Oahu

Oahu, Hawaii

October 29 - November 5 2007

October 29 - We arrived in Hawaii at noon local time and by the time we gathered our luggage, shuttled over to get the rental car and drove to our condo, it was almost 2 PM. So we parked the car and headed straight down to the main strip in Waikiki to find something to eat. We ate at the world famous "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and the boys got a pineapple bank and now it was almost 4 PM. Instead of going back to unpack the car and get our suits we simply headed over to the beach. This was the first time either of the boys saw the ocean (I didn't get to see it until I was 24 so I guess they beat me). Riley doesn't like to get his clothes wet so it took Tanner jumping right in to prove to Riley that it was ok...

The place where we stayed, Waikiki Banyan, had a nice recreation area on the 6th floor. There was a pool (which we never used), a restaurant, tennis court, golf putting green, a barbeque area (we used most nights), a lounge area and a playground...

October 30 - We spent the first half of Tuesday running errands. We got our marriage license (yes, we did finally make it "official") and getting food. After the boys took their nap, we headed down to the beach. By the end of the afternoon, Riley wasn't afraid of the waves and loved letting them "take him under." - that is Riley in the last picture :) Boy, did swimming lessons last summer pay off...

October 31 - In the morning on Halloween we drove out to the Aloha Stadium (where the Pro Bowl is played) to go to the swap meet - wow is that big... it surrounds the entire outer circle of the stadium. On the way back into town, we stopped to eat at the main harbor (where the cruise liners dock) and watch the ships. By the time we got back to the condo, Tanner needed a nap, but Riley was ok. So him and Matthew went down to the beach for some time together while Tanner and stayed behind so he could get his nap. Matthew said they had a really good time at the beach and I was excited that they got to spend some time alone together.

In the evening, we dressed the boys up for Halloween and headed down to the main strip to see what was going on... as it turns out, since Riley didn't have a nap he didn't quite make it through the evening...Tanner decided he needed a good night kiss :) When people would walk by, they would ask if Riley was real and Matthew responded that yes, we killed him. We both decided it would have been funny to have a fake knife coming out of his back :) and by the end of the evening even Matthew had had too much :) I did get one picture that kind of shows how busy it was. I didn't have the right setting on the camera for these pictures, so they are not the greatest :(

November 1 - We spent the morning at the beach (again, yeah) and this time Riley decided to give snorkeling a try. So we went to the part of the beach where they have a "pool" area with a rock wall that breaks up the waves about a hundred feet out so that he could try to go under water and swim without being swept away by a wave :) He has gotten pretty good at swimming underwater :) Then the boys needed a good nap for our big night...as you can see, by this time they had definitely gotten some sun. And that is with spf 50 sunblock on :(

After the boys' nap we all got ready... we had a wedding to go to :) We had found some outfits while at the swap meet the day before. Matthew ran out to do "something" I got ready, then got the boys ready. My surprise to Matthew was the wedding rings... his surprise to me was a limo drive to where we were getting married, Magic Island :) We decided on a sunset wedding. It was nice when we got there but by the time it was done, we were completely soaked!!! We did get some good pictures with a double rainbow (if it rains in Hawaii on your wedding day you are suppose to be blessed). I have not received the negatives from the company for the wedding pictures yet, but will add them when I do. We chose Nov. 1 as the date because our anniversary has always been May 1 (13 years) so Nov 1 is the six month anniversary. So now we have an excuse to have a night together every six months :) After the ceremony we went to dinner at "Dave and Buster's" it is a place that has games like Chuck-e-Cheese but the menu is a regular menu. We had a lot of fun! The boys really enjoyed the limo drive - first time for all four of us in a limo. There were some tears because of the rain and no umbrellas but it was a wonderful day :) The picture of Matthew and my head peeking in is one of hundreds that Riley took... so he then took one of just me :)

November 2 - I got up in the morning and took a couple of pictures of the view from our condo. We were pretty happy with it because it had both ocean and mountain views. Then we got ready and went to the zoo (we walked and on the way there called Barb and George - Matthew's parents - that we got married because we didn't tell them before we left). Tanner really loves animals, so you will see how much he loved the petting zoo, and this is only one of the 10 billy goats he had to hug :) Again, Riley didn't need a nap so he and Matthew went down to the beach for some fun and I stayed with Tanner to give him a nap. That evening we went on a sunset cruise on a Catamaran - Riley kept saying we wanted to go on a boat and they seemed to have a lot of fun (and yes my freckles really come out when I spend time in the sun, so do Riley's). It is really pretty to see a sunset out on the ocean and to be able to look into the shore. It is also fun to look out and see all these other boats out there with you. It was the same cruise that Matthew and I had gone on last time we went to Hawaii. There are a lot of pictures for today and I didn't even include any of the animals from the zoo...

