Helicopter ride and a luau

Devin and I got a slow start to the morning. We're taking it easy since it's one of our last days of vacation before it's back to work. We were up early enough to take pictures of the beautiful sunrise which only takes about 5 minutes in Hawaii. After that we were planning on heading to the beach but it started pouring outside. We finally got to meet Darcelle, the woman we are renting from, when we took out the recycling this morning. She has an adorable golden retriever rescue named Friday. Devin finished reading his book and I wrote postcards while we waited for the rain to let up. Then it was off to the post office. We also stopped by the Laie Hawaii Temple to take pictures and went to the visitor center where we learned a little bit about the temple. Devin and I thought it was going to be more of an ancient temple but it was a Mormon temple. While we were there we got a call from Josh saying they had some openings for a helicopter ride so we hurried over to the Turtle Bay Resort again. After a brief safely briefing we flying over the island. Devin and I were up front with the pilot and there was another couple in the back seat. We saw a 1,000 foot waterfall, where part of Jurassic Park was filmed, Diamond Head Crater, and flew over the stadium. You could see all of the coral reefs when we flew along the coast and our pilot said he had seen whales out on an earlier tour.

Earlier in the week we made reservations for the Paradise Cove Luau. When we got there both

Devin and I got leis made of shells and Mai Tais. The free drinks we got as part of our admission were probably some of the worst drinks I have ever consumed; that was some cheap, cheap alcohol. While we waited for dinner we participated in the different activities they had including making a fresh flower headband and anklet, practiced our fire knife skills (we weren't very good), watched someone climb a coconut tree who showered us with flower petals, throwing

spears (Devin did really well), and practiced the hula (only I did that). They had a demonstration where they showed us how they used nets to

harvest fish, we watched the Royal Court procession and the unearthing of the traditional underground-roasted pig and then it was time to eat. Devin said that the pork was the best food he had in Hawaii but I did not partake. While we

ate we watched the luau show. Twice I got to go onstage and dance with the Hawaiian dancers which was a lot of fun. My favorite part of the show was the Samoan fire knife dance. It was really impressive

to see how fast he could whip around the fireballs without getting hit with them. We were both completely exhausted after the luau and I fell asleep in the car while Devin drove home.

Waimea Valley and Turtle Bay

We enjoyed Kono's so much that we went back for breakfast this morning and it was delicious. I had the breakfast burrito this time. They also had the most amazing vanilla macadamia nut coffee. We spent the entire morning at Waimea Valley. They valley has a trail that leads to a waterfall with lots of botanical gardens and trails going through the different area. The valley also had some neat archeological sites and we got to see a fishing shrine and some remains of walls that once used to hold domestic animals. Some of the animals we saw included a really brightly colored lizard, peacocks, pigeons, some songbirds, and moorhens. The moorhens were my favorite because they are indigenous and they had baby chicks. Devin and I spent a lot of time looking at all of the different garden areas. I think we both liked the hibiscus garden and the bird of paradise garden. We reached the waterfall and there was a small pool at the base of the waterfall that you could go swimming in but sadly neither Devin or I had our bathing suits. I waded a bit while Devin took pictures. I almost went swimming in my clothes but there was a cool breeze and I would have been freezing afterwords.

Deb and Jodi, my Sea Scape Motel coworkers, bought us a Turtle Bay gift certificate for our wedding we we went to the Turtle Bay resort for the evening. First, we hit the beach. They had a really nice beach and the snorkeling was really good; we saw lots of fish including my favorite, the humuhumunukunukuapua'a, which I chased around a lot trying to get a good picture. There we also a lot of spiny urchins, including one that had

died and left a big pile of spines behind. I wanted to take a picture of it but after I went and got the

camera and swam back out I couldn't find it again. After we got tired we hit one of the restaurants which had a really nice view of the ocean. Devin and I tried out a couple of their specialty beverages and had dinner. I think any tropical location should have lots and lots of

rummy drinks including bahama mamas which they didn't but the drinks they did have were still very good. There were some stray cats wandering around including the most pathetic cat I have seen in my entire life. I asked on of the waitresses about him and she said that he has been at the resort forever, his name is Alien, and he was recently found in a hole after having been missing for a while. The sunset was beautiful and it felt very much like Hawaii with the tiki torches burning, surfers on the waves, and lovely sunset over the ocean.

