O'ahu

With a seminar as the reason to get there, Jon and I spent 8 days in O'ahu. I'd like to say it was a magical trip--complete paradise--like most would picture Hawaii being, but it was actually a bit of a disappointment. Especially, compared to our wonderful trip to Maui last year. The weather was not near as good this time around and O'ahu was a completely different experience than Maui. Way to touristy for our likes. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to get away together and despite the cool weather there, it was warmer than Fruitland.

Day 1. Yummy muffins from Grandma were much appreciated with a 6am flight and no breakfast.

Our flight over there was quite pleasant. We left Pasco at 6am and arrived in Honolulu at noon.

This was the 1st rental car we were given. It was a nice free upgrade, but after getting in Jon realized it was way too small. The next car they gave us had near bald tires so on the 3rd try we ended up with this:

These trees had the perfect vines for swinging!

Day 2. We started the day with a timeshare presentation, which resulted in free tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center, tickets to Hanauma Bay and a buy one get one free coupon book. Definitely worth our two hours.

After the presentation we drove to Laie where the Polynesian Culture Center is.

Jon had to try out his snorkeling gear on the way to the PCC. We stopped at Costco when we arrived in Hawaii and purchased snorkeling gear b/c we wished we would've done that when we went to Maui. Little did we know O'ahu has very little snorkeling and we ended up not really using them.

At the PCC.

The PCC is one of the best parts of O'ahu. I wish we would have spent more time there. The 1st village we visited was Samoa and it was an amazing presentation. The speaker was hilarious and they showed us cool things like breaking into a coconut and making coconut milk (the old fashioned way), starting a fire with two sticks, and how to climb a coconut tree. If you look closely in the picture you can see the guy at the top of the tree.

Jon was a participant in the presentation in the village of New Zealand. (back row behind the guy in the purple shirt)

Our tickets into the center included a Luau that evening. The entertainment and food were both excellent. One of my favorite Hawaiian foods is Taro, the purple sweet potato.

Lookin' good Jonnie!!!

Not sure what this guy was, but everyone else was taking a picture with him so we thought might as well.

His lips were too perfect not to get a picture like this. I wonder how many other people put their lips in the same spot... The only thing we'd do differently next time with the PCC is go a few days into our trip so we're not so tired at night. They had a fairly new show called The Breath of Life, which was also included with our package, but by the time that came around we were both exhausted. We only lasted until intermission and then decided to head back, (a 50 minute drive) so we missed the fire and knife show.

Day 3. The infamous Tsunami day. We woke up to craziness. We could see a little store outside our window and all morning there was a constant line of people trying to get in and a constant stream of people walking out with bottled water. The night before there had been an 8.3 earthquake in Chile and because of that they were predicting a tsunami to hit the Hawaiian Island sometime late Saturday morning. Our seminar was scheduled for that day, but with the impending tsunami and strong suggestions to evacuate the area where the seminar was--a hotel on the beach--we assumed the seminar would be canceled. Jon wanted to wait it out in hotel room which was on the 9th floor and about 4 blocks from the beach, but I insisted we travel to higher ground. We stopped at a Safeway on our way out and experienced more craziness. No water in sight and tons of people! As we were standing in line to check out they brought two more gallons of water to a shelf nearby and we were fortunate enough to grab them. The gas stations were also bombarded and every station we drove by was coned off, meaning no more gas. Thankfully, we had plenty.

Somehow we found out way to a nice park on the side of a hill and spent a few hours there. After nothing transpired we headed back down. About 2pm we walked to the hotel where our seminar was and found that they had been having the seminar. We spent the rest of the afternoon there. Unfortunately, this was the last day of decent weather.

Waiting out the tsunami.

Day 4. We finished our seminar that morning and then attended a 1pm Sacrament mtg. The church was open air and pretty neat. After church we drove to Pearl Harbor, but arrived too late to see much.

The inside of a submarine

Day 5. A shuttle picked us up at 9:30 that morning and dropped us off to snorkel at Hanauma Bay. The weather was pretty chilly so we didn't snorkel for too long. I think snorkeling is fascinating and I enjoyed snorkeling that day, but Maui snorkeling was much better. Plus, in Maui snorkeling is everywhere and you don't have to pay to do it.

Chickens and roosters run wild in Hawaii.

After Hanauma we drove to Diamond Head, but like Pearl Harbor we were once again too late and weren't able to do the hike.

Day 6 we drove to Waimea and enjoyed watching the big waves crash in. Jon also did some swimming while I sat on the beach with my jacket on.

Day 7 started out with running into our friend, Ean. We were literally out running on our way to Diamond Head State Park (a volcano) when Jon spotted Ean running in the opposite direction across the street from us. Complete coincidence since we had no idea he was even in Hawaii. What are the chances of running into someone you know on an island of 800,000 people plus thousands of more tourists? It was a fun surprise!

At the top of Diamond Head.

The tunnel on the way down Diamond Head.

I would have to say this was my favorite meal of the trip--an omelet with ham, onions, peppers, cheese, and salsa; breakfast potatoes and a banana muffin (my favorite). I think the fact that we'd just ran about 8 miles up and down hills helped it taste so yummy. It was called a John Denver omelet at Moose McGillycuddy's. It was so good, we went back the next morning for more of the same. (We had buy one get one free coupons both times, which always adds to the enjoyment :)

USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Pretty neat experience.

This coconut was a gift from my angels. As we were driving the loop to North Shore we stopped at a fruit stand and bought some pineapple. The coconut was calling to me also, but I didn't buy any. After that I just kept thinking "I really wish I had some coconut." Not too much longer we pulled off a small beach, and can you guess what was waiting on the beach when we arrived? Yep, this yummy little coconut. For those of you that haven't been to Hawaii before and think coconuts must be everywhere, not true. The only food you see in Hawaii is for sale. Finding a ripe coconut on the beach is extremely rare. Big thanks to my strong resourceful husband who managed to break into this for me. It was yummy and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Day 8. We checked out of our timeshare at noon and had 12 hours till our plane left. We hadn't seen the Temple yet so we drove the loop to the North Shore.

Jon being a goofball and flexing for the camera. He adds so much enjoyment to my life!

Our camera batteries had died by this point so we borrowed some from a sister missionary to take these pictures. The Temple was being renovated while we were there so we weren't able to see the inside, but the visitor's center was open and it was pretty amazing. Sort of like a mini version of the visitor's center at Temple Square. One of the highlights of our trip was a hike to Laie falls after we left the visitor's center. Too bad we don't have any pictures because it was BEAUTIFUL!

Hyrum and Lydia stayed with my parents while we were gone. We arrived back in Pasco Friday at noon and spent the rest of the weekend there. My friend Molly's daughter was baptized the next day and that night (Saturday) we went to Karena's house and played games. We're so grateful that Grandma and Grandpa so lovingly cared for our children while we were gone.

As a side note, Friday night I bought my first item ever off QVC. I had taken a nap that afternoon and was still on Hawaii time, so late that night I was browsing through the channels and came across Wayne Dyer on QVC. They were selling his book The Shift, the DVD The Shift and a 6-CD seminar Making the Shift for a super good deal. I LOVE it all and highly recommend it!