Hawaii - Saturday (Day 7) or Happy Birthday Tommy...........

Saturday morning - the last morning of vacation. And what could possibly be better than to celebrate Tommy's birthday?! Tommy had been asking us all week what we were doing for his birthday. We kept telling him, that with getting ready for vacation, we completely forgot about his birthday (like that would ever happen)! He had mixed emotions - he was excited to be able to have his birthday in Hawaii, but on the other hand, he would be spending the majority of his birthday on an airplane on the way back home. Oh the sacrifices that kids have to make these days!

And, even on vacation, the Sticht Family Robinson Choir still performs! This was a pretty dang good performance, too! (Maybe the choir should go on the road more often)!

Tommy not quite awake yet!

Tommy, definitely pleased with his birthday gift!

We got home last Saturday night, so there wasn't any cake and ice cream that day. Monday evening, we took Tommy out for his birthday dinner. We were all too full, so no cake and ice cream then, either. It wasn't until Tuesday night that we finally had cake! How would it be to celebrate a birthday for four day?!

Happy Birthday, Tommy! We love you!

Aloha and mahalo!

Hawaii - Friday (Day 6).................

Friday we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Not knowing for sure what to expect, we headed to the other side of the island for this adventure. The drive provided an opportunity to see a different aspect to the island other than sandy beaches, palm trees, and ocean. We were inland towards the northern part of the island. It was rather interesting here at the pineapple plantation. After the usual potty break, the first thing we did was the pineapple maze. We were all given little maps of the maze and off we went.

This is the maze.

Monique and I went through the maze together. The kids all took off individually (apparently, it was a race to see who could get done first). We got turned around a couple of times, and we also backtracked a couple of times, but we eventually made our way through. Come to find out, the kids all took shortcuts (cheaters).

We were all able to see how pineapples actually grow. Some thought that they grew on trees, others weren't exactly sure, or hadn't given it much thought.

Pineapples

After completing the maze, we cooled off for a minute inside the gift shop, then we went on a self-guided garden tour. It was interesting to see the different flowers, banana trees, coffee plants, papaya trees, and everything else.

The kids by a pond in the garden.

Lily pad - notice the frog!

After the self-guided tour, we cooled off with pineapple dole whips (pineapple flavored ice cream) - YUMMY! Then since we were on vacation, we decided to get some lunch - notice dessert first, then lunch!

Our next stop was on the western side of the island - Ko Olina! We heard that the snorkeling here was incredible. The place we went to had some lagoons, or coves that were open to the public. The kids snorkeled for a few hours and saw turtles, puff fish, squid, and jellyfish. They were having the time of their lives. It was a great way to spend the last afternoon on the island, and they even all walked away with free beach towels!

Friday evening was spent at a friend's from school. I went through elementary school all the way through high school with Anne. They invited us over for dinner, and what a feast it was. Joe had barbecued ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats. Anne (and Joe) had made a couple of salads. When we were almost done eating, Joe grilled some fresh pineapple (this was very good, and I would recommend that people try this at home). Anne made a caramel apple cake for dessert. It was a very enjoyable evening just relaxing, eating and visiting. If anyone is looking for a great host and hostess on the island of Oahu, I can hook you up.

Hawaii - Thursday (Day 5)................

Thursday was another very nice day. Apparently some of the other islands were experiencing more rain, and some even had snow, but on Oahu, we had warm, sunny weather! The kids wanted to do some snorkeling, so we headed off to Hanauma Bay.

We waited in a long line of cars to get into the parking lot. We waited in another line to pay for admission to this National Park after making our way from the parking lot. While waiting in line, Monique noticed signs warning of jellyfish. She was no longer interested in snorkeling (maybe it had something to do with the idea of somebody peeing on her if she happened to get stung by a jellyfish - I don't know)! The kids were still determined. And it does have a very nice beach!

Ryan, Tommy & Wendy all set for snorkeling.