Busy day south side

Devin and I tried to get an early start today but we didn't want to get out of bed. We were still out the door early enough to miss the atrocious Honolulu traffic and make it to Diamond Head before it got too hot. There was a definite path all the way up to the top of the mountain and it felt very touristy but it was still a really nice view at the peak. At the beginning of the trail I saw a mongoose run across the path and I got really excited but Devin didn't get to see it. After we hiked back down we headed to a Farmer's Market that we passed on the way to the trail. It was really neat to see lots of the local produce and we got to sample lots of different foods. We ended up buying some delicious dressing for macaroni salads and also a loaf of taro bread. We sat under some nearby trees and ate the entire loaf of bread before we headed over to the Waikiki Aquarium.

The Aquarium was fairly small but it still had a lot of different things to see. My favorites were the jellyfish, seeing the humuhumunukunukuapua'a swimming around, and the Hawaiian monk seals.

After the aquarium we drove over to Pearl Harbor to visit the USS

Arizona Memorial. We had some time before our tour so we walked through the Pear Harbor museums. It had displays and videos from survivors and veterans that were there when Pearl Harbor was attacked. It was really, really depressing to see and I can't believe how horrible people can be to one another.

The day went by way too fast and we made it to Hanauma Bay about an hour before closing time. Because we got there so late we didn't have to pay for parking. The snorkeling there was good and we saw lots of butterfly fish, trigger fish, and parrot fish.

Devin and I were both exhausted and I fell asleep in the car on the way home. Devin stopped at Surfin Tacos to pick up some dinner on the way home and we ate and went to sleep.

Dole plantation and letterboxing

Today we headed to the historical town of Haleiwa to do some letterboxing. We didn't find the first two stamps but we did find the third. Lucky for us it was right by the Matsumoto Grocery Store which has amazing shaved ice. Devin and I split a pineapple, papaya, and another flavor shaved ice. I wish we had had time to go back on one of the other days to get some more shaved ice.

After we were done eating our shaved ice we headed to the Dole Plantation. We wandered around the gardens for a little bit and looked at the different pineapples. There are a lot of different varieties of pineapple.

They also had a koi pond that a heron was eying optimistically. Then we entered the three acre botanical maze. In the maze there were eight stations you had to find with different stencils. After about an hour and some assistance from our fellow maze wanderers we found all eight. We were planning on eating at the Dole Plantation but they didn't have any good vegetarian options so we just drove in the direction of home and hoped to find something. Lucky for us we found a cheap and

amazingly delicious little restaurant in the North Shore Marketplace called Kono's. Both Devin and my meals were amazing and the staff there were really nice.

Almost as soon as we got back to our vacation house Devin fell asleep. We has been out in the sun for a long time while we were trying to figure out the maze and I think it tuckered him out. I read some more of my Hawaiian myths book and then headed to bed as well.

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time

After an adventure filled day yesterday, we took today to do nothing. We ate breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe an then went back to sleep, listened to the waves, and read until noon. We drove over to Kualoa Regional Beach Park to relax and see Chinaman's Hat (aka Molokii). The island was formed when Hi'iaka, the goddess of lightning, fought and slayed Mokoli'i, the Mo'o dragon, and when she threw is dismembered tail away it landed in the ocean and became this island. I went snorkeling and Devin read on the beach and w
atched me to make sure I didn't drown. The water was a little stirred up but I saw some nice groups of coral and lots of different types of fish including bullethead parrotfish, sergeant majors, whitespotted toby, brown surgeonfish, foot long yellowstripe goatfish, and others that I haven't figured out what they are yet. We ate a picnic lunch of PB&Js on the beach and then headed out to do some shopping. I wanted a book on Hawaiian folklore so we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and hit the gift shops where I found Hawaiian Myths of the Earth, Sea, and Sky. We also stopped to look at some roadside vendors who had tiki carvings, jewelery, and woven hats and purses. When we got back to the vacation house we sat outside and read and when it got cooler outside we went in and Devin made us grilled cheese and spaghettios for dinner. We watched the first part of Blue Crush, a movie filmed in Hawaii, but the DVD skipped so I went to bed and Devin read some more.

Waterfall hike and sailboat ride

Devin and I are still adjusting to the time change and so we were up before the sun today. We ate leftovers from the Hukilau Cafe for breakfast and spent the early morning hours looking through and enjoying all of the pictures from the wedding that people have posted.

