Day 52: August 9, 2013

How did this summer go so fast? I remember planning for this over a year ago when Dan chose his rotations and thinking about how far away it was! Besides the summer I married my best friend, this was truly the greatest, most rewarding and adventurous summer of my life. I had so much time for myself and learned a lot about my self and my faith; I think my standards were also lowered by that Tripler hotel and the lizards and cockroaches that lived there! I was very sad to leave Hawaii and Dan and I'm still in denial but Dan and I are so blessed to have had this wonderful experience and it is one we will never forget. We'll always remember our summer of Happily Hawaii. Thank you God!

 Mom and Dad visited Pearl Harbor in them morning.

This is my lizard catching contraption. It was on our bed!!

Day 51: August 8, 2013

I spent the morning doing work and getting things ready to leave. I was going to stay in for the day and could not possibly pass up one last day at the beach. We laid at Waikiki at the hotel for the first time on the last day! I have to say it was pretty nice to not drive anywhere in the crazy traffic. Mom and Dad went on a sunset cruise around 5:30 and really enjoyed their experience.. gorgeous sunset and interesting companions!

Day 50: August 7, 2013

I was an only child today! Mom and Dad and I went to the windward side and did the Pillbox hike in Lanikai. LOVE this one! Of course we got some great pictures of the views. It was really cool to see a girl I graduated with at Duquesne on the hike. She looked so familiar and we started talking and remembered each other from classes. Small world! She moved here for her husband who is in the Marines. We went to a little strip mall in Kailua to get lunch before the beach; Dad got a steak sandwich from Peppers and Mom and I got salads from Aloha Salads. After lunch, we drove back to Lanikai, parked on the street and entered the beach at beach access # 5. I had went in # 3 last time, but I think #5 is better and has a larger beach area. This was our favorite beach! I really hope Dan can get to it before he leaves, because he has been talking about it since the beginning of summer and we just haven't made it there. We did some more snorkeling here and saw some really different pointy fish and really neat coral. We all enjoyed some relax time and then drove back to Waikiki.. I dropped them off at the hotel and went back to pick up Dan for dinner. We met Mom and Dad at The Yardhouse where they have over 100 beers on top and of course, Dad just got Miller Lite. After dinner we walked along the beach for our last date night :(

Day 49: August 6, 2013

North shore day! It became the norm to just sit in traffic every day, so we continued to the North Shore with the traffic to swim with the turtles. Great snorkel day because we got there early enough that the water wasn't kicked up. I think my Dad loved this the most.. he was like a fish! I got some great pictures of him with the big turtles. After a few hours with the turtles, we went to the food trucks. Mom and I ate at VJ's and got pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches, but Sarah and Dad got a fried fish combo plate. This wasn't my Dad's favorite.. "Rule of thumb: If you eat from a truck, it must be able to drive away. I thought I might eat a fried lizard." --Dad. We took Sarah to the airport and I dropped off my parents at their hotel so I could go back and do some work and laundry. Mom and Dad went to their luau tonight at the Hilton and LOVED it. They met some fun people and even saw some fireworks from the roof.

Day 48: August 5, 2013

This was probably our craziest day.. We literally drove to almost all directions of the island! Dad did not like the traffic at all. For the fourth time, I climbed Koko Head again with Mom and Sarah. Dad is not a huge fan of heights like that so he went to buy new sunglasses and get breakfast. They were really excited to see the view from the top, but I'm not so sure Sarah liked all those stairs. They did great! We met a lot of really nice people that we were hiking around.. my mom will talk to anyone!! It was awesome to meet a fellow Pittsburgher at the top who is stationed here in the Army. After the 1,048 stair hike up Koko Head, we ate lunch at Teddy's Burgers (military discount again!) and headed to Huanama Bay for snorkeling. I was pretty disappointed because the water was SO murky and you really couldn't see much at all. I definitely recommend going to the bay in the morning so that the water hasn't had many people in it to stir it up, because it was so much better the first time I went early in the morning. After lounging on the beach for a bit, we got our showers and got ready to go watch the sunset at the Ko'Olina Lagoons  and walk around the resorts there. But, HOLY MOLY! There was so much traffic.. It took over an hour to get there and we just made it in time for the sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking and so nice to walk through the Marriott and Disney Resort. I would totally stay there if we come back. After our walk, we had a reservation at Monkeypods and this was one of my favorite dinners on the island. Great atmosphere with a guitarist, outdoor seating, torches, and not crowded! We celebrated Mom and Dad's anniversary here with some anniversary chocolate pie!

Day 47: August 4, 2013

And we're off to hike again! Dan and I stayed at the Hilton with Sarah and my Mom and Dad. It was pretty cozy! I took them to the Maunawilli Falls hike, but totally forgot that it had been raining the past week so needless to say, it was EXTREMELY muddy! Sarah was not liking that part! I wanted them to be able to see the difference between the dry, mountain hikes with beautiful views and the rainforest type hikes.. They definitely got the experience. We drove to the Marine Corps Base beach afterwards to rent boogie boards and ride some waves. The waves were HUGE and the lifeguard warned us that he already had to save 3 people that day. Of course, we still went in and got tossed around quite a bit. We had one really scary wave that kind of ruined it all by knocking Sarah off her board and throwing her under the wave. Thankfully, Dan saved the day and rescued her though!

I was so excited for them to see the church I've been going to for the past two weeks. I can't explain it, but I just felt a really strong connection to God here and it was such an amazing church with beautiful music and sermons. They LOVED it! We wish we could bring the excitement with us back to the mainland churches.. I've never experienced any other church like it! After church, we stopped at Big Kahuna pizza for some personal pans. Military discount here!