Aloha, aloha and aloha...

Since it has 3 meanings I thought I would use all three with you! We have been back from our trip for the week now and while I enjoy coming home, this was a trip I could have extended a bit and been fine with. As you know we took Bay to my parents where she chilled for the week and got very spoiled by everyone. Scott and I went on from there to Oahu with a day trip to Maui as well. It was simply gorgeous and rained for perhaps a total of 5 minutes the entire week. The weather was mostly 75-78, sunny and some winds that were harder at night but still as beautiful as could be. I could not have ordered up any better weather and by some miracle I managed 6 days in pure sun without even the slightest bit of pink on my skin!

Without further ado here are a handful of pictures from the trip. I have a gallery of them if you want to see more (just shoot me an email) but here are some of my faves...

First of all I highly recommend riding a horse on the island. Here is the beauty we took out for the week!



Here is Scott in his natural element...the beach of course!

And here I am in my least natural element...the beach of course!

This coconut was hanging out on the same beach so I thought I would share it with you!

"Jack" was in our tour group at the Polynesian Cultural Center!

At the luau!

Dinner at the luau! It smelled just like ham. :c)

I learned some Hula as well as some Tahitian dances while at the PCC. Ignore my big booty!

The show at the Polynesian Cultural Center was breathtaking. This was one of my favorite parts.

He is Samoan and one of the funniest people I met. Did you know that Samoan means Happy People? It's true. The men cook, clean and hunt which makes the women happy so naturally everyone is happy! :c)

Here are a few shots from our trip over to Maui. That place is amazing but don't try to get to Hana in a rental car unless it is a Hummer or tank! Those roads will kill you and your car. In fact, do like we did and get the funniest tour guide at Hana Tours...Barry. He makes it educational and fun so make sure to ask for him by name.

Here are some Mongoose. They are so cute and remind me of ferrets. They are everywhere if you look for them.

...us.

Back on Oahu we went to Pearl Harbor for the day. The memorial was sad but inspiring. We went on the USS Missouri which I had been on in 1985 while dry docked in San Diego and also checked out the new Aviation Museum. Those were all pretty cool but my favorite by far was the USS Bowfin. I am not sure why but I really love submarines so any chance I get to tour one I am all over it. The submarine museum was sweet too with all of the flags from the various subs. Did you know that the crews all design their own flags? They have a lot of them hanging in the museum so if you ever get a chance to go there you really should. Sadly 58 subs were lost in WWII.

Here is the USS Bowfin flag from WWII. This is also the only sub known to have ever hit a bus with a torpedo. The various patches signify merchant ships, battle ships, subs and of course the bus that they sank during wartime.

To close I thought I would share with you a pineapple! Not that I ever thought much about it but I would have sworn they grew on trees. It was a shock to see fields and fields of this. Huh...I really did end up learning quite a bit on this trip.

Oh and the deep sea fishing trip was a bust so I am not showing pictures of it since I would have rather been in a shark cage. Oh well...at least it was a bust in Hawaii!

Aloha and Mahalo for stopping by!