!!! Oahu, Hawaii !!!

I can sum up my entire trip for you right now, "Best 10 days of my life!"

Day #1, Tuesday:

We had a 6 hour plane ride to endure, but it wasn't that bad because they had screens on the back of the chair in front of you where you could watch all new releases of movies, listen to music, and play games.

We arrived at the Honolulu Airport at 2:00pm Hawaii time.

We were greeted at our Hotel, the Hale Koa, by our friends, the Kloeppels. They had fresh flower leis for all of us that smelled divine. We also met up with my Aunt Traci, Uncle Art, & Cousin Ian who had arrived in Hawaii 5 days before us, but whom were now going to spend their remaining vacation time with us.

After we checked into our hotel, settled in, and unpacked, the 13 of us all went straight down to the beach (which was a 2 min. walk from our hotel room). After we'd taken in all of our surroundings, we went to PF Changs for dinner. Yum!

Day #2, Wednesday:

We walked down to iHop that morning for a huge, but delicious breakfast. We then hopped in our cars, and headed down to Sharks Cove to go snorkeling. (Don't worry, we didn't run into any sharks at Sharks Cove.) We saw tons of fish and even saw a turtle eating from the reef under the water. It was so cool!

We spent most of our entire day at Shark's cove, but we all started to get hungry, so we ended up at Hale'iwa Joe's Seafood Grill for dinner.

It was the most beautiful restaurant that I've ever been to. The seating area is covered by a roof, but it's totally open (no walls). There's a railing you can go over to that overlooks a lush garden and pond area. It was so beautiful and it reminded me of a real life (tons bigger and much better with totally different food) version of the Mayan.

(Overlooking from railing)

Plus, their food is amazing. You have to try their sour dough rolls, and macadamia nut ice cream (which is to die for) if you ever go there. I've been craving that ice cream ever since we left.

Day #3, Thursday:

We spent all day at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC).

At the PCC, you can go to different island villages from around Polynesia like: Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti, and Tonga. At each of these island villages you can learn different things about that islands culture, way of life, and they do really cool demonstrations at each of the different island stations. There's also an IMAX film you can go watch, a canoe pageant, canoe ride, and much more.

(Ian, Me, Kayla, Ashley, Kaden, Derek)

(He can imitate any face.)

My two favorites were the Island of Samoa and Tonga. At the Samoa one, we watched a native Samoan start a fire instantly by rubbing 2 sticks together, open a coconut with just his hands and a small stone, and (the coolest thing of all) we watched as he climbed up a huge palm tree in mere seconds with just his bare hands and feet; it was crazy!

(Plus, check out his muscles and awesome tattoos!)

 

 

 

After we had visited most of the islands, went on a canoe ride, got really awesome fake tattoos, weaved a fish out of leaves, tossed spears, ect. we went to a real life lu'au. The food was really good (minus the roasted pig which I refused to eat), and they had entertainment throughout the entire dinner.

(Ewww! Roasted Pig! Yuck!)

Then after our lu'au dinner, we went to an evening show called "Horizons" where 100s of dancers are involved, singing, and a wicked fire knife dance.

Day #4, Friday:

We pretty much were swimming or at the beach all day. They had 3 pools at our hotel. At one pool, you had to be 18 years old or older to go into it, another one was for little kids, and then they had one for all ages. We spent a good couple hours there before we went to chill at the beach before our catamaran ride. 

Our Outrigger Catamaran ride was amazing and the most fun, memorable thing that we did on our trip. (I could stay on a catamaran all day, and my cousin, Ian, was convinced that he was going to move back to Oahu so he could run his own catamaran business.)

A catamaran is hard to explain, but it's a big sail boat that 40 people can fit on. It has a sturdy net that connects to the boat which hangs straight out from the boat a couple feet above the water. People can sit on the net (which is what we did) and enjoy the ride. We went on a 90 min. ride around 3:00pm. The people operating the sail boat went super fast, and as they went over the big waves, the water sprayed up from the underside of the net getting us soaking wet. It's awesome! (We also saw 3 dolphins!)

