Oahu - Hawaii Part 1

We have wanted to go to Hawaii for a long time but have never been in a good situation to go. My brother-in-law and his family moved to Kauai last July and told us we should come visit so we started thinking about it a little more. So with the help of two awesome babysitters for Seth (my mom and Clint's mom) and thanks to the 118,000 sky miles I had racked up when I worked at Arkona, we were able to take a trip to Oahu AND Kauai this year.

On the pier near our hotel in Waikiki.

Apparently even dogs can boogie board...

At the Pearl Harbor Memorial


On the boat heading toward the memorial that sits over the USS Arizona

The water that surrounds the USS Arizona is shimmery. They explained that it was from the oil that still leaks from the ship. As we looked at it, we saw some actual oil rise to the surface. There is still 50,000 gallons of oil estimated to be in the ship and if it all were to come up at once, Pearl Harbor would be facing an ecological disaster. Crazy.

I don't remember what kind of tree this is but the brown branches actually grow until they reach the ground and then they become roots like all the rest of the trees.

At a restaurant called Tiki's for Valentine's Day

Yellow Hibiscus. The Hawaiian National flower.

Our tour guide at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The lunch buffet. It was much better than the pricey dinner we ate later on.

Waiting for the canoe show to start.

We played games in each of the villages. I can't remember what village this was but everyone started in a circle holding a stick. Then our guide would say "left" or "right" and we would have to move around the circle and grab hold of the next stick before it fell to the ground. If your stick dropped you were out. Obviously it got harder and harder as fewer people were in the circle. But Clint and I were the last two standing. Go us!

Another game we played was this weird javelin throwing thing. You had to try to get your stick into the circle. Clint came in 2nd place.

One of the few pictures we were able to get of the both of us together...the downside of not traveling with anyone else.

Clint's favorite part of the canoe show....the Tahiti canoe.

He liked that it was the only canoe of just girls.

Getting my "hula" on!

Clint was a good sport and even did some dancing. I think he looks so cute!

At another village we did some reed weaving. It was freaking hard! I pouted until Clint finally helped me make my fish!

Coconut climbers...

Our tour guide used to be a fire dancer in the Ha! Breath of Life evening show. So he was showing us some of his old moves.

At the beach in Waikiki on our last day in Oahu. Just hanging out before we took our short flight to Kauai that evening.