Polynesian Cultural Center

We spent a rainy Saturday at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had so much fun. They have different villages set up to represent the different polynesian cultures and you can walk around and learn about them all. They have Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Aeotaro (New Zealand), Tahiti and Hawaii. We saw all the cultural dances and heard the singing. I love the dancing in Tahiti the best.

Here we are waiting for the canoe parade to start.

Here are the girls from Tahiti dancing.

Here we are on Easter Island.

We went to a luau that night and had lots of fun.

At the luau they pulled the kailua pig from the ground and showed us how it is cooked. They had hula dancers most of the time and also the Hawaiian royalty. After we left the luau we went and saw the night show called "Ha, Breath of Life." I loved it! It was awesome. It was a story of Mana, a boy who grew up in each of the cultures. They had a fire show that was really cool too. We had front row seats and Caleb did pretty well. He loved watching most of it and got pretty close to running out there. But I would definitely go back again and recommend the show to everyone.

A Bad Burn and PB&J

We spent a day at the beach and Cory forgot to put sunscreen on Caleb's face. Poor kid. He wore a hat all day and still walked away with the worst sunburn ever. He woke up the next morning with blisters and as hard as I tried I couldn't keep him from scratching.

Here he is asleep at lunch.

A Day in Waikiki

After hiking Diamond Head we headed into Waikiki to do some shopping and eat lunch. We ended up eating at the Cheesecake Factory, which was so yummy. But of course there are tons of places to eat, and hopefully we'll be back to sample some more. Waikiki is a really fun little part of town. It has awesome shopping. Every famous brand pretty much had a store on this shopping strip. We had fun walking around and checking out the city. After shopping we headed over to the Hale Koa. It is a private military hotel right on the beach. (My parents lived here for 3 months before moving into their house in Ewa Beach). We spent the rest of the day on the beach and enjoying the water.

We found this statue that we all decided to take a picture with. The statue was so incredibly hot though that it was hard to touch. Of course, I am putting Cory's picture up instead of my embarrassing one! haha.

You can't really see the sail boats that well, but they were gorgeous.

Caleb and I on the beach in front of the Hale Koa.

I probably have way too many of these pictures, but they are just too cute.

It was nice to spend some time in the city, but I'm definitely glad of where we are living. The city is really crowded and where all the tourists mostly are. It's nice to spend some time where the locals are and actually feel like one.

Diamond Head

We hiked Diamond Head saturday. It is a giant crater in Waikiki, and pretty famous too. We drove into the crater and then hiked up the inside to the top. It was a nice hike, but really crowded and hot.

Check out my little man. When did he grow up so quickly? We all want him to slow down.

Us at the top.

View of Waikiki and Honolulu

Caleb kept picking up all the trash. Here he is with a grape that I quickly took from him.

Caleb made friends with birds that got really close.

And he made friends with other hikers.

Poor Cory had to carry Caleb the whole time. There were a lot of stairs.

But overall we had a great time. Now we are off to shop, eat and swim.

My little snuggle bug.

Caleb loves climbing into bed like a big kid.

Relaxing

After our hike and crepes we headed to the beach. The weather wasn't too great on our side of the island so we headed back to Haleiwa. We stopped at Haleiwa Beach and played in the water a bit. Caleb tried out his life jacket which we found to be just a little too big. He couldn't stand and just kept falling flat on his face in the water. We love spending time to the beach and are so excited we still have a month left to do so.

Pillbox Hike

Last weekend we hiked the Pillbox. It's a hike over in Kailua. If I were to move anywhere in Hawaii it would be to Kailua. It is such a gorgeous little town close to the beach. It was a short hike but steep in the beginning. They had a viewing building at the top. It was pretty windy, but other than that a great day.

After our hike we headed into Kailua to go get crepes at Crepes No Ka 'Oi. It was very popular and a long wait, but worth it. Who knew you could get great crepes in Hawaii?

Here is the view of Kailua at the top.

All of us at the top. L to R: Kyle, Josh, Caleb, Cory, Me

Josh and I chatting at the top. It's a pretty cool picture with the clouds behind us.

Kyle pretending to drop Caleb down the hole. Funny at the time, now it looks a little scary.

I love this one of Caleb that Josh took. So cute!

End of a great day.

After Pearl Harbor and Ewa Beach, we stopped by Costco and then headed to the beach. We went to Sharks Cove because it was getting later in the day and it was close and fun to play at. The waves were huge that day so it was pretty fun to see them all crashing over the rocks and into the cove. Caleb and I even got pushed over when we were swimming. Cory did a little snorkeling and said there were thousands of fish in the cove. More than he thought there were.

We had some great lighting as the sun was setting and had a little fun with the camera. I hope you like the pictures as much as we do.

Home Sweet Home

After our time at Pearl Harbor we drove down to Ewa Beach to see my parents old house. They lived here for 3 years when Cory was little. Chris was also born in Honolulu. It was kind of cool to see and imagine them being there. They would have been around our age or a little younger at the time. My mom tells me about when she first moved there and was made President of the Young Women's program in her ward. They always talk about coming back here someday. I hope they make it!