Mother's Day at the Hawaii Temple - Day 3

On Sunday morning (our third day in Hawaii) we went to church service at the local Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. It was a wonderful service and a lot of fun to see all the Hawaiian dresses and leis. The coolest part was this is MOTHER'S DAY! What a way for Connie and I to spend our Mother's Day!

After Church we went over to the temple grounds and walked around. We also went inside the visitor's center and talked with the missionaries and looked around. It is such a sweet spirit!

Ben giving a very goofy pose...silly boy.

Three more of my handsome young men.

My handsome hubby and me standing in front of the temple.

The whole family.

Standing in front of the Christus Statue. The last time I was near one of these was when my brother left on his mission and it was the one on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Very cool!

Nick standing by the statue, "Lehi Blessing Nephi". It has a plaque with it that had 2 Nephi 3:21 out of the Book Of Mormon.

A precious picture.

Our BEAUTIFUL daughter with the fountain and the temple behind her.

OUR ETERNAL FAMILY!

Ben picked up some literature...because he liked the pictures. The missionaries were very kind and said he could have them.

What a beautiful morning!

Fun in Shark's Cove

After coming down off of Pali Lookout we headed over to Shark's Cove for some snorkeling and water fun.

Nathan, Nick, and Tatiana heading out. I went with too. It ended up being Nathan and Tatiana pairing up, and Nick and I pairing up. It was just easier to keep track of one buddy. There were so many fish and beautiful things to see down there, a whole other world! So amazing. And no, we did not see any sharks!

Grandpa checking out a shallow "cave" with the boys.

So sweet!

Nathan and Tatiana coming back in.

Grandpa helping Ben try out his boogie board.

Whew! What a day!

Being "blown away" by Pali Lookout!

After leaving Waikiki Beach we drove to Pali Lookout. The weather changed on us again and when we arrived we all put on our rain gear.

Online I found the following description; The Nuuanu Pali Lookout ("Cool Height Cliff")overlooking the 985 foot cliffs of the Koolau Mountain Range, is one of the best views on O'ahu. It was here in 1795 that King Kamehameha and his warriors defeated the O'ahu armies by sending them over these steep, forested cliffs and claiming his victory and uniting the Hawaiian Islands. The breathtaking sight and the gruesome history of the battle fought here is enough to cause a chill to run up your spine. Add to that the incredible winds that often pass through the Pali and you may be swept off your feet!

Ben is ready to conquer the day!

Andrew is a little unsure of the weather.

What a view...too bad the weather was not on our side.

Check out my hair! It was pretty windy up there, but at this point we hadn't even gotten to the "windy" part!

Handsome boys!

Ok, you come around a corner and the wind practically bowls you over! It was liking standing in a wind tunnel with hurricane force winds. Sweet Andrew was clinging to me with all his strength and yelling, "Mommy! Don't let me blow away!" Poor kid. Everyone else thought it was pretty cool!

Been there...done that...and it was cool!

Andrew's fun with Grandma and Grandpa

While the rest of us were on the submarine, Andrew stayed at Waikiki Beach with Grandma and Grandpa. They told us that he was really good and being super cute...of course!




The picture above is him posing to copy a statue of a fairy. You can see him and fairy in the picture below. How cute!

Another impersonation of the fairy statue behind him.


And boy was he happy to see me when we got back! He was squeezing my cheeks and giving me kisses. Such a sweetheart!

Submarine Ride!

Nathan, Nick, Tatiana, Ben, and I went on a submarine ride! As we were waiting for our ferry to take us out to the sub, the kids had a little fun on the dock...

Nick with a dead, empty crab exoskeleton.

Nick putting it into his sister's face, I love her reaction. She isn't scared of things like that. Oh no, she has three brothers, but it did startle her. Nick thought it was pretty funny.

I think Ben is pretty excited to go on the submarine! This is something he has been talking about for months! Just look at the excitement in that little boy! He's going to burst!

On the ride out to the sub we saw dolphins! Lots of them, they were racing the boat.

There is the submarine!

Kinda crowded, but we are so excited to get going! DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

We actually went down 109 feet, but we were only there for a few seconds and I couldn't get my camera to take the picture, so you get this picture. How cool is that!

This photo is out of order, but that is Waikiki beach behind the children as they enjoy a windy ride out to the submarine.

As you go deeper, the sea water filters different colors of the sunlight. But the time you get past 90 feet, the only color getting through is blue. So everything has a blue hue.

Here is an American flag still hanging off of a ship! It is the "YO-257 and it sunk in 1996. It has become a home for hundreds of sea life.

Fish swimming around a sunken airplane.

My BLUE family!

This was sooo cool!

We even saw some shark sleeping on the ocean floor!

Time to resurface and continue on with this amazing vacation!

Waikiki Beach - Day 2

On our second day in Oahu we went to Waikiki Beach. We were going there because Nathan, Nick, Tatiana, Ben and I had reservations to go on a submarine! First we checked out the Waikiki Resort. They had some pretty cool animals there!


My little "beach BUFFS"

Our beautiful daughter.

Checking out the fish and turtles.

Then we played in the sand a little.


There is Waikiki Beach as we are riding away on our boat to the submarine.

Andrew with Grandma and Grandpa. Andrew was too small to go and Grandma and Grandpa graciously offered to stay with him.