hocker headings . . .

Our strong men with the tower of luggage! I guess we had to bring just about EVERYTHING!

Sacked out in the car! But no sleep on the plane!

This was our first day on the gorgeous beaches on the O'ahu North Shore. It was our quest to see some turtles, but there were none to be found that day.

The set of LOST!

Plumeria, my favorite flower on Hawaii!

We saw geckos everywhere. They lived inside the houses, but I guess that was good to eat all the bugs and spiders.

I wonder if they would even eat cockroaches. I only saw one cockroach while we were there. Elijah seemed to be the best at spotting the geckos. He spotted one across the street on the slats of GREEN shutters on a GREEN house.

We visited the Dole Plantation. We weren't quite sure how pinapples grew. Don't the grow on trees? Nope, they grow out of the ground on top of a stalk type plant. At Dole they have a display of all the types of pineapples that are grown. Pineapple planting and harvesting was greatly influenced by the asian cultures that migrated there. Hawaii is the source of 80% of the world's pineapple goods and it is their 2nd largest industry.

CRAZY COI

Aboard the Pineapple Express!

Enjoying a tasty pineapple treat!

Sacked out! One of the few naps Elijah took on the trip. Corinne could nap almost anytime, anywhere. She loved to nap in the Ergo carrier, in the car, and of course her pac 'n play. Anywhere but on the airplane.

We spent the day exploring the Arizona memorial and the museums at Pearl Harbor.

The Battleship Missouri

How sobering it is to be at a place like this. Thousands of people still buried below.

Elijah got to tour the submarine even though he is not quite 4 years old, yet. It was pretty cool!

Oh, the pretty sight of whole shrimp. They looked much grosser when they were raw. But then they were cooked with their tails and even their heads still intact. I don't know which creeped me out more the eyeballs or the long, curly antennaes.

Elijah seemed to know just what to do. Pick them up, take of their heads and tails, take off their shells, then enjoy! And that we did! They were delicious and we about 3 lbs. of them to share with the six in our dinner party plus the curious and hungry boys.

We spent a day at a local beach (well, the morning anyway). Waimea Bay State Park is gorgeous with calm water. We thought Eli might actually go in the water, but he did eventually with some major coersion.

The boys loved to play in the sand. Elijah was so afraid of the ocean that he would have and adult fill the bucket so he could take the water back to the sand. He eventually was brave enough to do it himself. Here they are "growing tomatoes."

We hiked near some ancient burial grounds overlooking Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach.

It was a beautiful sunset hike with some of the best views of our favorite beaches on the North Shore!

We decided it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to tour O'ahu fromt he air. We boarded these motor powered gliders and took to the sky. This was a GREAT experience! Not scary. Kinda like riding a motorcycle in the air.

Wow, the views were stunning! We even saw some turtles swimming! We went along the whole coast line on the North Shore. In this picture you can see the edge of Waimea Bay and the Waimea Valley and an arial view of Waimea Falls. We took turns flying the glider ourselves.

There's Mike in the other glider.

This is the view of Waikiki from a viewpoint on top of Diamond Head.

*Parking $5

*Hike 0.8mi.

*Elevation 560ft.

*Climbing 200 stairs

*Carrying Corinne

*Spectacular views from the top . . . priceless!

Waikiki at sunset. We made it just in time!

We ate dinner downtown and then spent the evening walking along Waikiki. The shops were plentiful and the street performers varried in talent. Eli's favorite one was a man dressed as a cloud (?) holding an umbrella. He sang "Singing in the Rain" in a barely audible voice. He was NOT good!

Shave Ice. . . . need I say more?

We frequented the town of Hali'ewa to shop, have lunch and get our refreshment fix of Shave Ice. This is not your ordinary snow cone. It comes with the option of vanilla icecream and some Hawaiian (Azuki?) beans on the bottom. This store even had a coffee flavor, YUM! We ate the ice and the kids liked to suck the juice out of teh straw. SUGAR HIGH!! I think Corinne had too much this last time.

This is how they wear it in Hawaii. Everything seems just a little too small.

This is our last day at the beach. We went to Shark's Cove to do a little snorkeling. We saw some colorful fish and a long transparent eel looking thing. The kids got thier last sand fix.