Hawaii - yeah baby!

Just got back from Paradise. We went to the North Shore of Oahu for five days with our neighbors, the Baileys. No kids. We spent every minute we could on the beaches, they are much less crowded on the North Shore. Our first day was apparantly the first day of any good waves, so the surfers rushed out to catch some. I still can't believe how perfect the sand, sky, water, and weather are there. The guys visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation on Thursday, then that night we went out to dinner with Nick's cousin Kami and her husband Ben, who live on the Military Base there. It was fun to visit with them:) ... and have some chocolate macadamia nut ice cream. On Friday, we spent more time on the beach, of course, then got cleaned up and headed down the east coast for a scenic drive to Honolulu. We stopped in Laie ("Mormon town" as our host, Gary, called it) and took pics at the Temple and Visitor's Center (for the LDS church) on the way. We had fun in the city, but were reminded why we chose to stay on the North Shore. The International Market was great! But, I saved all my pesos (dollars, of course, but Nick likes to use that term all the time) for the swap meet at Aloha Stadium on Saturday. It only cost a dollar to get in and BOY, was it worth it! Might be my favorite part of the trip! Bargaining for SWEET deals, enjoying the satisfaction of having saved money by waiting, but of course, this was all the cause of bickering over money expenditures up to this point (because I like to be in control and make SURE we get the best deal). I know, relax JEN! You're in Hawaii. But the way I see it, I waited until I'd seen EVERYTHING, then bought my favorites for the best prices. I think JEWELRY is what I bought the most of. I fell in love with all their shell earrings. ANYWAY, Saturday night, after saying goodbye to the beach, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, built by Missionaries from the LDS church, and run mostly by students at BYU-Hawaii. The different cultural regions were fun to explore, the guys played a spear tossing game, which Ty won, and then we ate at a Luau. Get this - we got to go FIRST through the line! "Lucky!" I know:) Then we watched the AWESOME night show "Horizons" which blew me away. They are so talented and cheerful. My favorite parts were the hula dance in the purple (and grass skirts) and the fire spinning. Sunday morning, we visited Pearl Harbor Memorial, then headed to the airport. We took a combined total of about 600 pictures. Here are a few favorites.