hawaii...finally

ok so we've been home from hawaii for a month and i'm just getting around to posting these. this is a SUPER long post with total picture overload...i can't help it.

you may notice that i get less tan throughout the pictures...yes, that would be the spray on tan. at least i was tan for a few days of my life. also, no real close up pictures because this was basically a week of not doing my hair...that's what happens when you're with 3 other people who are ready in 5 minutes.

we stayed in the marriott ko' olina resort.

it was fabulous.

this is the view from the lobby

they had their own luau and show here

they also had 4 lagoons you could snorkel in and nice little beaches.
this is super early in the morning because we had a hard time getting used to the time change.

from out hotel

more of the hotel ground

i love these yellow flowers everywhere

we got shave ice at the general store in haleiwa...mmm!

i can't remember the name of this beach, but it was so rocky.

i don't know how people surfed here, but they did!

i like this picture of jd.

here we are

i loved watching the waves break on the rocks

there is a guy surfing somewhere out there

the laie temple

unfortunately its under construction, so we couldn't go inside and its not a pretty white right now

we went for walks in the mornings to check out the tide pools

we saw lots of fish and this little guy...i think he was dead, but cool looking

all the crabs freaked me out while i was snorkeling

this is by the harbor next to our hotel

this is down the beach from our hotel

the view from our balcony

we didn't even get in the pool once...lame.

we at least got in the hot tub once.

more view from the balcony

we went to senor frogs in waikiki and we were not very impressed

it was MUCH better in mexico. and cheaper.

waikiki beach

it was so crowded, you could hardly walk without stepping on someone

(that's diamond head in the background)

this was one of my favorite things

pineapple.

pineapple ice cream with pineapple on top

ever seen a red pineapple?

me either.

i LOVE pineapple

these fish were so creepy

people were feeding them and they were jumping and flopping all over each other

yuck.

we all had to have a turn in the pineapple

anyone remember telefrancais?

i kept thinking about l'anana!

jd's mom

jd's dad

i'm pretty sure his head is the only one that fit

we spent a whole day at the pcc

it was expensive, but fun. and super hot.

i was so not prepared for that much heat.

the waterfall from the canoe tour

in tahiti (kind of)

i think tahiti was my favorite

waiting for the canoe pageant to start

new zealand's canoe/float

(did anyone else know new zealand was a polynesian island? or that it is called aotearoa? i sure didn't!)

the piggy

after the dinner luau

the night show was really cool, but i was so tired by the end i had a hard time staying awake.

and i came back with a million mosquito bites.

tahiti again.

these girls are amazing.

jd was harassing this peacock

we decided to hike up to waimea waterfall.

little did we know it was a little less hike and a little more walk up a 1/2 mile of paved road...for $10 a person.

i was a little disappointed in the waterfall...it was pretty small.

it looks better close up.

i wish someone would have told us we could swim in there! then maybe it would have been worth the $10.

us at the top

my shave ice from matsumoto's.

this is supposed to be the BEST, but mine just tasted like sugar.

it also smelled like someone barfed in line...maybe that had something to do with it.

more sunset pictures from our balcony

jd and his parents took surfing lessons on the north shore

not me. i don't do surfing.

here is jd getting ready to paddle out. he did really good!

here is jd and his parents with the surf intructor

here is jd surfing....right before this guy next to him ran into him and knocked him off.

click on the picture to make it bigger...he's on the left.

jd and his mom got sunburned really bad...even though i offered suncreen to everyone.

they pretty much didn't want to move the rest of the trip, but jd didn't have much choice.

there really is a turtle in this picture. top left.

we walked up a trail above waimea beach and had an awesome view

this is looking back the other direction towards waimea falls

are you sick of sunset pictures yet?

i can't lie, this isn't quite what it looked like.

a little trick with the sunglasses.

this is more what it looked like

we got up super early to hike diamond head and see the sunrise

view almost to the top

from the top

diamond head was a harder hike than i thought it was going to be...and i'm a whimp.

i thought i was going to barf a couple times on the way up.

i heard that there were 100 stairs at the top. no problem right? so i thought when i thought the first set of stairs was the 100. first set...not so bad. second set (100)...KILLER! third set that was spiraled...ah!

this was our last day at the hotel.

the whole backside of the hotel was just open to the ground with no windows and hardly any walls.

the waterfall at the golf course as we were leaving the ko' olina resort

we spent the last day just driving around the island since we had to check out at 10 and our plane didn't leave til 9 pm.

coconut island (i think)

the beach on the northeast side

doens't jd look happy to be our 8-day chauffer?

i loved how green everything was, especially the mountains.

we spent a lot of time on the north shore and in haleiwa at the shopping center, killer tacos, surfing, the beach, snorkeling, ted's bakery and getting shave ice.

i love this little sign. i think it's the oldest surf town.

our last view as we were leaving our hotel

with the sunglasses trick again

the real thing

we did lots of other stuff i didn't take pictures of too.

we went to the flea market, which was also super hot, and got a purse, a skirt, boardshorts for jd, a flower for emi's hair, sunglasses, and some necklaces.

we also went to the international market in waikiki. wow. it was worse than china town. jd got a pretty sweet belt buckle they originally told him was $80 for $25. jd's mom came out with about 5 purses, necklaces, and some jewelry boxes...they wouldn't let her go!

we went snorkeling a few times, but those pictures will have to wait for another day. we saw lots of cool stuff, but the pictures didn't turn out very well. when we were at the airport ready to get on the plane, i realized jd left the underwater camera in his snorkel bag he returned already. after calling the place twice, having them ship it back, developing 18 pictures for $10 and about 3 of them turning out...i don't even want to bother with them. we saw a turtle and lots of cool fish. we snorkeled in sharks cove one day, but it was really difficult for me. it was so shallow and the waves kept coming in and knocking me into the sharp rocks.

we also went to the cheesecake factory (my fave) and got pineapple upside down cheesecake. delicious. yes, i probably gained about 10 pounds on this trip.