Hawaii Day 5 - July 15th

Today is another one of our "free days", so we went to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Bowfin submarine attraction. (Click here for the pictures.) We knew we would have to get an early start if we wanted to beat the crowds and see as much as we could. The gates to the Arizona Memorial don't open until 7:30am, so we figured if we got there by 7:00am we would be in pretty good shape. As you can see by one of the pictures, there were about 300 other people with the same idea. By the time the gates opened, the line had circled around in to a spiral shape on the "front lawn" area. On a side note, ever since 9/11, security is very tight there: no bags of any kind allowed. Just you, your wallet, and your camera. Part of the Arizona Memorial experience is a 15 minute video presentation on the history of Pearl Harbor, the Memorial, and the museum. By the time we got in we were in the 4th group to see the video (shown in a small movie theater). From there they take you by ferry to the Memorial. It is a very moving experience. You are asked to remain silent and thoughtful from the time you enter the movie theater, while you are on the Memorial, until you are returned to museum area. Most people respect this request. We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the USS Arizona. From there we went next door to the USS Bowfin submarine exhibit.

The USS Bowfin is a WWII submarine that is now de-commissioned and used tourist attraction. It was incredible to actually go aboard and in this submarine. There is a self -guided tour that uses an audio player and headphones to guide you around the submarine and explain what you are looking at. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like spending months at a time on a submarine like this. After touring the submarine, we walked around the other submarine exhibits on the property. As you can see by the pictures, there is a "conning tower" taken from another sub, periscopes, and torpedoes to look at. After lunch, we went through the submarine museum which covered everything from the invention of the submarine, right up to modern day subs.

We had planned to go to the beach for the rest of the afternoon, but with weather was overcast and we needed naps. The girls did spend a little bit of time in the hotel pool. After resting up (and cleaning up), we walked down the street to Chili's for supper. We know this violates Uncle Jay's rule of: never eat at any place that you can at home. However, we like Chili's and it sounded good to us.

Water Balloon Fight

The girls have been talking smack about a water balloon fight for a couple of weeks. So, we finally loaded them up. We only had a small round one early this afternoon (parents vs kids). But the girls are going to try and recruit some help from some of the neighbor kids later for the big finale. We'll let you know how it turns out.

Hawaii Day 4 - July 14th

On the fourth day we were scheduled to take a two hour lunch cruise. On board the cruise ship there were all kinds of activities: hulu lessons, ukelele lessons, lei making, bamboo fish craft, and a buffet lunch. Before the cruise left at 11:30am, we had some time to walk around the Aloha Tower market place where the ship was docked. The girls fed the fish (and the birds) by the pier. The two hours went by pretty quick and it was time to "disembark".

After a short rest period, it was off to the beach for some more fun in the sun. After a long and tiring day, we decided to stay in for the evening and order pizza for supper. We needed a little down time to get caught up after being on the go for four days. Fortunately, the hotel room tv got the Disney channel.

Click here for the day four pictures.
Click here for the hula video.

Hawaii Day 3 - July 13th

Today is the Sea Life Park outing. (Click here for today's pictures.) The girls started the day off with breakfast on the hotel room balcony. We packed up and made the 30 minute drive to Sea Life Park. There were lots of neat things to see and do at the park, but the highlight of the day was "swimming with dolphins". McKinsey was old enough to go in by herself, but Kerstin needed an adult to go in with her. Kerstin's mom drew the short straw and got to stay out of the dolphin pool and take pictures. After about three safety briefings, we finally got to get in to the water. There were two other groups in the pool. Each group had its own dolphin to interact with. Ours was Nani (pronounced 'non-ee'). The trainer would have Nani swim back and forth in front of us so we could pet her back and stomach. We played fetch, gave the hand signals for jump and speak, and kissed and shook fins with her. We spent about 30 minutes in the water with Nani. (Here is a link to a video of Kerstin kissing and shaking fins with Nani.) After spending 5-6 hours at the park, we were all pretty worn out. We made the drive back to the hotel and took a nap.

After our nap we walked down to the Seaside Bar and Grill for supper. They served up some good food, and that explained why they had plenty of business there.

