More Kailua Beach, Laie Temple, Polynesian Cultural Ctr

We had no idea how beautiful Kailua Beach was until we took our first stroll along the water's edge on the very soft white sand. Kailua Beach is one of the top three beaches in the world.

Here's Steve looking for a good book to read in our very comfy two bedroom apartment.

On our drive to Laie, we had to stop and check out the Shrimp Shack's garlic butter shrimp.

While we were at the temple grounds, this is what the sky looked like out towards the beach. When you turned around and looked at the temple, this is what you saw. . .

While we were at the PCC visiting the many different island villages of the South Pacific, we had to visit the Tongan Village and see the drum show because our son-in-law, Brandon, served his mission there (not in the Tongan Village but in the country of Tonga).

We enjoyed watching the Parade of Canoes. On our way over to the luau for dinner and a show, we were caught in a torrential downpour. We were soaked to the bone! It took awhile that evening to finally get dry.

Oahu--Pearl Harbor, Mighty Mo, Kailua Beach

After enjoying our time on Kauai, it was time to fly to Oahu and spend a few days before having to return home.

The visit to the Pearl Harbor Memorial, which is built over the battleship Arizona, is a sobering experience especially when you read through the many names of men that lost their lives on December 7, 1941.

Recreating a classic kiss.

The following picture is of the Mighty Mo where the formal surrender document was signed with the Japanese ending WWII. The next two photos are of our apartment at Kailua Beach.

Shaved Ice, Waimea Canyon, & Duke's

Kauai had no shortage of beautiful waterfalls to enjoy during our visit.

Here's what our lovely condo looked like upstairs. We fixed a number of delicious meals in the well equipped kitchen.

We were told to check out Jo Jo's Shaved Ice shop on our drive to Waimea Canyon. The shaved ice was delicious. Hidden inside each of our cups of flavored ice was a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream--mmmm good!

Waimea Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

We decided at the last minute to check out the seafood at Duke's Restaurant.

We loved their Opah, a local Hawaiian fish.

Stormy weather, church, & zipline

We had an amazing rain and thunderstorm that lasted for 24 hours. Thanks to Dave and I for bringing this weather with us when we visit the islands. Here we are standing on our back deck that overlooks the pond. The problem is that the pond is flooded and the condo maintenance people are trying to pump the water out onto the street so that the bottom floor condos stay dry.

Sunday morning we headed off to church not knowing if the roads were ok or washed out. We safely made it to church and thoroughly enjoyed the ward.

Our kids would be happy to know that there are still many chickens living happily on the island of Kauai. The population has definitely increased since we were there last (we noticed later on when we were on Oahu that we didn't see one chicken running around wild).

We took a drive in the early evening and stopped at a fishing dock to enjoy the sunset. Here we met Paul, a fisherman, originally from San Francisco and living on Kauai and working as a cook on one of the tour boats. We are sad to say that we didn't see him catch one fish while we visiting with him.

Nice early evening lighting.

A gorgeous view from the boat dock.

Monday morning we got up early and drove to the Princeville Ranch Zipline. While waiting for our safety briefing, we found some lovely orchids that needed their picture taken.

The sun was shining! We were hoping to get some use out of our sunglasses.

Steve the gadget man. He wanted to film his zipline adventure.

Here we are with our gear on waiting our turn for a thrill ride on one of the nine zip lines.

This is me having a blast on the zipline.

Hawaiian Vacation 2/24 to 3/4/2012

We enjoyed a wonderful time in Kauai with Steve & Michelle. This was their first Hawaiian vacation together and Steve's 60th birthday gift.We had an amazing morning adventure aboard Kauai Sea Tour's catamaran ride along the rugged Napali Coast.

We had quite a variety of clouds and sunshine while we were enjoying the ride. Thank goodness no sunburns.

Here's Joey one of the crew members aboard the boat.

We saw a number of sea turtles swimming along.

There were so many dolphins swimming along side and underneath our boat. It's quite a game they play with the tour boats.

We saw many whales swimming close by. Some had babies with them too. This was a great time of year to see the whales before they head back up to Alaska to feed.

I found out that putting my hair in braids is the best way to travel when you have a lot of wind in your face.

Steve & Michelle are great people to travel with--so easy going and enjoy adventure!

Beautiful Napali coast.

The captain of our boat tried to take us back inside the cave but the catamaran wouldn't fit. Such beautiful turquoise water!

They stopped the boat for a while so we could snorkel and see the colorful fish and a sea turtle lumbering along. The catamaran had a fun slide off the back of the boat so you could enjoy a swift ride into the water. Before we had to get back on the boat, I hurried and climbed back on the boat and grabbed my camera for a quick photo of Dave, Steve & Michelle.

Steve and Dave had great new wind blown hairstyles when we got back to the dock.

Here's a video of some dolphins swimming along with the boat.

More pictures from our family reunion

While Blaine, Evan, and Melinda were taking a trip down Memory Lane in the garage sorting through their boxes of memorabilia, Fiona was busy making sure Benson had plenty of tasty dog food. Also, Moriah, Fiona, Mylee & Brady had a fun time eating mini donuts tied to strings hanging from the opened big garage door. On the last day of our family reunion, the grandkids enjoyed a Treasure Hunt with Brandon & Melinda hiding the goodies and giving them clues along the way.

The grandkids sure enjoyed swinging, especially when Granddad pushed them fast and high. Another fun thing to do while swinging, is knocking into Granddad and send him flying :)

Aubrey taking an exciting ride in our cherry red Flyer wagon.

Of course, you can't have a family reunion without a potato cannon.

Sunday evening we enjoyed the beautiful weather by spending time on the porch swing.

Our beautiful Driel with darling Kira.

One more ride for the grandkids around the property with granddad.