Hawaii Day 7

Our last day of vacation we had planned on surfing but it was just to windy to go so sadly we took back our surf boards and headed over to McDonald's for their Spam breakfast :) Actually not bad! We decided that our last day should consist of hanging out at our favorite beaches so we first went to Lanikai and Kailua.

After a few (wonderful) hours of sitting on the beach there were headed over to Maui Tacos for lunch, then went over to Waimanalo Beach.

Lane and I loved swimming out in the crystal clear water during our trip.

Later that day we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and check-out :(We had our final dinner at the Hula Grill that overlooks the beach. I had some yummy coconut shrimp, Hawaiian BBQ imu ribs and crab cakes.

Then we took back our rental car, stopped at Wal-mart for some gifts for the kids, and took the red-eye flight home (left at 10pm Hawaii time, landed 7am Utah time).

As you can tell from how long it's taken me to blog, I've had a hard time adjusting back to normal life. It actually took me a week and a half to unpack my suitcase (I loved how everything in my suitcase still smelled like Hawaii- I didn't want to wash that away).

Since I used a lot of other people's blogs and recommendations for out trip, hopefully my semi-detailed blog will help give some good suggestions to anyone else that goes there soon. We can't wait to go see the other beautiful islands of Hawaii!

ALOHA!!

Hawaii Day 6

By this time in the trip I started to forget to take pictures, so you'll just have to use your imagination when I tell you we did another day of surfing on our own with boards we rented: Sat on the beach drinking our (virgin) pina coladas and eating lunch at the Steak Shack.

Got caught in a little "liquid sunshine" but it only lasted a few minutes and it was kinda fun!

We took our time driving up to Laie, stopping by a Macadamia nut farm to get some souvenirs (chocolate covered macadamia's, Mmmmm)
We spent a little bit of time at the Polynesian Cultural Center before our Luau dinner.

This is the imu, the pig that is cooked in a pit.

The grounds were beautiful, and this would be a great place to take younger kids to learn about all the different Polynesian islands.

The luau dinner.

Afterwards we watched the "Ha, Breath of Life" show that everyone had told us about. No pictures are allowed during the show but it was a lot of fun, the fire dancers were definitely our favorite part.

Hawaii Day 5

By the 5th day we were pretty much on "Hawaii time". It was a struggle to get up at 8am (11am Utah time) but we really loved not having a set schedule. This morning we decided to take surf lessons since it had been a few years since last time we went. I loved it! It so nice to have the instructors do all the work to pick out your wave and set you up to go. We really didn't have any trouble getting up and the waves on Waikiki were perfect for beginners.

Since the weekend can get a little crowded around Waikiki and some of the other popular beaches, we decided to visit the "deserted/local" part of the island where the road ends and it's just beautiful rocky coastline.

We drove up to do the Ka'ena Point hike and we hardly saw anyone while we were up there.

This pictures shows the North Shore to the left (on my right in the pic):

This one shows the West coast of Oahu.

It was a beautiful (but a little long) hike, and we were able to see some whales off the coast also.

When we finished, we swam and soaked in the hot tub for a bit. For dinner we ate at Kani Ka Pila Grill at the Outrigger Hotel and listened to some live Hawaiian music poolside.

Hawaii Day 4

We felt like sleeping in this morning and then heading over to Eggs 'n things in Waikiki for a nice big breakfast. The Macadamia Pancakes with coconut syrup were awesome and Lane got some sort of omelet with Portuguese sausage which is big over there (almost as big as Spam I guess).

After that we headed over to the windward side of the island to meet up with our neighbors who just happened to be passing thru!

We rented a kayak for a few hours and headed out to the "twin islands" also known as the Mokulua Islands.

For lunch we stopped at Teddy's for some burgers. The garlic fries are amazing!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out by Kualoa Ranch, and the beaches across from Chinaman's Hat island aka Mokolii Island. We didn't walk out to it since it was late in the day and the tide wasn't right. I also didn't get any real good pictures of the famous island, but the mountains are beautiful!

Lane then met up with a local who took him out spear fishing. The idea of me swimming in the ocean in the dark wasn't really my thing so I drove around Laie and checked out the Temple and the BYU Hawaii campus where my Mom went to school for a bit! This pic shows the guys already in the water (the light spots) and Lane getting ready.

There was a group of 5 of them, 2 of them who speak the true Hawaiian language (very cool to listen to), and they were pretty legit fishermen.

This wasn't the best pic, but look at the variety of fish and all the colors!!

They filled this tank in just under 2 hours!

Hawaii Day 3

Friday we headed over early to Hanauma Bay to do some snorkeling. I wish I had bought and underwater camera because the things we saw snorkeling were amazing. We saw a dozen varieties of tropical fish, some sea turtles, and the coral there was beautiful.

Here's a little sea urchin, don't step on these guys! (Nathan) ;)From there we headed up to the North Shore.

We drove past the Dole plantation.

Found some yummy stands along the road and got some fresh coconut:

Got some treats at Ted's Bakery:

This stuff was GOOD! If anyone ever finds a recipe for it, do let me know!

Of course had to stop here for some shaved ice. Not a fan of the beans, but gave it a shot.

We did some body surfing here at Waimea Bay. This was one of the few places where you could semi-safely go in the water during the winter up at the North Shore.

Some surfers along the pipeline area.

At Shark's Cove.

This was Sunset Beach. Beautiful, but not really conditions to be in the water unless your a serious local surfer. They were actually setting up stuff for a surf competition in a day or two since the conditions were looking good for 20+ foot waves!

Stopped at a "Shrimp Shack" up at the North Shore for dinner then headed back to our hotel.

We relaxed in the hot tub and enjoyed the view of the firework show our hotel puts on every Friday night.

Hawaii Day 2

Thursday we decided it would be best to start our vacation with a full day of sitting on the beach and just relaxing, just the way every vacation should start :) We headed over to the beaches around Kailua and Lanikai.

We swam, snorkeled and happened across a couple sea turtles feeding in the grass out in the water. I may have swam down and touched one... (even though I guess your supposed to leave them alone... woops.)

These were some of our favorite beaches on the island for this time of the year!

For lunch we ate at Buzz's Steakhouse, a highly recommended place!

On our way back to Waikiki we took the senic coastal route and stopped here by Makapu'u.

Saw some whales out here also.

For dinner on Thursday we headed over to Ono's Hawaiian Foods and it was a true Hawaiian dinner. It's nothing fancy but the food was so good, and several locals had told us about it. If your ever in Honolulu, it's a must! (be sure to bring cash)