Even though it was warm and sunny, the water was extremely rough. This made for the water to be murky and the kids were not enjoying the snorkeling as much as they had hoped (I guess murky water prevents you from seeing things under water, maybe even things like jellyfish). We decided to head back to Waikiki and along the way, experienced real Hawaiian cuisine by stopping at the local Costco and getting a pepperoni pizza!

We went to the Waikiki Aquarium that afternoon. It wasn't a real big aquarium, but it was still interesting. Here are a couple of things we saw............

Some kind of shrimp (can't remember the name)

These are giant clams. We saw some that were bigger, but these were rather colorful.

We actually spent a couple of hours at the aquarium. That evening we just relaxed and walked along the main street across from the beach at Waikiki.

Another pleasant day!

Hawaii - Wednesday (Day 4)............

We had been enjoying beautiful weather while we were in Hawaii. It sprinkled a couple of times (or rather, misted). We weren't exactly jumping for joy when the day we planned to go the Polynesian Cultural Center, they were predicting flash floods and major rain. The tickets were already purchased, so we had no choice but to brave the weather and make the best of it. It was a very nice, scenic drive going up the eastern coast of Oahu. Extremely gray clouds, and just downright blustery weather. We even saw a couple of houses with sandbags in front of their driveways! When we got to Laie, however, it was no longer raining. We were early, so we went to the Laie Temple. It is closed for renovation for the next year or so, but we were still able to tour the temple grounds and even the visitors center. This temple, along with two others, do not have a statue of the Angel Moroni on top. At the top of the temple, there are carvings, and Moroni is part of the carvings! There are 24 palm trees in front, 12 on each side. Those on the left represent the original 12 apostles, and the 12 on the right represent the 12 modern day apostles (interesting tidbits that I thought I would share)!

On our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center, we drove through the campus of BYU Hawaii, and then went to McDonald's for a quick lunch! McDonald's is right next to the cultural center, so it was rather convenient. And one of the perks to arriving early - front row parking! The cultural center was very interesting. There definitely is not enough time in one day to do everything. The pictures below show a couple of the things that we did..........

Ukelele lessons

Tribal Tattoos

Learning how to climb a palm tree, and I swear these Polynesians can climb these trees faster than monkeys!

There was a luau for dinner! They had entertainment throughout dinner. The food was really good, particularly the pork. And there was A LOT of food!

Dinner!

After dinner, we went to the big show - Ha, A Breath of Life. The kids all enjoyed this. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for the man sitting next to me taking up half of my seat, and also for the guy in front of me that kept showing me his camera! Okay, maybe he wasn't exactly showing it to me, he kept holding it up in front of me while recording the show! Lucky for him, I was on my best behavior and was able to refrain from slapping him silly, and from taking his camera away from him. Both were certainly tempting.

It was a great day. And the best part is, we didn't have any flash floods! We had some rain as we were leaving McDonald's and driving to the cultural center. By the time we got out of the car, the rain had stopped, and we had great weather for the rest of the day!

Hawaii - Tuesday (Day 3)................

On Monday, Jared and Kate heard about this trail to this waterfall by a local resident. This was an easy, flat trail, through part of a rain forest, and would lead to this beautiful waterfall where kids could jump off the edge and play in the pool at the base. This sounded very intriguing! This would be a part of Hawaii that most tourists wouldn't see! We decided to check this out on Tuesday. We drove to where the trail began and this is what we saw......

The trail was in here and would lead us to the beautiful waterfalls! The trail was great! It was fairly flat, and paved - in the beginning, anyway! It soon turned to this.....

Yep! Muddy, rocky, terrain with tree roots thrown in for us to step over. Part way through, however, we came across this - something that you don't see everyday (unless, of course, you live in this part of Hawaii)!

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!

