We arrived on Saturday and spent our time familiarizing ourselves with the hotel. We ate at the Italian restaurant on site and had our first price shock. The food was great, but extremely expensive for pasta. Sunday we tried the breakfast buffet here at the hotel. $60 for breakfast buffet... and about 1/2 of it was more Japanese style (sushi, etc.). Yeah, I'm not so exotic with my eating habits. Okay, so we obviously need to eat places other than the hotel property... We spent the rest of the day exploring the Waikiki Beach area. We found some nice shopping malls and the International Marketplace. We also found the ABC stores. There are hundreds of them (and I'm not exaggerating) on the island. It's kind of like a Walgreens with souvenirs too. They are almost on every block (or two). Sunday night, we ate at Benihana of Tokyo. Here they cook your food right in front of you. I actually ate all of my food (except the salad) with chop sticks! I've never used them before and I'm not usually adventurous with my food. I ate/tried everything and was very proud of myself (granted, I did get a steak for the main course - not real adventurous there).
Monday we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center on the north side of the island. It was about an hour drive through scenic Oahu (although all of Oahu is scenic). We got to see how the islanders used to live and live today on the different Polynesian islands (before and after the missionaries). We also went to a luau and watched them unearth the (big) pig. They finished the night with a show - lots of dancers and even some fire throwers!
Tuesday we went to Pearl Harbor and toured the USS Arizona Memorial - very somber but very nice. After that, we boarded the USS Missouri (aka "Mighty Mo") and toured the decommissioned battleship that served as the signing spot for the treaty that ended WWII.
Wednesday through Friday, Adam had conference sessions in the morning then we spent our afternoons by the pool enjoying the sun and our books! Wednesday and Friday we had conference sponsored dinners. Thursday night we went on a ghost walking tour around downtown Honolulu. It wasn't bad, but we've been on better.
Adam earned the trip by completing his ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant) certification from The American College. Friday they had the commencement ceremonies where he walked across the stage to get his certificate. (This isn't him walking across the stage - those pictures turned out blurry. But they displayed the certificates on the big screen.)
It was a nice ceremony, but very, very long. There were about 500 people that walked! Thankfully, I sat next to a nice gal from Ohio that was also a mom of 2 year old twin girls. Made the 2 1/2 hour long ceremony go much faster! After the "luau" (that was moved indoors because of the potential rain), there were fireworks on the beach - lots of them. Very impressive to see!Today it rained, a lot. We were going to go to the Waikiki Aquarium, but the rain put a hamper on our travel plans. Instead, we went to the major mall near by. Tomorrow we head home... which brings me to Mahalo...
Mahalo is the Hawaiian word for Thank You. And that is what I need to say...
Mahalo to our parents (and brother and sisters) for watching our children while we've been here! Without you, we would have not been able to come on the trip. Mahalo for giving up your free time to let the boys take over your lives for days at a time.
Mahalo to my husband for working so hard to complete the certification that earned this trip to Hawai'i. Without your hard work, we probably never would have come here!
Mahalo to the boys for having a great time with grandma and grandpa and grandma and grandpa and Aunt Audrey and Uncle Brandon! Hopefully you're not having so much fun that you forget who we are! We miss you bunches! And Mahalo to Brandon and Grandpa B for the pictures and the web cam... it's been nice to see the boys walking and playing from this far away!
As nice as it is here, it will be very nice to be home with our family! Aloha!
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