Day 5 - Diamond Head and Gala

We started the day by hiking up Diamond Head Crater. This was something that I was excited about because I knew we would get to see some great scenery. Toby and I were both expecting it would be a tough hike and it was. There were lots of steep grades and about a million stairs. Maybe not a million but it sure felt like it! I wasn't expecting going through a super long dark tunnel then at the very top climbing through a cave on my hands and knees to get out!

                                              Looking into the middle of the crater.

                                           View from the bottom before we started the hike.

                                                   Tunnel that we walked through

It was amazing at the top and totally worth it.  Definitely outside of my comfort zone but so glad we did it. Toby said as we were walking through the tunnel I was getting faster and faster and I might have almost ran over a little Japanese lady. oops! I have never been so ready to see light at the end of a tunnel in all my life!

After this we came back to resort and ate lunch at one of the restaurants here.

                                                  

The Gala last night was beautiful! It is so much fun to get all dressed up. I love looking at all the beautiful dresses. Some were truly amazing! This night always makes me so thankful for these wonderful opportunities that the Lord has blessed us with.

         We have had so much fun but we are ready to come home! Love and miss you all!

Day Four- Traveling the Island

We woke up early this morning (no surprise there!) and got on the road to go do some sightseeing. The company gave every two couples a rental car so today was our turn to go explore.

We learned a lot of fun facts on our shuttle from the airport to hotel when we first arrived.  One of these facts was that Honolulu just bypassed Los Angeles for the worst traffic in the US.  It is not uncommon for people to sit in traffic for over 2 hours one way. The island is only about 44 miles from north to south and close to 950,000 people reside here! I was listening to this thinking, I am not leaving the  resort because I do not want to experience that!

Well  I knew we needed to explore a little more than only 2 miles around our resort. So off we went .  It is a good thing we have navigation on our phones. The roads here are so confusing!  I think most of those 950,000 people live near our resort.  It was so nice to get out towards the "country" and not be bumper to bumper in traffic!

                                          Traffic driving through Honolulu at 10:00 in the morning.

                                                                         Aloha Stadium

On our way to the North Shore we stopped by the Dole Plantation. We  didn't do the tours but we did go in the general store and walk around the gardens.  We enjoyed trying chocolate covered pineapples and shopping.

My camera battery went dead as soon as we arrived to the North Shore so I didn't get any pictures.  The surfers were fun to watch but as when we got there it was cloudy and starting to rain.  We were read to make our way back to "the sunny side" of the island.

 That night we decided to  be even more adventurous and go stay a night in the
hills. We found a great little resort right at the bottom of a volcano. We were still on the ocean but it had a much different feel than the resort we are at now.

  We  ordered dinner from one of the nearby restaurants and ate in our room.  We went to bed early and slept wonderful! It was heavenly!! The next morning we were up and back to our resort by 7:00. Can't miss that Farm Bureau breakfast! Day 5 to come...

Love and miss you all!

Day 3-Hawaii

Good news...we didn't wake up until 5:45 this morning! I guess that is better than 4:30.  The time change has been a lot tougher than I thought! I'm sure when it is time to go home we will be finally sleeping late. :)

Last night was the welcome dinner. It was in a beautiful setting right on the ocean with hula and fire dancers. The food and entertainment were great.

The following morning (Sunday morning) we all got up early and headed to Pearl Harbor. I have to admit this wasn't something that was at the top of my list of things to do. I knew that Toby really wanted to so I was following along. I am SO glad that I went! I can't imagine coming here and not seeing this great piece of history. It was very emotional and sad but you walk away so thankful to live in America! Today was really special at Pearl Harbor because it was Survivors Day. There are only 4 remaining survivors left on Hawaii  and all of them were there but one. I think there are 1500 nationwide. 

This man has written a book about his experience so we were able to buy it and he got to sign it for us.

This was in the middle of the memorial that has been built over the USS Arizona ship that was sunk. The ship is still underneath the water.

We came back to the beach and decided to paddleboard for the first time.  We only rented one board so we took turns to begin with.

                       We decided that Toby was either too tall or too uncoordinated.  So this is what the rest               of the hour looked like. Me, rowing him around while he sat on the front of the board. We                    definitely had a good laugh over it and I think others around us did too!

Later that night the whole office went out to eat. We sat down to eat at 8:00 and didn't leave the restaurant until 10:30! Everyone had to keep saying "Hailey, wake up!" I could not keep my eyes open! 

Today we are heading to the North Shore to watch the surfers. More pictures to come!

Love and miss you all!

Day 2- Hawaii Beach Day

We had decided before even leaving for this trip that on our first full day we 
would hang around the resort and lay by the pool/beach. After traveling over 12 hours yesterday we knew we would be exhausted. What we didn't know is that we would be up at 4:30 this morning since our body is still on North Carolina time. So we were down at the beach laying out in the sun at 8:30 this morning! This was all after face timing the kids, working out and eating breakfast. Amazing what all you get done when you are up at the crack of dawn! 

 We have had a fun, lazy day. We ate lunch from a food truck. I have always heard that Hawaii has awesome food trucks. This one did not disappoint!

 

Tonight we have the welcome dinner which is a luau here at the resort and I'm sure by the time it is over we will be fighting to keep our eyes open. Pictures of that to come tomorrow! Miss and love you all! Trying our best to not get homesick and just enjoy this blessing from God! Or I should say I am trying to not get homesick. Toby shows no signs :)



Here are some pictures taken throughout the day...

Pictures from Day One

Here we go!

                                                                                       

                                                       Breakfast on plane

                                                       Flying over New Mexicco

                                                               Finally leaving Pheonix!

                                                           Fish pond outside of our resort.