Hiking Diamond Head

Hiking Diamond head wasn't that tough... I even went in flip flops. A few Japanese tourists hiked up in high heels, though I wouldn't really recommend it. It's located at the rim of a dormant volcano and the military has some barricks up there where they had some big guns to protect the Harbor. The view is spectacular and we got a few good pictures, although it rained on us off and on the whole time while we were there. The funnest part was commenting to Amy loud enough for the other tourists coming up (and almost to the very top) to hear me say, "I can't believe there are 4 more sets of steps goingt up!" (each one has like 100 steps or more) Then we'd hear the tourists ask, "Was he serious about the 4 more sets???"

Amy would just laugh and say NO.

Coconut Pancakes

Jon kept talking about this place on Ala Moana road in Waikiki so we went there and the breakfasts were very reasonably priced...



I got the coconut pancakes and covered them in coconut syrup. It was pretty good, I must say. The funny part was that Jon kept telling us to just ask any one in O'ahu and they would know where the place was for sure - well everyone we asked had no idea. We just drove down and eventually found it. I think when we come back to O'ahu and stay in Waikiki like Jon did, we'll definitely go there to eat a few times...

Sea Turtle Beach

This is the first beach after you leave Haleiwa. There are no signs up, but at the East end of the beach there is a marine biologist there studying the sea turtles.



There was only 1 on the beach, but we could see more swimming in the ocean. They set up a rop around it so you don't get too close. Apparently tourists had been putting cigarettes in the mouths of the turtles and then taking pictures with them... idiots!!! Amy thinks they were Japanese tourists because they were all smoking.

Matsumoto's shaved ice in Haleiwa

This was a cool little town filled with Japanese tourists. They were all in the store getting some shaved ice... I got the piña colada - tasty. They have the option to put these red beans that are cooked in sugar in the bottom (a Japanese thing). I passed... it didn't seem too tasty. 

PCC

... or sometimes called Japanese-town. At least that's what it seemed like. Most of the BYU-Hawaii students working here were from Japan, if they weren't from Polynesia.

We had a really good time, although we didn't get a chance to go through everything. I even got some video of me in the Maori village trying to learn to do the Haka. Amy was throwing the Poi balls around and finally got it going without getting them tangled when she tossed them behind her head.

This foto is of some Japanese tourists oogling over Caleb, and then Amy took his little hat off and all 6 of them "oooh'd" outloud at once. It cracked me up. It's like they'd never seen a red-head kid before.

I think nex trip we take we'll drop Tom off in Samoa - he seems like he's "one of the Happy People."



We were able to go to the Samoan village and the Tongan village where they beat the drums pretty good. It was really funny, and they were all making fun of the Japanese (just kind of picking on them and laughing... with them).

Pearl Harbor

This place was pretty cool, you start off watching a 23 minute video which explains historical events back in the early 1900's that lead to Japan's attach on Pearl Harbor. It's pretty sobering to then take the ferry out to the USS Arizon and learn that they just anchored her down and that all the dead sailors bodies were never recovered... that's why it's like a huge grave.

You can check out the gun turrit (sp?) at the front end of the ship and see oil leaking out to the surface. It made everything a lot more real to me by going there.

In this picture, Caleb is being such a ham. Every time we'd point the camera at him he'd just smile and squeal. This time he decided to show off and touch his toes for us. 

Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium

So we went to the Swap Meet at Aloha stadium on Saturday. Lots of Japanese, Chinese and Filipino merchants selling the same lines of things. There was a big Hawaiian guy who had engine parts and odd pieces of furniture laid out. It seemed like he just couldn't sell the stuff at a garage sale and thought, "I'll try the swap meet!" Bad idea.

About every 3rd booth was selling T-shirts - little people sizes were 8 for $20. Fat guys like me are 5 for $20. Caleb and I also bought some matching board shorts. We got the 2T size, thinking he'd be able to use them this summer, and they're already a little snug on him.

The part about the swap meet that cracks me up was this one stand that had all these cheap little toys (the shipping boxes in the back of the booth had Chinese all over them) just randomly placed out front. One was a scuba diver guy swimming around in a bowl and the other was a dolphin that would squirt water out of a blow hole every 10 seconds or so.

All-in-all it was pretty good... today's Wednesday and we're going to go back before we head to Poli look out and get a few more shirts and things. 

Hanauma Bay

Today we went to Hanauma Bay and snorkeled among the fishes of Hawaii. It was great. I was surprised that the water felt cold at first, but once you get it you forgot all about it. This is the first time I've ever used a snorkel and right away I dipped my head too far under the water and my snorkel filled up, giving me a big breath of sea water. Amy just laughed at me. After that, I got the hang of it and had a blast. We tried to put little Caleb's feet in the water again, but he just pulled them up underneath him and cried. Poor little boy - it's not quite as warm as the bath water.

Well, we're off to eat some dinner with our "host-family" at Outback, so I'll put more on here later. 

The Famous Shrimp Shack!

Okay, so I'd seen shrimp shacks on TV and Jon Canlas always talks about them when he comes to Hawaii - actually when we asked Jon what we should do when we came... all he did was mention where to eat - but I digress. Anyway, Jon said to just eat at Romy's and get the garlic shrimp. Man it was good - $11 was a little pricy at first, but when I started shoveling down that sticky rice with the sauce they give you - mmmm, Good.

When they first gave us the little meal baskets it didn't look too appealing - all the legs were still on the shrimp - sometimes the heads and middle-body parts were still there too. That was kind of gross having to pull that stuff off, but I got use to it and it was actually fun. I felt a little like Caleb in his high chair. Amy, of course did not eat any shrimp because "they have the poop vein in them." So in stead she settled for a hamburger, fries and water in Laie.



We stopped by to take Jimmy to the grocery store just down the hill and buy some snacks. He showed us his dorm room - it wasn't too much to scream about, but he's in Hawaii!!! Actually, who am I kidding - we're talking about Jimmy here. He's going to be in his dorm room ALL the time because that's where his computer his. Hopefully he comes home with a little bit of a tan which will prove he's at least been doing SOME things out side. Jimbo did complain that his physical fitness class was killing him because it required exercise for 20 minutes, 5 times a week. Poor guy!

Everything went fine until...

... until my Dad put my feet in the water - AHHH!!! It was pretty funny to see Caleb get so upset. He loves his bath, but this was totally different for him. Hopefully he'll get use to it! The water was a little chilly at first, so that may have been what set him off.