The tour bus picked us up at the Hilton in Waikiki and we joined 7 other passengers and our tour guide Brian. He told us a little about Hawaiian history as we drove to Pali Lookout. The lookout is

over a 985 foot cliff and is where King Kamehameha and his warriors defeated the O'ahu in 1795 by driving them over the cliffs, thereby, uniting the Hawaiian islands. We took pictures of the wonderful view and then boarded the bus again to drive to our hiking spot. We hiked through the rainforest of the Koolau Mountain Range on our way to the Likeke Waterfall. One of the first things we got to do was swing on a vine Tarzan style which was one of my favorite parts. On our hike we saw kukui

nuts, hala trees, sword ferns, holly, orchids, hau trees, birds nest ferns, African tulip trees, chickens, and a noisy bird called a white-rumped shama. Sadly, most of the plants and animals we saw are invasive, but the are still very beautiful. We also saw a old water tower (used for the golf course) that was used in the TV show Lost for the Dharma initiative research station. On the way back to the hotel we drove through downtown Honolulu and we saw the Iolani Palace which is the only palace in the US, a statue of Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani who was the last reigning monarch in Hawaii, and the Hawaii Convention Center which was also used in the filming of Lost.

After we returned from our hike we ate lunch at a Chinese Buffet which was delicious and I ate way to much. It was a busy day for us because right after that we headed to the Marina to meet Tom who is captain of the Ishi, a 55 foot sailboat. He works for the University of Hawaii doing research as well as doing eco tours. We waited on the boat for a while for a friend of his to join us and he showed me a couple of chords

on the Ukulele and played a couple of songs. After we left, almost as soon as we were in open water, we saw a pod of humpback whales. This is the first time I have ever seen whales in the wild. We kept sailing until we reached Turtle Bay. The water was about 20 - 25 feet deep and fairly clear. We jumped into the water to go snorkeling and saw schools of trigger fish, yellow tang, other tropical fish, but best of all sea turtles! I dove down to take a closer look and they just looked at me not concerned at all about my presence. After getting out of the water I was cold so I curled up and took a nap (it was also about 11pm Florida time). Devin did some fishing but didn't catch anything. We stayed on the boat listening to Tom play the ukulele and watched the sun set which was beautiful. Then we headed back in to the marina. Tom had some great recommendations for places to go in Waikiki but Devin and I were both exhausted so we drove straight home and went to bed.

Scavenger hunt and Shark's Cove

We woke up around 2:00am because we're still on Florida time so we took some time to update Facebook (very important of course) and check out what we were going to be doing for the week. We started with breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe (not the same as the one in 50 First Dates but they did have the movie poster hung up and Drew Barymore's autograph on a picture from the movie). We met another couple there from Salt Lake City that told us the food was really good and it was. Devin had the LocoMoco which was featrured in the 2009 Food Network magazine as best in Hawaii. Both of our breakfasts were very good. After breakfast we went to the grocery store to pick up PB&J supplies and some other food for the trip. We dropped the food off at our vacation house and then spent some time exploring the beach in front of where we are staying. There isn't a sandy beach but there are lots of rocks that form small tidal pools. We found sea glass and some shells among the rocks and tons of different animals in the water. There were camouflaged gobies, other small fish, a couple of types of crabs and hermit crabs, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and something with an eel-like tail that was hiding under a rock. I had lots of fun taking pictures of everything.

Then we headed out to the Turtle Bay Resort were my friends

from the Sea Scape, Deb and Jodi, set up a scavenger hunt for us. We found Pete, the valet, and told him "Blondi sent us", had him talk pigeon for us, took a picture with him, and he directed us over to the concierge desk. The concierge had a envelope for us with two candy leis and a gift

certificate for us. We then headed over to the helicopter tours to say hi to Deb's friend Josh and chatted with him and played with his super cute puppy.

Then it was off to the beach for some swimming at Shark's Cove at Pupukea Beach Park. The water was a little rough so we only went in the shallow area but we saw lots of fish including a 3 foot trumpet fish, wrasse, and the Hawaiian state fish, humuhumunukunukuapuaa. We also saw spiny sea urchins, coral, and crabs. We had PB&Js on the beach and then we headed to Walmart to pickup some things we forgot to bring. We went back to our vacation house and fell asleep before even having dinner.

Come to Hawaii with me

The morning after our wedding we left the Port D' Hiver for Hawaii. Unfortunately we left a little late and in our sleep deprived state we also forgot a bag at the hotel so we had to go back and get it resulting in us switching to a later flight. It was a loooooooooong day of travel. We had a two and a half hour flight to Dallas, TX with an hour long layover. We told the flight attendant on our first flight that we were on our honeymoon and she gave us free chocolate chip cookies. :) The upside to travelling through Texas is that Devin got to get some really good BBQ and I had some delicious macaroni and cheese. Our next flight was eight hours long. Both Devin and I slept through bits and pieces, only to wake up and find that we still had a really long way to go. The second in flight movie was Fantastic Mr. Fox, which despite having an all star cast was really, really bad. We spent part of the trip playing Uno. After a long day we finally started to fly over the Hawaiian islands and we landed in Honolulu. The airport there was really nice and had a beautiful outside garden. We headed to National car rental to pick up our car and they upgraded us to a Mustang convertible for our honeymoon (Devin is very excited about this). We drove an hour to get to our vacation house and stopped at the Crouching Lion to eat along the way. The food was very yummy but we were excited to see our place and get some sleep. We crashed as soon as we unloaded all of our stuff.

