Diamond Head Crater

I decided that it would be a fun activity to climb the Diamond Head crater.  It was beautiful view from the top but boy did you have to earn it.  It was a steep hike and I think we climbed what felt like a million stairs but we made it to the top and did it in pretty good time.  Looking out from the top gave you an amazing postcard view of the city and the southern coastline. It was gorgeous.  We enjoyed the cool breeze at the top, took a few pictures and headed back down.

 View from the top of the southern coastline.

 View of Waikiki.

 By the time we were finished with our hike it was time for lunch. We ventured our way into a new town and found a little crepe place.  We had a delicious breakfast crepe.  This was one of my favorite places that we ate at.

Seeing chickens run wild on the streets took some getting used to.  It was an odd site for the first couple of days but then I started to get used to it.  I was just glad we didn't run any over.

Waikiki Beach

I have to say sitting on the beach in Waikiki was one of my favorite parts of our trip.  It was so relaxing to just sit in the sand, hear the ocean waves, soak up the sun and enjoy the amazing view. We did walk out into the ocean on a sand bar for a bit was was fun. The water was exactly what you would imagine ocean water in Hawaii to be...warm, crystal clear yet beautiful shades of blue. The sand in Waikiki was perfectly groomed classic white sand. So fun!!

After the beach we went into town for lunch and found this little place.  Nice name, huh!? It's a little women's boutique with super cute clothes and accessories. 

North Shore

I was amazed at how different the north shore was from the other coast lines.  It was a quiet more remote quaint part of the island - I really liked it.

The sun set was beautiful and the waves were fairly calm which made for a peaceful setting.

 We stopped by the Oahu temple which is up by BYU on the north shore.  The temple grounds were gorgeous and I must say it's one of my favorite temple grounds that I've visited.

 We also stopped by BYU Hawaii Campus to check out the campus - specifically the bookstore.

 We wanted to eat on the north shore but I was surprised at the lack of choices up there. Luckily we found this little Mexican restaurant.  Ricky and I both agree that it was some of the best Mexican food that we've ever had! The salsa was spicy and amazing.  

Ricky ordered this little soft tacos and said it's by far the best flavors he's ever tasted. If we ever get back to Oahu, we will definitely go out of our way to eat at Luibueno's again. 

Dole Plantation

One our way up to the north shore we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  Surprisingly, the plantation really only produces enough pineapple for their tourists and a bit for the locals but all of the major plantations are located in other countries.

 We enjoyed a ride on the Pineapple Express that took us through the plantation which grows pineapples, coffee trees, sugar cane, and several kinds of ti leaves in addition to some other fruits. 

We also walked through their botanical garden where Ricky was able to capture some amazing pictures of the plant life. 

 I had never seen a ruby red pineapple before.

 I LOVE this tree. This is the truck of a Eucalptus Deglupta or Rainbow Eucalptus. It almost looked fake the way the colors so perfectly hid below the thin bark of the tree - Loved it!

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is somewhere I've always wanted to go. It's a big part of our country's history and something I heard a lot about from my grandpa. We made this our first activity of our trip. We first toured the USS Bowfin which also sits in the harbor.

The USS Arizona Memorial is in the background across the harbor from this submarine.

 It was very tight and we had our headphones on for the audio tour.

View of the USS Arizona Memorial from the boat.

A visual to see how the memorial is laid out across the USS Arizona.

 The entrance to the memorial.

This is a view facing the front half of the ship. 

The list of names of all of the men that died that day.  The sculpture in the wall on the right is that of the   Tree of Life, a sculpture designed by architect Alfred Preis to symbolize rebirth, renewal, and a reminder that we are all interconnected.

Looking through the top of the memorial. 

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Ricky and I made it 10 years!  Not that I ever thought we wouldn't but for it to finally arrive is pretty awesome.  Sometimes it feels like 10 years of marriage is so long ago and it's flown by so fast that it's hard to believe we've been together that long. I realized the other day that we've been together for a third of my life!  I couldn't think of a better person, companion, best friend, or love to share that many years with. I'm a lucky girl to have such a wonderful guy. We are perfect for each other and clearly meant to be together.

As a way to celebrate our anniversary we took a trip back to Hawaii.  We honeymooned there and always said we wanted to go back.  Ten days in Hawaii to celebrate ten years of wedded bliss...ok marriage. We started on Oahu for the first half of the trip and then headed to Kauai.

To prevent picture overload, I'll split up the posts in segments.  Here are some pictures from the first day.

 One of the things that intrigued me were these huge banyan trees. The branches grow back down into the ground to form new roots and section of tree.  It was fascinating.

 Anytime I can squeeze a bit of reality TV into a vacation it's always a fun treat. This is where "Dog the Bounty Hunter" works. Unfortunately the "Dog" was out in the field filming and not at the office but his front office lady came outside to meet us and chatted for a few min.  

We stayed at the Ilikai which I would stay in again and recommend for others. 

 This is the view from our hotel balcony in Waikiki Marina. 

 We ate at the "I" on our first night, which is located at the top of the Ilikai hotel and gave us a great view of the ocean and city.

 We had beautiful views each night of the amazing Hawaii sun setting.  Ricky was able to captures these special pictures for us.

More Artwork

There's one thing the boys have learned to do well at school - artwork.  I feel like their cubbies are constantly filled with great drawings, paintings or some clever piece of art. We've had a lot come home the last few weeks since we were nearing the end of the school year and the teachers were clearing the walls of all the precious creations. Lincoln particularly loves to draw and I think for a five year old he has quite a great knack for it. Here's the boys latest work.
Lincoln:

 Lincoln's kindergarten graduation invitation.

Logan: