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!