It was quite the adventure trying to get to Hawaii. We decided to try and do a military hop. Everything went fairly smoothly at first (except for forgetting to put Blakely on the list and having to wake Nathan's mom up to get her social security number-oops!). We got there early (about 6am) and got called to go on the first flight. We checked in our luggage and eventually got through security. About an hour later we got on the bus (around 9am) and headed to the plane. We waited on the runway for a good 30 minutes before they told us there was something wrong with the plane and they took us back to the terminal. Boo! They told us they should know something by 1pm. Well, 1pm came and they told us they still weren't sure what was wrong, but that hopefully they would know something by 3pm. The second flight already came and went while we were waiting. We basically thought that the flight was going to be cancelled and that we would have to try again the next day. Right around 3 they came in and said we were leaving! We eventually got on the plane by climbing up a ladder. So glad I brought my carrier because I'm not sure how we would have got Blakely and her carseat up the ladder otherwise! The seats on this plane looked very similar to airline seats except they were positioned backwards! We got to Hawaii around 7pm (10pm California time). Nathan went to make sure Blakely was on the list to come home so we wouldn't have any issues coming home. I stayed to get our luggage. Once we got our luggage and Blakely on the list, Nathan tried calling our cabin reservations but we missed them by about 15 minutes. They didn't say anything on the answering machine about late check in so we figured we were out of luck. Since it was getting late (I was really tired and hungry) we didn't want to drive about 30 minutes to the base to find out we needed to find other accommodations. We also had to figure out how to get to the rental car place. Because we were technically on base the rental car place couldn't come onto base to pick us up so we had to call a taxi. I swear that taxi driver ripped us off. Yes, there was construction near the airport but I'm not sure why he wasn't following his GPS and turning down side roads just to make a U turn and go right back to the road he was just on. REALLY?!? Do you seriously think we are that stupid? Plus, we drove around for at least 5 minutes and ended up right next to the airport. SERIOUSLY?!? Eventually we got to the car rental place and luckily Blakely's carseat fit in the back of the convertible (we were a little concerned about that). Our next goal was to find a place to stay and then find food! The car rental place suggested a hotel just down the road but we took a wrong turn and ended up on a freeway! Once we made it to the hotel they told us that they didn't have any space available. Apparently they were having some big military thing that weekend and all the hotels were booked! Nathan and a hotel worker were calling around to a bunch of hotels with no luck. Eventually the hotel worker talked to the hotel manager and somehow a room magically became available. Not sure if there was a cancellation or what, but at that point I really didn't care. We had a place to stay! YAY! We went to our room and while Blakely and I got settled Nathan went to get us some food. It was such a long day!
Sun. Aug. 3rd:
We got up early and headed to Bellows to check in to our cabin.
Outlook
Rental car
Driving through town
Nathan driving
Right outside our cabin.
Seriously our cabin was about 10 feet from the ocean.
Took a walk to the beach
Blakely loved the sand (mainly eating it)!
So pretty!
Happy 10 years to us!
One with the ocean in the background.
The water was so warm!
Blakely crashing the party! I was still feeding Blakely so she had to come with us! She was so good though!
Sitting inside our cabin. This was the view we got!
Mon. Aug. 4th:
Watching the sunrise.
Byodo-InTemple
Nathan ringing the bell
Blakely and I
Buddha
I found out later that an episode of Lost was filmed here.
Banana tree
Shaved ice! We went to Angel's. Michelle Obama has been there before!
At first I was a little skeptical about the condensed milk on it but it was so good!
We ate at Papa Ole's and got mini lunch plates. The name suggests that they are small but they seemed pretty standard size if you ask me. I'm a little curious what their normal size plate looks like. I'm pretty sure "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson has been there before!
Polynesian Cultural Center!
It was awesome. We really liked it a lot but we didn't get to do/see everything. Apparently you can go back at least another day. I think if we had more time in Hawaii we probably would have.
Our tour guide with our leis. You have to have someone else lei you.
Boat ride
One of all of us.
Nathan dancing!
Dancer!
Getting the spear to stick in the ground is a lot harder than it looks.
Hawaii
Autearoa
Samoa
Fuji
Hawaii
Tonga
Tahiti (maybe?) Blakely was tired so I stopped taking pictures and videos.
One of the rowers in the show fell off because the dancers were rocking the boat so much.
Trying to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. He definitely got smoke!
Blakely finally fell asleep!
Climbing the coconut tree.
Bringing in part of our dinner!
Blakely's ready to eat!
Hula dancers
Nathan and I went on stage because we were celebrating our anniversary.
Little hula dancer
After dinner before the show.
The show was great! Unfortunately you can't take any pictures/videos during the show.
Tues. Aug. 5th-
Dole Plantation
I forgot to take a picture of us eating the dole whip but it was really good and we found out that we really like li hing. It's a sweet/sour powder that they put on fresh fruit.
Cutest little hula girl ever!
Waimea Falls Park
We hiked to the waterfall. Once we got there we realized we should have brought our swimsuits with us. We left them in the car. We could have swam next to the waterfall.
Waimea waterfall
We went snorkeling at Shark Cove. Before we went snorkeling we got taco's from a taco truck across the street. They were really good but I liked Nathan's Kahlua pork tacos better than my chicken tacos. After we ate Nathan went back to the car to get our swim things and accidentally locked the keys in the trunk. It took a while but eventually the car rental place got on-star to unlock the car so we could get the keys.
Shaved ice again!
We heard about the Hurricane warnings so we wanted to stock up on some water just in case we got caught up in the storm. We went to the grocery store next to the shaved ice place and all the water on the shelf was sold out! We were able to find some single waters in the refrigerated section and grabbed most of what was left.
Hawaii Temple
If this little girl wants to get married here in about 20+ years, I think I'll be okay with that!
Three of us!
View from the Temple.
Close up. Look how close it is to the ocean.
Wed. Aug.6th
In the morning we went to the Aloha Stadium swap meet and got some fun souvenirs for family. Afterwards we headed over to Pearl Harbor .
Pearl Harbor
Unfortunately we weren't able to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial because of "high winds". It was windy but it really wasn't that bad. I think they were worried about what might happen with the hurricanes coming.
Battleship
Submarine
We went to Bubbies and got Mochi. I thought it was good but interesting. I don't know that I would need to have it again.
We took the round top drive to get a view of Honolulu.
Diamond head
Cutest little girl in Hawaii!
There were chickens everywhere!
At the Pali lookout there were tons of stray cats. It was kind of creepy how many there were.
Pali lookout
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