Swimming with Green Sea Turtles

Here we are at a reef on the west coast of Oahu. We sat on a wall here with our friends from Texas (I forgot to get a picture of them) and watched the turtles swimming all around. They were beautiful.


We did a little talking to a really nice Hawaiian lady who was watching us watch for turtles. She told us of a place where there were alot of turtles. Some even come out of the water and sit on the beach.



We went to the little hidden cove. There weren't any turtles sitting on the beach, but once we got into the water...WOW! There were turtles all over the place (and some pretty cool fish too.) I just layed there and watched them swim all around. The water got a little murky so I couldn't see very far in front of me, so every few minutes I was startled to see just how close the turtles came up to me. One got so close to Quinn it almost hit him.


We were close enough to touch every turtle we saw, but it is against the law to touch them, so we didn't. It's even against the law to come too close to them, but it's hard to control how close they come to you. They're pretty amazing.



We didn't have a water-proof camera, so we tried to get some good pictures from above. You need to look close. If you click on the picture it will get bigger.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Today we spent the entire day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. What a fantastic place! We learned all about Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand and one other, but I can't remember the name.


We learned how to throw spears!




Quinn and I both won these shell leis in the spear throwing contest!!



We saw two Samoans climb coconut trees. I think their nuts! (literally!) If you click on the picture you can see the two guys in the trees.



These are some of the people who were in our tour group. We really liked the lady in the middle. She was pretty funny.



We had a fantastic Luau dinner. The kaluah pork was the best. I also really liked the purple sweet potato salad, and the purple rolls. We met some really nice people from Texas at dinner. We liked them so much we hung out with them the next day!


After dinner, we went to the Horizons evening show. HOLY COW!!!!! The fire dance was amazing. This guy could hold the flames on his feet!



We started our day at the "PCC" at 12:00 pm and we left after the final show at 9:30. We were exhausted, but it was worth every minute. In fact we could have spent two more days there.

The Dole Plantation

Today we went to the Dole Planation. We rode on the plantation train then went on the garden tour. We really enjoyed ourselves. I think our favorite part was the "starving Koi" Poor little things probably thought the fish food Quinn was throwing them was all they would get to eat for a year!

Sunset Beach & Shark's Cove

Today we went to the beach. First we went to watch the surfers at Sunset Beach. Funny thing about beachs, I can't seem to stay out...even if I still have my clothes on. I was soaked! It was fun though.




After that we decided to change into our suits in the car, then we headed south about a quarter of a mile to Shark's Cove for a little snorkeling. As Rex would say... it was AWE-SOME!! We saw "Gil" from Finding Nemo and a few spotted puffer fish and about 100 others. It was fantastic.




After that we went to watch the sunset at Sunset Beach. While we were there we were approached by a very friendly black lab with a VERY slobbery tennis ball. I threw it for him once and he ran after it. Once he got the ball he took it to some other peopleon the beach. He did this over and over until he was out of sight. He came back once and tried to get Quinn to play, but the poor dog was out of luck. Who knows who's dog he was. It was pretty fun. He reminded me of the Lang's dog Reilly.

Wall of Flowers?

I just about died when I saw all of the floral prints at Wal-Mart. This was only one row...there were two others!

Pearl Harbor - USS Bowfin & USS Missouri

While we were at Pearl Harbor we also visited the Submarine USS Bowfin and the Battleship USS Missouri. I can't believe the size of these vessels. The USS Bowfin was commissioned on December 7, 1942, exactly 1 year after Pearl Harbor was attacked. The submarine was dubbed the "Pearl Harbor Avenger." It went on 9 missions and had 41 kills. It never suffered any serious damage, no one ever died, and they only ever had 1 injury (someones leg.) I thought it's "stats" were pretty cool.


Next we toured the USS Missouri, the battleship where Japan surrendered, ending WWII in the Pacific. We walked 1 1/2 miles touring the ship. It is HUGE! I can't believe the size of the cannons.


This is one of the beds where the enlisted personnel sleep. There are 3 bunks, I am in the middle one. There's not too much room to turn over. I wonder how they decide who gets the top bunk. I also wonder which bunk is the best...


It makes it easier to understand why the Arizona sunk so fast when you learn how much ammunition it takes to fire these cannons. When the Arizona was bombed, all of the ammunition in the forward magazine exploded. It tore the ship apart and killed everyone. The USS Missouri is moored in a way so that it watches over it's sister ship, the USS Arizona in her final resting place.

Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona

Today we decided to visit Pearl Harbor. I can't think of any other way to describe it other than reverent and serene. It reminded me of the feelings I have at Liberty and Carthage Jail. What is really inspiring it that the memorial was designed to focus on serenity and introspect rather than sadness. It was amazing, I can't believe I was finally able to come.




This is the second gun turret of the USS Arizona. I couldn't believe how much of the ship you can see. A silhouette of the entire ship is visible from the air.

The BEST Surprise EVER!!!

My awesome children gave me THE BEST surprise. They sent me to Hawaii! I thought I was going to go to work with Quinn in California, but right before I left for the airport, Rex gave me a hug and said "Have a great time in Hawaii!" I was sooo surprised! It turns out Quinn had this planned out for months and the kids NEVER breathed a word of it. They are amazing.