Hawaii . . . . Part 1

So, in celebration of Mark's 40th birthday coming up this fall, we took a vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii. He preferred this instead of a big party, and if you know Mark, you know he doesn't hunt or fish or even golf much (and therefore doesn't sink his finances into those "toys") - his favorite hobby is TRAVELING. So, lucky for us, that's how he chose to commemorate his bday. We couldn't go in the fall due to school and work, and Hawaii's temp is the same all year, so this worked out perfectly.

Disclaimer: Our family uses this blog as a family journal (I have it printed into a book format), so the details that follow about this trip may prove to be boring for y'all. If so, I apologize, but to be honest I'm recording this more for US than YOU. :) Just sayin' . . . .

Day one was happily spent lounging at the pool and beach, trying to adjust to the 4-hour time difference. The kids were up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:30 a.m. (which is 8:30 a.m. at home). :( Each day got a little better, thankfully! We ended the day with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (yummmmm) with our NEIGHBORS of all crazy things. They live across the street from us, and we've chatted on occasion but in 5 years have never done anything socially with them. It took a trip 4000 miles away for that to happen! Isn't life funny that way? It just turned out they were there at the same time (go figure?), so we got together a couple times during the week.

On day two, we took a TEN HOUR tour (the kids had to keep reminding us it was a TEN HOUR TOUR), which included stops at Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation, some magnificent beaches, and basically allowed us to see 75% of the coast of Oahu. Really captivating for Mark and I, but for the boys . . . well . . . it was a TEN HOUR TOUR.

We ALL found Pearl Harbor fascinating and wished we would have reserved an entire day for it. I was so thankful the boys were enthralled with it and now Noah has a newfound interest in WWII. Here they are with the anchor of the USS Arizona, which sank the day we were attacked.
We took a ferry out to the USS Arizona Memorial - very sobering experience. I didn't understand this is a mass gravesite - the bodies were left with the ship. It was interesting how quiet, solemn and respectful everyone was upon approaching it and getting off the ferry.

A portion of the ship, sticking out of the water -

This is a picture of oil sitting on the water - the ship is STILL leaking oil - it has ever since it sank. They say it will continue to leak oil for another 20 years or so.

More of the ship from a "viewing hole" in the floor of the memorial -

A list of those who died on the Arizona -

The bright white part of the map is the white memorial we were standing in above the ship - and then a map of the ship sitting underwater.

Afterwards, we headed to the Dole Plantation where they grow pineapples - although not the kind you buy canned at the grocery store. These are distributed fresh, mainly just in Hawaii. And oh. my. word. People. This is my new addiction. This pineapple is UNBELIEVABLE - we were totally hooked. You can actually order it and have it shipped to you, which I am totally doing. We won't get into the cost (Mark reads this blog). But SOOOO worth it.

I had no idea this is how pineapple grows - aren't they cute??

Then we were off to tour beaches. GORGEOUS beaches. If we did this trip again, we would not stay at Waikiki Beach, but would stay somewhere more secluded, rent a car, and hit all of these beaches. Obviously, as is the case with many things, it's hard to capture on camera. The color of the water was just spectacular.

This was about 6 hours in to our TEN HOUR TOUR and they were desperately wanting to JUMP IN.

That mountainous area over yonder is where portions of "LOST" were filmed. How cool is that?? It was BEAUTIFUL, but again, the picture doesn't do it justice.

We ate a traditional Hawaiian lunch at this little place. It was good, but all I cared about was that I got more PINEAPPLE. :)

After lunch, we were all in for a surprise, and Jack and Noah were rewarded for their patience with this TEN HOUR TOUR. More on that in the next post . . .

Where to begin???

So I'm getting a big fat "F" in blogging this summer, but I've decided not to beat myself up about it because I'm all about NO commitments this summer and I decided to file blogging under that category. Unfortunately several other things have fallen under the "nope, not doing it" category as well, so I'm in for a rocky rehab when our fall routine hits.

Anyway, it's been a MONTH since I updated this, so we'll go waaay back to a couple days after I last posted, when Grandma and Grandpa Roisum came for a visit. They stayed with us at Hart Ranch for a couple of days . . . and then we all headed up to Spearfish for the annual Arts in the Park festival where we shop shop shop and eat eat eat. All the cousins on the Horak side were together, which was one big barrel of laughs (for them, anyway). My mom is a saint for being so patient with 5 boys and 2 dogs tearing around her house for 3 days.

Bye Grandma and Grandpa Roisum!

Two days after they left, the boys and I headed up into the Big Horn Mountains with my mom and dad to some dear friends' cabin. Jack has declared their cabin to be his favorite vacation destination alongside Sanibel Island, FL. That's a big statement. I think it's because he can be ALL BOY there. They shoot guns, dig for worms, go fishing, look for wildlife, play on the homemade teeter-totter and play with one of their best buddies in the world - a dog named Pipa. :)

Here's the backyard:

And the front yard (this place is so incredibly peaceful I just want to pack it in and move here!):

Using the binoculars to scope out some elk . . . .

The boys were shooting guns in the yard, and all of the sudden this moose walks up. Totally not bothered by us - just sauntered up and started licking the salt block. It was AMAZING how close we were to such a majestic creature.

The boys and their buddy. This dog ROCKS. She adores them and they adore her. She stays by their side the entire time we're there. We've concocted a few kidnapping plans but don't have the heart to pull it off. :) Her owners are kind of attached. Hmmph.

Here's our gracious hosts. I've known them all my life - I used to come to this very cabin when I was little (their daughters were friends of mine) . . . so it's awesome that I can now bring MY kids there.

Three days after returning from Wyoming, we were off again . . . . this time to HAWAII. More on THAT trip next - but here's some preview pics.