HAWAII

 Monday - We woke up at 3:30 am to catch our flight to San Francisco at 5:30 am. We flew from San Fran to Maui at 9:30 am. It was five hour flight so we were really hungry and antsy once we got to Maui. We ate at a restaurant in the airport and finally left for Oahu at 2:45 pm. We arrived less than an hour later and got picked up by Roberts shuttle service. They gave us leis and our driver talked to us about places to see while we were there and some of the history of Hawaii. We checked in at the Hilton Waikiki Beach and showered before dinner. We walked down to the International Market Place and found a place called Okonaymiyaki Chibo to eat at for dinner. Weston tried a japanese pancake and I had teppanyaki teriyaki chicken. We walked down to Waikiki Beach through the Royal Hawaiian Hotel which is one of the oldest hotels on Waikiki.

Tuesday - We were picked up by Maui Divers Jewelry in a shuttle for a breakfast Expedia had to help us book activities to do on the island. I set up swimming with dolphins before we left for our trip,but it was so nice to have someone to set everything up for us for the rest of the week. We ate spam, pink hot dogs, fried garlic chicken and teriyaki beef at Fat Boys. When we got back to our hotel we decided to go to Diamond Head. We waited for the bus for about half an hour, but a taxi driver saw us waiting and offered to drive us up there for a dollar more than what we would have paid for the bus. We hiked up to the top of Diamond Head, which was not as easy as I thought it would be. When we got down from the volcano we ate a snow cone and walked back down to the bus stop. Weston wanted to take a taxi back, but I wanted to try the bus. Well I should have listened to my husband because we waited over an hour for a bus back to Waikiki. We went swimming when we got back to the hotel and laid out for awhile. We were really tired that night so we decided to order room service and watch TV.

Wednesday - We woke up around 7:30 am and went to breakfast at McDonalds where we ate scrambled eggs, rice and spam. We were picked up by the Sea Life Park shuttle at 8:45 am and got to the park around 9:30 am. We put on life jackets and walked onto a platform where we were waist deep in the water. We were able to touch, kiss and dance with a dolphin named Itsy Bitsy. Another item checked off my bucket list! We changed our clothes and walked about the park until the dolphin show started. We saw sea turtles, penguins, and seals. The dolphin show was the best part of the park besides getting in the water with the dolphins. We didn't want to wait another hour for the shuttle to pick us up, so we took the bus back to our hotel. It took about an hour because we had to keep stopping to pick up kids that just got out of school. When we got back we walked to the corner shop for another snow cone. We walked back to the hotel so we could shower before dinner. We ate at Sansei because Weston was craving sushi. We walked down the main strip of stores and looked around before we headed back to our hotel.

Thursday - We woke up early so we could pick up a rental car at 7am. We wanted to eat somewhere local for breakfast so Weston found a place online called Ray's Diner. It was a hole in the wall place with like six tables, but the food was yummy and it was definitely an experience. We stopped at Waimea Valley so we could walk to Waimea Falls. It was a beautiful hike and totally worth it once we got to the waterfall. The lifeguard offered to take our picture and it was my favorite of the whole trip. We stopped at Sunset Beach at North Shore to lay out and play at the beach for a little while. We saw a crab on the beach and it was the least crowded beach either of us had ever been to. We heard about all the shrimp trucks on the drive to North Shore so we of course had to try one since Weston's favorite food ever is shrimp. He thought it was really good except that he had to crack the shells off all the shrimp. We kept driving to Laia where the Polynesian Cultural Center is and got there around 1 pm. We ate lunch at the snack area then walked around to the different villages. The boat parade was really fun to watch because each village showed the dances they do on their islands. The luau for dinner was delicious Hawaiian food and we got to dance on stage. We took the tram from the Polynesian Cultural Center to the temple and BYU Hawaii. The Laia temple was beautiful and it was cool to see what BYU Hawaii looks like. When we got back to the Cultural Center they took us to the stadium to watch the show HA Breath of Life. We drove back to the hotel and got back around 10:30 pm. It was a fun, but exhausting day.

Friday- We slept through our alarm and woke up at 6:25 am, five minutes before our shuttle was supposed to pick us up for our tour of Pearl Harbor. Our shuttle driver was really funny and gave us a detailed history of Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. We stayed there til 11 am, then headed back to the hotel. We were so tired from the day before and waking up so early so we took a nap for a couple of hours. We still had the rental car so we decided to eat at Rainbow Drive-In which was on the show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We drove to Hanauma Bay to go Snorkeling. It was windy and cold so we didn't really enjoy it as much as everyone told us we would. We drove the rental car back and dropped it off. We walked back to our hotel and ate shaved ice again :) This time we got a snow cap on it which is condensed milk squirted on top. We decided to hot tub and then shower before dinner. We ate at the restaurant in our hotel called MAC 24/7.

Saturday - We woke up at 7 am so we could get breakfast before we took a shuttle to Lanikai.
We got snorkels and a boogie board and walked to Kailua Beach. It was so windy that it felt like needles were poking our legs. We made the best of it though and went out snorkeling. Weston boogie boarded and we built a sand castle. We got back to the hotel around 3 pm. We went up to the hot tub again and showered before dinner. We wanted to eat at Roy's, but it was graduation weekend so they were booked for the whole night. Instead, we ate at California Pizza Kitchen. We walked the strip of stores and bought some souvenirs for people. I packed our bags when we got back to our room so we would be ready to go early in the morning.

Sunday - The shuttle picked us up at 3:30am. No one was at the airport when we got there because they close at night! We waited for awhile at security and then ate at Starbucks since it was the only place open that early. We flew to San Francisco at 6:45 am. We had to run and get food before our flight back to Vegas. We got home at 5:30 pm that night. We are so grateful we were able to spend a week together in Hawaii. It was a much needed week of relaxation before summer school started for Weston.