Hawaii-Pearl Harbor, Dole Plantation and the rest of the trip!

After attending church we headed to Pearl Harbor to see the memorial.  We watched a short (and informative) movie about what happened at Pearl Harbor.  Then we took a boat ride to the memorial.  It was SO interesting!  We enjoyed learning more about the history of Pearl Harbor and enjoyed the memorial so much.  I forgot to mention that Liam is doing his state report this year on Hawaii so we were able to grab lots of pictures for him to use in his report.  :)  

Our last days in Hawaii were spent at the beach and the Dole Plantation.  We took the red eye home.  It was nice because Hazel slept the whole time, but it wasn't nice because I didn't sleep much.  Ashlyn slept a little but for the most part we didn't get much sleep so as soon as we got home we all crashed and slept a few hours to make it through the rest of the day.   It really was such a fun trip.  Great memories were made! (and it was warm which sounds really nice right now as I type this and it is 20 degrees outside) :(

Part of the USS Arizona where the memorial was built on.  It is an underwater cemetery for all the men who went down with the ship.  A very sacred place.

We had to get a picture of our "big boat" that we drove all over the place.  It was huge.  You don't find many SUV's on the island so we stuck out (literally) like a sore thumb!

One more food pic!

The Dole Plantation was pretty neat.  It is definitely a tourist trap but I enjoyed learning about the different types of pineapples and why they grow so well in Hawaii.  We couldn't get enough of the fresh pineapple.  It was so good!  We all enjoyed a nice dole whip too! :)

After the Dole Plantation we drove to the North Shore to see the big waves and watch the surfers try to ride them.  It was amazing!  We live on such a beautiful earth!

Love that smile!

Crooked palm tree! :)

One thing that is super funny about Hawaii is the wild chickens running around everywhere.  It was crazy how many we saw. 

Waiting for our late flight home.  Such a fun trip!

Hawaii-hiking and beach time

Nate goes hiking with one of the insurance agents that he meets with in Hawaii almost every time he visits so of course they had to go with the kids there.  Hazel and I hung out at the hotel while they had a fun adventure.  The hike is an old rail line that was used by the military to get supplies up to the little 'boxes' they found shelter in.  It went straight up the mountain.  Nate said the kids did awesome and I think they all had a great time! 

What a view!

Gavin's highlight of the hike - geckos!

They enjoyed a yummy treat after their hard work.  We had too many malasadas (doughnuts) from Leonards and they were heavenly!

I think the kids could have spent the entire vacation at the beach and swimming pools and never complained.  They loved finding all the crabs and fish in the water and then playing at many of the different pools around the resort.  It was such a great family friendly place!

We spent a morning at Hanauma Bay. Nate and the boys got to do a bunch of snorkeling and found some pretty neat fish.

We all hiked to the top of Diamond Head crater.  It was an adventure with Hazel. She was pretty good for the hike up but cried the whole way down.  It was quiet windy but still worth the hike for the views! 

We attended church at a very old tabernacle in Waikiki right by our hotel.  It just happened to be the primary program that day so it was awesome! So fun!

Hawaii - Polynesian Cultural Center

We had a great time visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center.  There was so much to do and see that we probably could have done another day there.  It was interesting to learn about all the different island cultures.  We spent the day exploring and then went to a luau for dinner and ended the night at their show "Breath of Life".  It was amazing and such a fun place!

 Canoe tour

Basket, crown weaving.

Canoe parade!

Fishing!

Spear throwing!

The very yummy luau!