October 29, 2009
The kids were more than excited when we told them that Spence had another business trip to Hawaii and that we were all going!!! We got everything together and the kids survived the long trip pretty well! Thank goodness it was a non-stop flight!
Yeah! We just arrived!!! The girls are patiently waiting for Daddy to get us a ride to the Hotel.
We loved staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Villiage! The kids walked around in awe the first day. Pretty quickly they thought they owned the place. A few reminders about manners became a daily occurance before leaving the hotel room.
The view from our room. The first few nights we squeezed into one room. We brought an air mattress and the older girls slept on it. It was a bit tight, but no one complained. We loved every minute of it!
Well, as you can see, Katelyn did get to swim!! We found this wonderful item at the hospital pharmacy that you put over the cast and pump the air OUT of it. It is kind of suctioned to her arm. We didn't trust it 100%, so she did her best to still keep her armed raised as much as possible. It truly was a life saver!! She would have been quite miserable in a place with 4 pools and the ocean and not be able to get wet! (It worked very well!! I highly recommend it!)
The group in what we called the "Slide Pool". It had 4 different water slides for kids of all ages! We spent many hours there!
We loved our balcony. We had a view of the ocean and of Waikiki. The kids loved looking at all of the lights and watching the sun go down! We even relaxed and read to each other out there!
On Friday, we rented an SUV and had our big day away from Waikiki. First stop was Pearl Harbor! It was really HOT that day, but the kids were patient and we brought some food, so no biggie! It was really interesting to watch the kids be so interested in what happened here. The History and REALITY of war.
The Memorial
Erin showed Ian and Katelyn that one of the names on the Memorial had the last name of Oliver. Katelyn was SURE that this was someone we were related to. We couldn't prove otherwise, so she wouldn't believe us when we said we didn't think it was. :)
Spence having a 'teaching moment' about the other ships that were in the harbor at the time of the attack.
We left Pearl Harbor and headed towards the North Shore. On the way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation. We all shared some Pineapple Ice Cream and found some really fun souveniers inside. While we shopped, Spence played with Ian and Katelyn on the grassy hills behind the Gift Shop. I believe they had a few races rolling down the hill.
We made it to the North Shore and enjoyed seeing the surfers and the beaches along the way to Laie. Here we stopped to see the Temple, BYU-Hawaii, and to eat some shrimp!
Here we are at the Temple. We met some darling Sister Missionaries from Germany and Japan. They were sweet enough to take our picture. After, we drove around BYU- Hawaii. It is a small little campus. But it is fun for the kids to be able to picture where their cousin Jeremie will be Fall 2010.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Safeway to get some food for the rest of the trip. Eating out was getting expensive and the little ABC stores weren't much better! We made it back just in time to run over and see a bit of the Friday night Fireworks the hotel puts on!
On Saturday, we took a bus to Hanauma Bay. We spent the afternoon there swimming, snorkeling and eating. It was so beautiful!! Emily, Erin, and Spence really enjoyed the snorkeling and got to see some really cool fish. Katelyn and Ian were a bit afraid of the mask going over their noses, too. (kind of a suffocating feeling when you haven't learned to breath from just your mouth!) So, I stayed 'above water' and played and built sand castles. We played catch and had a great time together!
Saturday night was Halloween. We asked if the hotel was doing anything fun for kids that night. I guess in Waikiki tourist areas it is more for adults...(and they advised us NOT to take the kids out). So, Emily and I put together a little scavenger hunt for the younger ones. We had them go ALL over the hotel and into some shops on this hunt. The shopkeepers were especially sweet, usually adding a little something to what we had put together. They had a fun time getting some treats and little toys.
On Sunday morning, we rode the bus up to the Tabernacle in Waikiki. As we got off the bus, there was a little white dove that was walking in front of us. It seemed to be showing us the way. Katelyn said, "Look Mom! The Holy Ghost is here!" Too Cute!
We arrived a bit early and got to see some people that had been on the bus the day before to Hanauma Bay. We found out that they were staying at the Hilton, too. They were so sweet and invited us to breakfast the next morning!
It was Fast Sunday, so we got to listen to testimonies. The kids LOVED getting to reply "ALOHA!" to everyone who spoke.
We loved this tree in front of the building.This picture doesn't do it justice. The tree limbs branch WAAY out. Maybe you can tell by the amount of shade on the ground. Spence and I looked at each other and said "Swiss Family Robinson Tree!" (I didn't point out to Katelyn that there were tons of those little white birds in the tree! )
We left right after Sacrament Meeting to be back at the hotel for Emily Shaw to come!!!
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