Aloha!

The first part of December James and I were able to take an 11 day vacation to the beautiful Islands of Hawaii. We spent 4 days in Oahu visiting all of the tourist spots like the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor and of course the Hawaii temple. As much as we enjoyed visiting all of these places we were excited to get to the Island of Kauai where it was a little slower pace. Here we played on the beach, went snorkeling, went tubing in the back country and enjoyed a nice massage on the beach. The pictures here don't even begin to show all we were able to do and see while in Hawaii!





Our first hotel was the Ilikai which was located right on Waikiki beach!

While in Hawaii I fell in love with the Hibiscus flower which is the state flower there. I'm not sure if it was the flower itself I liked or all the bright colors!

We spent one day at the Polynesian Cultural Center where we learned about the different Polynesian cultures. We learned how to do the fast hip dance (which by the way is not Hawaiian but is Tahitian), how to break open a coconut, how to make milk from the coconut and many other fun things. We attended a Luau that evening where we had roasted pig and other good food along with this drink in a pineapple.

The USS Arizona Memorial. What a neat experience it was to visit Pearl Harbor. It was very humbling to stand over the sunken USS Arizona and remember all the men who died that day.

The names of all the men who died that day.

The USS Missouri and USS Arizona Memorials

The USS Missouri Memorial

The Hawaii Temple. We did a session and sealings and what a great experience that was. The grounds were very beautiful so we had some fun with the camera.

The big waves at Sunset Beach.

We weren't planning on getting wet, but a big wave came and I got soaked from the waist down :)

This is the place they call "The Grand Canyon of Hawaii"

This is the wettest place on earth!

Autumn getting a massage on the beach!

Snorkeling in the Pacific!

James and I swimming with the sea turtles.

Here I am holding a Red Pencil Sea Urchin. I also held a sea cucumber which was very slimy!

I searched and searched for Nemo, but I did not find Nemo!

James just thought it was so funny that the snorkel mask made my mouth look funny!

Tubing in the back country. We went to the center of the Island of Kawai and visited the wettest place on earth. We also went back country tubing in a old canal and through old tunnels. It was really fun!