Hawaii: Part 1

Next Monday (August 26, 2013) I am starting classes for my PhD in applied mathematics. School=busy=no-time-to-write-blog. Which means in the next four days I am going to be crazily trying to catch up on recording the last year and a half of my life. Here goes nothing!!

I think where I left off was the Kennedy family trip to Hawaii last March (meaning March of 2012). Since everyone else in the family had the same week off for spring break except me, we decided to go March 10-17, which meant I had to skip a week of school to go to Hawaii. It was hard to catch up but TOTALLY worth it. 

We started off the trip strong and in full anticipation of family bonding time by playing games in the airport during our layover in Los Angeles. 

I think this was Uno. We fluctuated between that and playing scum.

We landed late Saturday night (March 10), then in the morning were able to attend church at a nearby ward. When we got back to the beach house Caro and Rachel played some hymns on their ukeleles and I remember that being a lot of fun. I sure miss those girls!

After church we got our first taste of the beach by walking along the seashore and checking out the Sunday afternoon surf.

A little cloudy, but still a ton of fun.

Then we got the classic Matsumoto Shave (NOT shaved, apparently) Ice and on our way home stopped by a local fruit stand to try out some exotic stuff. I know we got some weird fruit, but what I remember most was the sugar cane. Andrew was quite insistent that we all brush our teeth when we got home...haha. Love that boy.

Apparently swimming is breaking the Sabbath but buying Shave Ice isn't...oh well. We do what we can. 

Sugar cane!

I honestly don't remember the name of this place, but we also stopped at an amazing jetty where we could really see the waves pounding against the rocks. Of course being ourselves, the siblings all took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot. We aren't posed as well in this one but it was pretty fun.

And OF COURSE, a little scum back home. My fave. Seriously tho I love that game.

On Monday we got to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial, which was quite moving. At that time Andrew was considering going the military route for dental school, so I found it especially poignant while considering the sacrifices many wives, sisters, daughters, and mothers made during that time and today.

Memorial over the remnants of the USS Arizona.

After leaving Pearl Harbor, we did some more sightseeing around Honolulu and saw the palace of the queen of Hawaii. That night we went to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe (Andrew and I suggested going to Costco, but were overruled).

din-din.

All the girls!

The next day (Tuesday) we started the morning out visiting the BYU-Hawaii campus. 

 Right next door was the Laie Hawaii Temple. The temple was beautiful and being able to worship together there was honestly a wonderful experience as a family. That is the last time our family will be in the temple all together until probably the summer of 2015, so I consider it a really special experience.

Families are forever.

The rest of the day we spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is seriously like the Disneyland of Polynesia. There were boat rides, little villages to explore, a parade on the river, cultural events like dancing, singing, cooking, sewing, art, etc. to both watch and participate in, you name it. It was incredible! Seriously so much fun.

Boat ride on the river that runs through the PCC.

The parade!

Climbing coconut trees.

We ended out the evening with a luau (including a roasted pig with an apple in its mouth) and an amazing show of song and dance that took you through the different traditions of each of the places highlighted in the PCC. 

Kalua pig that had been roasting in the ground for hours.

Aloha!

We were exhausted by the end of the day, but we absolutely loved it. Highly recommended to anyone visiting Oahu. Okay, this is already getting ricidulously long, and that is only half of the week, so I will put the rest of the pictures in the next one.