Hawaii {part 5 and FINAL}

I'm kind of sad that this is the last Hawaii post! 

As I mentioned yesterday, on our last day, I still had 2 major things to check off my to do list.  Thankfully, Jason had some time off work to do something fun with me and we were able to visit the Dole plantation together.

We went through the gardens

 the husband thinks he's pretty funny

got the stink eye from a lizard

saw signs for Tokyo (aka home)

rode a train

saw some pineapples

went through a giant maze

prayed the husband's Army training would help get us out of said maze

and ate some amazingly good pineapple ice cream with fresh pineapple topping

After we left the plantation, we got to see one lonely turtle soaking up some rays

and  spend a little time on the beach

before we headed off to stuff our faces with BW3's for our last meal in Hawaii (lucky for you, there are no face stuffing photos)

And that my friends, was our trip.  Thanks for allowing me to relive my vacation in paradise share our trip with all of you!  Back to my regular irregular blogging tomorrow =)

PS, I was supposed to set this to post tomorrow but I forgot and don't know how to undo it, so I apologize for the multiple posts today!

Hawaii {part4}

There were very few things on my "to do" list while we were in Hawaii and on the last day, I still had 2 of them left unchecked.  Luckily Jason only had a half day at work so I was able to spend the morning touring Pearl Harbor & the USS Arizona with Sarah and the afternoon at the Dole Plantation with the husband.  A busy but perfect last day in Hawaii =)

So I dropped Jason off, then after my 4th stop at Target in 5 days headed to Pearl Harbor.  Since I was early I hung around at the entrance taking photos and people watching until Sarah arrived.  

I'd been there for maybe 5 minutes before I over heard 3 women approach, whining and complaining about not being able to bring in their purses/diaper bags.  It took EVERYTHING I had (and a phone call to my mother) not to scream at these women "DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!??!?!  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THESE MEN AND WOMEN SACRIFICED ON THIS LAND?!?!?!  IF YOU CAN'T BE APPRECIATIVE OF THE FREEDOMS THEY DIED FOR, TAKE YOUR F'ING HAND BAGS AND GO BACK TO WHAT EVER SELF ABSORBED LAND YOU CAME FROM!!!!!!!!"  Part of me wish I had unleashed on them but I'm 100% sure I would not have been nice about it, so it's probably best that I kept my mouth shut!

After I vented to my mom and Jason and Sarah I was able to move on with my day and enjoy my experience there.  It really is a sobering site to see.  I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have felt like to be there that day.  I would venture to say they have similar stories as those that were in NYC on 9/11.  I'm not a history person, but I'm definitely a people person.  I'm on a mission now to read as many memoirs/autobiographies written about these 2 events as possible.  (any recommendations would be much appreciated) 

(any photoshop experts care to help me remove this guy from the photo?!?!)

 Outside the memorial there were gardens and through out the gardens were these quotes.  This one is a poem Eleanore Roosevelt kept in her wallet durring WWII

"Dear Lord

Lest I continue

My complacent way

Help me to remember

Somehow out there

A man died for me today.

As long as there be war

I then must

Ask and answer

Am I worth dying for?"

Hawaii {part 3}

If you read Sarah's blog, most of this will probably be a repeat for you.  If you don't, you should!  Go! NOW!  I'll wait................................... =)  Ok, now that that is out of the way, we can get back to Hawaii!

Thursday was supposed to be the best chance for the Eddie Aikau memorial annual surf competition to be held this year.  Wednesday, they started setting up and everyone in the world Hawaii was tuned into the news to hear if the competition would be "on" or "off".  Turns out "it was big, but it wasn't and Eddie day", the competition was a no go.  Sarah and I decided that the surfers would probably still be surfing since they'd come all the way there and had been out there since before the crack of dawn, so we headed up to check out the action.  I am so glad we did.  After getting laughed at by a huge group of locals for not being able to maneuver my boat rental car, and forking over $10 to park we saw some of the most mesmerizing waves I'll probably ever see in my life! In order for the competition to be a go, they wanted consistent 20 feet waves.  I'm sure the waves were 20 feet, just not very consistent.  These photos do them NO justice and I didn't even think to take a video so it's the best I've got

just watching those guys was exhausting and made us hungry so we set off to Haliewa in search of lunch.  We settled on a Mexican/seafood restaurant and I ended up ordering a Spanish meal!  What can I say, I've had a hankering for paella for months now so when I saw a veggie paella on the menu,I had to have it!  SO YUMMY!

then we did a little window shopping before heading to Matsumoto's for some shave ice

I just couldn't get away from the Japanese!

