Home again, home again...

We arrived safe and sound on Monday afternoon. We had a redeye out of Honolulu with a stopover in San Fran. Emily slept the entirety of both flights. Katie slept all of the first, and some of the second. Alison and I got bits of sleep here and there.

Here are a few pictures from the trip (click the individual pictures to see larger versions):

South Eastern Coast looking towards Waikiki

Lighthouse on the cliff walk on Makapu'u Point

Hardened lava along the coast of the Big Island

Approaching the Thurston Lava Tubes

The smoking Halema'uma'u crater at Volcano National Park

Probably not Alison's favorite picture, but proof she gave it a shot

Manoa Falls

Aboard the U.S.S. Missouri

Japan's WWII surrender document

Pearl Harbor survivors who met us at the entrance of the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

Last night on the beach of Waikiki

On the beach of the Banzai pipeline

A photo of our Luau photo

Duke Kahanamoku - the man and legend who brought surfing to the masses

She Who Talks with Turtles

Although we awoke too late to feed the fish at 7:30am, we did make a trek to a place we heard from word of mouth - "turtle beach." After taking the trolly to the Marriott hotel, we stepped off property to head up the local public beach. The beaches here are state property, and thus public. The land next to them are often private. As you head up the coast from the Marriott, there is some waterfront that is beach, and some that is all rock. We didn't quite know where this famous turtle beach was. Getting there involved climbing some waterfront rocks, dodging some waves and wading through shallow water. However, in the end, we got there. It turns out, if you knew where it was, you could walk the road and take public access path right to the beach.

The small lagoon was protected by a large row of rocks. Apparently, the sea turtles like the lagoon to feed, and they are used to people. You aren't supposed to feed them, but a number of people grabbed floating seaweed, and the turles ate right from their hands.



We probably saw a total of three sea turtles swimming around. They would come and go. Sometimes there would be one. Sometimes, none. Sometimes all three. The kids made a friend there. A "local" 8-yr old girl. I use quotes because her dad is stationed at Pearl Harbor with the Navy. Her mom, who was there with her, was from Newton, MA and graduated from Mount Alvernia High School is 1990. Her sister went to Sacred Heart H.S. (the same school where my sister attended).

We spent the rest of the day at the pool, and talked with a family who we met yesterday from Waconia, MN - a town two away from us. Small worlds.

Friday Fun

Our Friday adventures took us up and down the windward (East) coast of O'ahu. Our goal was a morning snorkel trip to Hanuama Bay. We had heard that snorkeling in that bay was very cool. However, when we arrived, the parking lot was full and the Park Rangers weren't allowing anyone else in. [Grumble]

Instead, we headed up the coast. We stopped at a few viewing points. One which we climbed some rocks above the ocean waves, and another in which we viewed the Halona blowhole. After stopped for lunch for the kids a Subway, the adults ate garlic shrimp from a roadside lunch truck. Alison was hesitant, but I was insistent that at least I was going to try it out. She acquiesced, and we both enjoyed it quite a bit.

We returned to Haluama Bay to find the lot open. The beach is considered a nature preserve, and consequently, we were required to view an 8-minute movie about the preserve and its Do and Don'ts. The Bay is located below the looming cliffs, and is full of coral and sea creatures. We each rented snorkeling equipment and set out to explore the coral only a few feet below the water's surface. There is plenty of fish, and an occassional sea turtle. In fact, Emily and I saw a sea turtle swim right past us.

The kids (and Alison) found snorkeling hard, so we didn't spend a ton of time doing it. But it was very interesting. We forgot to get shots of us snorkeling, but the video below is of Haluama Bay. The dark spots in the water are the coral



The final adventure was a hike up the Maluapu'u Lookout. The paved 1 1/4 mile hike takes you well above the ocean below. The view of the Southern coast back towards Waikiki is terrific. The area is also well known for its whale viewing. We saw a number of whales swimming in the near shore, and Alison and Emily even saw a whale breach the surface.

Katie and I made the whole hike to the top. After her complaining earlier about making such a trek, I was proud she made the effort to reach the summit. From the top we got a great view of the Eastern Coast, and there is a nice view of the Maluapu'u lighthouse which sits on the side of a cliff, high above the ocean below.

We finished the day with dinner in Waikiki, and two exhausted girls.

Volcano Follow Up

We are a few days behind, and getting ready for our last day, but wanted to follow up with our Thursday trip.

We took a plane (Go! Airlines regional jet) through a tour from Robert's Hawaii to the Big Island. Our package was the Volcano National Park tour. The other option was to leave earlier in the day (we left at 11:20), and tour the whole island, but that seemed long, and we weren't sure we wanted to be in a big coach bus the entire day.

Although we picked the shorter tour, we did feel like we were on the bus quite a bit. We were on a mini-bus with about 12-14 others including a family from Northern Iowa that flew through Minneapolis, a 22 yr old girl traveling by herself from Brazil, and a group that spoke French and little to no English. Unfortunately, it rained a large portion of the day, although it did appear to let up at the most important points.