Hah! We had more muddy, slippery, ankle twisting trail to follow in order to get to the waterfalls! Oh, and also, you might need to cross a river bed about five different times along the trail. We were informed of a shortcut (never fall for those words). It was like climbing up a slip and slide! I think the local resident also forgot to mention the stairs - steep stairs. We are almost there and we get to this point......

This is the trail for the rest of the way. We started out wearing tennis shoes, but at this point, we opted to go barefoot. We finally got to the waterfalls and the kids had a great time!

This little adventure took considerably longer than we had anticipated, and we were completely exhausted by the time we got back to the car. Monique was supposed to be doing another class at this point, and we still needed to get back to the air force base where all of her school stuff was. When we got to the base, she had decided to not even worry about class - she would catch class via the archive instead.

After relaxing for a couple of hours we went back to the hotel and then walked around Waikiki. I believe we all slept extremely well Tuesday night!

Hawaii - Monday (Day 2).............

After a good night's rest, the kids came down to our room early Monday morning (okay, maybe it wasn't really very early) and had breakfast so we could begin our day's activities. First up on the list was Diamond Head . I'm glad we went as early as we did, because it gets warm (mildly hot) pretty early in the day in Hawaii! Also interesting to find out, was how young a person used to be. While the kids were way ahead of us, we were leisurely (rather painstakingly) making our way up the trail. Thank goodness for modern technology, as the kids eventually did text and call us to see where we were (not to make sure that we were okay, mind you, just to find out where we were)!

This is at the beginning of the trail, but we had our picture taken when we were done!

This is what a lot of the trail looked like. The beginning was paved, but then it transformed to this, and throw in a mere 76, and then an additional 99 steps and you've made your way to the top!

In these pictures, Tyler is walking down the trail. In the other you can see Wendy texting (most likely Camille) while making her way down!

This is a view of Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head.


This is the inside of the crater as viewed from the very top.


This lighthouse was at the base of Diamond Head.

When we were done at Diamond Head, we headed back to the air force base so we could play in the water (what else are you supposed to do when you go to Hawaii?)! On our way, we came across Halona Blow Hole. Even though we didn't see it blow very strong, or very high, it was still pretty cool.

Just after getting back in the car, we saw this flying above us.....

The kids all found this to be rather interesting. This is Wendy's favorite photo, because it looks like the guy is looking down at us.

We finally made it to the base, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon playing in the water. Monique had to do one of her classes and was able to do that online. She actually told one of the kids to log her off when the professor ended, so she could go out to the beach!

Hawaii - Sunday (Day 1)...............

We were fortunate to spend last week in Hawaii. Yes, we went as a family! I think the best part for the kids, was to get out of school for a week (it's really quite sad that the best time of year for us to take a family vacation is during the school year). The island we went to is Oahu! We stayed most of the time at Waikiki - about a block away from the beach. It was fun to be right in the hustle and bustle of everything, and we really weren't too far away from the other places that we visited. To recap our trip, maybe I should break it down day by day.

Sunday - Pearl Harbor, The Swap Market, Pali Lookout, The Beach......

The family at the USS Arizona Memorial

As you can see by these photos, the ship did not sink very deep. It's very tragic that 1177 people were still aboard when it sank and this is their memorial. The second photo shows oil spots - oil still seeps to the top after nearly 60 years (the belief is that the oil spots are tears from the soldiers - there were lots of tears while we were there).

Wendy and Tommy on the boat to and from the memorial.


Cousin Ashton on 'Little Ty Ty's' shoulders.

Pali Lookout...the view from here was incredible as indicated by the photos below......

The beach (at Bellows Air Force Base)........

Ryan bought this boogie board at the swap market and had a lot of fun with it. The only time he didn't have it in the water was when he was snorkeling. And, yes, we even managed to fit it in our suitcase to bring home!

At the end of this very exhausting day, we headed back to the hotel. The first couple of nights, we all fell asleep by nine in the evening (okay, really it was eleven in the evening our time - at least this doesn't make us sound as bad and make us out to be older than what we really are!).

Day 2 to be continued.........