Hawaii: Friday, 12 June

So on Friday, we headed down the coast to Hanauma Bay. The bay, which is a marine preserve, is in an extinct volcano crater where the ocean has eroded one side.

On the way we stopped at an overlook:


This is what the bay looks like from the top of the crater:


and this is what in looks like from the beach:


Vicki got into the beach spirit and took a nap:


Kyle and I built another mighty sand castle:


Kyle and Marjorie checked-out the fishes:


and we checked-out the crater wall:

Hawaii: Thursday, 11 June

Originally, we were going to go to Hanauma Bay on Thursday, but turns out that it was King Kamehameha Day (which is a state holiday). So rather than fight the crowds at the beach, we went to the Bishop Museum.

The Bishop Museum is made up of several buildings, each dedicated to a subject area. We headed for the science building first. Most of the displays concerned volcanoes:


Kyle piloted a model submarine around an underwater volcano:


and Marjorie and Kyle caused a volcano to erupt:


Next, we went to a presentation called, "Meet me at the Hot Spot". The presentation included all kinds of stuff about volcanoes: types of volcanic eruptions, types of lava, the history of volcanoes in Hawaii, and small furnace with molten lava. It was very cool.

When the presenter was explaining various types of eruptions, she had Kyle come up and shake-up a two liter bottle of soda water. Kyle shook the bottle with all of the enthusiasm and energy that only a six-year-old boy can muster, so when she opened the bottle, the presenter got soaked. Really, really soaked.

Once she dried off, she had another boy create a secondary "eruption" using Mentos and a very cool launch tube. (More on that later.)

Sadly, the batteries in my camera died about then. So I don't have any pictures of the soda eruptions, the molten lava, or the rest of the museum (Polynesian culture, Hawaiian history, and the planetarium).

However, Kyle found a Mentos launching tube in the gift shop. So on the way home, we bought some batteries and a two litter bottle of Diet Coke.

When we got home, we did our own science experiment:

Hawaii: Wednesday, 10 June

Wednesday we woke up to find chickens in the yard:


It turns out there are feral chickens all over the island of Oahu. "Our" chickens have been back for a visit (and some yummy bread) everyday since they first showed up.

After (another) leisurely morning, Kyle and I dropped the girls off at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet and we headed off to the Atlantis Submarine.

The subs are kept off shore (over the dive area), so we had to take a boat out to them. On the way, we got a good view of Diamond Head:


Once we got to the subs, we boarded:


packed ourselves in:


and checked-out the sea life:



After we got ashore and collected Marjorie and Vicki, we went "home" and buried Kyle on the beach:

Hawaii: Tuesday, 9 June

On Tuesday we went to the Honolulu Aquarium. We saw a Hawaiian Monk Seal:


various fish:


and some sea urchins:


After that, we went into downtown Waikiki to do a bit of shopping and eat some delicious ramen soup:

Hawaii: Monday, 8 June

On Monday we decided to take a jet lag recovery day (and wait for Vicki's luggage). To pass the time, we built a mighty sand castle:


Sadly, it washed away when the tide came in:


But by then, Vicki's luggage arrived. Not only did this mean Vicki had clothes for the rest of the visit, but it meant Kyle could play with the cool Australian gifts that Vicki brought. These included a bullroarer:


Boomerangs:


and a digeridoo:


Later that night we went to dinner at the Crouching Lion:

Hawaii: Sunday, 7 June

We woke up very early ('cause we were still on East coast time), had a leisurely breakfast, and then headed to the airport to meet Vicki.

Kyle and I have never met Vicki and Marjorie hasn't seen her in eleven years. When Kyle was born, Vicki's employer screwed up her vacation so she wasn't able to come to America. Since then, it hasn't been practical for us to fly to Australia (imagine a 24+ hour flight with a toddler) or for Vicki to come to the States.

When we got to the airport, we began the Great Lei Search. Marjorie said we would be dead meat if we didn't have a lei for Vicki we she arrived, but all for the lei stands inside the airport we closed since it was early Sunday morning. After walking around the entire airport and asking lots of people, we finally found a lei stand (outside of the parking deck near the international terminal) and headed to the gate outside of US Customs. Then we waited:


And waited. And waited some more. And then Vicki walked up:


After lots of hugs and a few introductions, we headed up to the Qantas desk; it seemed that Vicki's bag decided to take a later flight to Hawaii. The nice lady at the desk apologised, gave Vicki $100 to buy some new clothes, and promised that the bag would be delivered to the house the next day. Luckily, Vicki packed one change of clothes in her carry-on bag, so we were in good shape.

We got back to the house and all of us played at the beach for a while before we went to lunch at Uncle Bobo's:


The we headed up the Kamehameha Highway to explore:




Then we headed back to the house and called it an early night.

Hawaii: Saturday, 6 June

Kyle, Marjorie, and Doug's great Hawaii adventure began at 6:00 AM EDT when my good friend Jimmy took us to the airport. After the usual airport security hassles, we got to our gate and waited for our flight to Atlanta.


In Atlanta we caught our connection to Honolulu; an eight an a half hour flight. Kyle flew like a pro. He and I read his books, he ate his fabulous airline food, he took a nap (gasp!), and he and Marjorie worked his puzzles in his puzzle books.

We finally landed at 7:30 PM EDT, picked up our one piece of checked luggage, and got our rental car.

After "exploring" Oahu's freeways for a bit (the directions to the house were a bit vague in one spot), we arrived at our new home away from home. Kyle ran out to the beach behind the house and "met" the Pacific ocean for the first time.


This is view from the back porch:


(The small island in the distance is called the Chinaman's Hat.)

This is the mountain in front of the house:


After a quick meal we all went to bed so we could be rested when we picked up my mother-in-law, Vicki, at the airport the next day.