Hawaii!

July 5-10, 2012

Kevin and I took our dream vacation to Hawaii for our 10th Anniversary!  Megan came to watch our kids while we left for the week.  It was the first time we left our kids with anyone.  It went so well.  The kids, as far as I know, handled life without us really well.  Amyah would ask for us and Megan would tell her we were on vacation.  She would reply, "Oh." And that was that.  I think Tyler missed us a little bit.  Susie claims she missed us a lot.  But, I know they all had a great time spending time with and being spoiled by their grandma.

We arrived in Hawaii on July 5th.  We arranged for a shuttle transport to our hotel and received leis at the airport!

Our Hotel: 

The Royal Hawaiian

After checking in and receiving even more leis!

Our hotel was surrounded by beautiful gardens.  It was located on Waikiki Beach, which is a very busy beach.  But the hotel itself felt so serene, peaceful, and private.  We loved it!

The Royal Hawaiian was one of the first hotels built on Waikiki in the 1920s.  It's architecture and pink color was designed after the Spanish style (which was very stylish at the time).

The main street the hotel was located on was gorgeous.  It was lined with blocks and blocks of designer brand shops.  The street is Kalakaua Avenue.

The walking entrance into The Royal Hawaiian from Kalakaua Avenue.

The driving entrance into The Royal Hawaiian.

Our hotel in the background - The Royal Hawaiian.  The pink palace!

Our room.  So gorgeous!  The hotel was completely remodeled in 2008-2009.  It was beautiful!  We felt so lucky with the room we stayed in.  It was a corner room with windows on two sides.  And it was a bit bigger than the other rooms on our same floor because of its corner location.

Every night when we returned to our hotel room the sheets were turned down and a towel was on the floor (still can't figure out the point of that?).

And there were always chocolates waiting for us too.

Our Beach:

Every day we rented an umbrella and two chairs on the private beach section for The Royal Hawaiian.  We loved having our own private space amongst all the chaos of Waikiki.

We were in the perfect location for lots and lots of people watching!

Diamond Head in the background.

The Food:

We searched online for inexpensive, but yummy restaurants.  We were already paying so much for the flight and hotel, we were trying to keep our food budget small!  We found some great local restaurants.

Hula Dog: Polish sausages, tropical relish, Hawaiian mustard, and garlic sauce in a hollowed bun.  Yummy!

Hi Steaks: Fast food steak, rice, and salad.

Lilihu Bakery: Yummy pastries on our drive to the North Shore.

Ailana Shave Ice: The best shave ice ever!

Peanut Butter Caramel Shave Ice (Peanut Butter Syrup, Caramel, Chocolate Syrup, Condensed Milk, and Ice Cream).  I know it sounds weird, but it was really just the most refreshing ice cream sundae we have ever eaten.  There is a small scoop of ice cream in the middle of the shave ice.  The peanut butter, caramel, chocolate, and condensed milk are poured over the ice.  It was so delicious!  I've been craving it ever since we left.

Tropical Trio Shave Ice (Papaya, Mango, Coconut, Condensed Milk, and Ice Cream)

Okay...5 pictures later.  We obviously loved this shaved ice.  If you go to Honolulu, you have got to get shaved ice from this place!

What We Did:

Other than the beach, of course :)

North Shore 

Matsumoto's Shave Ice (Not as good as all the reviews! Ailana on Waikiki is sooooo much better!)

Sunset Beach -- Banzai Pipeline

We loved Sunset Beach.  We stayed for only about an hour.  The waves were not nearly as large as they are during prime wave season (November).  But, the tide was still strong enough I was too scared to jump into the water here.  We were very secluded and the sand was clean and smooth!

We stopped at Turtle Bay for a quick minute to check out the resort so many stay at while visiting Oahu.

BYU-Hawaii campus

The Laie Temple (in our swimsuits--it felt somewhat funny to take pictures of the temple with our swimsuits on)

Polynesian Cultural Center

Polynesian Cultural Center

We had so much fun attending all the 30 minute shows throughout the day.  Tonga and Samoa were our favorites.  In this picture there is a man climbing the coconut tree in the background.

I got a tattoo from New Zealand!  Temporary, of course.

We took a tram tour of the BYU-Hawaii campus and the temple.  I felt much more appropriately dressed to tour the the temple. :)

Back at PCC: Easter Island

Fiji Temple

The river (man-made, I'm sure) that runs through Polynesian Cultural Center.  There was a canoe pageant in the middle of the day where dancers from all the different countries performed on double-hulled canoes with a platform on top for dancing.  It was a fun program!

These types of quilts are all over Oahu.  The green part is cut out like a snowflake and the entire piece is needle-turned onto the white fabric.  Then the entire quilt is hand-quilted.

The stage at PCC where Ha! Breath of Life is performed.  It is a 90 minute show with dancing from the different countries of Polynesia.

Diamond Head

The view from the top.  Our hotel, The Royal Hawaiian, is the pink palace in the middle of all the tall skyscraper hotels.

I loved all the different hues of blue in the water.

This map shows how the trail to the top of Diamond Head ascends a total of 216 steps.  It was a lot of steps!

Pearl Harbor

A scale model of the USS Arizona Memorial.  The white building stands above the water.  The ship is beneath the water in Pearl Harbor.

The USS Arizona was ready to set sail the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Because of that, the gas tanks were completely filled, the ammunition was fully stocked, and the boat was filled with sailors.  This made the attack that much worse because the ammunition exploded when the boat was bombed.  And, of course, 1177 men died on the ship.

Parts of the USS Arizona actually stick out of the water.

If you look closely, you can see the ship beneath the water.

The USS Arizona has been leaking oil very slowly for the past 70 years and will continue to leak oil for another 70 years.  They have not and will not remove the oil tank because it is a tomb and they want to respect it as one.

The USS Missouri in the background -- where the Japanese surrendered to the USA on September 2, 1945.

The names of all the soldiers who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The small bench on the left has names of veterans who survived the attack, but had their ashes buried in the remains of the USS Arizona.

The USS Bowfin went on to sunk 44 enemy ships after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The anchor from the USS Arizona.  The second anchor is displayed in Phoenix, AZ in front of the state capital.

The Kamehameha statue stands in front of Honolulu's old judicial building.  This was the original Iolani Palace.  After King Kalakaua traveled to Europe, he commissioned a new palace be built across the street.

The second Iolani Palace had electricity before the White House!

Waikiki

We loved walking around Waikiki every evening when it was too shady and cool to sit on the beach.  We browsed through shops and walked up and down the beach. 

These beautiful banyan trees were all over Honolulu.