Surprise!

We have been wanting to do this for a while, but it has been pretty difficult to get a picture that is halfway decent! (Thanks for taking the great picture, Shan!!) :)  We are expecting a new little bundle of fun in November!   We are very excited!

The Last taste of Hawaii

I went back through my pictures and had to put in my artistic ones that I attempted while in Hawaii :)  as well as ones I forgot to post earlier.  Don't ask why there are so many feet pictures.  I guess I was proud that I finally painted my toenails! :)

A favorite beach - where Lost is filmed, where Colin and I laid out, and where we saw turtles in the ocean, right by us.... pretty cool!

Colin freezing in the water - it was in the 70's all week, but the wind made it a little chilly, especially in the ocean.  

A rainbow to bid us farewell as we are driving back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head to the airport.

Playing with our camera... the weather was pretty hazy and rainy, but it was still amazing.  This is from my favorite lookout point.

Yes, it had been raining and extremely windy - Colin with his beach hair

There are more pictures - they were taken with a disposable underwater camera, so I haven't gotten them developed yet.  They are of our kayaking expedition, which is definitely worthy of a post in and of itself.  Hope to get that posted soon!   

Part 5 - Traveling the island

My favorite activity that we did in Hawaii was when we rented this Jeep and circled the perimeter of the island.  We had a great book (thanks Kelli) that told us where to get the best pieces of pie, where to see the biggest waves, and the best lookout spots.  It was so much fun!  

Banzaii Pipeline - surfing capital of the world!  I didn't even THINK about getting in the water here. 

This was actually taken on the last day of our trip - we decided to go back to North Shore because we didn't have enough time.  We were laying on the beach and this was our view from behind....

while this was our view in front.  It was the most beautiful beach.  No skyscrapers, no crowds of people, no parasails... it was my kind of beach.  

Back to our trip around the island the day before we left.....Rabbit Island - can you see why they call it that?  

The most beautiful lookout point - this hole was actually knocked out by a tsunami.  Wow.  The waves were so hard and dangerous, I got butterflies standing anywhere near the edge!

Waves at the Banzaii Pipeline

Part 4 - LOST

Colin and I are big fans of the tv show LOST. We learned that all of Lost is filmed on the island of Oahu. So, it was really exciting for us to see some of the places where Lost is filmed. Not to mention the fact that the beaches where Lost is filmed are the most beautiful beaches!!

The camp where the "others" live - a YMCA camp!

Well, these were pretty obvious!  They keep the set up even when they aren't filming. 

The church Echo started building on the show

This is the beach that the crash was filmed on. Rumor is that even people living on the island near this beach thought that there had been a crash and called emergency services!! Unfortunately, there was no crashed plane. Fortunately, Colin and I got to enjoy this GORGEOUS beach our last day on the island. I will post more pics from this beach on the last Hawaii post.

Part 3 - Luau Time!

We went to a luau during our trip in Hawaii... to Paradise Cove.  It was beautiful.  The weather was perfect, and the luau was a lot of fun.  One of the wonderful doctors we were on this trip with purchased the tickets for all of us there for the conference, and not only that, we were VIP at the luau - we got special seating !!  

The pig we were about to munch down on - it was VERY good, by the way!

They had "stations" before the dinner - this one was where they showed us how to climb a tree to get a coconut.  Look - you see Colin up there?  He picked up pretty quickly!  hehe - just kidding.  

A little pre-show show.  Don't you LOVE Hawaii?!  I think I would fit in with the culture - laid back, easy going, and (this is my favorite part)  "Hawaii time" (which is about 20 min. late for everything).  Plus, how much fun would it be to be a hula girl???!!!

Part 2 - Pearl Harbor

Here is Hawaii Part 2!  I have been having a miserable time uploading pictures, which has been a partial reason for not blogging!  

Here is Waikiki Beach , with Diamond Head in the background.  

We also went to Pearl Harbor.  It was amazing.  It is definitely a MUST if you ever visit Oahu.  I didn't realize the effect it would have on me to see the sunken ship, museum, and memorials.  I didn't even know that the USS Arizona Memorial was built on top of the actual ship that was bombed.  

Here is a picture of a part of the boat sticking out of the water, and oil still leaking out daily from the ship. 

This is the USS Missouri - We were able to take a tour - it is HUMONGOUS!  The great part about it was that this was the ship that Colin's grandfather served on.  It was very special.

This is the tourret (I don't know how to spell that...) that Papa shot.  Look how big that is.  

Beautiful pictures ahead!!!!

Aloha Cousins! Part 1 - Diamond Head

Aloha cousins!  I am sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately!  Things have been pretty busy getting ready for a trip to Hawaii!  We went the first week of February, and I have to say, this is my new FAVORITE place that I have ever been.  I am pretty confident that Colin and I will make it back there (hopefully within the next couple of years!).  I never had a strong desire to go to Hawaii, and now that I have been, I can't wait to get back.  I have NEVER seen any place so beautiful, serene, astonishing!  I will try to create several blog posts to show you the different things that we did while on the island.  We went to Oahu, and stayed near the famous Waikiki beach.  

The first two days that we were there, we went shopping in some of the fancy shmancy malls (well, WINDOW shopping!) , we went to the Chinese New Year celebration in China Town, and we hiked a crater near Waikiki called Diamond Head.  This was a beautiful hike, and what is interesting about this crater is that the military built lookout stations on this volcano in the early 1900's before there was radar, to look for any military attack.  There were bunkers and stairs going up to the top, and you could tell with the material that they used that they were trying to disguise the spot.  

Here are some pics from our first weekend:

A view of Waikiki Beach from Diamond Head - the clouds and water look like a painting, don't they?!

A view of the other side of Diamond Head (you can see the valley of the crater from this picture.  It was too big to get the whole crater in one pic!)

Another view of Waikiki

A view of the bunkers (is that what you call them?) that were built into the volcano.

The door from the stairs to the lookout points

Real Hawaiian Snow Ice - It was so yummy after we got done hiking! ( I don't know why this looks like a link, I must have hit something.... sorry!

A view of a Hawaiian sunset from our room.  We were on the Waikiki Harbor.  Beautiful!!!  We opened up our windows every afternoon - the weather was amazing, as was the breeze that was a constant on the island.  

The Dragon Dance in China Town - it was SO crowded!  We ate at a TRULY Chinese restaurant, too.  We acutally weren't sure what we were going to get after we ordered, but it was good :)