Hawaii Day 2 - July 12th

After sleeping in, we strolled down to the boulevard that runs along in front of the beach. Our goal for the morning was to get acclimated to our surrounding (and find some breakfast). Not wanting to get too adventurous our first time out, we found a Burger King for breakfast. After breakfast (which was really brunch), we stopped by an ABC Store (which is a convenience/souvenir shop) for some supplies. (The ABC Stores are kind of an island joke because there is at least one of them on every block in the Waikiki Beach area.) We grabbed a map, got our bearings, fired up the rental car, and headed for the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Today was one of our free days (a day that did not have any activities planned for us by the Make-A-Wish people.) Even though Hawaii is a US state, navigating is not that easy because every street name has several "k's", "a's", and "o's" in it. (Or so it seemed to us main-landers.) But we made it, and the Dole Plantation was a great way to fill the afternoon. We were amazed at how many people were there, and how many of them arrived in limo's. The giant maze was fun (and hot). There are six stands in the maze with templates in them. The objective is to find all the stands and mark the templates on your maze card. The fastest all six have been found is four minutes. We spent 15 minutes going in circles without finding anything except heat exhaustion. We finally gave up and got a map from the entrance booth. Even with the map it still took some effort to find the stands.

After the maze we cooled off with a "cool" treat: pineapple sherbert and a pineapple smoothie. Next we were off to ride the Pineapple Express. This was a little train the went through the plantation with audio narration. We were very interested to learn that pineapples take 18-24 months to grow, and they are grown on a plant close to the ground.

We still had a little time before supper so we decided to drive around the north side of the island on the way home. Looking at the map it was only about 40-50 miles to take this alternate route back to the hotel. Of course, the speed limit varied from 25 to 40 mph the whole way so it took a little longer than expected. That was ok though, because we were able to stop at Waimea Bay Beach Park along the way and the girls donned their swim suits and played in the sand/surf.

While searching for somewhere to eat supper, we stumbled on a little out of the way restaurant called the Island Shack. It was basically an old mettle storage shed with no doors and used mixed and matched restaurant furniture. The kitchen was an old utility van backed up the back door of the place. The restaurant was surrounded by tents and shacks. Every thing on the menu was either grilled, steamed, or boiled. The whole place had a hippie-ish feel to it. When we walked in the place Jeff recognized the music that was playing as Jack Johnson (currently of the Curious George movie soundtrack fame). He asked one of the employees about it, and it turns out that Jack Johnson is one of the neighbors. Pretty cool! The place looked a little shady at first, but the food was delicious and the people were great. It turns out that all the people that work there are surfers that follow the surf circuit, and work at the restaurant for room and board. Livin' the dream! Click here to enjoy the pictures.

It was dark by the time we got back to the hotel and we were wiped out. Time to get some sleep and get ready for Sea Life Park tomorrow.

Hawaii Pictures

We have finally sorted out the almost 900 digital photos we took in Hawaii and are ready to start posting them. We decided to post just one day's photos at a time, and a brief synopsis of the day's activities. So, without further adieu, here are the first day's pictures. Click here

Day 1 - July 11th
Travel Day
The limo picked us up at the house at 11:30am. The girls had their stuff packed and ready to go by 11:00am, so they sat on the front porch for about 30 minutes watching with great anticipation for the limo. During the hour ride to the airport in Omaha, the girls watched a DVD while Jeff and Annie went over the game plan for the next seven days.

Lori H and her two sons met us at the airport and gave us a nice send off. Both of our planes (Omaha to Phoenix and Phoenix to Honolulu) were both on time, and all of our luggage made to the island as well. It was 8pm local time in Honolulu when we arrived, which means it was 1am Lincoln time. We were met in the Honolulu airport by Bev our lei greeter. She helped us find our luggage and rental car. Hunger set in and we happened to find a McDonald's on the way to the hotel. By the time we ate and checked in to our hotel, it was about 3:30am Lincoln time. It didn't take long to fall asleep :)

Kerstin's Home

Kerstin and her family made it home yesterday. (And so did all their luggage.) Everyone is doing fine, but the "jet lag" hit a little harder than expected. The family didn't get up today until about 10:30am. We have been busy catching up on being gone for the last week, but we promise to post pictures as soon as possible.

Oh, and Kerstin finally got the pesky loose tooth out (bottom middle). Just hours before leaving Hawaii, she finally wiggled it enough so that her mom could pull it out with out much effort. So we had a visit from the Tooth Fairy last night. Apparently the going rate for the "first" tooth is four quarters and one Sacagawea dollar coin for a grand total of $2.00.

Last Day in Hawaii

Today is our last day in Hawaii. While we have all had a good time, we are ready to get back home to see everyone. Our flight leaves at 10:55pm tonight. Until then we are going to do a little more souvenir shopping, and go to the beach one more time. Be sure to check back soon to see more pictures of Kerstin's trip. Thanks again to all the Make-A-Wish people, friends, and family who make this wish a reality. God bless and Take care.

