Hawaii Island 3 - Oahu

April 8 - April 9, 2005

Our last island on our trip was Oahu. Our stay in the state capital of Honolulu was the shortest of the trip. The day we arrived we decided to focus all our attention of the Polynesian Cultural Center. We got to watch natives in each village demonstrate crafts and skills such as creating clothing from bark, stories through dance, baskets with leaves, and fire by rubbing sticks and using a coconut to kindle the fire. We took part in some of the live demonstrations for the islands of Hawai'i, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Marquesas, Tahiti, and Tonga. In the New Zealand village the boys and I got a tattoo. In Marquesas, Rebecca and I got to dance with the queen, which earned us a beautiful headpiece made of braided leaves and flowers.




At the end of the evening we went to the Horizons: Where the Sea Meets the Sky show. A cast of over 100 young Polynesians preformed with amazing enthusiasm, grace, endurance and beauty. Also included in that show was a man from the island of Samoa. He did some inconceivable things with fire. He balanced open flames on his bare feet. He even took a stick that only had one end on fire, lit his tongue on fire with the one end, and used that flame to light the other end of the stick on fire. It was pretty amazing.

On our final day in Hawaii, we had breakfast and walked along Waikiki Beach. Our last stop before the airport was the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Because we had to catch our flight, we didn't get to actually go out to the memorial site on the water. However, we had a small glimpse of what that day was like and how it changed history forever.

Hawaii Island 2 - The Big Island

April 5 - April 8, 2005 One the Big Island, our destination was the Waikoloa Village. This place was like nothing I have ever seen before. Everything you needed was there. This place was so big that you had the choice of taking the train or the boat to get to your room tower. There were two huge pools that we made a point to visit as much as possible. Also with in the grounds was a salt water lagoon that was the home of many endangered sea turtles. The boys had the opportuity to swim with the dolphins but my favorite part of all (besides sleeping outside on the balcony) was the great number of hammocks hanging throughout the grounds. It was very important that each evening I made a effort to find one so that I could have the best view of the sunset.

Hawaii Island 1 - Maui

March 31 - April 5, 2005
My trip to Hawaii with the Dewey's was fantastic. Hawaii has always been on the top of my list of places to go. Our first stop was Maui. I could not have asked for a more wonderful place to begin my Hawaiian experience; the warm tropical breeze, the beautiful suroundings, and the amazing number of rainbows that we saw each day.







The Plumeria was my favorite flower in Hawaii. There was a plumeria tree next to our condo in Kahana.
Because we didn't receive a lei when we arrived, I took it upon myself to collect flowers and make my own.








The majority of our time on Maui was spent on the Beach. Black Rock was the beach that we visited the most. Snorkeling and swimming became an everyday activity. There were so many different types of fish at Black Rock. I sighted everything from blowfish to needle nose to angle fish. I was even fortunate enough to see a sea turtle resting at the bottom of the reef.




The Banyan tree was a wonderful attraction in the near by town of Lahaina. This magnificent tree has 12 major trunks of varying sizes, besides the huge core of central trunks. The boys and I had great fun swinging from branch to branch using the various vines hanging down. Not until after all of our fun did we see the sign that said no climbing or swing on the trees.




While on Maui, we also got the opportunity to visit an acquaintance of John's who lived on the island. His house was amazing! It had a beautiful view of the ocean and a cave in the cliff side along their beach. I definitely didn't want to leave Maui the next day after experiencing a place like that. But alas, the sun was setting on our time in Maui and we had to move on to the Big Island.

Another highlight of Maui was the day that we went to the Four Seasons hotel in Wailea to visit the Wilson family. Their son Sean was in David's class at school. While we were enjoying our time by the pool, we just happened to walk past Govenor Schwarzenegger. This was the second time in the past year that I had seen him. What are the odds of that happening?