Hawaii, day nine

For our last morning in Hawaii, Cassidy dropped us off at the international marketplace. We had a nice time browsing the shops and looking for souvenirs. We purchased a really cool Hawaiian nativity at one of the shops. After shopping, we decided to try to find Duke's restaurant to have lunch. We knew it was somewhere along Waikiki, so we crossed the street to the beach and walked along it looking for Duke's. Basically we walked the whole length of Waikiki without coming across Duke's, so we turned around and finally found it just steps from where we came in to the beach, but in the opposite direction than the way we started walking. After eating lunch, we finished our meal off with a piece of hula pie.

The lighting is terrible in this picture, but the beach is right behind us. The first time we ate here, we were down even closer to the beach.

After lunch, Cassidy picked us up and dropped us off at the airport. It was sad to see our vacation come to an end, but we were both pretty excited to get home and see our kids again too. We were both so grateful to the Larsen's for hosting us and showing us around, and to Lexi for taking care of our kids while we were gone. We had such a great time!

Hawaii, day eight

For our last full day in Hawaii, we decided to hike Manoa Falls, and I'm so glad we did! It was so beautiful and otherwordly. This was Keith's other pick as his favorite thing we did in Hawaii. It was a little muddy and slick, and I had visions of myself slipping and emerging from the hike covered in mud, but thankfully, that did not happen. Cassidy dropped us off at the base of the hike and then took Truman to the library while we hiked. In the above picture, there is a cool natural arch that grew over the pathway.

I just could not believe how green and tropical everything was. Completely different from our desert hike of the day before! Everywhere you looked there were gorgeous vines draping across the trees and pretty flowers. The vines behind Keith remind me of an elephant.

There was lots of bamboo growing along the path.

The falls are just visible behind us in this photo.

We made it to the top!

It was so pretty at the top. We sat for a while and ate lunch before we started back down.

On the way back down. Seriously, I felt like I was in a different world.

So pretty!

Cassidy picked us up from the hike, then dropped us off in downtown Honolulu where we toured the Iolani palace. It was a really cool building with an audio tour. The story of Hawaii's royal family was a little sad, although I noticed they certainly left out any negative information about the royals and how they came to power.

Same building from the other side, with a cool tree in front of it. This building is now completely surrounded by concrete and large office buildings, but apparently back in it's hayday, it had a beautiful ocean front view.

Across the street was this government building with a statue of king Kamehameha. Hawaii is the only state with former royalty and to have a palace.

It was our last night in Hawaii, so I took this picture off of Cassidy and Jame's lanai so I could remember. This was the view we enjoyed every night.

Hawaii, day seven

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. day, so we were glad to have James available to spend the day with us. We hiked to the Makapu'u lighthouse in the morning. This hike was rather deserty, and I thought it was strange to see cacti in Hawaii--I just didn't know they had any deserts there. Here is the lighthouse, and you can see some cacti in the picture.

We had nice views of a pretty beach that we went swimming at after the hike. 

Here is a view of the lighthouse from the top of the peak.

Us at the top. You'll just have to ignore my crazy hair. If I lived in Hawaii, I would always have crazy hair. I think I look like Roger the Shrubber from Monty Python in this picture, but oh well.

Keith and James hiked up to some barracks that were up a very steep hill, while Cass and I started back down with Truman. Tru kept finding large rocks that he wanted to take back down the mountain with him.

Then we went swimming at Waimanalo beach. The waves here were crazy! They were humungous and broke right on the beach. I was totally being thrashed around in the water. It was fun, but took a lot of energy to avoid being thrown around with each wave.

Truman had fun playing in the sand.

That evening we ate at Cheeseburger Waikiki, where Aloha is served daily. The food was pretty tasty and the atmosphere was fun. As you can see from the below photo, I decided to embrace my inner wild wahine and just sport hair au natural. It's really the only look you can achieve in Hawaii.

We had such a fun day!

