Hawaii

 

Just a quick post about our first full day in Hawaii.

We  woke up bright and early (5AM) because that's what our bodies told us to do:(  The time difference will take us a few days to get used to.  After waiting for the sun to come up we gathered together in our room here at the Wyndham Royal Garden in Waikiki.  (We each have our own room on the 8th floor and they are very nice)  We stopped for breakfast at Vit's Restaurant a block from here and had breakfast. 

Rick had THE BEST banana, macadamia pancakes with coconut sauce ever!!

 

Here are some pictures just outside of the restaurant. 

It is so nice to be out of the very cold Utah temps!!

 

 

Then we drove just a few miles over to Pearl Harbor.  I love to learn about the history of that day.

So many men lost their lives on that day and in fact of the whole WWII conflict. 

It is mind boggling and very sobering. 

I am so thankful to men and women who gave their lives to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today.

 

On the Arizona Memorial looking out over what is left of the smokestack.

 

...and in the shrine room.

There are over 900 names on the wall representing the men

who died on the Battleship Arizona that morning.

 

After visiting Pearl Harbor we drove over to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling!

Skylar and Sarah were the first ones to get into the water.

 

We watched Rafe on the beach while Brach and Kendra went for a swim as well.

There was an abundance of beautiful tropical fish in the swimming area.  I followed a green turtle around for awhile just watching him eat off of the coral.

 

Rafe loved the water!  He wasn't too sure about the taste of the seawater though:)

 

That night we went to the Shorebird Restaurant.

It was right next to the Waikiki beach and was a fun place where you bbq your own meat. 

The boys had fun with that!

It was a full and fun day!