The first of this year we received a phone call from Marriott Resorts. They had a good deal to go to Hawaii, of course the good deal had a catch of coming to a meeting for them to talk you in to buying in on a vacation time share with them. Anyway, Larry thought it would be fun for me as I had never been there, he said he had already been there and didn't really care if he went back....so this was basically for me, which was very sweet and thoughtful of him. Larry suggested that we make plans to go during the summer while I was off work, but I told him that I didn't want to go in the summer when it was warm here. I would rather go during the fall or winter. After all was said and done we planned to go over UEA in October, then I could take some of personal days and still have some extra time with the vacation that we were on from school. It just so happened that the UEA vacation was the 20th and 21st of October. That made it even better, because I could spend my 50th birthday in the 50th state. Then people started saying that I could do the Hawaii Five-O thing. Very funny, but anyway it was perfect. We had a lot of fun.
A long story made short, our eldest daughter Shan and her hubby Chris, along with their daughter Jennsen (whose birthday was the 20th) decided to go with us. Then so Jennsen wouldn't be stuck with just us adults they also invited our grandson Zac. We all had a lot of fun.
We left on the 19th of October and arrived there that evening about 6:30 Hawaii Standard Time. With the 4 hour difference that made it a long day. In fact that was the hard part, my body wanted to wake up at 4:00 in the morning, because it was 8:00 by my body clock.
The next morning we all headed off to hike Diamond Head.
I didn't think it would be that bad, it wasn't very long, but it was pretty straight up with lots of stairs, which my knee hated....but I DID IT!!!
After that we headed over to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling. Zac and Jennsen were excited to do that. Shan isn't a very good swimmer, well she doesn't have a lot of confidence, anyway she was nervous at first, but she did great! I'm proud of her. Larry and I were able to see a sea turtle swimming along.
I tried to find the kids, but I couldn't see them to wave them to come over, so we were the only ones to enjoy that. Got a little red, which is easy to do just snorkeling along and not paying attention to time that you're out there. We all had a ton of fun doing that though.
Then we went down the road a little and saw the Blow Hole. It was hard to get pictures, but Larry got a couple.
The next day we headed up toward the North Shore and over to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We made a few steps along the way to a fruit stand to try some local fruit, stopped to to see the Temple and the BYU campus there. The temple was beautiful, wish we could have fit in a session there.
We had a lot of fun at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We enjoyed all the stops at each of the island shows and the parade on the water. Shannon and Zac both got a temporary Hawaiian tattoo. We also stayed to see the main show called "Ha....breath of Life" It was a late night getting home, but so worth it.
The next day we planned on going over to the Flea Market at Aloha Stadium. We planned on picking up our gifts and souvenirs there, but unknown to us the Warriors had a game that day and so the market was not going to be open. We would have to go back the next day. Since that through a wrench in our plans for the day we tried to decide what to do. Larry and I had our meeting that day and so we would have to be back at the resort by 2:00. We figured that we had time to go up to the Dole Plantation for the morning and then we could be back and everyone else could just enjoy the resort and play around.
Later that night we went to a Luau just down from the resort called Paradise Cove.
We went down a little early and were able to make a lei bracelet and a few other things. We girls enjoyed doing that. Zac got himself a Island tattoo on his face. He thought that was great. It was a great buffet and great entertainment.
Sunday was my big "50", and since we had not been able to get our gifts the day before as we had planned, we had to go that day since that was the only day left that they would be open before we left Monday evening. Talk about a major shopping experience!!
We also decided to drive to the North Shore to see some waves. There was a high wave warning for that day and so we wanted to see some surfing.
We also found a good place for Zac to go snorkeling again. He really loved doing that. The waves were great and we also saw some of the surfers out. Just driving up there was like rush hour. We then came back and enjoyed the rest of the day back at the the resort and then went out to eat that evening for my birthday. It was a nice day, but I missed my Sabbath feeling.
Monday was our final day. Our plane flight was that evening around 9:00pm. So we checked out of the resort that morning and left our luggage with the bell hops and headed out for something I was really looking forward to.....Pearl Harbor!!!
We spent pretty much the entire day there, taking the tour out to the USS Arizona,(Very humbling to show our respect to those who died there.) I even took pictures of the oil, which they call black tears, that is still coming up from the ship. We learned that since it is the 70th anniversary this December, that one of the men that was assigned to the Arizon, but was not on the ship at the time, has passed away and his family have plans to bury him with his shipmates on that date. I didn't realize that they did that still. Always interesting things to learn.
We also went over to tour the USS Missouri (which is the ship that the Japanese surrendered on.) and then on over to the Aviation Museum. Jennsen was excited about this because she is into the Ghost Hunter shows....the museum was on that show. One of the manikins named, Kramer, is always in a different position in the morning when the workers show up. So we had to take pictures with Kramer.
I also took pictures in Hanger 79 of the actual broken window panes from bullets from the bombing of Pearl Harbor. What a excellent day. We finished in time to head back to the resort and eat and get our bags and then off to the airport.
I loved my Hawaii Five-O adventure!! We loved having the family along too!! I would love to do it again, if I can only talk Larry into going again (I think he had more fun that he will admit.)....maybe to another island!
