Aloha

Here are the pictures of our trip to Hawaii. We had a great time with Brandt and Amy, Austin, Cameron and Daniel. It was great to see them and be with them. We have had several people ask us what we liked best about our trip. Far and above anything else was just being with our family. I wish I could show all of my pictures, but this blog just isn't big enough, so I just picked out the ones that I liked the best. Hope you enjoy the pictures. These first two pictures are from our jet. We were flying at about 36,000 feet. What looks like snow is really the clouds beneath us. Pretty awesome, huh?

This is the island of O'hau as we are approaching it.

Here is Diamond head from the air.

We toured around the island and had a good time. (the pictures below are not in order of what we did this day) We went to see a waterfalls-at Waimea Valley. Walked all over the place and saw some beautiful flora and fauna. Daniel was such a character, just so independent. By the time we got up to the falls and back down the boys were just exhausted. We drove up to North Shore where the surfers go (there weren't any there because it was a Monday). We took pictures of Turtle Island. Went to McDonalds for a late lunch. We then went to the Pearl Harbor memorial. We made it there just in time to catch the last showing and the last boat trip to the USS Arizona memorial. That was a really neat place and it makes one feel humbled to realize how many people lost their lives that Dec. 7, 1942. Over 2,000 people lost their lives that day. We had a good time however we did have a tragedy. We were getting back onto the boat that was going to take us back to shore and we were finding our seats. Cameron was the first one there and sat down on the bench. We were right next to the opening that we got on at. He had on a pair of Spiderman clogs and he started to swing his feet. Well lo and behold one of his shoes flew off of his foot and went right into the ocean. Cameron was shocked and really upset. You would have thought he had lost his very best friend. He just sobbed and sobbed and when we thought he was doing okay, he started sobbing again. Poor little guy. We were just grateful that it wasn't Cameron that went through that opening.
We went to the Naval Base at Honolulu and there was a big tower that we saw. It is called the Freedom tower. It actually was built to be a 500,000 gallon water tower. It is one of the few things that made it through the Pearl Harbor attack.

These first pictures are at North Shore. North Shore is where they

hold a lot of the national surfing competitions. The waves can

get up to 15-20 feet high. However, they weren't that high

when we were there

It was raining on us

I thought this was kind of cool.

Austin found a sand crab. They run really fast.

Cameron has a sand crab on his finger

These next pictures are our trip at the falls in Waimea Valley.

I just loved the flora and fauna that we saw on our hike

to the Waihi falls

Standing in front of the sacred site of Hale o Lono Heiau

This sign tells about the site

As we were walking we saw this beautiful peacock who was

trying to impress the little peahen. He would bring his feathers

forward and prance around and his feathers would make this

whoosing sound. It was pretty cool.

This is the back side of the peacock. Thought it was quite

pretty too.

Some of these lily pads were huge and the flowers were pretty

This was such a unique plant. It is like an ivy growing

in the shape of a big butterfly

Look at all the roots or whatever growing from

this tree.

Here we are at the falls.

The water is 30 feet deep

Austin swam out to the falls. He said it was very cold

We were told that this is a Brazilian Cardinal

Cameron posed so cute for this picture

This is a Banyan tree. They are just awesome. They

have these extensions that grow down from the branches

and look like they plant themselves into the ground. And

they get huge around. It is said that the lost spirits stay

in the Banyan trees

The road going up to the Hawaiin temple. It is closed for

the next 18 months for renovation.

These next pictures are of some of the countryside. It looks kind

of hazy, but no, it is mist and rain

Riding in the car

Notice the pencil. Yes Cameron still loves his pencils.

Here we are heading out to the USS Arizona Memorial.

Part of the ship

This is the wall that has everyone's name on it that died. There

were over 2,000 military people that died on Dec 7, 1941. Quite

a sobering time.

This is a ship that was docked not too far away. It was pretty

big.

The little craft that we rode to and from the memorial

This was the opening that Cameron lost his shoe from. We

were just grateful it was Cameron's shoe and not him that went overboard.

These Bird of Paradise were on the walkway from the boat.

I thought they were quite interesting.

Here is Cameron trying to deal with losing his shoe overboard

This is the Freedom Tower

Cameron climbing a tree

The front of Brandt and Amy's home.

