Hawaii - Day 4

Tuesday -
This day started out V-E-R-Y leisurely. We all needed to sleep in and we did! After breakfast we headed to the beach.  The kids were not impressed with the beaches. (weirdos) They thought the beaches should be sand. We tried to explain how the island was formed from a volcano so sand beaches would not be usual but black lava rock would be. Especially on the dry side we were on. Did not work. They complained. Sigh... So while they were pouting Superman and I took a walk along the beach.  I happened upon a real coconut on the ground so I gathered it up, knowing full well Vern would love to see it.  Well I brought it back and was correct. Here he is trying to break into it. Every day for the rest of the vacation he would spend time pounding his way towards the center of the coconut but never quite reaching it. 

We tried to appease the kids by taking them to a second beach. I was loving it. (yes this is prob the only time you will EVER see me in a swim suit) They did not! They kept begging to go and I kept pretending not to hear them with the wave noise and all. :-)  We were watching fish and turtles in the shot below.

Later that day we took a drive north to Kawi. This is a  small  town on the north shores of the Big Island.  By small, I mean no stop lights, a 2 block main street, and a few homes.  This was the largest town on the north side of the island!  We got there around 7pm and guess what??? The ice cream parlor was closed! WTF?!?!?!?!?!?  All the other stores were also closed except for one hippie fudge store. I didn't buy any fudge as I figured there would be some "medicianal" herbs added to the fudge and my kids didn't need that.

So we got the heck out of that town and drove back on Mountain road. Yes, that was name. We were blessed with seeing a beautiful sunset. Again, a simple photograph does not describe the beauty of the place. It was worth the drive to see this.

You can see in this next shot, how chilly it was on Moutain road. Right around 65 degrees. Look behind the kids and you can see the ocean. In that short space, down by the ocean, it was 80+ degrees.

We also saw some amazing cactus on the drive but those pictures did not turn out as it was too dark by the time we thought to stop and photograph them.  These cactus looked more like bushes or trees they were so big.  So now we come the end of this day. Relaxing AND enjoyable, even with all the complaining!

Hawaii - Day 3

Monday -
Well it was another very EARLY day. We were off to Pearl Harbor.  A tour-guide person we spoke with earlier in the week told us we had to be there before 7am as that is when the tour buses arrived and we possibly would be waiting 3 hours or more.  We were there right at 7am and got tickets for only 1 hour and 15 minutes after. We spent the time touring the museums in the same complex.  It worked out pretty good.
The first photo here is a shot of the USS MISSOURI.  This battleship is permanently retired here. We ran out of time on this island and were unable to tour this ship.  She was very impressive from afar.

Next we have the actual memorial. It was tough getting a shot with no people as we are all packed on like sardines!

This oil escaping the ship was amazing. The water was clear one minute and then as if on cue, it began bubbling to the surface as if by crew members still on board. Kind of creepy.
Factoid:  USS Arizona contains an estimated 500,000 gallons (2,300 tons) of Bunker C fuel oil, which has been slowly escaping since its loss. 

This is back on the island, and a shot of the Arizona anchor.

Vern LOVED this turret gun.

After our visit to Pearl Harbor we had to run and exchange John's camera. On Day 2 of the trip his camera got washed so we got him another one. Well that BRAND - NEW - camera quit while we were on the Memorial. Then we had trouble with the receipt that they didn't want to exchange it. EXCHANGE - not return. So we had to go hunting through suitcases for the original box and book for the simple exchange. GRRRR. Eventually we made it to the airport and took the short flight to Hawaii - the big island.  Here is a shot of folks exiting the plane.

Here is a shot of the airport. COOLEST ever. Those little huts are gates where you wait to board the plane.

Here we have Vern and Ann kicking back in their condo bedroom. (Notice the scowl on Ann's face?)

After arriving we drove up to Wimena to get some groceries for a few days. The drive took 40 minutes one way. A bit further than anticipated on winding roads up a mountain. When we got there, it was rainy and 20 degree temp difference. So we went from 87 to 67. Quite a shock in 20 miles or so.
Here I am slaving in my shoddy kitchen. :-) Yes, I did have a beer to help with the cooking activities.

Finally we have the view out our window to the swimming pool. After dinner the family went out for an evening swim. Remember it is only around 7:30-8pm now and the pool is open until at least 9 or 10.  We are swimming around having a good time playing swimming tag or some silly game when all of a sudden out stomps someone from their condo yelling at us to SHUT UP! We were too loud at 8pm?!?!?!?!?!?  People go to bed and get up way to early in Hawaii.  My favorite saying for these people - YOU ARE ALL CHICKENS!!!!! (Farm saying.)

Hawaii - Day 2

Day 2 was another jam packed day.  We were up fairly early as we had to drive though continuously horrible traffic.  There is one interstate/road to everywhere so of course everyone drives it and no matter the time of day, 35mph tops.

So we head off to KO 'Olina Adventures. I very highly recommend this company.  The captain and his mate took excellent care of every single person on the boat. The testimonials are their website are not an exaggeration. It is everything the folks write. 

http://koolinaoceanadventures.com/index.html

Ok, we got there a bit early so we hung out along the waterfront. It was beautiful and not a bad wait at all as you can see in this first photo.



