Surprise Hawaii....Day 3

Day Three was our Polynesian Cultural Center Day. We woke up early, hoping to hit Pearl Harbor before we headed up there, but they were already sold out of the early tickets. The lady at the counter was really nice, and reserved us tickets for the following morning, so we wouldn't have to do it online and pay the fee. We then had a few hours to kill and so we decided we would hit the Aloha Bowl Fea Market. Ben and I had gone years ago, and I didn't really like it. I really wasn't planning on it this time, but when we passed it, Aubrie begged to stop and so we did. The kids LOVED it. They all found various trinkets to waste their money on. Sophia got a few Hawaiian shirts with cats on them, Aubrie found an "I LOVE Hawaii" shirt, and bought some necklaces for her friends. She is always so thoughtful when it comes to her friends, and she always uses her own money. I bought her a bag to carry her books around between classes, and we also bought Aubrie and Sophia some luggage. They were perfect carry-ons with a Hawaiian print. I have been wanting to get them their own luggage for awhile, and the price couldn't be better. We wont have a problem ever finding their luggage, if we needed to check it, that is. The boys got some sunglasses (so did the girls) Boston got a Hawaiian mask that is now hanging in his bathroom , which goes great with the beach theme he already has in there. Ethan got some type of dragon carving. He always surprises me with things he likes. This time the Flea Market was fun. Funny how kids can do that!

After about an hour there, we headed up towards the North Shore, and made a short stop at the Dole Plantation for lunch and their yummy Pineapple Whips. They have all these pearl oyster booths set up out front, and Aubrie couldn't resist the draw of opening one up. (She takes after my Mom) She spent her own money to open one. Black is the rarest, and she spent a few minutes trying to decide what oyster to pick. (She wanted a Black so bad!) We all gathered around to see what her oyster had hiding in its shell, and low and behold the lady uncovered a BLACK pearl! Ben made a funny joke about it being a Jack Sparrow (Black Pearl, get it? haha). Aubrie was elated that she got black pearl! She called my Mom up right away to tell her all about it!

We then headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We got a SWEET deal on tickets. Ben spoke to one of the workers a few days earlier and she got us the employee discount, which was HUGE! I definitely felt much better about the rest of our expenses after that one was practically obliterated! The kids had a lot of fun there. Their favorite thing was trying to make fire, and the fishing station. Sophia was called up to dance during the Figi show, and after that she started to get a big head, thinking she was the Star of every show. Aubrie is a good sport with Sophia always having the spotlight. In fact, she tries to help her get picked for things now. The boys were on stage at the Samoan Family show, and had to dance on stage with coconut shells. Ben got pulled up to play the drums at the Tonga show. And we all had fun rowing the canoes. We had a lot of fun pictures to choose from at the end of the night! The food this time wasn't the best. In fact, I have to say it was pretty bad. I definitely would not go with the cheaper dinner, but I couldn't really ask for the nicer once since we were getting such a sweet deal. The Prime Rib dinner Ben and I had there last time was much better. The show definitely made up for it. It has been 9 years since I have seen that show, and I didn't start remembering it until half way through. The end of the show included fire, and is AMAZING. The kids LOVED that part. The show ended at 9:00 and we didn't get home till 10:30. Going to the Polynesian Cultural Center takes up a full day. I'm glad we did it when the kids were younger though, because I think it won't be as exciting for them when they are older. Now that's one more thing checked off our list of things to do with the kids! When we got home we were TIRED! We all crashed pretty early, knowing we had to get to Pearl Harbor EARLY the next day!

Dole Plantation for Lunch!

A BLACK PEARL!!!

Time for the Polynesian Cultural Center!

