Let Me Count the Ways

Can I tell you how much I LOVE this???

Beween the sunshine and the smiling faces - this feels like heaven to me.

I love cooking dinner and hearing them giggle.

Life is good - real good.

Pearl Harbor

This was one of my most favorite things.  We were there right when it opening so it wasn't super crowded yet and I loved it.  We were able to walk around and read everything and just take it in.

There was a reverence there that I didn't expect.  I had heard some horror stories about loud and overzealous tourists, so I was worried, but it was perfect.

The deep respect and gratitute I felt for these fallen soldiers was at times overwhelming.

My Grandpa was a gunner on airplanes in WWII and I've heard many stories.  He still has the maps that they issued him with escape routes and ally countries.  He's shown us many pictures.

If there is one stop I would recommend it would be Pearl Harbor - but get there early.

It is amazing to go out to the USS Arizona.  It makes it very real.  Before they take you out to the site you watch a video about the events leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack.  I cried... I have a tendency to get a little teary about my patriotism and this was no exception.

There is still oil coming out of the Arizona... you could see little bubbles of it coming to the surface.  It was so sad to see how close it was to the surface and yet there was nothing more than they did do to save those soldiers.

This is the USS Missouri - the exact type of ship that the Arizona was - just to give you an idea of size.

The wall of rememberance for all those that lost their lives on the USS Arizona.

They had WWII survivors there signing books and memoribilia. 

How cute are they?

Laie

We went to the temple!  Loved this temple.  It was beautiful.

I love that there are fountains of water everywhere and the flowers???  Out of control beautiful!

Almost all of the flowers from this post can be found on the temple grounds.

These pictures are on the drive to Laie.

After the temple we went to the PCC.  We bought tickets for the Luau and for the night show - we had no idea there was so much to see there.  Next time we want to spend an entire day just checking out this place.

They had an area for each island or culture.  They described in detail about the cutlure.  It looked really cool.

Educational - but cool.

Hawaii - Floral Edition

Plumeria

Hibiscus - which comes in every color... they are everywhere!

Bird of Paradise, yup these are just growing out the the ground.

Dole Plantation

YUM!!!  The best pineapple I've ever had in my life! EVER!

The had pineapple everything.  We had pineapple ice cream cones while we walked around the pineapple variety garden and then took a bowl of pineapple to go to eat on sitting at the beach on North Shore.

There were at least 30 different types of pineapples planted in the variety garden.  Different colors, sizes, grown in different regions... I had no idea.

On our way to North Shore we passed by the pineapple fields... miles and miles of pineapples at different stages of growth.  Did you know it takes 18-36 months for a pineapple to grow?

That's crazy!

Yup - we're giant FRUITS!

Random Hawaii

Waikiki Beach

This is the chapel we went to for church on Sunday.  Sacrament meeting had a lot of people and a good chunk of them were tourists.

I opened an oyster and brought home a pearl.

Maui

Maui was our first stop and I'm so glad it was - it was exactly what I needed.

2 out of 3 mornings in Maui we ate at Da Kitchen in Kihea. Yum!

I've never eaten rice with my omelet before, but if I could find some Porteguese sausage I'd do it at home.

We went to the Four Seasons Resort to have a fancy dinner and while we waited for our reservation we walked on the beach and watched the sunset.

Is there really anything better than a sunset on the beach in Hawaii??

We have some great friends that do "jump" pictures wherever they go - so the below picture is just for you Paul and Rachael.

Maui was awesome!  It was so much more relaxed and more of a "Hawaii" vibe than Waikiki.  We checked out some farmers markets and walked around and recovered from wedding stress.

We snorkeled Molokini (below) - my first time ever.  After I got over my initial panic attack - it was awesome.  On the boat ride out we saw a whale.  While snokeling we saw schools of different fish and 5 or 6 sea turtles.  It was great - I'm glad I let Colby talk me into it.

Next up  - Oahu.