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!
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