Hawaii or burst

What would you do if your husband had a conference in Hawaii and you could go with him and only pay for one airfare and food?  Oh and let's just say you were 35 weeks pregnant.  Yeah, I would go too!

Our trip to Hawaii was incredible and we enjoyed a week without the kids thanks to Cody's sisters and mom.  It was a bit surreal to not have to take care of the kids.  We got to just talk to and be with each other.  We really enjoyed ourselves but I must say that I missed the kids.  I realized that watching them experience things and enjoy life makes my joy so much greater.

This was the view outside our hotel room.

Click on this pic to see the full panoramic view from hotel balcony

While Cody was at his conference I did a little sightseeing in downtown Waikiki, a block from our hotel.

Waikiki Beach and a view of Diamond Head only about 3 blocks from our hotel.

A pretty flower to show Eliza.

Saturday after Cody's conference we drove up to the North Shore through some beautiful rain showers and stopped at Aoki's shaved ice.

 It was a delicious, refreshing treat.

Sunset Beach.  It rained all afternoon and finally cleared up in the evening.

 We hoped to catch the sunset on Sunset Beach but it was too cloudy.

On Sunday we went to church at the Honolulu Tabernacle and got to sit in on the Honolulu Stake conference.  It was a great surprise.  I enjoyed listening to them pronounce all the Hawaiian names.  And we got to hear a beautiful special musical number made up of a piano, cello and violin.

After church Cody went to his conference.  That evening we went to Pali Point.  There were 2 long tunnels through the incredibly steep mountains.

 It was cloudy and rainy again.

Click on picture to see full panoramic view

 Then we drove over to the windward side and saw some beautiful beaches.

Monday morning we got up bright and early and went to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling.  Cody had a blast and I waded and floated in the crystal clear water keeping my distance from any fish.  I sort of have a phobia of swimming with fish in water.  But don't worry, I put on the snorkel and swam around for about 2 minutes and got my fill.

Cody says he saw a sea turtle sleeping in the bottom out past those big rocks.  He was so excited.

See that big open sandy area with no coral (and no fish) that's where I hung out.  We got there early enough that it wasn't crowded like it is in the picture below.   We took this picture as we were leaving and it was really starting to fill up.

 We drove back to the hotel and Cody went to his conference for the rest of the day.  That evening we drove up to the North Shore.  We saw a mermaid on this beach....

 And then we went to turtle beach and got to see to two sea turtles laying in the sand.

 The sunset from Turtle Beach.

 Tuesday morning we went to Pearl Harbor.

Then on to the Dole Plantation where we had a delicious lunch of kalua pork and for dessert pineapple whip.  It was a total tourist trap and so worth it.

Then we headed to Waimea Bay and laid in some shade for a while and ate our pineapple from the Dole Plantation.

 We saw a cool lizard with a big orange bubble that came out of his throat.

 We went and swam and Cody went snorkeling but didn't see much so we went to Shark's Cove just up the shore.

At Shark's Cove, Cody got to see and swim with a sea turtle and lots of other fish.  He was pretty giddy.

Wednesday we drove to Pali Point again and saw the view without the clouds.

 Then we stopped at the Valley of the Temple.

And then we made our way to Laie and stopped at the Laie Temple.

 Cody had to get a picture of me in my pregnant state in front of the relief of a woman with the word maternity.

 The temple looks out to the ocean.  So beautiful.

 Another flower to show Eliza.

We had lunch at this great burger place and then went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We got there just in time for the canoe presentation.

 We really enjoyed watching the dances and hearing them sing.  Next we took a canoe tour.  Our tour guide/canoe pusher was hilarious.  He was from Fiji and had this great accent and very clever jokes for everything.  At the end of the tour he said, "It has been a privilege pushing you around and talking behind your backs."  I guess you had to be there :)

 A cool palm fan tree thing.

Unfortunately it was really hot at the PCC and I got super nauseous and sick.  I really tried to stick it out and just sit in the shade but nothing made me feel better.  We went into the dining hall for our dinner and I almost threw up and passed out at the same time so we went back to the hotel and went to bed.  I felt so bad we missed dinner and the show.  The next morning I felt fine and we flew home without any troubles.

Looking back I probably would never travel that late in pregnancy again but I am so grateful I got to go and that everything was so incredible and fun.  We really enjoyed our time together and we offered truly sincere prayers of gratitude that we and the children were all safe and that everything went so incredibly well.  The whole trip felt like a gift from heaven.  Worry much?

P.S. Emilee failed to mention how on our direct flight from Phoenix to Honolulu we had to make an emergency landing in Las Vegas.  After we landed I thought Emilee was never going to get on another airplane again.  But some silent prayers and ice cream did the trick and we were back in the air after a 3 hour lay over.