Hawaii, 2011 - DAY 7

Wow, it's hard to believe that our time in Hawaii went so fast. Our last day started out with eating at CoCo's Cafe's breakfast buffet. We had eaten breakfast there just about everyday but we tried to enjoy it a little longer just because it was our last day. After breakfast, we went to the store at our hotel and looked around and picked up some last souvenirs. We talked about what we wanted to do and decided to let the girls use some body boards that had been given to us just to hang out and float around the ocean. We needed to check out of our hotel before we did that so we went to our room and got everything ready to go. We had some beach chairs and mats that someone had given us when we got to the hotel and decided that we would give them to someone else. We went and checked out of our room and waited for Travis to go and get the van. Travis made it back and we started to load our stuff. Travis started talking to some people about taking our chairs and mats. At first they were leery but finally decided to take them. And Travis also decided to give them the body boards.....WHAT!!! Our plan was for the girls to use them after we checked out of our hotel. I freaked, Brielle and Lainey cried. Travis was on our list!! He got an earful from me and Brielle. We left our hotel and we weren't sure what to do. The girls still wanted to use some body boards. Travis planned on buying them each one to use. We drove around trying to find somewhere cheap to look for some. We ended up over by Ala Mona Beach. We stopped and looked at out at the water and then someone suggested that we just rent some....brilliant!! We couldn't see anywhere to rent any at Ala Mona and had saw some at the beach by our hotel so we decided to go back to our hotel to try and find some there. The girls got their swim suits on and we headed to the beach. We were lucky and found a place that rented them for a rather cheap price. The girls were happy, and we were happy. We stayed on the beach for about 2 hours while the girls floated around the ocean on Waikiki Beach. Cooper didn't care if he got in the water or not. He had fun just hanging out by us.

Brielle and Lainey finally on some body boards

Lainey

Brielle

Sisters having fun

Cooper just hanging out

Funny Coop

Where's Cooper

Lainey and Brielle had a blast

Coop enjoying himself

When we were done at the beach, we decided to go to the Ala Mona Mall to eat lunch and to look around. When we were done at the mall, we went back to our hotel and decided to walk to downtown Waikiki again. We had reservations at our hotel for their luau later that evening plus we had to get ready to catch our flight. Luckily we wasted enough time at downtown Waikiki that it was finally time to go to the luau. The line was long to get in the we weren't too worried because the seats are reserved. We go in and all got a drink and watched a guy climb a palm tree. The girls had fun with some poi balls and got tattoos too. While we were waiting to be seated for the luau, my mom called me to tell me that my grandma had passed away. It wasn't a surprise, we had known she was going to pass for a few days but it was still kind of shocking to hear my mom tell me that my grandma was gone. By that time I was ready to get on the plane and get home but we still had to eat dinner. The food was okay and after we were done eating we had to skip the show because it was time to head to the airport. We had had a blast in Hawaii but were all ready to get home. We made it back to Vegas around 7 am and headed home to Cedar.

Lainey with some poi balls

Brielle trying some tricks with her poi balls

Palm tree climber

Brielle and Lainey with the cute tattoo man

ALOHA Hawaii and MAHALO for a fabulous time. Until next time.....

Hawaii, 2011 - DAY 6

Day 6 of our trip was a Sunday. We wanted to relax a little. We started off by going to the Punchbowl Cemetery. The Punchbowl is a cemetery dedicated to the men and women of the US Armed Forces. We had been here the year before when we came to Hawaii and loved the feeling we felt there so we decided to go back. We spent time looking at the names of the fallen that are engraved there. After about an hour we left and decided to go back to Sandy Beach. I didn't get any pictures at Sandy Beach (I wanted to relax) but we it was fun. The waves were big and we had fun trying to dodge them while we were sitting in our beach chairs and the kids were digging in the sand. After our adventure at the beach we went back to our hotel, changed our clothes and went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. The food was good and our waiter was awesome. After we were done eating, Travis and Cooper headed back to the hotel and Cynthia, Brielle, Lainey and I stayed in downtown Waikiki to shop and to find DUKE! Mission accomplished! Another FUN day in Hawaii!

