Final Hawaii Post

Hooray! This is the last Hawaii post. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE looking at the pictures and remembering the fun trip. But I hate being behind, so hopefully I will be able to catch up and stay caught up. Don't hold your breath :) So...On Friday we woke up and headed to the east side of the island  to Chinaman's Hat. We'd seen it on our way up to the PCC on Monday, but we didn't stop to take pictures. So we propped the camera on a nearby picnic table and had ourselves a short photo shoot.

From there we headed to the Laie Temple. We thought it would be a great idea to do a sealing session since we haven't done that since our sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a great experience. We met another couple that lives on another island, but comes to the temple when their on Oahu running errands and such. It made me appreciate living in Utah where I can drive to 4 temples in a half hours time! We truly are blessed.

After the temple, we went on a wild goose chase for fish from a street vendor. My parents went to Hawaii 2 years ago and my mom raves about this delicious fish she had from a roadside stand. She said it looked like there was writing all over the outside of the shack. She remembered it was by the library but other than that, we were on our own to find the vendor. We drove up and down the road by the library. All we found was Giovanni's. They didn't have any fish, but their garlic shrimp was tasty and my stomach didn't complain at all. I suggest you try it out if you're on the North Shore!

From there we went to several beaches along the North Shore. We were hoping to see lots of surfers, but all we got was a surf class :( Still fun to see those beaches.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. I caught the wave just as it was about to wash away the date.

From there we headed to the Dole Plantation for PINEAPPLE ICE CREAM! I was so excited to have pineapple ice cream. I had a bite of some in Disneyland a few years back and remembered how yummy it was, so I was stoked. My taste buds were NOT disappointed. I was however sad to find that the slice of pineapple in my ice cream was the crunchy core that not very many people eat. I thought it was going to be a nice fresh piece of pineapple :( I found out Daniel eats that part and quite enjoys it-news to me! After ice cream heaven, we walked around. We found the Koi fish pond. Luckily there were some kids throwing food into the pond, causing the fish to seriously swim on top of each other out of the water to get the food! It was very entertaining.

From there we took my cousin Matt and his wife Chelsea to dinner. After dinner we walked to the Hilton hotel for fireworks on the beach. That was something new I'd never done before. One year I saw fireworks on the Charles River in Boston while listening to the Boston Pops. Seeing fireworks over water is pretty cool. So seeing these fireworks was a fun experience too.

Saturday morning, our last day in Hawaii (sniff sniff), we hiked through a tropical rainforest to Manoa falls.  The trees were so big, beautiful and green. I felt like I was walking on the set of Avatar! And the waterfall was pretty cool too. :)

After the waterfall we went to Sandy Beach. On our way we stopped at a blow hole. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty lame. Hardly any spray came out! Sad

At Sandy Beach we were able to watch a surf competition. The first surfer was fun to watch, but I found myself watching the boogie boarders more. The boogie boarders were doing lots of cool tricks with the waves. Heck, I enjoyed just watching them run to the water and skim on top with their boards. We even saw a little one get placed on a board with his dad and then they were off! I was shocked, but that little one knew exactly what to do!

I love that with this picture you can see people in the wave, caught in the water. It was a fun way to spend our last day.  Wow! What a trip!