Then we went to some look-out points before we headed off to go body surfing.

                            Blow Hole!                                              Lighthouse from 50 First Dates

Body surfing was super fun, but also really scary, even thought the waves weren't that big, they would really ram into you. Oh, and did I mention all the seaweed? You could reach just a couple inches into the water and come out with huge handfuls.     

"Holy crap! Bring it on!"   

The not-so-good side of this day? We all got major sunburns. I looked like a red tomato and I could barely move because everything stung so badly! Not to mention all the dead skin that I was pulling off days later. It was disgusting!

Day #5, Saturday/ 4th of July:

We took our time in the morning (due to our sunburns). We ended up going on a drive to some lookout sights on our way to the Punchbowl Cemetery. Here are our pictures: (There's a lot, & I'm not even using all of them)

Pali Lookout

If you are wondering about our hair, it was super windy.

I love this picture because Ian's hair is an exact

     replica of the mountain peak behind him!                         I love these pictures!

 

Diamond Head Rock

We then made it to the Punchbowl Cemetery. The Punchbowl Cemetery is a National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. It's been used as a cemetery for those in the military who sacrificed their lives in the Pacific, such as Pearl Harbor victims. There are over 44,000 men and women who are buried here. It's called the Punchbowl Cemetery because it's shaped as a huge crater.

After Punchbowl, we headed off to Hanauma Bay for another round of snorkeling. They have tons of bright, colorful fish there, and they have a round sandy spot in the middle that's fun to play in.

Then we had dinner at our hotel and went down to the beach to watch a huge firework show that they had over the ocean. It was awing! They even had fireworks in the shape of smiley faces. :)

Day #6, Sunday

We had to wake up early today so that we could get to Pearl Harbor before it was too busy and before we checked out of our hotel.

There were many historic sites at Pearl Harbor, but the USS Arizona Memorial was the most memorable. The USS Arizona was one of 21 vessels that was damaged or sunk by the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Out of 1,177 people that were on the USS Arizona, only 337 were able to escape when a bomb was dropped from a plane onto the ship, causing it to sink in just 9 minutes.

In this model, you can see how they built the Memorial over the actual sunken ship.

So, after we toured through the museums, we watched a 23 min. film about Pearl Harbor before we boarded the boat that took us over to the USS Arizona Memorial. It's indescribable, the feeling you have when you are on the memorial. It's very somber, like a cemetery, to think of all those men who are still entombed just below your feet, their bodies unable to be removed from the ship they once served on. And what's still harder is to see each and every one of their names engraved upon the marble wall aboard the memorial.

After Pearl Harbor, we headed back to our hotel to finish packing, to check out, and to say goodbye to our lovely hotel, the Hale Koa.

On a happier note, we got to go shopping afterward, for souvenirs. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, our last meal together with the Moes family before they went to the airport to catch their flight home. So, we said our goodbyes to my Aunt Traci, Uncle Art, and Cousin Ian, before my family set off to stay our remaining days on the North Shore of the Island with our good friends, the Kloeppels.

Day #7, Monday

I woke up a little confused this day, then I remembered that we were at the Kloeppel's. Ashley and I got to sleep on this huge air mattress that was like 2 1/2 feet above the ground. It was awesome! Mikayla sleept in the same room with us too.

We had a super booked day that started out with a visit to the Dole Plantation. I don't know where I was at the time, but apparently I got left out of this picture.

Pineapples!

(Even though my cousin's family had already left Hawaii by this point, I'll still be putting pictures up of them from when they went to these places too.)

We got to try soft serve pineapple ice-cream while we were there, but it wasn't my favorite. We also got leather bracelets here, that we got engraved with our Hawaiian names. (My name in Hawaiian is Nakaka.)

