Kyle and I were lucky enough to get to travel with the softball team to HAWAII!! At first we thought that Kyle was going to be going without me because the team was originally renting houses and they did not have space for me...but their plans changed and Kyle would have his own hotel room! So all we had to pay for was my plane ticket...and we figured when would we ever get to go to Hawaii for that cheep?! So immediately I called my Uncle Tom (who lived in Hawaii for many years). He was AMAZING! He gave us all sorts of advice and set up a wonderful evening on the town (more to come) and had his friends watching out for us once we got there. (I had 4 different people call just to check up on us!)
So we started out on a bus leaving Cedar at about 2:00 a.m.!! (Please note that I went to bed at like 11 the night before because I was so excited I couldn't sleep!) I wasn't able to sleep on the bus sadly enough...and when we reached CA our flight had a 5 hour delay!! So we got there much later than we thought. I have come to conclude that I don't like traveling much. I love the excitement before and the fun once you get there but not the process in between!
Fun things we did: The first night Kyle and I just wandered around Waikiki, we found a good Korean restaurant and people watched.
We visited the Zoo after a long walk down the beach...the best part was the apes and the hippos!
We watched a lot of softball...I didn't think that I would go to so many of the games but I felt like I needed to support the girls.
I did take one day off from the games and did nothing but lay on the beach! I LOVED IT! I took a Mary Higgins Clark book (which I finished), played in the ocean, napped a bit and people watched. The only bad thing about me going to the beach by myself was that I couldn't quite reach all of my back to put sunscreen on, so I ended up with a bright red sunburn on my back!! It really hurt...but I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask a stranger. Kyle said I should have found myself a cute beach boy...
We took a night-time stroll along the beach... I got in a fight with the ocean (again) and got pretty wet. We then stopped at cheesecake factory to get a slice to go.
Uncle Tom surprised us with dinner at the Pacific Club. We got all gussied up and headed to the club...they were expecting us and gave us the royal treatment because of Uncle Tom! The food was DELICIOUS! I had fresh mahi-mahi, caught that morning, with mushrooms, beans and a pastry. Kyle had steak. I am hungry just remembering it. And then Jimmy made us banana fosters...and did the whole light them on fire right next to our table! They were so good. I really wanted to take more pictures of the club, but didn't feel it was appropriate. Thankfully Jimmy brought out his camera and asked for a picture...I then felt like it was ok to ask him to take a few of us.
We visited Hanauma bay on our last day there and went to the beach and snorkeling...Kyle finally had a day off and we had a car! Snorkeling was so much fun! It was so beautiful! Kyle had a little malfunction with his snorkel but after that we were good to go! It was funny trying to signal each other to see something cool...
We visited Pearl Harbor...
I shopped a bit at the swap meet, (so much stuff there for so cheep!) and took a drive to north shore.
All-in-all it was a great trip! We now know that you have to have a car when you go, and Kyle wanted more time to play. We are planning to go back for our 10 year anniversary so we get to see the things that we didn't get to this time (like the temple and the PCC). Everytime the weather gets cold Kyle says that he just wants to live in Hawaii...I keep telling him sure, but we would have to live in a tent on the beach because that is all we can afford! :)
