Trip to Hawaii June 2008

Hilton Hawaiian Village- We had a great view from our room!

We had lots of fun at the beach. I don't know if you ever get used to the taste of the ocean. I'm sure it's just like the pool, You are NOT suppose to drink it, but it always ends up in my mouth. YUK!

Our day out surfing was probably our biggest adventure ever. We ended up bruised and cut up, but we didn't drown and we didn't get eaten by a shark. I don't know that either of us would say that we had a lot of fun, but we sure had a good time talking about how crazy the sport of surfing is. Who in their right mind thinks it is a good idea to paddle out into the ocean with a heavy piece of plastic, and once you get to the spot where there are some rocks, lets see if we can stand up on this piece of plastic. We basically spent two hours lying on our stomachs trying not to get knocked off by the waves. One of many things we learned was that surfing is much harder than it looks, and that we are NOT surfers!

Snorkeling was SO MUCH FUN! When I was a kid we would often play that we were mermaids while we were at the swimming pool. No, I didn't turn into a mermaid, but it was so neat to swim around with the fish. One of my most favorite memories in Hawaii was the second time we went out to go snorkeling. I was consintrating on the bottom of the ocean looking for other peoples lost treasure (I did find a pair of sunglasses), and I came a cross a sea turtle. I was actually totally freaked out when I saw it at first. I swam as fast as I could to catch up to Paul, and told him what I saw. He asked me if it was just some guy swimming. He followed me back and sure enough there was a big turtle just eating off the bottom of the ocean. We both swam down to the bottom to touch its back and once the turtle swam up for air. I don't know that it was the smartest thing to do. We were told after our turtle in counter that they will bite. This may be true, but we didn't have any problems.



These are the sunglasses I found!

I took a fun Leigh class while Paul was "working", and I got to learn the hula.

I spent a lot of time out by the pool and just about every extra time I had I was reading the Twighlite book. It is really fun to read without kids around.

I enjoyed watching the animals that they had on the grounds. I was so excited when we came across the penguins swimming. I had watched them all week long, and they were never swimming.




Pearl Harbor

We figured we couldn't take a trip to Honolulu and not see Pearl Harbor. I am not really a very patient person. I struggle going to the temple and sitting around waiting for our turn is very challenging for me. However, we got the audio tour which made most of the waiting go by very quickly, and brought the experience of Pearl Harbor more to life. For me going to Pearl Harbor made the war in Iraq a little more real. It was good to take some time to reflect on the sacrifices that so many people have made through out the years and even today to allow me to have the freedoms that I enjoy.


Saturday was one of our funniest days in Hawaii because we got to be together the entire day. After seeing Pearl Harbor we drove around the island over to the Temple. We went into the visitor center and enjoyed walking on the beautiful grounds. Everything was just so beautiful. We spent the rest of the afternoon splashing in the waves of the ocean. We had fun chasing the sand crabs into there holes. It was such a wonderful opportunity to go to Hawaii, but after a week I was so ready to be back with my kids.

The flight home was long, and impossible to really get any sleep. I was so excited to see the mountains and know that I was home. The kids had a great time with both of their grandparents. We are lucky to have our parents close enough to be able to take turns keeping our kids. Hannah had spent so much time playing and swimming outside she was as brown as me. I guess that goes to show that you don't have to go far from home to get a good suntan. The kids were excited to get some gifts from Hawaii. Paul was excited to find this special shell you can blow into like a horn, and I was excited to get a new precious moments figurine to remind us of another great year married, and the fun opportunities that come our way every once in a while. It was a bit of a sacrifice to put our total money make over back one month, but we did very good at keeping the trip low budget, and when all was said and done the only thing I would have done differently is: I would have possibly paid the extra $120 for the surfing lessons, but who am I kidding that's a lot of money I'm glad we were cheap. It tends to create greater adventures, and that is what this life is ONE BIG ADVENTURE.