Dole Pineapple Plantation

It was too cold and windy to swim so we went to the Dole Plantation. I was unimpressed. Sean woke up grumpy and we had some costume malfunctions. He wanted long pants and a long sleeve shirt and I didn't have one. Finally I found one small enough to work at the gift shop but not without drama. On the way home Don decided to take a scenic route which lasted three hours. This made me grumpy. Yes we saw beautiful scenery and a traffic jam but I tried to look on the bright side. I am in Hawaii and it is beautiful. In between was OK.

Sean's mood improved with his long sleeves. Here he is flashing some Hawaiian hand signals.

I didn't learn as much about pineapples as I expected. It was more like a huge gift shop. Sounds like Dole in Hawaii is not the leader it once was though they still employ some 30000 people. Sean is looking at a little gecko on a leaf.

In Florida at Sea World we rode the Polar Express and here we rode the Pineapple express.

There was a pond of Koi that we threw food to. They climbed on top of each other to get to the food.

Mellow day

One of the things on Don's list was snorkel. We rented the stuff, found a great place with coral reef but the weather did not cooperate. It was rainy and very windy. Way to windy to snorkel. Don and I took turns snorkeling but Sean was scared. It was not a good day to learn. He had fun playing with his gear. It is supposed to rain tomorrow too,

For dinner we walked to this fine local eating establishment.  Then we came home and walked on the beach.

We were talking to Sean about tides. He was trying to stop the waves by shouting.

I decided to take a walk while Don and Sean played in the surf. I put on my head phones and had just turned around to head back when I felt a burning and something tangled around my ankles. It was a Portuguese man of war. I grabbed it to get it off. You aren't supposed to do that but I didn't know how else to get it off and that little sucker hurt. I walked back through the surf because it hurt less under water. I got home washed it with soap and water, took some benadryl and put cortisone on it. When I looked up treatment it said not to use fresh water because it makes it release more toxins. I've always held the belief if you use enough water it will dilute anything. I saw some pictures of people who were stung by big creatures and they were ugly. Mine was a mean LITTLE sucker. Would not want to encounter a large one.

The main event!

I was holding Loreal's bouquet and decided to be creative with the camera. It's a nice picture.

Loreal with her mom, dad and Grandparents

Don keeping the kids amused.

The minister was from Logan. How strange is that.

My favorite picture. That's what weddings in Hawaii are all about. Sunsets.

There was a dinner after but it was 8 which is midnight Sean's time and I didn't think taking him to a restaurant would make anyone happy. He was asleep before we got on the highway. It was a lovely wedding.

Honolulu Zoo

We headed to Waikiki early so we could spend the day doing different things and have plenty of time to get to the wedding. We went to the Honolulu zoo. It was pretty much like any other zoo only a little smaller. The trees were huge and so pretty. We went to a street fair outside the zoo and I bought all kinds of stuff. I paid $39 for the most ridiculous backpack. It's worth $10 but it was made by an 88 year old woman who comes to the fair every month and spends all her time in between sewing. Her daughter was with her. She has five daughters and they take turns staying with her because a couple of months ago she fell under her table and had to be rescued by the guy who runs the hot dog booth. How can you not buy something with a story like that?

Sitting in the awesome tree. I forgot a Sean story yesterday. When we were walking down the volcano we passed a Japanese couple. (There are tons of Japanese everywhere here) Sean abruptly stopped to play with the grass in his hand and he bent down. The Japanese thought he was bowing, they came to an abrupt halt and bowed to Sean and said something. It was so cute. Don laughed because after living in Japan he said it is so ingrained in their culture that when someone bows you return the bow. The look on their face was priceless. What the crap is this kid doing bowing but OK, we will go with it.

Sean being Koi, I mean coy.

They had a petting zoo at the zoo which Sean liked. Lots of friendly goats.

We went to the mall and ate at a Japanese steak house. It was good. Very different than the ones in Utah they put sauce on everything. It was much more flavorful. Very good. Afterwards we hung out at the beach so we wouldn't be late. I had this fear of flying to Hawaii for a wedding and missing it.

Hiking, swimming and eating

There is a light house high on a mountain (a volcano) near where we are staying. There is a road that used to lead to the light house but is now a path to hike above the light house and look over the pacific. You can even see some of the other islands. The reviews said it is a brisk aerobic walk up hill. One and a half miles each way and it takes 45 minutes. I was game.

That's at the very top of the look out. The picture doesn't do the scenery justice.

Sean, not so much. He started complaining and we could still see our car. "This is a stupid activity" he said. Fortunately he only whined 25% of the way up and 33% of the way down. Of course that is an estimate.  He did think the views were awesome. No we didn't carry him. Don just put him on his shoulders to see everything.

On the way down Don taught him to eat grass and that amused him.

After our hike which took us one hour and 45 minutes. Sean walked really slow! It wasn't a hard walk. I didn't even break out in a sweat. In Costa Rica I was seriously sweating from our hike up the cliff! We had lunch at a place on a pier. There were ducks begging at our table. I did not know a duck would jump up and take a french fry out of your hand.

When we got home Sean wanted to swim, so that's what we did.

I used Alika's water camera to take some pictures.

I love sand print pictures.

Sean loves the beach. He is so happy when he is playing in the water and on the beach.

Trying to take a self portrait while bouncing in the waves. Not easy!

I like this picture because you can see Don's feet.

We finished our day with dinner at a fancy restaurant. (No this is not the picture. I didn't take one) The only ducks at that restaurant would be on your plate. Sean tried mussels and did not like them, me neither. Don loves them always has!
This picture is the back yard of where we are staying. Don didn't want to stay in a hotel. We have found our last couple of vacation places on VRBO the on line site where we list our ski condo. We've had good luck, except for Catalina which was a dump. This place is an apartment in the back of a families home. A very nice family. They have two dogs that Sean loves to play with. They also have chickens in a coop in the front yard. (They gave us fresh eggs) The beach is just a few feet away. The thing I like most is that we have a huge fenced in yard. Sean can just go outside and play with the dogs. That's not something you can do at a hotel. The beach is very quiet, not crowded at all. There are some really crowded beaches down the street but they are for hard core surfers with really big waves. We are just fine on our quiet beach with the smaller waves. It's nice to be able to eat outside and hang our beach clothes and towels on the line.

Pearl Harbor

Today's adventure started with a visit to Pearl Harbor. 

I thought this sign was cool and wondered how often the spots were used.

And sure enough one was used. He was sitting inside signing autographs for a book he had written and getting his picture taken. It was nice to see a Pearl Harbor Survivor at Pearl Harbor. I can't imagine there are too many still alive.

Sean LOVED the submarine. We went all the way through it. I cannot believe 80 men lived in that little thing. They slept in shifts 36 to one room. There were a couple of bunks right over the missiles. It just looked miserable. It would be so claustrophobic under water.

There were all kinds of missiles. Even a Japanese suicide missile.

The para scopes they had were fun to look through. This thing Sean is looking through was on the submarine and you could see the boats across the harbor. Sean wanted to go get on those boats too.

We stopped for lunch after Pearl Harbor. We got there early but by 11 it was crowded so we decided it was a good time to go. We stopped at a blow hole and Sean and Don stood on a map of the Hawaiian Islands. Sean wanted to know where Utah was on that map;

Blow Hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why included this picture. Not sure, was looking at my sandy feet and decided it was worth remembering.

We swan in the ocean and built sandcastles. The ocean is so blue.