For lunch, we went to the famous Macky's Shrimp Truck.

They cook the food in the truck, then you eat it on picnic tables that they have outside. I, of course, did not get shrimp because I don't eat shrimp, but everyone else seemed to love theirs. I got 3 huge scoops of rice with soy sauce for just $1.00 how crazy is that?

Then we headed off to hike up to Waimea Falls. It was a gorgeous hike! Everything was so green, the colors were super vibrant, and there were so many flowers! These ones are just a handfull of my most favorite ones. I love them!

Peacock! Yep, wild peacocks and chickens everywhere!

(My Aunt has lost 60+ pounds since. Way to go!)

Then, we headed down to Waimea beach to play in the ocean. For dinner, we treated the Kloeppels and ourselves to another round of Haleiwa Joe's! (I don't think I've emphasized enough about how delicious there food is.)

Day #8, Tuesday

We were so wiped from the day before that we decided to take this day really easy going.

First, after sleeping in a lot, we headed down to the theater in the mall. The adults saw The Proposal, while all of us kids went to go see Transformers 2. I was so tired from the previous day that I actually fell asleep during the movie.

After the movie, we set off to find a genuine Hawaii made tiki for my uncle, who was very sad to leave Hawaii without one. Christi made some calls, and through a friend of a friend, we were directed to a genuine tiki shop.

Milai was the name of the super nice, very talented guy who hand-carved the tiki that we bought for my uncle and the one that we bought for ourselves.

He even did demonstrations for us, to show us how he does his work. Here are lots of other tikis that he's carved:

Then we got Taco Bell for lunch, and had a relaxing day back at their house.

For dinner we had a BBQ with the best fresh-off-the-tree fruit I've ever had, and then we collapsed into bed.

Day #9, Wednesday

This day was Mikayla's Birthday!

We went to the Hukilau Cafe for breakfast (the one in 50 First Dates, but they don't serve waffles, what's up with that?). It was yummy! Then we went up to La'ie Point.

Kloeppels

(Random, big, cool hole in the ground!)

(Ian and Traci reading the story/myth about La'ie Point.)

(Mom and Christi before we left to the beach.)

Then we took off to Waimea Beach.

Kayla and I did practically everything. We went kayaking in the ocean, swam in the ocean, snorkled in the ocean, you name it, we did it.

Hawaiian Shaka Hand Sign

My dad drifted so far out into the water on his raft.

We also saw some sea turtles.

Then we went to a surprise restaurant for Kayla's Birthday. We went the Oceanarium Restaurant.

The Oceanarium is a restaurant equiped with a 3-story, 280,000 gallon saltwater aquarium that has enormous stingrays, reef fish, and much more!

Mikayla's dad even arranged for a scuba diver to go into the tank to surprise Mikayla right in front of our table!

And, we got to watch her feed them!

Happy 15th Birthday Mikayla!

This is Kayla's little bro. Kahna! He's so cute!

This was one of my favorite days in Hawaii!

Once we got back to the house, we had ice-cream and the most delicious cake ever! (From Ted's Bakery! Yum!)

Day #10, Thursday

So sad! This was our last day in Oahu, Hawaii!

After getting up and getting ready, we set off to Matsumoto's for some shave ice. Hawaii's shave ice is unique compared to elsewhere because in addition to the shave ice, they have ice-cream in the bottom of the cup!

The shave ice was a huge mess, but super yummy! 

Then we just shopped around. I got a lovely Hawaiian dress that I love! For lunch we ate at Kua'aina Burger joint. Ashley and I split a tuna sandwich and fries! Yum!

This is when we get to the sad part . . . we had to head back to their house to finish packing, say our goodbyes, *tear*, and head off to the airport.

Then we dragged ourselves onto the plane for our flight back to Salt Lake City, Utah. Waaaaaaa!

Aloha Hawaii! Until we meet again!

& to the Kloeppels: Thanks for the amazing time, we miss you guys!