The Luau

Kerstin and her family got to attend a luau last night. There were lots of crafts and activities to do. Kerstin and her sister even got to get up on stage and hula.

Some Beach Time

The girls haven't got to spend as much time at the beach as they would like, but they got in a few hours today. The weather was perfect for it.

Diver Down

Kerstin and the family got to go submarining today. We went down as far as 110 feet and saw all kinds of sea life. The submarine tour lasted about 45 minutes and was a lot of fun.

Pearl Harbor

We spent the day at Pearl Harbor and have lots of pictures of it. In this one the girls are standing in front of one of the anchors from the USS Arizona. (The other anchor is back in Phoenix.) In addition to visiting the USS Arizona Memorial, we also toured the USS Bowfin (submarine) exhibit and museum. (We will be posting lots of pictures in the near future.)

Kerstin's health continues to be good, which was a concern to us with all the stress that goes along with traveling. She seems to be full of energy at the end of the day, which is more than we can say for mom and dad.

Thanks again for checking in on Kerstin.

Swimming With Dolphins

Kerstin went to Sea Life Park today where we got to see all kinds of fun stuff. The highlight was swimming with the dolphins. Kerstin, her sister, and her dad got spend 30 minutes in the water with "Nani" (a three year old female dolphin). They got to pet her, shake hands (fins), play fetch with a ball, and kiss her. It was definitely a special experience.

Checking Back on the Previous Posts

Just FYI, we are planning to go back and add links to all the Hawaii posts where you can see a lot more pictures. For now, we wanted to get a few single pictures up on the site. Once we get a chance to sit down, sort through all the pictures, and get them uploaded we'll let you know. Thanks and God bless.

Pineapples Everywhere

We started the day off with a little stroll around our hotel's neighborhood, then drove up to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. They have the world's largest maze there where you can go through and find six different stencils to put on a scorecard. We spent a lot of time wondering around there. After that, we enjoyed some great pineapple ice cream treats and took a ride on the Pineapple Express to see more of the plantation. From there we decided to take the drive around the north side of the island to get back to our hotel in Wikiki. We found a great little shack of a restaurant to eat at on the way. It was dark by the time we got back to the hotel and everyone was ready for bed.

Arriving In Honolulu

It was a long day of traveling, but we finally made it. We were greeted at the airport by Bev (one of the Kenui Lei Greeters). The lei's smelled as great as they looked.

Ride'n In Style

The limo was right on time. The girls even got to watch a DVD on the way to the airport. A person could really get used to being spoiled like this.

Kerstin's wiggly bottom tooth has been bothering her for weeks. So tonight her Dad suggested (jokingly) that we try the old string and door knob method of removing it. She actually agreed to it! Unfortunately we were unsuccessful (twice). The tooth is shaped like a cone and we couldn't get the string to tighten down on it. We told her not to worry about the Tooth Fairy finding her in Hawaii if it comes out there.

Make-A-Wish Send Off Dinner

The Make-A-Wish people held a send off dinner for Kerstin this evening. Kerstin got to chose the place (Valentino's) and she got to invite a few friends and family. Kerstin's grandparents from Colorado even made the trip. Jane and Penny from Make-A-Wish gave Kerstin her itinerary and a bag full of goodies to use on the trip. We are definitely getting excited now that we have gotten the itinerary and have seen all the great stuff they have planned for us to do while we are there. (To see more pictures of the dinner, click on the title "Make-A-Wish Send Off Dinner".) We just wanted to thank everyone from Make-A-Wish, and all of our friends and family who continue to bless our lives.

4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! We hope everyone had a great, but safe, day! We were blessed with a visit from Grandpa Gordon and Grandma Joann. They can stay for a couple of days! We spent most of the day swimming and hanging out by the pool. We went back home to grill porkchops for supper. Grandpa and the girls did a great job! It was such a beautiful day! After supper we went over to the park to light our parachutes (we made the mistake of lighting them at home last night - some poor parachuter is in his new tree home). The girls had a blast chasing down the parachutes! We lit a few more in the evening and saved some for when it got darker. Unfortunately, Jeff is on duty today, but we had some firework fun with Dad last night!

It has been a while since we have updated (no news is good news!). Kerstin continues to feel great! She did wake up ravenous yesterday morning, ate two bowls of Cheerios, and then slept for 3 more hours! We had Vacation Bible School last week which kept us all busy, but very happy! Kerstin gets to visit Dr. G. on Thursday. We hope for more good news!

Have a blessed week!