hawaii:day five

who doesnt love hiking...

one of our first hikes we went to was diamond head...

it was a very popular hike... number one on the island... so there were so so so many people especially seeing that we chose a saturday to hike it...

this is the view, i know not very good, to hanauma bay... some very popular snorkeling goes on there...

the view of waikiki from the top of diamond head...

lucky for us... there were tunnels in the hike that you had to go through to get to the top... obviously jones favorite part... this is jones and i coming out of the tunnel...

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a sign was posted... please do not feed the birds... jones does not know that many words yet... and brent.... uh... didnt read it... everyday... i would find them both on the balcony accidently feeding the birds... jones loved to eat out there so that he could drop some food...

what a great view... huh... we loved our balcony, although kind of small... it was so fun to sit and see the ocean, feel the fresh breeze and of course people watch...

this is the only way he would get in the water... we had to build his own ocean... then he wouldnt get out...

cheese burgers in paradise... yum...

love avocado on my burgers...

for dessert... shave milk ice with ice cream and mangos... SO refreshing SO good!!!

2/6/2010

hawaii:day four

we started off with a morning at the beach...

jones loved that i would fill our bucket up with sand and then dump it out for him to smash... i made a million bucket shaped sand mountains...

then on to the polynesian cultural center... or pcc... too long to type...

a very interesting place, especially when you learn what it is all about... the students who attend byu hawaii are mostly from the different islands and countries in the south pacific... this is their chance to come to a good school, learn, receive a degree and then return to their homeland with the skills and qualities of a leader to better help their communities...

they are given scholarships to attend byu hawaii... with the understanding that they will work at the pcc in exchange... there is so much to learn about each country and island... the south pacific is a whole other world it seems and you get a small taste of a few places while visiting the pcc...

jones found this cave and kept calling it a tunnel... seriously... the kid loves tunnels...

jones sweet tatt from fiji... it is the warrior tattoo...

hanging out with the tiki man after a yummy buffet dinner...

we then took a tour of the campus and saw the laie temple... so beautiful... the white temple built at the bottom of lush green mountains... we were sad to find out that the temple is now closed for an 18 month period for some major restoration work... guess we will have to go back someday...

(picture from google images and wikimedia)

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it is crazy how small of a person i found myself feeling while in hawaii... let me explain... hawaii is a state... of the united states of america... i know... you already knew that... but just read on... many times on our trip i felt so small and was learning so many new things about new cultures everyday... always surrounded by japanese, chinese, and many many other peoples from many of the south pacific islands... i am not saying that i felt unwelcomed or in danger in any way... i loved being there and seeing the different people the island had... just for once in my life felt a culture shock in a way... mexico never made me feel that way... i studied mexico in school and kind of knew what to expect... and knew it would be different... crazy to me that i did not have much of a culture shock in greece or turkey either, especially turkey when i almost got pick pocketed... did get stolen from (i still remember you cab driver)... or when to go into a church and had to remove my shoes for reverence and all women having to cover their heads with a scarf... i think i just expected it to be so different and it very much was... but one of my countries own states... to be so diverse and so different... it was something i didnt expect... it was a very cool and life changing experience... made me realize that there is so much of the world i dont understand and know... i want to learn so much more!!!

thank you for that hawaii... that you for that people of hawaii...

2/5/2010

hawaii:day three

pearl harbor

uss arizona memorial... as close as we could get...

there is such a feeling of reverence and respect here at the water front memorial and around the pearl harbor memorials... words really cant explain... if you have been there you know what i am saying... i especially loved how they wrote that these memorials are here to honor the men who are now on "eternal patrol"... we were sad to find that they are renovating the uss arizona memorial... so there were no boat rides... but we still got to see the movie which is so so so good... usually history movies can be dry and boring, but sincerely and honestly, this was so well done... short to the point and very educational... a great thing happen on december the 7th of 1941... by great i do not mean good, but huge, severe and infamous...

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then... the beach... jones and i chilled on the beach while brent went surfing...

i had to borrow brents sunglasses... still no luck in finding some for me...

i dont think he is in this picture... but i just kept hoping that if i took some pictures of the surfers that he may end up in one... they were too far away to tell...

what more could we ask for... a perfect 80 degrees... perfect sand... waves lapping just feet away... paradise...

for dinner we went to a local farmers market... we bought some fresh fruit... apples bananas, starfruit, and of course pineapple...

we ate hawaiian bbq... a local favorite... the chicken was amazing!!! and the pork was also good, but different... marinated with cabbage and a little tangy... weird, but good...

then our first try of a portuguese donut called a malasada... i had read about these and was determined that i would have to try them... they were good... but we had another place in mind that we heard was the best on the island... leonards... coming soon...

hawaii:day two

our journey of discovering oahu begins...

