HAWAII!!!

Last week Ben and I went to Hawaii! He had to go for work, but only had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I went along and we stayed the whole week. It was great! Our most relaxing vacation ever. You're probably wondering how we could have a relaxing vacation with two toddlers. Well, the reason it was so relaxing was that Paige and Virginia spent the week with their Mimi and Pops!

Ben and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon 6 years ago and stayed at the same hotel we stayed in on this trip. We did a lot of the touristy stuff on our honeymoon, so we decided this time we were going to skip the touristy stuff for the most part. The only really touristy thing we did was to hike to the top of Diamond Head Crater. We did that on Monday. We took the bus from our hotel to Diamond Head and walked up from there. It was a bit of a strenuous hike, but the view from the top made it totally worth all the sweat.

Lizard we saw outside our hotel while waiting for the bus

We're here and ready to hike, but really have no idea what we're in for.

The view from the top.
This is looking inland towards the mountains that are shrouded in clouds.

The view from the top again.
Looking pretty much straight down at the shore, check out the HUGE houses down there.

View from the top.
Looking back down Waikiki Beach towards Honolulu.

We made it!
Ben and I at the top of Diamond Head Crater.

One of the Macaws at our hotel.

Monday night we had dinner at "Mariposa" which is a wonderful restaurant in Neiman Marcus. Ben says it was one of the best meals he's ever eaten. And it was definitely the best view I've ever had at a dinner table. Unfortunately, we forgot to take the camera with us. I tried taking pictures with my phone, but they didn't turn out well at all. Oh well.

On Tuesday I ventured out on my own. I walked down Waikiki Beach just to check things out. Before we left home I had thought maybe I'd go to the Waikiki Aquarium, but had kind of decided against it. I wanted to check out an open air market someone had told me about, and figured I'd just wander from there. So I headed towards the market, found a coffee shop for breakfast and then went to the market. It was awful! The market, that is. As Tracee (who told me about it) described it later, it's like an open air Wal-Mart. I was there for about 10 minutes- long enough to buy stamps to mail postcards- and then headed further down Waikiki.

I got to Kuhio Beach Park, where I saw the famous statue of Duke Kahanamoku, the "father of modern surfing."

Another statue in Kuhio Beach Park, this one of a surfer and a seal.

The Waikiki Aquarium
Trust me, it's much better on the inside than it looks on the outside.

Clown fish among the anemones

Lots of fish at the aquarium

A seahorse hanging on to the coral

Diamond Head as seen from outside the aquarium

The beach at Kuhio Beach Park

Tuesday night we went out to dinner with our friend, Tracee, who lives in Hawaii and Ben's coworker, Michelle, who was out there to teach with him. It was Michelle's birthday, so we went to a great restaurant called, Roys. It was wonderful! Everything about it- the food, the chocolate souffle and the company. We hadn't seen Tracee in a long time, so it was really nice to get to spend some time with her.

Wednesday I walked around Waikiki some and then went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool. Nothing too exciting. Wednesday night we went to a restaurant we had seen on "Man v. Food" on the Travel Channel. It was called Mac 24-7. It was good, but not quite what we imagined after seeing it on the show.

One of the turtles that live with the penguins at our hotel

Penguins at our hotel

The view from our lanai

More of the view from our lanai

And another view from our lanai

Palm trees blowing in the wind

Thursday we did a whole lot of nothing. We spent about 6 hours by the pool at our hotel. I got a little too much sun on my chest and my thighs, but other than that it was wonderful. So nice to just relax and lay in the sun, read and play in the pool. We ate lunch at a restaurant by the pool and then went right back to our chairs at the pool. That evening we went and did a little shopping and had dinner at a burger place.

Friday was much like Thursday. Another 6 hours by the pool. We had lunch at a different restaurant near the pool and then went out to a nice dinner that night.

The view from our lunch table on Friday

The view from our table at dinner Friday night

Waikiki Sunset

At the end of our dinner they brought out a chocolate Diamond Head with two truffles in it. They put the plate with Diamond Head on it on top of a bowl that must have dry ice in it. They pour water in the bowl right before they bring it over to you, so that steam is coming out from under Diamond Head. It was really cool.

Flamingos at our hotel

The view from the hotel lobby

Lilies in one of the koi ponds at our hotel

When we got home Sunday morning this is what we saw on the wall leading up the stairs in our house. Paige and Virginia had fun doing "art" with their Mimi and the three of them made this for us. We loved it!

A closer up shot of the sign

After napping for a few hours at home we headed over to Ben's parents' house to get our girls. We were so excited to see them- and they were pretty happy to see us. It's so great to all be back together again! But Ben and I really enjoyed out vacation. And the girls had fun with Mimi and Pops!