The kids at the Punchbowl Cemetery

Cool saying

Another saying

The flag at the Punchbowl

Travis and I

We found DUKE!!!!!

Hawaii, 2011 - DAY 5

Day 5 was spent at the swap meet and on the beach. The swap meet is a must-do when going to Oahu. Lots of fun vendors and great prices on Hawaii souvenirs. It's held at a football stadium parking lot. We spent about 6 hours there and got everything from t-shirts to ukuleles. After the swap meet, we went back to the hotel. Travis and Cynthia stayed in the hotel rooms and I took the kids down to the beach. We had some body boards given to us while we were in Hawaii and the girls wanted to use them. They had a blast floating around in the water. We enjoyed our evening on Waikiki Beach!!

Lainey

Brielle

Fun in the water

More fun

Brielle and Lainey loved paddling around

Cooper didn't really like the water, but loved the sand! Sandy Hands

More fun on the boards

Had to get a picture with the sunset

Coop walking up the beach

Cooper at sunset

Aww, relaxing on the body boards

Coop loving the sand

You can't beat a sunset on Waikiki Beach

Hawaii, 2011 - DAY 4

Day 4 was Polynesian Cultural Center day. We headed up to Laie and stopped off at the temple first. It was an overcast day so it wasn't really hot. At the temple we took some pictures and went to the visitor center. A sister missionary caught us in the visitor center and asked if we wanted to see a movie. We told her that we saw a movie last time we were there about the first LDS people in Hawaii and so she suggested we see a cartoon movie they had since we had kids. The movie was NOT good. We decided to sneak out before it was even over and made our way to our car. We then headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The family in front of the Laie Temple

The kids at the visitor center

We made it to the PCC and decided to head over to the Samoa village. We really enjoyed the presentation when we were there before and this year didn't disappoint. Kap, the guy that does the presentation about Samoa is hilarious.

Kap

A Samoan guy climbing a coconut tree

Next it was time to head over to the New Zeland village. We enjoyed the dancing and hearing the history of their people.

A New Zeland dancer

At the New Zeland village, the girls got tattoos

Then they decided to have some fun with poi balls

We then walked through an old hut of a Tongan kind

Lainey and Brielle at the village of Tonga

Coop in front of a big hut

We decided to get a little something to eat and then made our way to the canoe pageant. It rained a little during the parade but it felt good.

The music and MC for the parade

The King

New Zeland

Samoa

Fiji

Hawaii

Tonga

Tahiti

After the parade we went over to the Hawaiian village. A guy played the ukulele and another one danced. I really enjoyed this village

After Hawaii, the girls decided to fish

We then headed over to the Tahiti village. We enjoyed the dancers.

Tahitian dancers

Guy Tahitian dancer

After Tahiti, we headed to Tonga. This is a very entertaining show!

The Tonga guy. He did the show last year when we were there and was soooo funny

Cooper by the river. He liked watching the tour boats go by

The family by the Easter Island statues

Cooper and me being funny

It was finally time for the luau. We bought a different luau this year and it seemed just as good as the one we paid a lot for last year.

The kids with their leis waiting for the luau to start

Yummy, the sweet purple rolls

Drinking out of a pineapple

Cooper enjoying his pina colada drink in a pineapple

The show during the luau

Getting the pig

The food was good. We sat by a mother and her two daughters from Australia. After the luau was over, we had a little while until the night show started so we took some pictures and looked in some stores.

Travis and the kids after the luau

The kids by the "Mahalo" sign

Brielle

Mom and Lainey

We attended the night show, "Ha, the Breath of Life". We saw it last year and during the show last year we were able to take pictures but this year we were told that no pictures were allowed. Oh well, the show was good and they even changed it a little from when we were there the year before. Fun day at the temple and PCC!!