Aloha Baby!

Spring Break 2010 was an amazing week of adventures. The family and Sparky (Candace's BF) flew out to Oahu, Hawaii on Sunday.

The majority of the family drove from Monahans, Tx to Midland, Tx and caught a flight to Dallas. I drove from College Station to Stephenville, dropped off my pups and Cafrine and I drove to Dallas to meet them at the airport. From Dallas we flew to LAX, had an hour layover and then flew to Honolulu, Hawaii.

We arrived around 8pm...which back home in Texas is 1AM and not a good time to call the boyfriend :). My mom had a special surprise for us and she had rented 2 Sebring convertibles! A red one and a white one. I rode in the red one all week! Being thoroughly exhausted we drove to our hotel, got somewhat settled and then the family headed out to P.F. Changs for dinner.
The next week was full of activities, adventures, learning experiences, and no end of hilarious moments! To summarize:
Monday: loaded up the family in the convertibles, put the tops down and drove completely around the island. We stopped at beach on Northshore where Cassandra lost a battle with the waves. Grabbed lunch at a local surfer grill and shared our lunch with the numerous cats and chickens roaming the patio. We also drove to the military base...they won't let you in...then we made a stop at the Dole Plantation, I found pearls in some oysters, had some of the best pineapple ice cream I've ever tasted and enjoyed listening to the history of the plantation. We stopped for a photograph moment at a small cove, I fell out of a tree, and then headed back to the hotel for Happy Hour!! We definitely got happy...everyone was pretty toasty for the rest of the night, so we walked to dinner at Duke's.
Tuesday: We made a more historical visit this day, we went to Pearl Harbor. We boarded the USS Missouri, took a boat to the Arizona and learned about the Zeros that bombed Hawaii at the Pacific Aviation Museum. We headed back to the hotel for yet another Happy Hour and had dinner at Tony Roma's...not Tony Romo's because as my dad said...we would choke.
Wednesday:
On Wednesday we went to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium. Lots of shopping, but not a lot of money spent :) my favorite! The rest of the day was spent at the beach where we ate a fresh pinapple! Then more happy hour and dinner at the Yard House, and because it was St. Patty's day, Sparky and I had an Irish Carbomb. I had fish and chips and the rest of the family had Shepherds Pie. I also enjoyed a Maui Brewing Coconut Porter.
Thursday:
Thursday started out as a beach day, we rented an outrigger and with the help of the captain and his first mate, rowed somewhat in sync out into the breakers. I was the lead...and believe me, it's a lot harder than it sounds to get everyone in rhythm. We caught a few waves, and turned it. Then we loaded up and headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center to learn about the history of the Polynesian Islands from natives (with a BYUofH spin of course), we enjoyed a luau and then watched HA! The Breath of Life. This lasted until around 9:30 so afterwards we just went to bed.
Friday:
We had made plans for a "hole in the wall" food tour with Michael Gray for Friday, and believe me it was the best idea ever! We stopped at some cool bakeries, walked around Chinatown and learned alot about the history of the food we were eating. It was amazing! Then more happy hour, and we ate at a surfer grill that I can't remember the name of right at the moment.
Saturday:
Saturday was adventure day! We went to the beach and surfed, then went parasailing. That what truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life! I suggest you try it! After that we changed and headed up the Diamond Head. The hike up Diamond Head is supposed to be 45 minutes, well we made it up in 18. Talk about being in pain...the burn was powerful and I felt bad for the soldiers and mules who used to make the climb daily. After Diamond Head we...you know where this is going...went to Happy Hour. For dinner that night we went to a local diner. It was probably some of the best food we'd had the entire trip.
Sunday:
Sunday was a rush of packing, repacking, and hustling to get to the airport by 11AM. We flew out of Honolulu at 12:45 and landed in San Francisco for a 2 hour layover. We landed in Dallas at 5:40AM Monday morning. Quite a trip.

Pictures should be up soon!