HAWAII!!!!! Tuesday

Tuesday was Travis's birthday!! Woot woot! The ever memorable 3-2.

We had booked a snorkeling cruise for that morning, and had to be on the other side of the island by 7:15am. Nervous about traffic, we left at 6am. (Ya, not enough sleepy going on, on this trip, huh??!!!)

We made it to Ko Olina resort by 7am and found out we didn't really even have to check in til 7:45am! Bah!

At least it gave us enough time to park and walk up the road to one of the hotels to mail some postcards I'd written for the boys. This is the place where Disney's resort is. And might I say, it is niiiicce. Very ritzy part of the island, Ko Olina is.

 

OK, back to the cruise. Apparently, they typically have 40+ people on these things. But they said that week was unusually slow.

There were 9 of us that morning. Nine.

There was a crazy girl named Manny that was the cruise photographer. (She was a talk-ER. We learned lots about her life growing up on Christmas Island and hopping a boat when she was 16 to leave her coconut cracking family for the big life.) Anyway! At the end of the day, you could buy a zip drive of all the pictures she took (including underwater ones) for $40. Given that she only had 9 people to take pictures of... we have quiiiite a few pictures of us!

Enjoy! ;)

We basically had our run of the boat! We cruised for quite a while... at least 2 hours. It was all fun and games until we picked up speed and started getting soaked!

Yup. I was the cliché girl that had to do the Titantic pose. Manny said there's one on every boat. I know I look sooo attractive. I can hear Travis's thought process... " I'm going to smile like I'm amused, but she is a cuckoo bird." ;)

These flying fish were nuts! I'd never seen them before. They really can go long distances!

I think we were practically to the north shore when we got to the dolphins. There were swarms of them everywhere. It was cool to see them flip into the air and swim right under us. It was like they were playing with the boat. 

Finally it was time to snorkel! I'll admit... I was freaked. Everyone had a good laugh when I finally jumped in, stuck my face in the water and immediately screamed and started flailing when I saw how close the fish were! I don't know...fish freak me out. But I did get used to them eventually. Another hiccup... I stink at snorkeling. I hadn't done it in 12 years and it took me a while to get the hang of it. I choked on a lot of sea water. Trav acted like he was part fish with his GoPro.

I'm so awkward. She'd tell us to go underwater so she could take our picture and I swear my appendages went in 4 different directions every time. There were a lot of crotch pictures going on. The best part was, Manny put them on a big screen in the boat after the snorkling and the rest of the people got to see my inappropriate modeling as well. 

I was so brave! They gave me a piece of bread to feed the fish. I saw other people doing it so I thought it'd be OK. The first fish that came BIT my finger!!! Seriously, just chomped right down on it! Another scream from me!

The best part by far were the sea turtles. We had super strict instructions not to touch them. There are all sorts of fines apparently. I don't know what it was about them, but they are just so cool to watch. It really seems like they're these super old, wise creatures. That, or Crush from Finding Nemo, hehe. Heyyyy dudes!!

So I fed the fish again.

No biters this time. Only nibblers. :)

It was fun to snorkel, but after an hour, I was done. The water wasn't super cold, but it wasn't exactly bath water either. They had a yummy, buffet lunch for us when we got back on the boat, but for some reason, I got motion sickness and couldn't finish it. Waaa.

We got back to the port around noon I'd guess. It was a fun morning! Pretty sights, cute birthday boy. Two thumbs up. :)

We didn't have set plans the rest of the day, but figured since the Dole Plantation was on the way back up, we'd stop in there!

I wasn't so much interested in getting lost in their giant pineapple maze, but the train tour sounded interesting.

All aboard the Pineapple Express!! Choo choo!!

 

 

One thing about this place. It's a working farm, so they had workers all over the place! Makes sense. But the thing was, they looked like immigrant workers, covered in dirt and so sad! They were all hunched over, weeding, as we walked into the place and it made me feel so uncomfortable. Don't mind us- just on vacation. Here to eat your Dole Whips. Go on with your back breaking labor! This was one in a field that we saw on the train. I hope they get paid a lot! 

They grow more than just pineapple here. It was quite pleasant, driving past the Plumeria bushes! They also produce my favorite... cacao. And bananas, sugar cane, jack fruit and bread fruit... whatever those are! 

Cute widdle pineapples!

After the tour, I was feeling a bit peckish, and ordered some chili cheese fries along with our Dole floats. Whyyy not? :)

The gift shop was rather enticing too. I got a few things for our mom's for Mother's Day.

We wanted to spend the afternoon on the beach, so we tried Haliewa's first. Eh. It really wasn't awesome. Pretty rocky. We stayed maybe 1/2 hour then drove on looking for greener pastures. Waimea Bay was packed and didn't have any parking. We were pretty thirsty, so we drove on and stopped in at Foodland for water and snacks. 

I'm not even positive which beach we finally ended up at. We just pulled over on the side of the road on the North Shore and got out. Maybe Sunset beach?? 

 When the sun finally set, we were ready for dinner. Very characteristically, Travis chose a burger for his birthday din din. Rachel had recommended this place to us in Laie, called Seven Brothers. It had Mormon written all over it. :) There were white shirts and clean cut looking people everywhere, haha. And it really was super good. I wish I had taken a picture of the menu. They were fancy burgers and sliced potato fries with garlic and cheese. Mmmm. We got ice cream and shaved ice at a little shop next door, afterward.

I'm so grateful for this amazing man. I count myself lucky every day to be his. He is incredibly patient, loving and selfless. He is always thinking of others before himself. The older I get and the more I see of the world, I realize more and more how ridiculously blessed I am to be married to Travis. He makes me feel so loved and beautiful. He takes such good care of our family and is always willing and happy to do whatever is asked of him. He is my best friend. I love that he loves talking with me. I feel like we're different in the ways that compliment each other and the same in all the ways that make us compatible. He is laid back and I'm high strung, so he helps me relax when I'm stressed. Essential. :) We share similar goals, opinions and outlooks on life. We've been friends since we were 12, so we pretty much know each other inside out, backwards and forwards. (And he still loves me. Amazing.) He makes me want to be a better person. At the end of the day, I only want to be snuggling him. My whole heart is his. I could cry for how much I love this incredibly cute face!! Happy birthday, lobster!