Hanauma Bay & Waikiki

Wednesday, June 2

We started the day off by going to the Swap Meet. It's official -- I'm not a swap meet kinda girl. Too hot, too much walking, I don't love to barter, all the junk starts to look the same, and you have to pay to get in. The kids were not thrilled with it either.

Purchases: Ukulele for Harrison (He was dying to have one).

Really cute Hawaiian print dress for Elizabeth (After looking at every stall, poor Nate had to walk back to get the one I wanted and then walk back again to get a smaller size -- while we all sat in the air conditioned car. He's a saint that way. He didn't even bat an eyelash. I would have been really ornery about it.)

Tee shirts for both kids. This was when it all really started to fall apart. It took us way too long to pick out 4 shirts for $10. Johnny was hungry, hot and tired. We all were, actually.

Turns out they sell almost all of that stuff at Wal-Mart, which is air conditioned and you don't have to pay to get in.

Later that day we went to Hanauma Bay, which wasn't my favorite for a lot of the same reasons. You have to pay to get in (all the other beaches are free, but this is a wildlife reserve so I guess they can charge) and too much walking!!! Especially if you get lost and go the wrong way. And even more so if you fall asleep on the way and are really cranky when you get there. That was me, not the kids.

After all the waiting and walking and paying, it was really pretty. Nate, Harrison and Faith snorkeled.

While Sis, Baby, and I did our usual chillin' on the sand.

You walk down a huge hill to get there. Which of course means you have to walk up a huge hill to get back. I was DREADING it. The walk down had been bad enough with carry all sorts of heavy stuff and complaining kids. (And a mom who wanted to thrown her own little fit but somehow held it all inside. Like I said, very cranky.) But after some nice relaxing time by the ocean, we were all rejuvenated. With bribes of cake and ice cream for all who could make it up the hill without crying and the encouragement of singing songs the entire way up, we made it happily. A miracle indeed. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but the view was spectacular.

I wondered if people thought the girls were twins. Kell, I was in your shoes for a few hours.

The cake and ice cream bribe was awarded in honor of Nathaniel's 11th birthday! Guava cake -- a local delicacy. Very delish!

Thursday, June 3

In the morning, we went to Boots & Kimo for the much acclaimed Banana Pancakes with Macadamia Nut Sauce. So yummy. My goal is to figure it out so we can enjoy it here on the mainland. Then we went to Don Quijote (A Japanese market, naturally. Didn't the Spanish name give it away?) This is where we first encountered the culinary highlight of our trip -- MELONA BARS. I think these amazing melon-flavored ice cream bars deserve a post of their own. They're that good.

That afternoon we went to Waikiki. After being spoiled by the less crowded local beaches, Waikiki was way too touristy for us. Note the long line of teenagers in the background that I refereed to as "Spring Break 2010." They were pretty entertaining with their teenage drama. Especially the part where one of them got really ticked when Harrison got sand on her towel. Her friends tried to calm her down and remind her that he's just a kid. But she said she would have never done something like that when she was his age. Hopefully her detailed memory is still intact when she has a child at the beach someday.

This was the one and only time I got in the water on the whole trip. The stars were all aligned -- it was hot enough, the water was calm, there were no blue bubbles, and probably the most motivating factor of all. . .nature called.

As long as Johnny has his fingers, he's a happy guy.

PCC & Temple

Monday, May 31st

We did a lot on Memorial Day, but for some reason didn't take many pictures. We went to Nathaniel's baseball game. Then back to Sherwood Beach for a barbecue with some of their best friends (loved them!). Unfortunately, more of our group fell victim to the dreaded blue bubbles, so that was our list visit there.

Johnny played with this ball (one of the first times he really held on to something like that -- although I didn't get any pictures of him actually doing it).

Faithy loving Johnny.

Tuesday, June 1

We headed over to Laie to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. On our way there we saw "Chinaman's Hat," which they show in Karate Kid II (What, you haven't seen Karate Kid II at least 50 times? Well, come on over.) We stopped to take some pictures. See that island out in the background?
I'm always up for a cheesy pose.

After going to Foodland to buy Elizabeth some "slippers" because she forgot her shoes, and eating "plate lunch" at L&L, we went to the PCC.

Here's Harrison concentrating on doing the poi dance.

See us in the background?

Looking at the fish while waiting for the Samoan show to start (loved that show -- very funny).

Harrison showing off his latest lost tooth. The picture doesn't do justice to how snaggle-toothed he looked. I called him Nanny McPhee until we pulled out the other one.

Trying to fish. No luck.

Getting a tattoo from one of the Fijian girls.

Some thoughts on the PCC.

*It's really expensive -- but knowing you're supporting students of BYU Hawaii helps it sting a little less.

*There's not enough time to do everything. They do give you a bounce back pass, but do you really want to drive all the way back to the Northshore and spend 2 days there? Especially considering how expensive it is, they should just open earlier (it doesn't open until noon). So you have to pick between watching shows and doing activities. Selfishly, I chose to make everyone watch the shows. Even if you do choose to skip the activities, there's really not enough time to watch all the shows (unless you plan very strategically, which we didn't). So we skipped the Fijian show and watched the Hawaiian one instead. Bad idea. It was BORING and the main guy was so derogatory. We thought that being the host island, it should have been the best show.
*It's probably best suited for upper elementary kids and older. My kids remember it more fondly than I would have thought based on their reactions at the time. Speaking of the best age to enjoy the PCC -- I hadn't been there since I was 13. I guess when I was 13, I wasn't as boy crazy as I remember being, because I think I would have had much fonder memories of the place (don't get me wrong, I did like it at the time, just didn't appreciate it as much as I could have). Shirtless, muscular island boys everywhere you look? The ideal age for a girl/woman to go to the PCC? Probably 17.

*Man, I love that Poly spirit. Especially the "happy people of Samoa" as they kept referring to them. The Tongan show was hilarious, it had Nate laughing so hard he was crying and was Harrison's favorite part of the whole day. The Mauri show was more serious, but really impressive. I could watch the hula type dancing all day long -- how do they get their hips to move like that? Harrison and I are still trying (pretty darn cute to watch him), but we can't get it down.

*Could have skipped the I-MAX movie. It was awful. Would have been much better to just show the old school Johnny Lingo movie. Then we went just down the road to BYU Hawaii. Didn't get out or take pics - kids getting too tired. A little farther down the road is the temple. It is closed for renovation (it was closed when we went on our honeymoon too -- bummer!). But the grounds were beautiful.

Cemetery & Pali Look Out

Sunday, May 30

After going to church, we wanted to do some Sabbath appropriate activities. First we visited the cemetery where Nate's maternal grandparents are buried. I had forgotten that Nate's mother's father's name was Hisashi. Now the "Hisa" part of Johnny's middle name, Masahisa, has even more meaning!

Here's Harrison posing by great-grandma's grave. The "Moto" in his middle name, Masamoto, is after her.

(Don't mind the white haze in all of our pictures. We finally realized the lens was dirty, three days into our trip.)

It was nice to visit the cemetery the day before Memorial Day. Every grave had beautiful tropical flowers on it.

Us and the Colmans

The cousins

Some sweet Father/Son moments

Elizabeth took a quick liking to Auntie Ray Ray on this trip. She had just woken up from a nap and would only be comforted by one person. On the way home we went to Pali Look Out. Nate described it as "this place that's really windy." Until you're in a place that's really windy, you don't realize how fun and entertaining it is. We had lots of laughs and took lots of pictures.