Finally we made it on the boat. Here is a family photo with John, Vern, ME, Superman, and Ann.  We all got wet suits as no one wanted to be chilled.

We had only gone about 10 minutes when we spotted the dolphins. These are spinner dolphins as they spin  when jumping out of the water.  They were so fun to watch and they are as interested in us as we are in them.

As you can see in this next photo, it looks like a dolphin carrying a wal-mart sack. Well it was.  They find stuff and actually play with it. Here one is dragging it around and others will chase him and if he drops it they will go after it and continue the game.

Here are some really weird dolphins OH WAIT those are my kids snorkeling!  The water was so amazing you can barely describe it with words. It was clearer than a swimming pool. You could see so far down. I was not scared to jump in like some of the midwestern murky lakes that spook anyone!

This next photo is hard to see, but amongst the people there is a turtle trying to surface.  Behind the turtle with the legs sticking back is ME!  The turtle came within 3 inches of my face. I was trying to get out of the way but the turtle didn't care. It was so spectacular to get that close and look into its eyes.

Next we have one of the finds of the day, an octopus. As you can see the kids touched it and were very in awe. Fabulous experience for all.

Next we have a photo of me and the kids snorkeling. I just can't say enough what a good time we had.

On the way back we got to cruise by the Black Pearl.  This is the real deal and not a replica. The kids loved seeing this huge ship.  The captain told us he had visited with the captain of the Black Pearl and the entire ship is ran with a small remote controlled box.

After our snorkeling excursion we were off to the Luau.  Here is a nice family photo.

 It was quite the event. When we first got there, there were stations to try various activities. We made weaved palm leaf headbands and flower bracelets that smelled out of this world. We got to toss a javilin, and watch the hot studs climb trees and...well I don't remember what they all did but zowie were they nice to look at!  (Oopps - bad mom!)  Next there was a complete show on raising the roasted hog out of the pit. There was signing and dancing by the hula girls.  Still don't know how those gals moved their hips like that!

We attended the Paradise Cove Luau.  The food was served buffet style. I was not overly impressed with the food but the drinks were good. :-)  Here is Vern chowing on some chicken.

There was more entertainment after dinner. A lot of dancing and even a guy that did a fire twirling act.

They showed various dances depending on the islands of the Pacific.  Fun to watch and educational.

Next - day 3. Pearl Harbor and traveling to the Big Island.

Step Father's Day

Since the kids are with their biological dad this weekend we had an impromptu Father's Day with Superman.

IT WAS GREAT!

Not that we did anything special. We just hung out, watched an episode of Law and Order, had tickle fights, and a simple dinner.

We all ended the night happy and no fighting. BONUS

Happy Father's Day Superman. We all appreciate your hard work.

Hawaii Day 1

So I know I promised an update of vacation. We have our photos loaded onto the computer but there are over 2,000 to try and get through! This my friends takes some time. I have a lot left to do but wanted to at least start blogging about the trip of our lifetime.

I have this post labeled day 1 - really it is day 1 + day 2 as day 1 was traveling and spending time in airports and airplanes for 20 hours! There is not a lot of excitement to blog about when traveling for that long except you want it to be over as quickly as possible. Those 100% filled planes are not my idea of a good time, especially when I was usually stuck in the middle seat.

Here is Vern getting ready for leg 1 of our multi-leg journey. He is excited!

So here is picture of the kids in the Minneapolis airport. We had a 3-4 hour layover so we took the train over to the Mall of America to eat lunch. It passed the time and we got some walking in. After this it was more plane rides and icky airport food. We finally arrived in Honolulu around 1-2am our home time. We were exhausted and went straight to bed.  Upon awaking the next morning we were greeted with this lovely view off our deck.

Beautiful isn't it? Right across the street from Waikiki Beach. I never could get my sense of direction while I was there. To me the sun kept traveling across the sky from south to north :-)

After a breakfast that morning, we changed our plans and headed out to Aloha Stadium to the flea market/ local sale. This was "the" place to go for cheaper souvenirs and locally grown and made items. It was HUGE. The vendors were completely around the stadium, some places 4 rows deep. We walked and walked and walked and were tired by the time we were finished. Vern fell in love with coconuts. He loved watching the guys chop them open and he loved the coconut milk even more. He bought at least 2 while we were at the sale. 

In the background of this photo you can see the other fresh fruit offerings they had for sale. All the fresh fruit we purchased was DE-lish-OUS.

This is just a shot of Vern on our balcony.

After the farmer's market we decided to see more of the island as there were only a couple days and we did not have enough time to see/do everything. We drove north to the Dole Plantation. They had a huge maze the kids found their way through while DaMom and Superman ventured through the gardens and LOVED it.  Here is just one of thousands of flowers in the garden.

I almost forgot the kids all got temporary tatoos. Here is Vern's.

After Dole Plantation we continued our treck north to North Beach. This is where the waves are l-a-r-g-e and noisy but the sand is just beautiful! I think of all the places we went on the two islands the north beach was the most beautiful.  Here is one photo of the waves. 

I will continue with each day as I get these blogs written. Check back soon!