Hawaii part dos

There's no way to sum up Hawaii in just a few pictures, especially if it's your first time. So hold on to your pineapples, folks:

Brady arrived in Hawaii a couple days before me, so we were pretty excited to see each other. As you can see, our love is atomic.

Brady attended a conference for advising international students, which lasted all day from Monday to Friday. We mostly spent our nights on the town, while fine-dining with our personal tour guide. Here we are in Waikiki at twilight.

My first real lei from a real local.

Jenny was so gracious to take me on a personalized tour of the island, which was great because she knew all the places we could skip, too. Our first stop on the island tour was the Dole Plantation. Apparently, they don't even really sell the pineapples from there anymore, but it's pretty to look at--lots of touristy stuff to do.

The authentic Dole Whip, complete with Pine Pete pulling a Shaka--which Mya now eats her cereal from. We're still teaching her how to do Shaka.

Our next stop on the island tour included several beautiful beaches. This is a picture of Waimae Bay. The waves were huge. In fact, the lifeguards would not allow anyone in the water unless they had flippers. Well, and I guess the surfers, but they don't count because they make their own rules.


This is the Pipeline beach, famous for hangin' ten. Like I said, these crazies make their own rules. I especially like the two guys on the left: one is caught under the curl, and the other one looks like he's signaling for help.



Check out the guy inside the pipeline. I'm sure there are plenty of guys that didn't make it out, though.

The Polynesian Cultural Center was impressive, as well. Brady and I loved the final show. We also enjoyed watching the Samoan boy climb a 40 ft tree, grab a coconut, and have his friend open it with his bare hands. We weren't too keen on the food, however. It was not quite the luau I was hoping for.

I'm saving Brady's surfing pictures for another post. Brady did indeed go surfing with Jenny's husband, Jun, and a few of his friends. I'll let him tell you if he got up or not. Don't ask me how, but we managed to take a surfboard in the car to the beach.

Jenny and Jun also took us to Hanauma Bay for a snorkeling adventure. Brady has snorkeled many times before, but it was my first time. After I got the hang of it, I really liked it. We saw some quirky fish and coral, but the water was a little rough that day, so we didn't venture out too far; we preferred not to get slammed into jagged coral.

Our most exotic friends, Jenny and Jun. We love you two.

We caught some gorgeous sunsets in Honolulu. Honestly, they looked fake. Here's Jenny, again looking like an exotic Mexicana. A plumeria flower behind the left ear means you're taken, and behind the right ear means your available. Jenny is taken--by me!

Waikiki at night. I'm obviously taken.

We kept hearing about the swap meet at the University of Hawaii stadium, so Jenny and Jun were kind enough to wander around for hours with us. There was some real hustling going on, both ways, but not by me. I couldn't haggle anyone down, even if my life depended on it. Brady had to keep nudging me to be quiet. What? I didn't get the opportunity to barter in Saudi. I'm so glad Brady knew what he was doing, because he worked his magic. And luckily, Jun, who is Filipino, was able to barter with some of the Filipinos and cut me some sweet deals on magnets. Jenny and I got these hats at a very reasonable rate. I think we got a whole dollar off.

Brady and I were able to spend some time on the North Shore all alone (although we missed you terribly, Jenny.) We tried to stop by Pearl Harbor, but we missed the ferry out to the Arizona by five minutes. We just settled for some pictures from afar.

And so began our trip on the North Shore. There's only one place to stay up there, so it's actually a little more secluded than Waikiki and very relaxing. We had a beautiful view from our hotel room. This view is looking north.

This is the view looking east.

The grounds at Turtle Bay are breathtaking. I think this is where they film Lost. I could be wrong about that, but I know they film it somewhere over there.

This is the actual "Turtle Bay" beach where all of the turtles actually hang out. Sadly, we didn't see one turtle while we were up there.

Another view of Turtle Bay beach.

The only complaint we had was the weather; it rained the first two days we were there, so we only got one good day of partial sun. We were able to snorkel again, go to the beach and sit by the pool. Notice that Brady is reading "Breaking Dawn." He had to borrow Jenny's copy because mine was off limits for the trip to Hawaii. It's signed and I just can't take any chances.

On our last day, we visited the Temple in Laie. What a sight to see. Again, it looks fake, but I assure you, it's real.

We didn't realize it until we were about to leave, but you can actually see the ocean from the temple grounds. This isn't the best picture to see the ocean, but it's the best one we have.

Our flight didn't leave until late at night, so our last day was actually a full one. We had a farewell dinner with Jenny and Jun at one of their favorite restaurants that overlooked the beach, while they tried to convince us to move to Hawaii. (It has most definitely crossed our minds.)

And then we walked around Waikiki to catch one last sunset.

We could not have asked for a better vacation. I loved every minute of it, and so did Brady. We loved it so much, we are hoping to go back very soon. I think some of our favorite things about Hawaii were the sunsets and sunrises. Unbelievable. I know the amount of pictures is getting out of hand at this point, but here are some "fake" but real pictures of the sunrise and sunset:

Sunset on Waikiki beach (it looks like a scene from Baywatch).

Sunrise of Waikiki from our hotel room.

Sunrise at Diamond Head

Sunset on the North Shore.

My handsome hubby during a sunset in Waikiki.

I think these are my favorites. Sunset (with a sailboat--really?) in Waikiki.