Oahu

After 2 years of planning and saving and wondering if we'd ever get there, we finally made it to Hawaii. We left at the crack of dawn last Wednesday (Sept. 30th) and spent 7 glorious days in Paradise (thanks to the ADA, which likes to schedule its conferences in sunny locales - dentists need their tropical golf courses!)

The trip definitely got off to a great start. When we were waiting in line at the airport for a taxi to take us to our hotel, we were given a LIMO to ride in. (Same price as a mini-van. Sweet!) This was the first time any of us had ever ridden in a limo, so we were kind of nerdy in our excitement.

As soon as we arrived in Waikiki, Adana went NUTS over all the shops and trinkets and tacky touristy kitsch. She immediately insisted on owning this fake flower lei and froofy hair clip. After that, I avoided the little shops whenever Adana was with me (which was pretty much the entire trip).

Of course, I slipped easily into the Tacky Tourist role when we saw the guy with these cool birds on the side of the road. The older kids thought it was pretty neat to hold some tropical birds. Adana, on the other hand, freaked out - which, in turn, freaked her bird out - which freaked Adana out even more. I still managed to snap a cute picture though. :-)

I won't torment bore you with ALL the pictures of us at the beach. You don't really want to see that crystal clear water, shining blue sky, or pristine sand, do you? So here's just a brief sampling of some of my favorites:

Swimming and playing on Waikiki beach. Kind of crowded, but a great beach for playing in the surf. The boys spent HOURS out in the breakers, boogie boarding and learning to surf.

Snorkling and swimming in Hanauma Bay. Amazing! The whole bay is a wildlife preserve - a living coral reef FULL of colorful fish.

A busy day at the beach typically ended with either a dip in the hotel pool,

or a nap on the beach. It's a rough life. :-)

We spent Saturday at the Polynesian Cultural Center on the northeast side of the island. It is sort of a Disney meets Mormons meets South Pacific - lots of cheerful, clean-cut, well-choreographed people singing catchy songs and cracking clever jokes. It's expensive, but the money goes to fund scholarships for Pacific Islanders, so it was worth it. And seriously, these kids are talented!

This Samoan taught us all about coconuts - how to crack them and how to get the "milk" out.

Then his friend shimmied up a palm tree - barefoot - in just seconds. It was HIGH! He picked some coconuts and dropped them down. Then he struck a pose for our cameras. I was happy to snap a few pictures. :-)

This guy taught us how to make fire by rubbing sticks together. He made it look easy.

But it wasn't!

The kids were so cute learning how to dance like a Tahitian.

And they loved their new tattoos.

Another highlight of the trip was visiting Pearl Harbor (but you'll have to ask Nathan about that. He took the older kids while Adana & I hung out at the pool).

And one of the best highlights was spending the week with Grandma & Grandpa.

It was SO nice to have them along with us. They were a huge help to me while Nathan was in conference meetings, and they are just so much fun to travel with. Very easy going, with a "we'll do whatever you kids want" attitude. Thanks for joining us, Mom & Dad!!

All in all, a fabulous trip!

Until the trip home . . . when Adana came down with a raging fever on the plane . . . then barfed all over us . . . then we had to wait for the 12:15 a.m. ferry . . . and our car battery died and they had to push us off the boat . . . and the ferry parking lot was completely deserted (because it was 1 a.m.) and the stupid ferry worker FORGOT to come jump us so Nathan (who had come down with a nasty head cold and was feeling like $#!%) had to walk all over the cold, dark terminal looking for someone to help us . . . so we didn't actually get home until 1:30 a.m.