November 3 - Considering how many pictures you have seen already, you're probably not going to believe this, but on this day, the day that we decided to take the tour around the island, I forgot to put the battery back in my camera. Thank goodness I brought the video camera so we got some videos, but no pictures to look at... are you relieved or upset??? Either way, there are still two more days worth of pictures to enjoy :)

We circled the island by driving up to the Dole Pineapple Plantation and took the boys on a train ride around the plantation. This part of the drive is in the center of the island. Then we headed up to the North Shore and from here until we headed back for Waikiki, we got to drive along the coast. The North and Eastward coasts of Oahu are very pretty with rough waves, steep cliffs and jagged rocks. This drive not only takes you up to the North Shore, but also by the Polynesian Cultural Center (Matthew and I went there last time we were in Hawaii) and all the way back down to the south part of the island. We stopped at a beach toward the end of the day and played for a little while then took the LikeLike (pronounced "licke licke") highway back through the center of the island rather than completing the entire outer circle.

We made a stop on the East side of the island to eat and it amazed me... the boys were hungry and tired... our food took almost 45 minutes... but they were wonderful... they played... had fun... didn't complain...it was amazing!

November 4 - It rained and it rained and it rained some more!!! November - March is Hawaii's rainy season, but we had a couple of locals that said that even in the worst part of the rainy season it doesn't ever get as bad as it was that day. There were flash flood warnings all day. Rain in Hawaii is not exactly something you can really complain about though :) But we basically spent the morning indoors.. we went out for breakfast, went to the International Marketplace and got a couple of souvenirs, and played video games all morning. By the time the boys woke up from their naps it had stopped raining so we headed down to the beach for a while.. Tanner was really being a mama's boy, so asking him to smile with daddy in the water didn't go so well ;). Then we drove down to the pier for a nice dinner instead of cooking at the condo. One thing about the rainy, windy weather is that it brings in some really pretty waves.

November 5 - We decided on our last day in Hawaii that we should hike up Diamond Head. That is one thing that Matthew and I didn't do the last time we went, so hey why not do it this time with a 2 and 4 year old hiking up a distinct crater and over 1200 stairs;) I carried Tanner for a lot of it (Matthew offered to help, but Tanner was still being a mama's boy and actually wasn't that hard to carry), but Riley did the entire thing... up and down... by himself!!! The views from the top are amazing!

That afternoon we met with a lady that had sent Matthew some Kona coffee a while back (her boyfriend used to eat out at Matthew's restaurant and that is how we met her). She took us up to this gorgeous tea cottage for lunch. Tanner knows when he is not suppose to touch something that we "put our hands behind our back." Then the boys had a late nap and I took some amazing pictures of our final sunset from the balcony of our room. After their nap, we took one last walk down along the main strip before heading for the airport.

The boys loved riding in the shuttle bus on our way to catch our 10 PM flight...

November 6 - We arrived in Seattle at about 6 AM after a 6 hour flight. After getting over to Alaskan Airlines from Northwest via the shuttle train we got some breakfast, Matthew found a little play area for the boys to keep them busy for our 5 1/2 hour layover. Tanner fell asleep in the stroller on the way to catch our flight and did not wake up until after we landed at home. Then at dinner Tanner kept saying he was tired and I said I know, just eat your dinner and we'll start getting ready for bed... I walked away to start the dishes and walked back in finding him fast asleep... at 6:30 PM. He woke up at 11 PM for about an hour, then fell back asleep until 10 AM... I guess he was a little tired :) It took a couple of days to get back on schedule! I got a nice shot of Riley that shows his Hawaiian tan... and that is with 50 spf all week!!!

This was an amazing vacation... we can't wait for our next one!!! I hope you enjoyed these pictures... I tried to pick out the best ones that really described our vacation... I can't wait to share the next one!!!