Hawaii Day 5

Sunday Morning we woke up well rested and headed over to the gym for our sunrise workout.  Talk about a great view from the treadmill!

 We had fun playing with the panoramic feature on my phone outside on the balcony at the gym.

 Even the locker room is beautiful and you could spend a whole day there!

 After working out we took a dip in the pool.  Then it was time to decide on breakfast.  We had been seeing people walking around the resort with these really yummy looking fruit bowls so we asked what they were and found out they were called acai bowls.  We had to go try them out!! It is a smoothie made of acia berries (a berry from Brazil that is suppose to be very good for you) then on top they put fresh fruit, granola and coconut.  This became our new favorite breakfast and we actually became so obsessed we ate them every day the rest of the trip and got the recipe and have kept up the daily tradition here at home! Yes they are that good! So refreshing especially after a work out!

 Day 5 was Pearl Harbor day.  Lots went into planning this weekend.  Since we still had the rental car we knew that we would need it to travel over to the memorial.  We also knew that we wanted to go to the swap meet which is only open Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday.  Sunday ended up being the perfect day.  I had so many people tell me that you should reserve your tickets to Pearl Harbor before leaving because they sell out.  When I went on line the only way you could reserve your tickets were through booking tours and the cheapest tour was I think around $40/person.  I also remember hearing that Pearl Harbor was free admission so I wasn't about to pay $80 for something that could potentially be free.  Our trusty tour book saves the day! They said that if you go on-line the day before the day you plan on attending you could reserve your ticket for $2.  The catch was they only release a few for each time slot so you have to be quick.  About a week before we left I would go online and see what the normal pattern was and I found that if you want to book you need to sign in right when they release the tickets at 7am the day before to reserve.  So we did that on Saturday and got our first pick of times! It was a good feeling to know that we were reserved and only paid $2!! By 7:30 am all the tickets were gone! We made it over the memorial around 9am and just got to walk right in with out waiting at all. 

 We had a nice time walking around the grounds and reading all the stories in a few of the museums that they had.  It was a very somber place and a wonderful tribute to all the people that lost their lives that day. 

After walking around we lined up for our tour to go into the movie.  They informed us in the line that unfortunately due to the hurricane that was suppose to come in later that week the winds were to high and that all the boats to go out to the memorial had been docked and were not  allowed to sail :( We were pretty sad especially because the tour right before us got to go.  We understood that they have there rules they have to follow we were just disappointed.  I felt really bad for the others in our group I think they were veteran's and they were really upset.  I also heard another couple say that this was their 3rd attempt at the tour and every time it gets cancelled due to the wind so I guess this is pretty common occurrence.  The movie was very good and taught us a lot.  

After that we got in the car and headed over to the swap meet.  This was a lot fun walking around and bartering for some great souvenirs.  

It was very hot that day!  89-90 degrees in Hawaii felt a lot different that 90 degrees in Merced.  It made me thankful we have a more dry heat here.  But then again in Hawaii you just wear your bathing suit 27/7 and can jump in any water you find so it made the heat bearable..  

We thought we would cool off with a cold coconut......

 But it was actually hot and disgusting but made for a cute picture, lol!

 We walked around the whole stadium.  There where 2 levels the lower level was most of the tourist stuff and then the upper level had more locals selling their old stuff just like you would see back home at a flea market.  We stooped by one little boys stand.  He was selling a bunch of Disney cars (happy cars, as we call them).  It was cute because he had a list with all his prises and he was really into it.  Spencer almost got a message at another stand we saw there but it looked a little shady not to mention kind of dirty too so we decided to skip that.  After lots of shopping and walking we were ready for lunch.  My boss Stan was probably just as excited for us to try fun restaurants on this trip as we were and he actually printed out a bunch of  ideas of places for us to try.  We kind of just did our own thing but when we were driving back to the hotel we saw a sign that said Nico's and I remembered Stan having me watch an episode of Diner's Drive-In's and Dives that had that particular restaurant on it.

It was right on Pier 38 with a great view of ships and the water.  We enjoyed a coconut crusted mahi mahi salad and a cheese burger with fries.  It was very yummy.

After lunch we walked around and then went back to the hotel to relax by the pool and in our room.  

That evening we decided since we still had our car to drive and park over by all the shopping in Waikiki.  We walked around the outside mall and then found a sushi restaurant for dinner.

 I love that pretty much every meal we enjoyed it outside!  I also love that we took so many couples pictures.  I forgot why but just recently I need a picture of just Spencer and I and I looked through the millions I have on our computer and I could not find a single one.  I adore all our family pictures and the trillions we have of the kids but it's nice that on this trip we got so many of just us it was great!!!

 I was sad to hear that the International Market place that I spent so many afternoons at was now closed.  I guess they closed it a few year ago and are building another mall.  I  use to love to walk through the vendors and buy random cheap stuff and knock off purses they also had an amazing chicken rice dish that my flight attendant friends and I would always get.  We found out that some of the vendors were still there and were set up in an ally between Macy's and another store.  It was pretty mini and very hot but it still had the charm and we found a cute ukulele for Carter.  I thought this surf board parking was really cool.

 Here was our rental car.  It was cute and small perfect for what we needed! 

We went and dropped the car off and had a nice walk back to our hotel. 

Another wonderful day!!!

We called it night with some treats and a movie in bed.