Somebody's getting married...

I didn't sleep well the night before the wedding. I got up and took a blanket and pillow outside at one point and tried to get some sleep in one of the beach chairs listening to the waves but I was just too wound up (for obvious reason). I also realized that I forgot to bring deodorant and a razor to the Sea Scape; two things I would really like to have on my wedding day. As soon as other people started getting up I had my mom run to the store and pick up the things I forgot. I got all showered, ate a tiny bit of breakfast, and then Melanie started on my hair. It was nice being in the oceanfront room with the door open because I could see family as they were wandering around and waiting for things to get started. The first super stressful even of the morning was that the photographer showed up late and so wasn't there for me to go over the pictures I wanted (NEVER use ThePros.com for your photography!) and to get the pictures of the guys getting ready. Luckily my grandma was there taking photos. After I got my dress on I hid in the bathroom and Devin came to visit me so I could talk to him before the wedding without him seeing me. My dad helped me put on my jewelry, Melanie finished my makeup and then we went outside and the photographer took some pictures. Then it was off to Paradise Beach for the wedding.

As soon as we started walking up to the pavilion I could see all of the lanterns hanging and all of the tables set up. It was so perfect

that I already was starting to tear up. My bridesmaids and I made a trip to the bathroom where we made some dress adjustments and then we headed back to the

pavilion to wait until it was time to start down the aisle. While we were waiting I sang "5 Little Ducks" to try to keep me from tearing up and so I could get through the ceremony without sobbing. Then it was time for everybody to walk down the aisle. I realized that when you're the bride you don't get to see everybody walking down the aisle and that's normally one of my favorite parts to watch. I walked down

the aisle with my daddy and mommy and we all made it down the beach. I gave a pinwheel (instead of a flower) to my

parents and Devin's parents.

There ceremony went by way to quickly but my favorite part was looking at Devin during the ceremony and seeing him cry (which he never does). My other favorite part is when Tuba and Dustin played and sang "I Want to Grow Old with You". I've always been going to my friends concerts and gigs and it was awesome that I got to bring it into my wedding. I was very happy when I finally got to kiss Devin. After the ceremony was over we walked past our family and I was so happy to hug all of our wedding party while we waited to take pictures. We took pictures on the beach and then we went to the playground and took some more pictures. We got a picture of everyone eating shaved ice which was delicious.

After pictures we joined all of our family and friends at the reception. The food was good and I

especially liked the chocolate fountain. When it was time for cake we called everyone over and then realized that we didn't know where the cake cutter was (which was from my parent's wedding) and Ericka quickly tied some purple ribbon onto a plastic knife. Devin and I pretended to take big bites of the cake while we were waiting for a cutter. The cake was incredibly delicious and Heather did a wonderful job. After cake Devin and I had our first dance as husband and wife. I had wanted to choreograph it but just never had the time and so the night before the wedding I came up with some simple dance moves for Devin and I to do to the chorus so we weren't just

swaying back and forth the entire time.Then I got to dance with my daddy which made both of us cry, then I watched Devin and his mommy dance, and we had one couples dance but there wasn't really any dancing other than that. I realized afterwords that while I spent many, many hours planning the ceremony I never really

planned out the reception, like who was going to announce things and when were we doing everything. The bouquet/garter toss was a lot of fun. Julie caught my bouquet and Scott caught the garter.

We left in the convertible that Devin got for us and came back in our bathing suits. We spent some time down at the beach with everyone while my amazing Maid of Honor, Sarah, and family coordinated getting the pavilion cleaned up. We even went swimming for a little bit although it was cold when we got out of the water. Devin and I headed out pretty early to head to our hotel room because we had to head out early in the morning for Hawaii. When we got the the hotel there were fabric flower petals (leftover from the bouquets) scattered around the room as well as champagne and strawberries. Devin and I were exhausted so we got some pizza at Bizarros and then looked at the full moon.

Now Devin is officially my legally declared heterosexual life partner (aka husband).