Aloha!

This week we went on a fabulous vacation. Lori and Lucy flew down and stayed with our kids and we spent 4 days in Oahu, Hawaii. We stayed at Waikiki about a two minute walk from the beach. The weather was not super sunny, but we were just so happy to have a little "honeymoon" just like six years ago. We have only been away from our kids one night since we started having them so we felt like it was just time. We ate so much good food, saw so many things, and missed the kids like crazy (couldn't help it). When we went on our honeymoon, it was just magical because I had never done anything close to that before, so I was exited to go back and relive that a little bit. So here is my long boring report with lots of landscape that won't mean much to anyone but me. We arrived late at night and checked into our hotel. Then we went out and found our favorite restaurant, Duke's Canoe Club, from our honeymoon six years ago. We sat on the patio right on the beach with the waves crashing and torches lit. It was a very reminiscent way to start things out. We were so tired that we zonked out. I still woke up in the middle of every night we were there because I am so used to getting up with the kids.
Day 1: This is a picture of Waikiki. We started off the day with another beach side breakfast at the Hula Grill with banana macadamia nut pancakes. It was so peaceful to look over the water and really feel stress free. Then we went to the international market place and did most of our souvenir shopping. We got the kids some t-shirts and lots of shell necklaces for Eden. We also got her a grass skirt, Dallin a shark tooth necklace, and Tanner a coconut piggy bank. Then it was time to hit the beach. We got some blow up beds and floated out in the water for a long time. It was so relaxing. Later that day, Peter's grandpa came into town and we all went to a Luau dinner.
The Luau was at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It was so fancy and the food buffet was scrumptious. My favorite was the roast pig, but there was so much variety. You can't really see it but the beach is right there too.
We even got some beautiful leis to really get the luau feeling.
After the dinner the dancers came out and we saw a lot of different costumes and dances from different Polynesian countries.

To finish the evening a fire dancer came out and I couldn't believe how fast this guy could move.
Day 2: We woke up to a windy day. It rained at times, but it would only last for about 60 seconds at a time. The waves were much bigger and we even has some rainbows. We were still comfortable wearing t-shirts and shorts so we didn't really care. Since it wasn't really lazy beach weather, grandpa rented a car and gave us a tour around the island. He knows the Island really well having been to Hawaii so much in his lifetime (4-6 weeks a year for 25 years).
We thought this tree was so awesome looking.
This is a statue of Duke the most famous surfer in Hawaiian history.
As we drove around we went to the Valley of the Temples and saw a Japanese temple. This is the 18 foot high Budha inside the temple.

Outside of the temple there was this stream with thousands of giant Koi fish in it. We bought some food to feed them and so many came out that they were literally climbing on top of each other to get it. The birds liked it too. They would eat right out of our hands.

This is outside of the temple.


This is called China man's hat.

This is a lookout that we went to on the north side. Grandpa was telling us about how he and Larry climbed down these rocks one time with scuba gear on to go diving.
LDS Temple
It was so strange that the wind in Waikiki didn't follow us. The north shore was pretty calm.
That evening Grandpa took us to this Japanese inspired restaurant that had these giant bowls of soup with noodles and all kinds of meats and garnishes in them. It was very unique.
On our way home we drove around the port with all of the ships as the sun was setting. Unfortunately something didn't settle right at dinner and I woke up so sick in the night. We went out to find some Pepto Bismol but the corner stores were closed so we had to take a taxi at 1 in the morning to a gas station for some medicine. That didn't help too much and I was suffering all night.

Day 3: I woke up still feeling pretty sick so we decided to stay at our hotel and watch a movie. It was relaxing to just lay around and I finally started to feel a little better. We walked to the beach for a while and Peter decided that he wanted to try Hawaiian pizza in Hawaii. We went to four different places before we found a place that would special make it for us. Apparently Hawaiian style pizza is something that Pizza Hut made up. It was still really good with island fresh pineapple on it. After lunch I went to the Hotel for a recovery nap while Peter went surfing. That worked out because I can't surf being pregnant anyway.

That night we went out to dinner to the Oceanarium with Grandpa for dinner. The aquarium was fun because they had divers go in and feed the fish and swim around. They even help up Happy birthday signs for the birthday people. The food was a really fancy buffet with the best prime rib I have ever had. There was so much food and even chocolate fondue with fresh fruit for dessert.

Day 4: We didn't have our camera with us for the day so here's the recap. We decided that we wanted to try snorkeling cruise. A tour bus picked up up in the morning and took us out to a small catamaran boat. Then they took us way out in the water to this 5 mile long sand bar. A sand bar is a place in the ocean that is shallow way out into the ocean. They set up a volleyball net and Peter played for about an hour while standing in 2 foot water and I stayed on the boat and visited with some other vacationers. Then we had a barbecue on the boat for lunch. Then the boat took us to a coral reef for snorkeling. Snorkeling is really fun and we saw lots of fish. I have to say that Hanama bay is more amazing though. It was a great day in the water. On the way home we took at detour through a rain forest area that was so lush and full. There was even a place where it was so grown over the trees had formed a tunnel. That was beautiful and I wished I had my camera. After we got back we showered and it was time to head out to the airport. Peter's grandpa drove us and we stopped at the most amazing little hidden restaurant at one of the ship ports. It was beautifully decorated with lots of sea glass and shells. The atmosphere was so charming. They had an amazing piano player come in that was blind. He just played all kinds songs just from his memory. We caught the red eye flight home and I could not wait to get back to my babies. Coming home was a sweet reunion. The kids were so exited to see us and see all of the things we brought back for them.

My hula girl
Eden clung to me the rest of the day and Tanner wanted Daddy to hold him and fell to sleep. The kids had a WONDERFUL time with Grandma and Lucy and they did a great job with them. The were definitely in good hands. Lori had even left the house cleaner than I had which was so nice to come home to. It was a lovely week, but I am so glad to be home. It was a lot harder to be away from the kids than I thought it would be.