Day 2 of Paradise

On the second day we didn't wake up quite as early. We called the boys and went to eat at McDonald's. We left for the day by 7:00 am.

We drove up the North East side of the island. We stopped at Kualoa Regional Park. We looked at Chinamans hat and watched the sun come up. It was a little windy, but beautiful!

We walked along the beach and found sea shells to take home to the boys.

We drove up to Laie to see the temple. It was General Conference weekend, so the temple was closed on Saturday. We went to the visitor center and walked around the grounds. It was so peaceful.

Next we went to Kualoa Ranch for our Jeep ride. This is the place where many movies have been made. Jurassic Park and the TV show Lost was filmed here.

Doug was worried that I was going to get us kicked out for picking a flower to put in my hair. Luckily no one noticed, so we were safe:)

This is the jeep that we rode in. It was a little bumpy, but fun to go up the mountain.

Chinaman's Hat in the distance.

On our way up the mountain.

Bonnie enjoying the ride.

The area that the TV show Lost was taped

The top of where we went...BEAUTIFUL!

Our tour guide

Next, we found a place across the street from Pounders Beach and bought fresh pineapple from a little old man. He cut it up with a machete and put it in a grocery bag. We drove across the street and ate our pineapple and enjoyed the beautiful beach.

Our last thing of the day was the Polynesian Cultural Center

When we bought our tickets, we made a mistake and bought the VIP tickets. We had a collage student that took us around to each thing and we had special seating at the events as well. There were people that had been waiting for a while to see this show and we walked in and got front row seating. Doug and I felt a little strange walking in front of others to get the front row.

Our favorite village was Tonga. This guy was HILARIOUS!

The Tongans climbing the coconut tree. 

On the left, Doug trying to make fire. On the right, our guide also trying to make fire.

We were taught how to weave leaves together and make to fish kissing.

Our boat ride to the Luau, our dinner.

Our guide, cousin Mike...his real name we too difficult to pronounce, so he asked us to call him cousin Mike. I wonder if he got to change his name each day?

The Luau

We enjoyed our dinner and then attended the night show. I loved the PCC. It was one of the few things I remember from when I went. It was great!

Aloha from Hawaii, Day 1

For our 10 year anniversary we decided to go to Hawaii. We were actually married in August, but couldn't go because Nathan was too little. We waited until Grandma Stott could come and watch all the boys for a week.

We flew out on Thursday morning and got to Oahu that evening. On Friday morning we were still on Minnesota time so we woke up at 3:00 am. We got up and got ready, Skyped with the boys and went to McDonald's for breakfast. 

We were ready to start seeing things by 7:00 a.m. It was great because we didn't have any problem with traffic getting out of Waikiki. We first headed up to the North Shore. On the way we saw these really cool trees. We were so excited to be in Hawaii that we pulled over and took pictures of lots of cool things the first day.

As we drove up the North Shore we stopped along the coast to walk along the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL!

It was so early in the morning that Wiamea Falls wasn't open so we drove all the way up the North Shore. We also stopped at Ted's Bakery to get a snack because we had been up for so long. 

We drove back to Waimea Falls and were able to get into see that falls. When I went to Oahu as a 10 year old, I remember seeing the peacocks at Waimea Falls. I was so excited to see the same thing again.

We walked up the path to the falls. It was so pretty to walk through the trees and little stream.

The falls weren't quite as big as I remember as a child. It was so early in the morning that it was a little to cold to go and swim in the water.

I thought I might be brave, but I didn't get to far in the water before I decided it was too cold!

After the water fall, we decided to go and relax at the beach. We went to sunset beach and enjoyed the beautiful ocean waves and the sand in our feet. We hadn't planned on staying long, so neither of us put on sunscreen. We paid for this decision for the rest of our vacation.

Next we went to Pizza Bob's for lunch. It was delicious!

We parked along the road and walked down to Shark's Cove to snorkel. This ended up being a little dangerous. The rocks were really jagged and slippery. Doug cut the bottom of his foot which we wondered if it was the best idea to go swim in "Shark's" cove. We spent the afternoon swimming around and seeing all the fish in this cove. It was so beautiful under the water!

To end the day we went to Matsumoto's for shaved ice. It tasted so good after our long day in the sun! We headed back to our hotel to relax and get ready for the next day.