After two obligatory tour stops (one at the Mauna Lau Macademia Nut factory and one unscheduled stop that was probably a friend of the driver's place, we arrive at Volcano National Park. We drove into a viewing spot of the large Halemaumau crater with it's smoking/steaming spout. Cool, but seen from a bit of a distance. The area looked like it might be the surface of the moon. After only spending about 20 minutes there, we made two other stops in the park - 1) at these steam vents where you could feel the hot steam coming up from the earth, and 2) teh Thurston Lava Tube, where you walk through a cave-like tunnel that was created by flowing lava some 50-years ago.

From there, we got back on the bus, and drove almost back to Hilo to go to dinner. By this time, we were wondering why we choose a tour. I'd rather be on my own schedule. However, we had moved to late, and getting plane tickets had been too hard.

Our final stop was the "nightime" lava viewing. We traveled to a spot where lava had destroyed an entire area in the last 5-10 years. We trekked out 10-15 minutes to a "viewing spot." However, there was no flowing lava. In fact, the Park Rangers said they hadn't seen lava in two weeks. Consequently, we "viewed" 1,000 or more acre area of hardened, black lava. Cool, but not exactly what we were hoping for. As seen in the video, there were a couple of hot spots. Normally, you could travel down and see the lava flowing into the ocean. Our tour guide told us (after the fact) that the lava hasn't been flowing into the ocean for over two months. Historically, it had stopped for a day or two, but this is the longest it hasn't flowed. I wish we knew that before booking the tour.

We were taken back to the airport, and in the end, saw maybe 2 - 2 1/2 hours of stuff in aggregate. It was a neat, but an expensive disappointment.

Volcanos, but no flowing lava

We visited the Big Island yesterday, and took a tour of Volcano National Park. We walked hardened lava, but unfortunately saw no flowing lava. Apparently, it hasn't been seen in over two weeks. Here's a quick video, with more text to follow later...

Catch a wave

Today was a lazy morning turned Beach Girl challenge. We walked to and had a great buffett breakfast at the J.W. Marriott a couple small lagoons over. From there, we climbed some rocks out toward the ocean and collected some sealife in the tidal pools.

We meandered over to our own lagoon and spent the rest of the morning on the beach. The girls immediately found a couple friends with which to dig in the sand. Around Noon we moved to the pool. Shortly before leaving, Alison struck up conversation with the family next to us at the pool. Turns out, they are from a town away in Minnesota.

The afternoon was meant for adventure. Catching wave. We took a group lesson from an outfit called "Girls who Surf." Ironically, our instructor was a guy. Undaunted, we hit the beach of Kapolei. Two and a half hours later, we had the fundamentals. Katie struggled with getting over the fear of surfing. Emily worked through her nervousness and roade a few waves on a tandem board with the instructor. At the start, I got up a couple of times, but not more than a couple of seconds. Mostly, I struggled getting enough speed to actually catch the wave. Just as I'd get ready to leap up, the wave had past me. Alison never tried standing, but rode the board from her knees.

In the end, only one surfer actually rode of wave...



Bribed with the ability to pick dessert at Outback Steakhouse, Emily rode not one, but two waves.

On the way off the beach, Emily asked, "Dad, can I get a surfboard?" I don't know how much surfing she'd do in Minneapolis.

Surf's up, dude!

Chasing waterfalls and Luaus

Today was an eclectic day. We started off with a pancake breakfast at Kao Pancakes - a local almost fastfood pancake house. From there, we made the trek East, past Honolulu to hike up to Manoa Falls. The hike itself is not terribly hard - approximately one mile with moderate terrain. However, just as we got there it started to rain. We sheltered ourselves under the porch of the Arboretum until the heavy rain past, and then headed out for our hike. The 120 foot falls is in the middle of a rainforest type environment. The fact that it was raining only made it the more ironic. The path was muddy, and the rocks were slippery, but we made it up without incident. Even Katie, who often complains about too much physical effort, stopped complaining quickly, and enjoyed the hike.



The falls were well worth the trip. Although there is only a small viewing area, and plenty of people, each group got a chance to snap some solo pictures. The fact that it had rained probably helped our cause. The trip down was a little trickier, but the fact that the sun came out made it all the better.



Since Manoa Falls is just North of Wakikki, we headed there for lunch and a tourist walk. We walked through the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, walked a portion of the beach and lunched a Dukes - an island favorite. Post lunch, we hit a few stores, and headed back to the hotel. It was quite sunny in Wakikki, but it downpoured on the way back. However, to our luck, the rain ended shortly before Ko Olina where we were due to prepare for our Luau. It didn't rain the rest of the day!

The Luau dinner was so-so, but the kids learned to weave palm leaves, and played a few games. The show was quite good. The Somoan group performed a number of dances for the local Polyesian islands including Hawaii. The kids were invited up front, and even got up to perform their own Hulu dance. Traditional video wasn't allowed, but my new camera got some grainy close-ups of Emily.



The Finale was an excellent fire dancing show.



