Hawaii

We're back to the real world and I've been racking my brains how to figure out how to get back and live in the tropics somehow. Here are the highlights.

Friday- 2:45 am. We board the plane from Las Vegas to Hawaii. I was so worried about falling asleep so that I could play all day when we got there that I couldn't go to sleep. We get to Hawaii about 6 am and find our way to Ryan's cousin house on the North Shore. We're all so exhausted that we have to sleep for a couple of hours before we can start to enjoy the sun and ocean that on high tide hits the beach house. This is our first beach day.

After playing and body boarding at the beach most of the day we go to the grocery store on our way back to pick up some groceries. After putting them in the car we decide to order a pizza and grabbed an ice cream and sat out side eating it while we waited for our pizza. When we got back to the house we went to get the groceries out of the trunk. And there were no groceries. They had been stolen along with a few other things. So, from that time forward no one left anything in the trunk anywhere. Lesson learned. I had been warned about the theft problem but I didn't think it applied to groceries.

Saturday- We randomly stopped at this beach on our way to Waikki beach and it was by far my favorite beach. It was gorgeous and the waves were awesome. Like a little scary because they were so big and of all the signs posted saying strong current and the life guards making announc ments to only swim if you're a strong swimmer. But we had a blast playing in the waves and the water was really pretty and the moutains in the background and light house.

Afterwards we stopped by this cool place where Ryan's cousin said he had been a week before and seen cameras there filming for Lost. So, I can't wait for the new season to start so I can see if I recognize it.

We finally made it to Waikki and ate here at Cheese Burgers in Paradise. I was never really sure it actually existed as it was always the office joke to eat there when we were thinking about where to go to lunch. And it was definitly paradise.

Then we walked along the boardwalk, watched the sunset and saw all the crazy Halloween costumes.

Sunday- We checked out the temple, relaxed, walked along the beach played some cards.

Monday- We hiked the Sacred Falls hike, which has actually been closed for 10 years because of a rock slide that killed 7 people. The only way we knew we were on the right trail or not was by following the warning, area closed due to dangerous conditions signs along the way. It was a pretty crazy hike, pretty jungly and we had to climb over rocks across the river, but really amazing.

Later that day we went on the tour where they filmed some scenes in Jurassic Park & Lost, not as cool as I was expecting but still fun. Here's ryan trying to be like Jack (from Lost).

Here's the group at dinner that night.

Tuesday- We went to the famous surfing beach Pipe Line, no swimming allowed, you can't see from the pic but the wave were big.

And got some yummy pastries at this popular bakery everyone goes after surfing.

Afterwards we were off to the PCC. (Polynesian Cultural Center)

We learned the Hula

Got lei'd

Ate an authentic luau dinner.

And me and Ryan got to dance up on the stage in front of everyone because they were celebrating Nov. anniversaries. Unfortunatley the pic is a little dark.

Wed. - We totally got hooked on the shaved ice. Its not just shaved ice it has ice cream at the bottom and they drizzle the shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk. I think we had one almost every day. But this place was the coolest place, there's all sorts of pics of celebrities eating here and it was the coolest little surf town.

We went to the Swap meet, thought it was great, like a big flea market where you can buy a bunch of cheap stuff and Pearl Harbor.

Also, Ryan and Josh thought it would be cool to catch crabs on the beach. Crabs are so creepy looking.

Thurs- Went snorkeling at Sharks Cove, really fun. And then more swimming at Waimea Bay.

Friday- Our last day. We did some more body boarding, went to Chinaman's hat, started paddling out to the little island there and then realized how long it would take.

Then decided to head back to our favorite beach and stayed until got dark.

And then took our final pic in Hawaii before heading to the air port.