Toto, we're not in Hawaii anymore...

Back at home. Need I say more?

Hawaii!

I know you have all been waiting a long time to see pictures and hear of our travels to the exotic paradise known as Hawaii. I am much obliged. Let me start off by apologizing for the poor picture quality. We forgot to bring a memory card for the camera but wanted to be able to take lots of pictures so we had to put them on low quality. Also just wanted to mention that we really didn't take as many pictures as we would have liked because we didn't want the camera to be at risk of either being stolen (which we hear is a big problem) or get wet. But here are a few pictures we did get.

Jim and I on our last day in Oahu. Outside is the beautiful view that greeted us each morning. We would leave the balcony door open all night long so that we could listen to the waves. So relaxing.

This picture is also from the balcony of our room. The beach you are looking at is Wakiki which is probably the most popular beach on Oahu. On one of the days we went snorkeling in the water and I was able to see some fish. For all those that have not been to Oahu, I would like to mention that the water in Hawaii is not nearly as warm as I thought it would be. Not quite as cold as Southern California water but not even close to how glorious the water temperature was in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Although it did rain often, the rain in Hawaii is not bad at all because it is warm. It kinda feels good. Up in the mountains of Oahu it rains like 300 inches of rain each year. There is less and less rain the closer you get to the coast. I thought the mountains looked beautiful when they were covered by the clouds.

On the Monday after we arrived, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was really interesting and we were able to see some pretty hilarious things, such as a Japanese man (chosen to come on stage for a show) flicking the nipple of this very large Tongan man that was leading the show. Maybe you had to be there but take my word, it was hilarious.

Anyway, while we were at the PCC they have this little tram that goes off of the site and takes you to the Temple and the BYU-Hawaii campus. The temple is closed for renovations but we were able to go to the visitors center and take a picture. It's very beautiful.
We were able to make it to Turtle Beach where we found this guy! Well we didn't actually find him but we did find the crowd that was surrounding him. Since they are protected by law you can't touch them or go close to them and anytime one lays on the beach there is a person there to put a red rope radius around which looky-loos aren't supposed to cross. It really takes the fun out of nature. But Jim was able to go into the water at this beach and was able to watch a HUGE turtle just eat away at the seaweed or algae or whatever water veggies he was eating. Jim was really excited to witness it.
I think we took this picture while driving. You can see the island that they call 'China-mans Hat'. It's a mystery as to why they named it this.

All in all it was a wonderful vacation that I was not excited to return from and look forward to going again sometime in the future.