Hawaii

We had a great time in Hawaii. We went to the Temple in Laie, visited Pearl Harbor, dove several times, slept in every day we didn't dive, ate a ton of coconut macadamia nut fudge ice cream, learned as much history as we could, and just enjoyed being in such a beautiful, warm place. Hawaii is super interesting. I was surprised how culturally different it is. I guess I didn't pay attention when I went in college. 30% of it's residents are of Japanese descent. We ate a lot of Japanese food. Practice really does help with chop stick skills. Mine are pretty killer now. It rained quite a bit, we didn't care so much. I didn't care for Honolulu very much. Big city, lots of traffic. But out in the rural parts of the island was awesome. I love the way Hawaii smells. Even in the city you can smell flowers everywhere, all the time. There is almost always a breeze blowing so it smells clean, fresh and like flowers. The colors of the island were so beautiful. I never feel like I am doing justice to the beauty I see with my camera, but it is fun to try to take some pictures to help remember how it felt to be there.

 This is a monkey pod tree. I fell in love with them. This one was in Waimea Canyon. It is an ancient, sacred site of native Hawaiians. We didn't hike up to the water fall there, it was raining and we learned that hiking in mud is just not fun, especially in flip flops. Of course we were true to ourselves and had not planned ahead. We just got in the car and went to see what we could find.  The monkey pod tree has wood of all shades, I thought that was really interesting. You will also see it's seeds made into lei's. These trees in Waimea were hundreds of years old. They were incredibly beautiful to me. There is something so timeless that speaks of enduring strength in an ancient tree.

 

 Pearl Harbor

I was touched at the Arizona memorial to see on the monument men who chose to have their remains added to their fellow soldiers who died so many years ago. Such young men who gave so much. I am grateful for those who have, and still do give, their lives to protect our country. Have the young Navy sailors sail us out to the memorial really brought home to me just how young most of these men were. 

 My favorite beach we found. It is called Makepupu. It has a small sandy beach and tons of rocky tide pools. I so wanted to have my kids there to show them all there was to see!

Jason at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. HUGE tropical fish. Seriously. Parrot fish that were like 2 feet long, angels almost as big. Really fun, even just snorkeling.