We went to Brandt's work and here is the C130. Andre will

probably be flying one like this. We couldn't take any pictures

inside the craft, but I am glad I'm not having to learn all the

controls and switches that are in one of these planes.

It was very interesting to go inside the plane and see what goes on

during a rescue.

Wednesday we planned on going up to Diamond Head. We weren't sure if we were going to make it because when we woke up it was pouring. (not a shock because it has rained a lot this week). However, when we got over to Diamond Head it wasn't raining at all so we were really glad that we were able to take the hike. There was a nice cool breeze so we didn't even have to worry about being too hot. Diamond Head is a volcano and you hike up to the top of it and there is a bunker that was used during WWII. You can see the whole valley from Honolulu to Waikiki and the ocean as far as you can see. The pictures I took do look foggy, but it is the mist that is in the air from the rain. There was a lot of that in a lot of my pictures. Anyway the hike to Diamond Head has over 200 steps that you climb. It isn't an easy climb and we were just happy to make it. It's amazing how many people were going up and coming down. Quite a busy spot for us tourists.

A tunnel you have to go through to get to another set of stairs

When we thought we were done with the stairs, then there

is a spiral staircase you have to go up. Not bad going up, but

sure can make one dizzy going down.

The view from the bunker

At the end of our journey--and it is also the beginning

Daniel playing with Akeera, their American Bulldog.
We went to the playground that is on base. The kids needed

some run around time after being cooped up in the car all day.

Daniel just wandered and Brandt followed him where ever

he went. They went all around the buildings and I am guessing

Daniel had more fun than Brandt.

Cameron fell asleep at the top of the stairs. He was waiting

for his mom to come to bed and fell asleep.

We were heading out again. Notice Cameron has his pencil

again.

Went to the docks and saw a Coast Guard Cutter. They are

pretty big boats/ships, whatever. There is a crane on the boat

and I guess they can lift out other boats or parts as they

are rescuing them.

These yellow things here are what they load the big barges

with. They lift the crates up in the air and then lower them

back down onto the barge. They were pretty big. Here is a barge that has been loaded with some of the crates.

These next pictures were taken in a park in downtown Waikiki.

These next photos are of a huge Banyan tree. It had tendrils

hanging down and Cameron could swing on them. Just like in

the Tarzan movies.

This is a picture of the Stairway to Heaven. Notice the trail

going up/or down the middle of the mountain. Well those are

stairs and you climb the stairs all the way to the top. We didn't

get a chance to do that, but I thought that was pretty unique and

had to have a picture of it.

These next pictures are of some of the cliffs and the blow

hole. They were gorgeous cliffs.

Water spouting out of the blow hole

These two pictures are of Turtle Island. It looks like a big

turtle out there.

Just another picture of the island. We didn't realize that there

were so many mountains here, but there are, not just hills.The Dole Plantation

This is the beginning of a pineapple. I think it is probably the

Cayenne. They plant about 20,000 plants per acre and they are

all planted by hand. Also harvested by hand. A lot of the

plants have spines that go down the stems and they are really

sharp and pokey. One plant will harvest about 2 maybe three

pineapple. The first pineapple takes about 18-20 months to

grow, then the other one takes about 15-18 months. They

plant year round so that they can provide pineapples continually.

A my got a little monkey harness for Daniel so he could walk

and not run away from us and get lost. He actually didn't mind

it too much, because he knew he could get down and do his own

thing.

Cameron loves to climb the trees. Can you tell?

We saw several of these trees in different locations while we were there.

Don't know what kind it is, but I overheard someone say they thought it was

in the same family as the Eucalyptus tree. Don't know that, but the

multi-colored trunk is very interesting.

These fish are called Coy. They look like huge gold fish. They just hang

around the edge here because they are waiting to be fed.

Here is Daniel jumping or rather running on the trampoline. He loves

the trampoline.

We were so grateful that we got to go see our kids and we were

grateful to them that they took the time to show us these sites.

The Lord has definitely created a beautiful world for us to see.

We had a wonderful time and hope that we can go back again to

see more sites and especially to see our kids. The next time

we go, Toni and Andre and the girls will be there too.