Saturday, April 16, 2011

Oahu 2011

This year Mike's work trip was to Honolulu. It was a pretty quick trip, but we made the most of it. The first day we rented a car and went to the North Shore.

We did the hike to Waimea Falls. It was an amazing walk through a nature preserve up to the falls. There were people swimming by the falls. That made me miss the kids because our kids would have loved swimming there. (Another thing that made me miss them--a waiter one day was named Christian and our waiter another day was named Andrew.)
I took pictures of a few flowers we saw on the hike.
We shared a pineapple burger in Haleiwa and then went to this place with all of these funky vans and buses that sell fresh shrimp.

Temple in Laie.

The temple grounds are beautiful.


The Polynesian Cultural Center was great. We saw a few of the island presentations then went to the Luau. The show, Ha: Breath of Life, was amazing. We had great seats with a great view of the performers. Seriously, one of my favorites from this trip.


The next day we got up early to be at Pearl Harbor by 7 a.m. when tickets go on sale. We got tickets for the Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri. That is Mighty Mo in the background.

The Arizona Memorial.


USS Missouri.



Melanie and her family just happened to be on vacation the same time we were. We went shopping with them and had some hawaiian shaved ice.

One of my favorite pictures--our friends Matt and Andrea on the hotel grounds.

The last morning of our trip we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We took Andrew's underwater camera and got pictures of lots of fish.




It always takes me a few minutes to warm up to the whole thing. I have to get used to the breathing and I have to go to my happy place to block out the Jaws music that plays in my head.

When I was 19 I stepped on a sea urchin while on vacation in Hawaii with my family. Now, every time I see one I get freaked out. So, Mike and I snorkeled for about 45 minutes and we were sort of doing our own thing, when I saw a whole clan of sea urchins in the coral. I panicked and headed for shore. 45 minutes was plenty for me.

Mike took some video while snorkeling.


It was an amazing trip, but it is always great to come home to my babies.

4 comments:

Erika Huff said...

Oh my goodness I love the shrimp truck! My name is on there somewhere. Looks like y'all had a magical trip!

Unknown said...

This sure reminded me of all the fun we had while we were there.I will always remember how beautiful it is. Glad you had such a trip.

CJ said...

The kids missed you too but were really excited that you had such a great time. So glad you are able to have such wonderful trips.

Julie Jones said...

Oh, so jealous! Some day I will make it to Hawaii... sigh