they were cooking for the Luau later on. 

 We took a ride in the canoes.

 

He loves posing for pictures:)

We bought tickets for their Luau and night show.

We hopped in line where we got laid then sat us at a table with 8 other people.

this is what the set up looked like.

They sure know how to handle crowds!



There was a buffet with typical luau food.

 For part of the show they had any couples that were celebrating anniversary's come up to the stage.

We stayed put.

 So glad we did because they made them dance in front of everybody.

We probably would have just sat back down while everybody else danced!



After the luau we walked around for 30 minutes before the big night show started.

You weren't allowed to take pictures inside but the show was really good.

We were beat by the end. It was 10pm and we still had to drive an hour home.

We got lucky and it never rained again.

It ended up being a perfect anniversary day with my honey!

 

Day 3, Pearl Harbor and Waikiki beachin'

 

 I forgot that on Sunday I had hoped to make it to Pearl Harbor.

It is only 15 minutes away from the airport so I

 thought it would be perfect to head straight there after landing.

I tried getting tickets online but they were all gone.

Pearl Harbor is free but you still have to have a ticket to get in.

I guess the ones online you have to reserve like 4 months in advance.

Who knew? Even 2 months prior apparently isn't enough time.

They only have a certain amount of walk in tickets per day and I guess those go fast.

So low and behold when we got there around 1pm, they were out of tickets for the day.

They said our best bet was to get there first thing in the morning

 to ensure we could get in.

 

We decided Tuesday morning we would head there as early as we could.

They open at 7, bleh. We left our hotel at 8 and hoped for good traffic.

Not possible in Honolulu.

The worst highway, traffic, and construction reside there.

We got there at 9 and Casey dropped me off while he parked.

The crowds were unreal and I got in a looooong line for tickets

with my fingers crossed there would be 2 left for us.

By the time I got to the front I could see the stack of tickets in the mans

hand and had a sigh of relief!

The only down side, they were for the noon tour.

 Now we had 3 hours to kill.

 

We went back to the car and decided to eat brunch at a restaurant

the valet guy at the hotel recommended.

It was just down the street from Pearl Harbor.

It was called Anna Millers.

It had a Denny's, Village Inn feel to it. But much better!

By the amount of food on our table you can see we were torn on choices

from the menu.

We each got our own omelet then shared the special of the day,

banana macadamia nut pancakes.

Somehow we were still hungry enough for some pie!

They had 30 homemade flavors to choose from.

I love pie so choosing was very difficult.

Since we were in Hawaii I chose the baked coconut custard pie.

Casey got the peanut butter, chocolate cream.

 

 

After brunch we still had about an hour and a half till our tour.

We checked out the harbor. Casey found a mini battleship he could hold:)

We also walked around the museum then sat in a nice

shaded area with a lovely breeze and people watched.

Seriously one of my favorite things to do!

We noticed a TON of pregnant ladies. Like far along pregnant ladies.

And lots and lots of families with little kids.

And it wasn't just at pearl harbor, I am talking everywhere we went we saw this.

Who takes their family of 3 and under to Hawaii????

Doesn't seem very relaxing to me but whatev.

Oh, and Tevas. Lots and lots of tevas.

 



 12 o'clock finally came around.

We watched a 40 minute film then got on the boats to take you to the memorial.

 



 

It really was crazy to think that you are standing on top of a huge battleship

that serves as a tomb for thousands of men that were stuck inside.

It was neat and special and makes you appreciate those that sacrifice their lives

for our country.

After Pearl Harbor I was excited to hang out on the beach at our hotel.

We rented the 2 chairs and umbrella for a few hours.

The beach was nice but not nearly as nice as the North Shore.

You kind of get spoiled there.

Don't get me wrong it was still fabulous!

 Another little tour of the backside of our hotel.

You can see a sign to the right that says Shorebird.

That is the restaurant I was talking about earlier.

If you go in and keep walking straight-ish

 you would run into the swimming pool.



 

A view of the other 6 hotels that line the Waikiki beach front.

 

walking on a little bridge or pier out into the water.

 

the view from the end of the walk way looking at our hotel.

When the sun started to set we went in and ate at the Shore Birds buffet
dinner. This was REALLY fun! For dinner you order your meat. It
comes out raw then you cook it on ginormous grills yourself!



 

We ordered steaks then quickly added pineapple to the grill and

buttered garlic bread.

 

The dinner comes with the salad buffet.

It is some good eating!

 

And of course we ended the night in the hot tub.

It quickly became our end of the night routine:)