The weekend that we were in Hawaii, we spent a lot of time with a family that Kelly knows through CES. I don't remember their last names but his name was Kalake and his wife's name was Vanilla. They had, I believe, 8 kids. They were a GREAT family. On Saturday, we did a Helping Hands service project. We hiked up a mountain and collected trash along the way. As we were picking up trash, we started to notice that there were an awful lot of little blue bags along the trail. Then we realized.... they were bags of dog poop!! SICK. We did pick up all that we saw (with our gloved hands mind you) but I'm thinking... Why in the world would someone take the time to pick up their dog's business, tie the bag in a knot, and throw it in the weeds. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! In this fabulous photo, you can see the actual gloved hand. Notice I'm careful to not touch it on ANYTHING else? I'm good like that.
This was the view on the other side of the mountain that we hiked.
Kalake offered to us to go to the ward picnic after Helping Hands. We respectfully declined because we had other things to do that day. Like.... go to Zippy's. YUM!
Sidenote: love the Napoleon Dynamite-do Jessica. It suits you.
Typical boy picture. Why do they not want us to see they handsomeness? It's anyone's guess. But isn't it totally obvious from this picture that we are from Utah? So much for looking "not touristy".
On Sunday, we attended Kalake's ward (Tongan). Because it was Mother's day, Kalake's family presented us women with gorgeous lei's (spelling?). We had headsets for Sacrament meeting and a semi-interpreter for Relief Society. It was a really good meeting despite the language barrier (for us). And I think it was such a good meeting because of the love and acceptance we felt from so many people there. I learned that I LOVE the Tongan people. They are so genuine, loving, kind and giving. Their culture is something I should learn from.
After church, we drove around the island to see the loveliness and we stopped at the temple. I only include the picture below to show you one thing. MY GINORMOUS womanly figure. Look at me compared to the other two lovely ladies next to us and tell me I don't look like I should be sporting a green leafy suit. Go on.... TELL ME!!
I really like this picture... if it weren't for the beautiful chain link fence behind us. Admittedly and sadly, it does remind me of home. The temple was being renovated while we were visiting. Bummer for us.
The Christus in the visitor's center is so gorgeous! I love the background.
More temple.
Visitor's center. I had never seen the BoM's displayed in this fashion before. Apparently it has been done elsewhere but I've been oblivious. I was fascinated nonetheless.
Dinner: Sunday night. Place: Jeanice and Kelly's room. Time: any dang time we wanted. No kids= no schedule! WOOHOO!!!!!
Quite frankly, I forgot what day we went and saw the turtles so I just threw this one in there. It was really cool. There is a beach where turtles come all the time because their food grows there. We saw a turtle up on the beach resting and then we hiked around the lava rock lining the ocean and found TONS of turtles feeding on the algae/seaweed/green stuff. It was totally amazing to me to see them. Big ones, small ones, lots in between. Totally worth the stop.
Our last day there, we decided to go watch a "real" Hawaii sunset. Here it is. Non-sunset mode on my camera. Pretty breathtaking.
Sunset mode. Totally breathtaking.
Again.... breathtaking.....
More breathtaking.....
And totally breathtaking!!
Checkout day. Matt and I snuck up to the top of the hotel (saved for special people) and checked out the view. While up there, we could feel the building swaying in the wind. SCARY! I'm glad we can't afford to stay at the top of pretty much any building. I thought this picture would work out better for the view but I thought it was a pretty good picture of us. So I included it just so you know I do look normal mostly.
The view I was trying to capture in the photo above.
We didn't have to check in at the airport until evening so we bummed the day away. We drove back to Maile's house and bought a very awesome tiki from him and visited for quite a while.
Then we went to Crouching Lion restaurant (highly recommended by me) and to the Byodo-In temple.
Pretty mountain view.
So I am oblivious to others. When we were in the temple, they had a sign asking that you remove your shoes to show respect to those who regarded it as sacred. So we did. We took some pictures by the Buddha and then went to go pick up our shoes. I totally was not even thinking and dropped my shoes on the ground (making a big slapping noise) and started to put them on. Until Matt hurried and reminded me. I actually felt really bad.... and dumb. But it was a cool place to go see. :)
After a brutal flight home (red-eye... don't EVER do that). We went and picked up Abbie and Katie from grandparents house. Then we went home. We were greeted by this cute little sign that Jacob and Ashley had made the night before to welcome us home. So cute!!
The kids LOVED their souvenirs and getting to sleep in their own beds that night. What a great trip! Matt and I had a blast and we are so happy we got to go.
1 comment:
Yes that was a LOOOOOONG post, but it really looks like you had a great time! I'm happy for you. :) Trips without kids are wonderful!! I love the fact that you can eat whenever you want, or not at all - and no one presses you to do anything different.
Funny about the shoe in the Buddha temple. I can totally see you doing that.
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