Hawaii Day 4

Hawaii day 4 was amazing!!! We were both really looking forward to this day because it was our zip lining day up in North Shore.  We woke up early got ready and then walked over to the rental car place. The place was just a short walk from our hotel.  It was raining a little bit so it made for a fun walk in the rain.

It felt so awesome having a car and driving the streets of Waikiki.  But honestly we didn't really miss having a car since we had everything in walking distance but it was a cool feeling that we could just go that much further and explore.  I had found on Pinterest that the malasadas at Leonard's were to die for so that was our breakfast to take on the road that day.

Um, yummy!!!! Yes they were as great as I read they where.  We had to try all different ones so we got the traditional, cinnamon sugar, some kind of spicy one (local favorite), Chocolate filled, coconut filled, and the special of the day guava filled.  All where yummy!!! I  think my fav's were the cinnamon, traditional and coconut.

The drive to North Shore was so pretty! Spencer kept saying, "why are you not taking more pictures?" I was just so blown away by the beauty and just wanted to enjoy.  But I did get a few!

There was off and on rain which was really cool.  I thought to myself lets just do it and move here! The way of life seems so relaxed but I think I would get island fever and miss our families.  

It was nice that we left early enough to truly enjoy the drive up the coast line.  We pulled over and stopped a few times.  We though this little mountain in the distance was cool.  

I also was really drawn to this mountain and the Pier in front of it.  Come to find out that is where the movie 50 first Dates was filmed!! One of my all time favorite movies so that was pretty cool.

In our travels we stumbled upon Kualoa Ranch so we got out of the car to check it out.

Lots of movies and T.V. shows are filmed there.

The also had horses and other fun stuff to check out at the ranch.  

We saw so many gorgeous beaches up the coast line!!!

We then passed the Polynesian Culture Center (where we would be going on Monday) so we knew that BYU Hawaii and the temple were close so we did a detour to go check those out.  BYU Hawaii was pretty awesome and we have decided that both Aubrey and Carter should go there and that we will follow and live on the island with them :) Not to sure how they will feel about that plan! The temple we beautiful and we hope that next time we visit we can go to a session and see the inside.

We then made it to Climb Works in  Keana Farms for our zip lining. 

This place was AMAZING!!!! I guess they are pretty new to Oahu I think they said that they have been open for 18 months at this location.  I can't express how awesome this place was.  It was new, hip, fun, exciting just a wonderful day!! All of the staff were so nice and funny.  They got us all suited up for our 3 hour zip lining tour.

There where 9 other people in our group and we had 3 tour guides.  We started with a mini zip line for practice.  It was kind of scary at first well actually every zip was kind of scary at first but it was a fun accelerating scared feeling.

After the practice zip we jumped on an ATV for a ride up the mountain.  It was an awesome ride.  This was a working farm so it was fun listening to the guide tell us about the different crops that grew there.

Our Gopro videos are pretty long and I have no idea how to edit them.  It's fun to just fast forward through them. 

 Our group of people on the tour with us were all different ages and from all over the US,  it was a fun group.  All of our guides were so knowledgeable of the Hawaiian culture and taught us some really interesting facts about Hawaii.

 We did a total of 8 zips and then we got to go on a few rope bridges.  we also got to repel and do kind of a free fall off a plat form.  The way it was all set up was very cool.  We also had lots of hiking and climbing.  They would have water stations set up right at the spots that you would think man I need some water lol.  They also had different snacks with the fruit and the vegetables that they grow on the farm. We also got to crack open some macadamia nuts.

 It was so awesome!! Our most favorite adventure for sure.  I can't wait to do it again someday and to do it with the kids they would love it too!

While on the tour the guides recommended the food trucks up the road for lunch.  We also read on yelp that they were to not be missed so we went and enjoyed garlic shrimp, rice and pasta salad from 1 truck and a traditional Korean BBQ plate from another truck.   

The shrimp truck had sharpies for people to sign the truck.

After lunch we did some souvenir shopping right there by all the trucks.  When I was little my grandma Janie and Grandpa Merv would go to Hawaii a lot and I remember one time they came home with a Hawaiian moo moo (comfortable dress) for me.  It was my most favorite dress to wear! So I really wanted to find Aubrey a dress. I found a cute purple one at this particular stand.

Also on our zip line I had mentioned I was disappointed in our snorkel trip and the guided recommend Sharks cove (I think I may have gone there with my family back in 2005??) anyways we ended up buying a snorkel and doing some snorkeling on our own there.  The fish were much better there.  The videos don't really do it justice.  It was a fun spot and I felt good that we got to see some colorful fish.

Then we started our drive back home to Waikiki.  We were so happy to see that the Dole plantation was still open so we stopped there to walk around and indulged in the worlds best dessert ever!!! A dole whip and a dole whip float.  OMG I love desserts and will save every calorie I have in a day for only desserts but this treat was better then any dessert I have had it was simply the BEST.  We have had Dole whips before at Disneyland but something about a pineapple dole whip in Hawaii was just out of this world.  

Spencer was excited that he had his Dole shirt on that day!  

 We walked the plantation after our treats.

 Then we did some shopping in the store.  We got our Hawaii Christmas ornament there.  

How cute is this:

When we were leaving we diced that we needed another whip!! We were that in love.

We stopped and did some some shopping for treats and waters and then we got back to our hotel.  We laid down on our bed and crashed! We didn't even do dinner that night lol we were so exhausted from such a fun day!!