Hawaii, day six

On Sunday we went to church with Cassidy and James. Their building was really cool! The relief society crochets these cute lei's for visitors. I couldn't believe how many visitors they had--apparently lots of vacationers take the time to go to all three hours of church. Those ladies must be really busy crocheting. After church, we went on a drive along the North Shore. We stopped to get shave ice at Matsumoto's. Good thing Cass and James were there to tell us that Matsumoto's is the only place to get shave ice. We got the works on ours--a scoop of vanilla ice cream, azuki beans, and a shot of sweetened condenced milk on the top. Super yum!

We stopped at a beach where sea turtles often sunbathe. Unfortunately, they weren't out that day, although we did spot one in the water.

I don't remember the names of any of these beaches, but we stopped and walked along a few of them. Once again I questioned why any tourists would waste their time on Waikiki, but I guess most of them don't have a car or someone willing to drive them around. And to be fair, Waikiki does have tons of shops and restaurants around, so I can sort of see it's appeal.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

Hawaii, day five

On Saturday, we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. This was one of Keith's top picks for favorite things we did in Hawaii. I thought it was really cool, but found it a little bit scary and claustrophobic. We saw lots of fish and even a sea turtle. I'm so glad we got to do this! We brought along a picnic lunch and took turns with Cass and James snorkeling and watching Truman. We also saw this creature thing--which is possibly a mongoose.









Me and Cass on the beach.

Since we were both expecting, (not that she looks it...) I convinced her to do a cheesy heart tummy picture with me. She really didn't want to, but I told her in 20 years looking back, she'll think it's precious and cool. So she better...

We were snorkeling around the edges in that big open area.

Me and Keith on the way out of Hanauma Bay.

Then we drove to see this blowhole.

This beach was apparently used in a famous makeout scene from the movie From Here to Eternity.

A beach off to the left of the blowhole. It was getting some huge waves.

That evening, we played The Great Dalmuti with Cass and James. We utilized Keith's nifty Samoa hat from the PCC as the Dalmuti hat, and it worked really well. We had lots of fun with the Dalmuti hat--it made us laugh.

Hawaii, day four

On Friday, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, and this was one of my very favorite things we did. Cass and James had a doctor appointment in the morning, and we watched Tru while they went. They brought home some delicious malsadas from Leonard's bakery to celebrate the exciting news that they were expecting a baby girl. Then they lent us their car for the day and we enjoyed the beautiful drive up to Laie. We stopped for lunch right by the PCC, and I was so impressed with the restaurant's decor that I took some pictures.

They had some classy touches you don't find stateside. Any guesses what this fine eating establishment was?

Yep, McDonald's. And if you ever stop in at McDonald's while you're in Hawaii, don't try the taro pie. It's really poi masquerading as something potentially delicious.

We went to most of the villages in the PCC and really enjoyed every one. This gal was from Tahiti.

There was a cool water parade. 

The parade was definitely not to be missed.

Us in front of the river.

Waiting for the drum show in Tonga...

The tongan show was definitely the funniest. They picked people out of the audience to participate in their show, and I couldn't believe some of the hilarious things people did.

We took the tram tour of Laie, which spotlighted BYUH

That was pretty cool to see the sister school of our alma mater.

Then it let us off at the temple grounds for a few minutes.

This temple is, of course, very similar to the Mesa temple. But the grounds were completely different, and really gorgeous. I love this palm lined drive up to the temple. It looks pretty spectacular.

When we got back to the PCC, we had time to see one more village. We decided to repeat Samoa, which was the first show we had seen that day. We both ended up getting picked to participate in the show. I was a hula dancer with coconut shells I had to bang together, but because Keith had also been selected and was off practicing, there aren't any pictures of me. Then Keith came out with this other guy to have a contest between them to see who could start a fire first.

They tried really hard, but unfortunately, neither of them quite did it. The Samoan guys finished it up for them.

Then they gave Keith that hat thing and made him dance onstage.

I really enjoyed the palm tree climbers--they were amazing and funny too.

After the show, we went to our luau. I'm not a huge fan of Hawaiian barbeque, but the atmosphere and entertainment were fun and the food was okay. Everyone at our table was raving about the raw fish, but Keith was not interested in trying it and being pregnant, I had the perfect excuse not to try it. I probably would have tasted it if I hadn't been, but it did not look, sound, or smell appealing. 

After the luau, we browsed some shops before we headed over to watch the evening show, which was amazingly good. We had such a great time!