Hawaii Vacation-Sept 23-Oahu Day 4-Hanauma Bay Snorkeling

This was our last day in Oahu, and then we headed back to the Big Island to Shayne & Billie's house to meet back up with them and the kids.

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Before we left Oahu, we did a little bit more sightseeing before we had to make our late afternoon flight. We drove to downtown Honolulu and saw the state capitol, which is in the picture below. To me, it looked more like an office building than a state capitol building.

Then, we headed over to do some snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, which is a marine preserve. I was really surprised at how much I really enjoyed snorkeling. I was a little bit nervous before the trip, but I was willing to give it a try, and I'm so glad that I did. I really don't have any interest in scuba diving, but I think that I could snorkel all day long, if I had the chance. This was the best place. Because it is a preserve, they require you to watch a 10 minute movie about snorkeling safety and guidelines to protect the marine life. Of course, this was another thing that made Lane and me start laughing. Anytime we are in a situation that we are supposed to be serious, we usually find things to laugh at. Anyway, we did pay attention, and we made sure to snorkel with our buddy for safety. This place was so pretty. The bay was formed when one of the edges of a dormant volcanic crater collapsed and was filled in with water. Most of the bay is very shallow, with a sandy bottom, and it is filled with the most beautiful fish! It is a completely different world under there, and it is so fascinating - I could have wandered around there all day, if we could have. We ended up staying there about 2 or 3 hours, until we had to start heading back to the airport. We ate lunch that day at Teddy's Burgers, a local burger joint, and it was very good, too.

Thursday, our last full day there, was spent packing and doing last-minute souvenior shopping, and we also went to the Big Island Candy Factory in Hilo that day. They had some pretty tasty treats there, and it was fun. We got some chocolate dipped shortbread cookies there that were so wonderful! We headed back to Texas that night, and we flew through the night and arrived back in Houston around 1:45 Friday afternoon. We were a little bit nervous about how the kids would do on such a long flight in the middle of the night, but they could not have acted any better! Dane literally fell asleep before we left Honolulu, and he didn't wake up until we touched down at the Phoenix airport six hours later! Sydni slept in my lap the whole long six hour flight, and she only woke up 3 or 4 times and quickly went back to sleep after getting comfortable again. Needless to say, the flights were definitely our least favorite part of the trip, but it was totally worth it for all of the great experiences we gained, and I'm so glad that we got to share so many memories together as a family. I hope that Dane will remember all he did, and I hope that Sydni will be able to look back at these posts and enjoy the things she did but probably will never remember. Oh, well!

This was just the best trip, and we are so glad that we were able to go. We had such a great time getting to see Shayne, Billie, Tyler and Caleb, and we really can't wait until we get to go back someday. We fell in love with that place!

Hawaii Vacation-Sept 22-Oahu Day 3-Parasailing, Beaches, a Lost Discovery & Dole Pineapple Plantation

I am finally getting around to finishing the final two posts of our wonderful Hawaiian vacation. Then, I can get caught up on everything else that has been going on since then.

On this particular day, we really packed it full of fun and adventures. We started off the day by sleeping a little late and then grabbed some quick breakfast at Burger King on the way to our 10:00 am parasailing appointment. I was so looking forward to parasailing, and it was definitely worth it. We were able to go tandem, or together, so it was neat to get to visit while we were floating along up 750 feet in the air. I really loved it, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and I'm so glad we got to do it! It was a great way to start off one our favorite days in Hawaii!

They dipped us in for a few seconds before we were reeled in.

This one looks kinda scary.

The skyline of Waikiki






Diamond Head - a dormant volcanic crater.

Fun, fun, fun!! We were the only English speaking people, except for the two facilitators. The guy driving the boat was actually from East Texas and now lives in Hawaii. Small world. We sure do wish it was a little bit smaller, so we would go back there more often!

The view from the parasailing boat.

After parasailing, we headed out to search for the "Lost" beach. We are big fans of the show "Lost", and we knew that they film it on Oahu, so on Monday night, Lane got online and researched where exactly everything is. They shoot at several locations on the island, but we headed out to find the beach where the plane crashed. We thought that we had found it at one beach, which happened to be my favorite one, but it actually was about a mile down the road. We drove on down and stumbled upon a YMCA camp, called Camp Erdman, and recognized the yellow houses of The Others' camp on the show. We were very excited, and we just knew that we were going to be cast as major characters for the last season of the show. Unfortunately, no filming was taking place that day, so we just wandered around and took pictures.

Some mountains nearby on our drive to the beaches.

By far, the most beautiful place I've ever been in the world. This is my favorite place, and I just sat and relaxed and marvelled at God's wonderful power! All of the beaches along here were unpopulated, so it was so serene, being almost the only people around.

The mountains behind us at the beach.

As Lane walked along the beach and explored a bit, I sat and relaxed and noticed tons of these little hermit crab holes in the sand. I sat for about 20 minutes, waiting for the crab to peek his head up so I could get a picture, but I always missed it. They are very fast critters!

Here's The Others' village from Lost.

Another shot of our fun car - the Mustang, not the minivan.

These beautiful plumeria trees are all over Hawaii, in several colors, and I never got tired of seeing them.

The assembly hall at the YMCA camp. This building was used for several scenes in Lost.

We saw this yellow lab at the camp, probably the camp dog, but we were convinced that it is Walt's dog on Lost.

This is the plane crash beach on Lost. It was very pretty, too.

Posing for the camera, hoping beyond hope, that we would be discovered at any moment!

I loved these pretty flowers that grew along over the sand.

This grove of trees is just off the beach, and we think that this is where they filmed the camp on the beach after the plane crash.

More of The Others' village

Next, we headed on to the famous North Shore of Oahu, where all of the huge waves are. This is the area where the surfers come, and this particular beach was the Bonsai Pipeline. We were there in September, and the biggest waves don't come until winter time, but they were still too big for me to even want to venture in the water at all. So, I just sat on the beach and watched the surfers. Lane did wade in and let one wave crash over him, and then he joined me on the beach, too. That water is just so beautiful!

After leaving the beach, we started back toward town, and we stopped and ate in Haleiwa, a small beach town, at Haleiwa Joe's, a nice little restaurant. We ate out on the lanai, or patio, and had such a nice meal.

Our last stop of the day, before going back to town, was to see the pineapple fields and to tour the Dole Pineapple Plantation. The fields were really pretty, and the plantation was beautiful, too. It was nice, but was a bit of a tourist trap, we thought. Maybe we were just tired, though. Lane did enjoy some pineapple ice cream, and we went through a maze and went on a little train tour of the plantation. Lane and I just kept laughing on the train ride. They had the corniest music playing on the train, and it was one of those times when everything was making us laugh.

Lane looks so irritated in these pictures. I think he was just ready to go.

After we got back to our hotel, we got cleaned up, dressed up and headed out for a late dinner at The Chart House, which was the restaurant next to our hotel. It overlooked the marina, and we ate at a table on the upstairs balcony. It was so nice, and the food was really wonderful. It was a great last night out in Oahu!