Back from Hawaii

ALOHA! We spent a fabulous week on Oahu with Ben's two older brothers and their wives. Here are some of the highlights.

At the Hawaii Laie Temple, we learned about some of the native plants, the sister missionaries wore ankle length Hawaiian dresses and sandals (send me to that mission!) and there was a tree with big eaves you could sing (Umh, I mean leaves you could sign-gotta love computer spell check). Legal Mormon graffiti.


At sunset beach: we tried boogie boarding here, but it was tough! You had to be out pretty far to catch a good wave, usually in very deep water. I caught one good wave!

Eating Shaved Ice at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa: Ben got cherry with sweetened condensed milk, sounds sick, but it's de-lish. I got pina colada, which tasted nothing like pineapple or coconut but was tasty nonetheless. I love that it was "local fare."

Shark's Cove on the North Shore: this was our first attempt at snorkeling. Since it was too choppy that day to go in the deeper part of the cove (on the right) we ended up in the very shallow waters on the left. Good for first time snorkelers, but not very exciting. I saw about 4 fish and a sea cucumber.

Shopping at the swap meet in Honolulu: a shopper's dream! Cheap stuff at cheap prices. Get your fake wooden sandals, t-shirts and jewelry at rock-bottom prices.

At the Polynesian Cultural Center with Mike, Heather (Ben, me) Dave and Kristyn. These crazy Maori girls practically dared us to get these tattoos and so we did. The boys got picked to participate in the Maori warrior Welcome dance, probably because of their manly tattoos.We also practiced swinging poi balls (I am sooo uncoordinated), tried some Tahitian dancing-the hip shaking kind- and made some little fish out of coconut leaves with the Samoans.

Sand Crab at our beach in Hauula: this little guy reminded me of Sponge Bob's crabby burger boss. And he can dig a mean hole pretty fast.

Swimming until dark at Waimea Bay(by the light of the MOON): the waves came in and then right back out again because the beach was so steep. The back and forth motion made for some great body surfing.

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay: this place had great snorkeling. Lost of coral reefs and plenty of fish. We hoped to see some sea turtles, but no luck!

Sunrise from our beach in Hauula: We watched the sun rise a couple of mornings at around 6:15am. We had some serious jet lag the whole week. Ben and I did see a sea turtle here, but only his head, sticking out of the water a couple of times.

Searching for LOST sites: we went to Mokuleia Beach where the pilot episode was filmed, you know, the one where they crash and the plane is all over the beach and parts of it blow up, etc.
We also went on a long hike near Turtle Bay Resort to find the banyan tree where Kate first hid in the pilot episode, but turns out it looks just like every other banyan tree on the island.



U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor -this site was built right over the sunken ship. It marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the island of Oʻahu was the action that led to United States involvement in World War II. (Thanks Wikipedia)

Our last day in Hawaii. We had a relaxing wonderful time with great company!