From 77 to -7

We're back in Alaska and it's cold. Just wanted to let everybody know. My camera finally called it quits, so I have no pics to share of our last day in Honolulu. We visited the Iolani Palace and then we went to the Bishop Museum. Did you know Hawai'i is the only state that was ruled by a monarchy before becoming a state and, therefore, the Iolani Palace is the only royal palace on United States soil?

Beautiful blue

I made sure to get a hotel with a pool because the salt water burns my eyes and I dont really like swimming in it much. So...here it is...the pool we never used. I learned my lesson...if i'm at a place with a beach, I dont need a pool.Today was a gorgeous day. It was kind of overcast and cool, but perfect. We had a couple hours to kill in the morning, so we found a beach on the windward side that had lots of black lava rocks. Very cool!
The water today was unbelievably blue.




See the lighthouse up on the rock?
What a wonderful view...beautiful blue sky, aquamarine water, black lava rocks.
and golden sand beaches. This beach had the softest sand of all!
Avery loves that boogey board. It was totally worth the $20 we spent on it, but there's no use for it were we're going, so I think we'll just give it away tomorrow to some other kid that can use it.
We spent the morning playing on/in the water...







Diamondhead crater...
Amazing how blue the water is. This is Koko crater in the background.



FUN, FUN, FUN! We had so much fun. We came back to the room at about 5 to take a quick nap before dinner. I woke up at about 10pm. Playing in the sun all day wears you out! I cant believe we leave tomorrow!

The Honolulu Zoo

The mighty Banyan tree
Dont they look like their doin' the Tango or something?
He ate his own poo! Gross!
Alika and Aweli...
Never been this close...
A freakin' savannah...I said something to Avery about the African Savannah and he thought I was sayin' a freakin' savannah...
He looks so thoughful...
The chimps were really neat...
Bucktooth llama...
A lazy Sunday...
The sign says it all...
Very cool bird song...



Some gorgeous views from Hawai'i...
Remember when we went to Fairbanks and I wrote about the McKinley Mac? Well, here in Hawaii there's the McTeri. It's a quarter pounder with teriyaki sauce...and notice the pineapple. They serve it with every value meal! They also have 'local favorites' breakfasts which include a nice, juicy, hot slab of SPAM! Yum!

Aweli and Alika visit the Pineapple Farm

Doesnt that sound like the title of a children's book? While at the Dole pineapple farm, Avery and I learned our Hawaiian names. Can you guess which name is Alisha and which is Avery?





Aweli and Alika spend a rainy day on the North Shore
Aweli and Alika watch a hot guy play with fire
Aweli and Alika get Stuck in an Island Wide Power Outage
It was really creepy. The whole city was dark. We were walking along at the International Marketplace when everything just went pitch black! It was like someone flipped the light switch on the entire city. So, what do you eat for dinner when the electricity in the whole city is out? You eat whatever you have...these are the snacks that we had in our beach bag...yum, dinner.
Aweli and Alika visit Diamond Head Crater
and Koko Crater
Aweli and Alika go to the Beach


Aweli and Alika Board a Submarine





Aweli and Alika Pay Their Respects at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor