A Day in the Life

Hello from Oahu, Hawaii! We have taken some time tonight to update you on our trip to Hawaii so far. It will be too big of a task to do the whole trip in one post, so I’m breaking it up. Plus it will add to the suspense for all of you.

Day One: The flights (yes, we had a connection in Salt Lake City) went great! We got the bulkhead on both flights, so Adelyn had some space to roam around and play on the floor. BIG lifesaver. Considering she only slept 30-40 minutes at a time, 3 times that day. We were traveling for almost 9 hours, so it was nice to have the extra space. We even got to watch a couple movies, she was so good on the flights. When we got to Hawaii, we picked up our car and headed to the Dole Plantation. Because Zac is working Monday through Friday, we wanted to cram in everything that he wanted to do on the weekends. So as exhausted as we all were, we headed 20 minutes out of town to learn about how pineapples grow, and taste the yummy pineapple ice cream that we had heard so much about. We took the Pineapple Express train around the plantation, and Adelyn stayed awake for all of this! She thinks she is such a big girl!

After the Plantation, it was back to the hotel and off to bed. Adelyn went to bed about 6pm, and slept until 6am! So much for adapting to a 5 hour time difference. Once again, we are counting our blessings for this!

Day Two: We visited a local ward and went to church, then took a long drive up to Laie. We drove around BYU-H (we both so wish we had gone there for a semester or term), went to the temple visitor’s center, and drove up to the North Shore to try and find some surfers to watch. We didn’t spend much time up there, because traffic was crazy, and we really didn’t see any surfers, so back down to Honolulu we go. Oh, and we met Mark Eubanks on the temple grounds. He was the chief meteorologist in Salt Lake City, who had the white jacket that he wore on the broadcasts that called for snow. He now runs the visitors center with his wife. We wanted to get his autograph, but thought that was maybe a little inappropriate on the temple grounds. Back in Honolulu, we went to the Waikiki Aquarium. Wouldn’t you think that an aquarium right on the ocean would have the most awesome exhibits? We thought so too. Not so much.

Day Three: We all got up early and went to the beach! It was a nice, cool morning, and we walked about 10 minutes to the beach in front of the big Hilton Hawaiian Village (it’s not a hotel, it’s a village. Seriously, there are like 9 huge buildings in this place). These are Adelyn’s reactions to the beach:

Okay, so she doesn’t like the beach. Yet. Hopefully this will change. After Zac had to go to work, my aunt picked me up and we went up to Laie, where she and her kids are staying for the week (crazy that they just happened to be here this week too!) and we hung out on the beach up there for the afternoon. Zac came up after work and we had dinner from the Shrimp Shack (which I’d heard or read was so great, but I thought it was just okay). It was so fun to have Aunt Karen and her kids to hang out with for the day. I was afraid of being bored while Zac was at work this week, but we have found stuff to do!

Day Four: Okay, this is taking forever, because the internet connection at the hotel is SO SLOW, so I’m gonna do the rest of this in bullet format.

• Ala Moana Shopping Center in the morning with Adelyn. HUGE mall, where we sampled some See’s Candy and some Honolulu Cookie Company cookies. Both were delish.
• Iolani Palace: Would have been better if I could have seen the whole thing. Children under 5 are not allowed in the upper rooms (ballrooms, bedrooms, meeting rooms) of the palace, but I at least got to see the basement galleries and an informational 15 minute video. This is the only royal palace on American soil!!
• Ono’s Hawaiian food – we got this recommendation from a coworker of Zac’s. It was pretty good, but I guess I’m not the hugest fan of authentic Hawaiian cuisine, because I didn’t love it.
• Leonard’s. Malasadas. Wow. Please visit this place if you are in Honolulu in the near future. Malasadas are Portuguese donuts, and they are SUPER good. This was my favorite treat so far. We got a custard filled, coconut filled, chocolate filled, and plain cinnamon. Custard was the best.

Day Five:

• Lunch with Joy and Cassidy at unnamed Korean BBQ place: food was actually pretty darn good. I even tried a piece of kim chi. Joy said to eat it with some rice and chicken, and it wasn’t bad at all. Joy was my freshman roommate at BYU, and is from Honolulu. She and her husband are here for an internship this summer. I’m so glad she took me out today!
• Diamondhead Hike with Joy: It was a hot day, but we made it to the top without too much pain, and even carrying Adelyn! Thanks Ashley, the ergo was a serious lifesaver! I owe you one. The view from the top was so pretty. You pretty much get a 360 degree view of the whole corner of the island. Beaches, mountains, tall high-rise hotels, neighborhoods, etc. It was beautiful.
• Wailua’s Shave Ice: Joy recommended this place, and I liked it a lot. I’m not a huge shaved ice person, but this was shaved so finely that it didn’t feel like chomping on flavored ice, like it normally does to me.
• Aloha Tower Marketplace with Zac after work: I was expecting lots of fun shops and restaurants. It is right on the harbor and has a little tower you can take an elevator up 10 stories and look around. The view was great, but the shops left much to be desired. There really wasn’t much there.

Well, that’s it for now. We’ll see you for days 6-10 when we get home!