To put it in Katie's words, it was, "an amazing night."

Pearl Harbor

We spent the better part of today at Pearl Harbor. We started with a walk-thru of the USS Bowfin - a WWII submarine. Although we had an audio tour, it was more interesting to listen to the former-sailor in front of us who narrated his own version for his group (and us).

Unfortunately, our USS Arizona ticket was not until 11:20 (we arrived prior to 9am). We watched a 30 minute movie, and then we waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, we hoped the boat to the Arizona where we spent about 20 minutes on the Memorial itself. Interestingly, the kids were surprised at how much of the ship one could see. I, on the other hand, was a underwhelmed at how little of the ship was visible. However, it was pretty interesting overall.

Although weariness was setting in, the most interesting part of the trip was the USS Missouri - a WWII/Gulf War Iowa-class battleship tour (Click HERE for the Mighty Mo). We took a shuttle bus into Ford Island, an active US Navy base, and then proceeded to self-tour through the enourmous decommissioned ship.

The girls found the trip pretty interesting. In their own words, they "liked it, but didn't love it."

A late lunch followed, and now back at the hotel.

Once again, a brisk wind disrupted our audio...

Day of Exploration

After a morning at the pool, we took off in the car for a day of exporation. From Ko Olina, we headed up the western coast called Wai'annae. I had heard that the area was a "rough area," but also read it was an exaggeration. Unfortunately, it was pretty run down. There were a lot of vagrant tents on the beach - whole communities apparently. It wasn't until we reached just short of Ka'ena point that we found an interesting beach to explore. Much to our surprise, you can't get from the Wai'annae coast to any other part of the island. Consequently, we traveled our same route back. Instead of finding some great local fare - we ate at drivethru McDonalds. Oh well.

From there we headed up the middle of the island on the Kamehameha Highway. We stopped at the Dole Pinneaple Plantation, and took a crack at their human-sized maze. Although we spent close to 45 minutes in there, we only found two of the nine items, but finished off the visit with pinneaple frozen yogurt and fresh pinneaple slices.

Our destination was the North Coast. We watched surfers and bodysurfers on the famous Banzai Pipeline. The waves weren't at their peak, but still pretty big for little kids. The undertoe was strong, so they only went as deep as their shins.



From Banzai, we headed towards the other side of Ka'ena Point and did a short hike up the point. It's a four mile hike, but we only went a few hundred yards.

Our day ended with dinner in the historic town of Haleiwa. Finally, a nice local restaurant.

A long day ended with two parent doing their best to keep their kids eyes open for the 30 minute ride home.

Ko Olina

No one's internal clock is quite set right yet. The kids awoke around 4:50am, and we were all up and moving at 6:30.

Today was spent mostly at the resort. Although we stepped out to get some groceries and lunch, most of our hours were spent on-site at the pool and the beach. Katie and Emily both competed in a hula hoop contest early in the day with a few other kids. They were confident, but neither won. Pre-lunch was spent at the pool, and post-lunch was reserved for the beach. The Ko Olina lagoon is nice and quaint. Protected from the leeward waters, the beach has only a few small waves.

We had lunch at a local place, Boston's North End Pizza. It was pretty authentic.

The kids both made Lei's after lunch. It wasn't a cheap, but crafty flowers on a string. Rather they braided long Ti leaves together. It was quite a craft, and took some assistance.

Welcome

Arrival in Hawaii was easy and uneventful. The flight was long (8 1/2 hrs), but there was a decent amount of entertainment options. We had two first class seats and two coach (not on purpose, there weren't enough upgrades available for four). The plan was for one adult and one kid to sit together until we were at cruising altitude, and then switch adults into 1st. The kids decided they wanted to sit together, so they sat in coach all the way except on landing when Alison moved back, and Katie moved up. The First Class cabin attendant was very nice, and he brought ice cream sundaes back to both kids.

Other than unpacking and grabbing a quick bite, we haven't done much. The hotel seems very nice. We like our room.

As for the video. I'm still learning the new little flip camera. quality isn't great, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon.

Oh yeah, found this...

From the digging out of the near-term archieve catagory (a.k.a known as the pictures you forgot were on the camera catagory):

From Twins Fest

PhD

Katie's class completed a PhD of their choice. Katie picked three artists which she cared to study. She chose Picasso, Van Gogh and Henry Moore (no relation). As seen below, she created a self-portrait in the style of Van Gogh, a portrait in the style of Picasso, and a sculpure replicate copying that of Henry Moore.

She did a great job!

Father/Daughter(s) Dance

We attended the Father/Daughter Dance at the Lafayette Club a couple weeks ago. Katie spent the previous 4 days with a stomach bug, so her attendence was touch-and-go. However, in the end, she pulled through and had a great time.

We were slated to sit with two sets of friends. Unfortunately, one only requested they sit with "the Moores." Consequently, they had a lovely dinner with the "D. Moore family and friends table."

Although they provided some professional photos at the event, we took the obligatory house pre-part photos too.