Thursday, September 29, 2011

Hawaii Interesting Photos

I took a million pictures while we were in Hawaii! I tried to be semi selective on which photos to use while blogging so that my posts wouldn't be TOO LONG!  So this post is just some pictures of things that I liked or found interesting....

banyan trees - I'd never seen one before. They're really cool. The roots grow down from the branches & back into the ground. This is a really big one in the park beside the zoo.

lifeguard rescue on the beach

I really like the roof on this church!

ABC Stores - Our bus driver told us the locals call them "All Blocks Covered" because there is LITERALLY one (or 2 or 3) on EVERY block in Waikiki!


The Duke Kahanamoku Statue - He was a famous Hawaiian surfer.



a bumper sticker

at least he's honest, right!?!

These are the leaves on a plant at Pearl Harbor. I think the leaves look like octopus tentacles.

another plant at Pearl Harbor that was growing in the water


Hyatt employees were picketing the whole time we were there.



KeiKi - the Hawaiian word for baby


drawn with sidewalk chalk





They have yellow fire trucks in Hawaii!



The Bus



This wave is made of jeans.


Obama is apparently from Hawaii (I didn't know this before our trip.)



Really!!!!!!! (& NO, I didn't buy any!)
(Spam is a big thing in Hawaii! It's on a lot of the menus & you can even buy a spam ball which is a ball of white rice with spam on top! Uhh, gross!)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Hawaii - Day 6 (Saturday 9/17)

Saturday was our last day in Hawaii :( We had a really great trip but we were also ready to get home & see our kids!

We started the day by walking on the beach.

We saw a double rainbow.


We walked to a farmer's market at the local community college.



We ate an apple banana. (Yummy Yummy yummy!)

We looked at all the beautiful flowers.

 Then we walked back to the Queens Surf Cafe & Lanai (one of our favorite little restaurants in Waikiki) for breakfast. Nick had this Hawaiian speciality, Loco Moco. It's rice, a salsibury steak & brown gravy topped with a fried egg. Pretty tasty!


While eating we saw our 2nd double rainbow of the day!


And then we checked out of our hotel & walked around sightseeing until it was time to head to the airport. Here are a few of the things we saw:

A daddy & daughter going for a paddle

an art sale on the fence at the zoo

 & an exercise class on the beach

Then it was time to go home! We made it to the airport, boarded the plane, flew all night & made it safely into Houston around 8:30am on Sunday. 

This was the perfect way to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! We had such a wonderful time & now plan to go somewhere every year!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hawaii - Day 5 (Friday 9/16)

On Friday, we went back to Eggs N Things for breakfast. Once again, it was delicious! Nick stuck with the spinach omelet & I got fresh banana crepes! (To die for!!!) Make sure you try this place next time you're in Honolulu!


After breakfast, we went to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve to go snorkeling. This place is beautiful!

Nick & I both had a great time, BUT it was the first time for both of us to go snorkeling. The pressure quickly gave Nick a headache. And then once Nick went back to the beach, I got a little scared! Not of drowning, but of what was actually in the coral reef. I kept expecting an eel to jump out & bite me! So needless to say, we didn't snorkel for TOO long! It was a great experience & I loved seeing all the fish (even though I didn't see a sea turtle & I really wanted to) & I will definitley do it again one day!





I bought an underwater camera to get some pictures of the fish.
Here's the biggest fish I saw! (Oh wait, that's Nick, lol!)



I love this fish right here! It's the Hawaii state fish & its name is the Humuhumunukunukuapua`a or the trigger fish. I saw so many of these! They will swim right up to you!


I'm looking a little rough after snorkeling!

After snorkeling & relaxing a little bit, we decided to go for a hike in the mountains to see the Moana Falls waterfall. The park where the waterfall is at was only about 5 miles from our hotel; a little too far to walk & 50 minutes by bus! So guess what, we took a cab again, EEK!!! But it only cost us about $25 this time. Still a lot, but much cheaper than the last cab ride & the hike was free so we decided that it all balanced out! Lol! 

We had heard that there was a restaurant at the beginning of the trail so we decided that we would eat lunch before starting up. The restaurant was a chinese buffet called The Treetop Cafe. The food was just okay but the scenery was great. We sat outside & were literally sitting among the treetops!


our view at the Treetop Cafe

Then it was time to get hiking! Nick kept calling me Robin the Explorer because I was leading the way & wearing the backpack(even though mine didn't talk & sing.)


Look at the size of this leaf next to Nick's size 10 foot!


Seeing this waterfall was worth the hike!

This sign stopped me from going any further.

Oh wait, No it didn't!


These pictures don't match up exactly, but you should get the idea!

There were 2 hiking clubs of kids probably ages 10 to 12 that we saw on the mountain. After they got to the waterfall, they kept on going up. I told Nick if they could go higher, we could too! So we did!
We hiked up the trail for another 30 minutes or so, BUT we didn't have a map, or really even know where we were going, so we ended up turning around. (Good call Nick, if it had been up to me, we'd probably still be lost on that mountain right now!)





When we got back to the bottom we treated ourselves with another yummy hawaiian shaved ice & called a cab to take us back to our hotel.

We walked along the beach at sunset on the way to dinner.


One of the people at the hotel desk suggested we have dinner at a restaurant called House Without a Key. This restaurant gets a thumbs down!! The food was way overpriced & not very good. The restaurant had an old person's feel to it (no offense anyone, lol) & most importantly, we missed the Friday night fireworks (and we were told we would be able to see them from this restaurant.) But they did have a Hawaiian band and a hula dancer. So I guess that's a + for them. (If you ever find yourself in Honolulu, I suggest you skip this restaurant!)