i did a lot of research on google and on hawaiis own site which is very very helpful!!!... about where to go and what to do... the gohawaii site forwarded me to many helpful military discounts... thank you gohawaii!

so between talking to friends and family who were also very helpful and the websites i found... we had a great trip planned...

so our first stop was to find the marine base and get our discount tickets for the pcc (polynesian cultural center)...

would we liked to be stationed in hawaii?

hard question...

it was so wonderful being there and the base was beautiful! it would be so much fun and i know we wouldnt be there forever, so i think we would have a lot of fun if it were to happen... but i think it would be really hard to be there while brent was deployed... who knows, it could happen someday... i wouldnt hate it... we would love the chance to live anywhere new and oahu is very adventurous place with so much to offer...

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driving away from the base, these mountains were right to our left or west... they are amazing!!!!

after we stopped to get our discount pcc tickets we decided to take the long way to our next destination... we knew that jones would sleep and we could drive half the island and see what there is to offer... we drove from the marine base which is on the east and almost most southern part of the island all the way north on the windward side of the island then all the way across the north shore to the very northwest side of the island... we passed so many awesome places... and made notes as to where we should come back... a macadamia nut farm... so many different beach parks and beaches... the famous banzai pipeline... we stopped for a minute just to watch the waves... also famous north shore town of hale'iwa and so much more...

where jones finally woke up and we stopped at the mokule'ia beach for our first beach picture...

then back to the car to finally make it to the dole plantation...

i read about taking tours to see the plantation and that you can either walk or take a train... obviously we had to take the train... jones loves trains!

he was too involved to smile here...

so excited to try the sample pineapple after the ride around the plantation...

my oahu book that i bought, oahu revealed, said something like: a 20 min train ride through a pineapple field may be a little long for adults, the kids will love it and you will learn everything you ever wanted to know but were too afraid to ask...

although true... we loved it! jones was so happy! too bad there were not any tunnels... he kept asking every 30 seconds when we were going to go in a tunnel...

my little pineapple...

a couple more pineapples...

jones thought this was way too funny!

i love it when he says, "ha ha, thats funny!" then he sticks his two front teeth out like mater from cars...

feeding the gross fish... i hate these things... but for a quarter and a bunch of laughs from your son... how could we resist!

it is always so weird to me to see how pineapple grow... so funny looking in a bush...

cant visit without getting a dole whip... yum... the best pineapple we have ever eaten!!!!

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later that day we decided to find an authentic and i mean authentic... we were the only english speaking peps in the restaurant... ramen noodle place... wish we could go back... it was delish...

jones loves his noodles... he made such a mess... luckily everyone there thought that he was so funny eating his noodles they didnt care about how messy he was... i love that laughing is a universal language!

we later took a trip down the the beach...

we stayed at the aston hotel on waikiki beach which was just across the main street/boardwalk from the beach... loved the hotel... hated the only valet parking... i guess it was nice, just not paying $30 per diem... but thanks to priceline we only paid $86 a night when it should have been $240 or higher a night... so it all worked out...

then we walked around kalakaua to see the waikiki night life... it is always alive with so many people and street performers...

2/3/2010

hawaii:day one

woke up super early... 3:30am.... to catch our early flight to hawaii... we thought we would all take a nap on the plane... but jones was way too busy... he loved going on the plane... and everything about traveling!!!

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then we arrived and i was so sad...

hawaii cried with me... it was raining when we got there...

my favorite glasses broke...

i forgot to take my glasses out of the stroller and so when i did... this is what i found... broken and lenses missing... only thing that made me laugh is that i bought these in hawaii... so... that meant i would have to buy a new pair in hawaii...

seeing that we landed around 2pm and we were super tired from traveling... we didnt get to do much our first day... we stocked up on groceries and got ready for the week... enjoyed our balcony and explored our hotel...

tomorrow... fun on oahu begins...

2/2/2010

man vs food... fatburger challenge...

the real reason i called started the man vs food posting...

we went to fatburger for the king challenge

here is what comes on one burger... the fatburger...

then there is the king burger...

then there is the triple king challenge burger...

a triple patty king size burger... it is HUGE!

.from left to right: onion rings.king triple challenge burger.regular fatburger.

we were all supposed to do it... but brent is the only one that went for it...

i was going to try they talked me out of it...

good thing because i barely finished my fatburger... probably should have gotten the baby fat... a smaller version...

shelly w/ a baby fat...

brandon w/ fatburger...

james w/ fatburger...

tina w/ fatburger...

avery w/ onion ring...

parker w/ fatburger...

kendra w/ onion ring and a fatburger...

rylee w/ fatburger...

jones and i w/ fatburger...

brent w/ triple king...

brent... one bite left... he was literally shaking...

but he made it...

man vs food:mission accomplished!!!