I went against Sarah's recommendation and didn't get ice cream in the bottom (I was STUFFED from lunch) and mine was still delicious.  Plus, now I HAVE to go back to Hawaii so I can try it with ice cream...right??!!?

Then I was off to pick Jason up from class (yay for him getting out super early and us getting to spend some time together outside of the hotel room!)  I took this photo out of the window and I'm pretty sure it's become my favorite photo from the trip...I have a feeling it's going to be a canvas on my wall in the near future!

We stopped to see the Halona blow hole

 Where we saw this beach and decided we had to stop there before going to dinner

Jason spent some time playing in the surf

 
while I stayed on shore and took some photos of these guys

That night we had dinner at Haliewa Joe's near the Marine Corp base with some of Jason's classmates and I had to have my photo taken in front of this HUGE tree by the restaurant

I still have Pearl Harbor and the Dole pineapple plantation to show you, so there may be 2 more days of Hawaii ;-)

Hawaii {part 2}

Day 3 started with me dropping Jason off at work then heading to the Aloha Stadium Market where I purchased entirely too many gifts for friends and family myself, including this awesome piece of art

then I met up with my friend Joy and headed to Sharks Cove at North Shore.  Considering it rained for almost 2 straight weeks before we got there, we were incredibly blessed with gorgeous weather!

I absolutely loved the sand at that beach

We got to watch a few pretty good surfers for a while

until the waves got really powerful and this guy had to swim to shore with only 1/2 of his board =(

Then it was anniversary time =)  I was so excited that we were getting to spend our anniversary together for the 2nd year in a row.  2/3 is pretty gosh darn good for a military couple!  Jason has started a pattern for anniversary gifts.  Year 1, he was deployed and sent me and one of my BFF's to the NHL All Star game (I wasn't blogging then, but you can read a brief recap here under number 4 if you missed it and you're interested)!  Last year, well, I just checked and I didn't even blog about it, so it obviously wasn't that exciting. I got flowers....from my MOM and I think I cooked dinner that night, nothing to talk about.  Year 3, a trip to HAWAII!?!?!?!  At least now I know not to expect anything big next year ;-)  Year 5 though, which is a few months after my big 3-0, yeah, it's going to be huge!

So anyways, after searching ALL DAY for the perfect dress (or just any dress that was new really), I didn't get a single full length photo of the dang thing!  I did however, get photos of dinner =)  Jason let me choose the restaurant and this wanna be foodie went straight for the famous chef restaurant!

Don't know who Morimoto is?  He was the 3rd Iron Chef on the original Japanese version of the show and he was also on the American version.  I really wanted to try the Morimoto Omakase (11 course chefs choice menu) but Jason reminded me I'm a picky eater and I eat like a bird.  He wasn't willing for fork out $110 for a meal I'd only eat 1/2 of.  I'm glad he talked me out of it because my meal was PERFECT!

We started with drinks and a salad.  Maybe the best salad I've ever had in my life, and I eat a LOT of salads!

then moved straight to the main course

Jason had ginger pork 

and I had lobster with lemon creme fraiche

it was divine!

Jason also had some sashimi and sake before our waitress came by to tell us she was bringing us a free scoop of sorbet =)  Mind you she had no idea that it was our anniversary, so when she came out with this, we were both pretty surprised

Apparently, in order to bring us a free desert, she had to select a button on the computer for "anniversary" or "birthday" and she just randomly picked anniversary and so the chef followed the ticket and wrote on our plate.  She got a high five after we explained that it really was our anniversary!  And in case you were wondering, melon sorbet over fresh chopped watermelon = YUM!