Surprise...HAWAII Day Two

Sleeping-in the first day in Hawaii never works for me. In fact, it's usually not until the 3rd or 4th day that I can sleep in. The girls and I were up by 6 and after laying around for about an hour, we finally got out of bed and got going and got the boys up to start our full day on the island. I wanted to get most of the food stops checked off, so we would have a full day at the end of the week to just hang out at the resort. We started our day at Diamond Head. Ben and I had never done that hike, and decided that would be our first stop before it got to hot. Everyone else had that idea, because when we got there we had to wait 15 minutes for a parking spot. We stocked up on some waters, and then started hiking. The kids started to complain at first, and soon the scenery took their minds off the work. Breath taking views, and hiking up stairs and through tunnels made it a fun hike for all. I also was happy to start my day with perhaps the only exercise I would get for the week!:) We finished our hike with shaved ice from a Shaved Ice Shack at the bottom. Yum!

Diamond Head

We then headed around the southeast shoreline. Right past Hanauma Bay, we stopped at the Halona Blowhole. We hiked down to it, instead of watching it from above. We hiked down to the beach that leads to the blowhole. There was a nice area of sand, if you wanted to make a beach day out of it. You had to walk over rock to get to the blowhole. There were a lot of big black crabs hiding out on the rocks. We were having fun looking for them. At one point we were all standing close to the edge of the rocks checking out the crabs. Suddenly I hear Ben and Aubrie scream and start running backwards. I didn't see the huge wave coming towards us. It soaked us and almost knocked Sophia right out of Ben's hands. Luckily Ben had just put away the video camera! It was a great memory. We then made it over to the blow hole. Right as we leaned over to look down into it, a wave came in and pushed water through it, staying water everywhere. We got that on tape! The kids really enjoyed that stop.

Our next destination was up by the temple. We were ready for lunch and heard the shrimp shacks up there were the best. We stopped at Fumi's, another "Molly suggestion" The shrimp was yummy. I got the spicy shrimp and it was the best. Everyone was eating mine. After lunch at the shrimp shack, which luckily had a hamburger for Ethan, we were headed to Ted's Bakery. They have the best chocolate pie, with a coconut layer. Sophia and Boston refused to eat at the Fumi's Shrimp Shack, so we ordered them some lunch and got a few pieces of pie to all enjoy. All the tables were full, and a gentleman with a little dog invited us to sit with him. Aubrie and I ate our pie while the others waited for their lunch. Then the guys wife and daughter showed up with a whole pie. They said it was cheaper that way, but that they weren't going home so they gave us the rest. So we all got a piece for ourselves. They were locals on Spring Break. How nice of them to not only share their table, but that awesome pie.

After stuffing ourselves, we stopped at Sharks Cove. On the way there we passed a lot of the north shore beaches. All the sudden Boston squeals and says , " EWWWW I just saw one of those butt crack swimsuits!" Glad that grosses him out! Sharks cove was fun for the kids. It a shallow cove where you can find sea life. Aubrie was in HEAVEN! She got her Rocky Point after all:) We spent a little over an hour there. Aubrie found a HUGE starfish. She was going to take it home, but after walking a short distance with it, she realized how bad it was going to stink up the car, and decided to leave it. I'm glad I wasn't the one that had to tell her to leave it! We decided that we would come back again, with snorkel gear another day, because they had so much fun.

A common pass time for Ethan in between stops!

Sophia's cat Accident!

It was getting late, and the kids had been begging to go back and swim, so we ended our day with more shaved ice at Aoki's shaved ice. Everyone raved about Matsumoto's, but Molly swore that Aoki's was just as good and not as crowded. I got mine with ice-cream on the bottom. The ice was perfect and it was all so delish. The BEST I have ever had!! The kids got ice cream instead, and they missed out. Just another reason to go back.

We finally made our way to the hotel. The kids had a blast playing tag in the Lagoon's while Ben and I soaked in the hot tub. New people kept coming in and out of the hot tub that we would strike conversations with. Before we knew it we had been in the hot tub for two hours. I was just so impressed how friendly everyone was. In a nice Resort like that, it was refreshing that people were so down to earth, and not snooty. I can't handle snootiness. Thats why I always resist joining country clubs. After we had completely pruned our bodies, we finally made it back to our villa for more cereal, and some TV. Sophia knocked out right away, and the rest of us watched Cupcake Wars and Extreme Foods (I think that's what it was called). Another great day on Oahu!