HAWAII

Hawaii

July 3rd-July 15th, 2008

Here we are at the Salt Lake Airport ready for our vacation to HAWAII!!

Mykah is on a soccer team that will be playing in a tournament on Oahu. Tad took a trip to see Jamal and Dexter in Atlanta over spring break so we thought it would be fun to take the girls. I felt bad leaving Spencer and we asked if he wanted to come but he said NO!!! I asked why and he rambled off a list consisting of everything from sharks to hurricanes. He spent most of the time we were gone helping Grandpa at the Ranch. I honestly didn't feel bad leaving the twins. I really missed them but it was a nice break and they would have never survived the flight!!!! I can't wait to go back and show the girls where I once lived. Thank You Mykah for giving us an excuse to go!! I can't wait to take all the kids or at least Tad and Spencer for now, they would love the ocean!

The plane ride was EXTREMLY long and boring.

It was straight from Salt Lake to Hawaii....6 hours!

The girls got quite bored! This is the view of the island out of the plane window!
Twenty minutes to landing! Honolulu Airport....let the fun begin!Waikki Beach...first steps in the ocean!International Marketplace

We had to walk through the marketplace to get back to our hotel from Waikki Beach.

The second day we wanted to go to Hanauma Bay and snorkel so we dressed for the beach and loaded up the car with all our gear. Well it was the Fourth of July and everyone else on the island was at the beach! We ended up doing our sight seeing and driving all around the island. We now have our pictures in our beachwear!!!! SPECIAL!!

These are taken over by the "blowhole". "The Point" in Laie Pali Lookout

We drove to Pali Lookout, it was a battle scene in Hawaii. The king won control of the islands when his warriors pushed the ememy off this cliff! The view up here is amazing and the 'jungle' is so thick on the way up here that you feel like you are in the rainforest. It was pretty and really windy!

Valley of the Temples

We went inside the Buddist Temple. You had to take off your shoes and whisper. The Buddah statue inside was HUGE! There were Japanese Gardens, lots of little streams and ponds, peacocks, chickens and cats everywhere, it was kinda weird and cool at the same time!

Wiamea Bay

We finally had to stop for a swim on our sight-seeing tour and did so at Wiamea Bay. Derek joined the physcos and dove off the rock!
We ended up watching fireworks at Turtle Bay Hilton on the North Shore. This was one to remember!

Mykah and Averie went to the pool one morning when Derek and I went to breakfast. I guess they had fun... What do you think?

Hanauma BayAverie * Mykah

The coolest thing we did was go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. This first picture is overlooking the bay. They have a trolley that cost 50 cents to ride down and $1.oo to ride back up! We saw lots of cool fish and Mykah saw an octopus and 8 sea turtles in one day!!! Very Fun!!

SOCCER BUDDIES on the BEACH!Taylor * Mykah * Maddie

Dole Plantation....doesn't that pineapple look DELICIOUS??
AYSO NATIONAL GAMES

What a great bunch of girls! We didn't end up in first place but we weren't last either so I guess that is good. All the games they played were within one point of either winning or losing. It was great competition and everyone was there to have fun playing a game they all love. I honestly don't know where their standings ended up but I know that we had the most points for sportsmanship from the parents! What an awesome thing to be a part of! Frosted Flakes and Meadow Gold were sponsors of the AYSO National Games. One day they were giving free Frosted Flakes and milk to anyone who wanted some....here is the team with Tony the Tiger!

and the Meadow Gold cows.Mykah went to 'Subway for lunch' in between games and they took pictures with Jared! Jess * Mackenzey * Maddie * Mykah

Pearl HarborI LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!

LOVE THE TURTLES!!!!!!!! Paradise CoveShamra * Mitch * Derek * Jayme

We convinced Mitch and Shamra to come play with us! They arrived a few days after us and were so much fun to vacation with. They even watched some soccer! We all went to the Luau together with the soccer team after the last game. These are parrots named Joe and Lady! We got our picture taken with them. Averie loved the parrots!!!!

Doing what we do best!!

We couldn't wait to go back to Hanauma Bay and take Mitch and Shamra. Mitch wasn't too sure about all this talk of snorkeling but he jumped right in and was a pro! I think Derek and Mitch liked it more than the girls.

....back at Hanauma Bay...Mitch & DerekAverie & Mykah

Derek, he took this of himself!and Mitch!
...again, gotta LOVE the turtles!!!

Mitch, Averie & Derek....time to leave :(

Shamra and I hung out on the beach and eventually decided to do some sand art. Averie was soon right in the middle of the project as well. I started with the fish and pretty soon it was the ocean. It was pretty cool poeple were even coming over and taking pictures! (They were people who obviously had even less talent than us.) What a great day!We ended the day and wrapped up the vacation at dinner in Kaneohe at Haliewa Joe's. The restaurant was located at the Haiku Gardens and was by far the coolest place I've been to in a long time. Great food, atmosphere, and one of the yummiest cocktails I've ever tried!! I know Shamra will agree to this! What a fun vacation! I wish I lived here, I want to again......someday!

***We took lots of pictures and Mykah is working on putting them together in a slide show so check for that later!***