Day Two - Pearl Harbor - MJ

Literally, yesterday, as I was walking onto the airplane, I was trying to secure tickets to the USS Arizona at an early time.  The tickets for the next day are released at 7:00 A.M. Hawaii time which meant 1:00 EST.  Ugh.  I was frantically typing so that I could get the 8:00 A.M. tour for 8 people. Luckily we were able to reserve 8 of the 70 tickets released for 8:00.  Whew.

At Pearl Harbor we saw a 20 minute film about the attack, what came before, and what came after. The footage that they were able to get was amazing - footage of both the Americans and the Japanese.  While on the USS Arizona Memorial, I was haunted by the idea that 900 men are still submerged in the ship.  You can see very little of the ship, but the white buoys mark its length.  The whole experience was very moving and very humbling.

Later in the afternoon we decided to go to the beach outside the hotel.  The beach is very narrow and the water is a little rough.  In addition the floor of the ocean has tons of rocks of all sizes that move around and sometimes bang into you.  This was quite a different beach experience.  The kids did not seem to mind as they jumped right in as usual.  We rented Luke a boogie board which he played with for almost two hours.  I love watching him play with the boogie board in the ocean.  It's clear to see that it brings him such joy.

For a late dinner we went to Eggs 'n Things which served really great breakfast.  Everyone agreed that it was delicious.  Luke didn't quite make it, though.  After eating most of his dinner, he fell asleep with sunglasses on.  I guess he was really trying to hide the fact that he was sleeping.  Nice try, buddy.  We totally busted him and took many pictures.   Everyone was asleep by 10:30.  Jet lag is rough.

Day One - Getting to Hawaii - MJ

3:45 A.M. is really early.  We climbed into the Rapid Rover and picked up another Medford Lakes family to go to the airport.  Really?  Someone else had to leave at this crazy time?  The day was long already when we finally boarded the plane at 1:00 P.M. in Washington D.C. to go to Honolulu.  Scott and Lara had done some finagling and the adults sat in a section with more leg room - away from the kids.  Hmmm.  This was a very interesting way to travel.  Everyone on the plane had a screen in front of him/her to watch TV shows or movies.  I got to pick my own movies, totally disregarding anyone else's opinion.  I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding Part 2 and Bridge of Spies.  When I was done those movies, we still had a long way to travel.  If the map on the screen is to scale, then the trip from Washington to California is the same distance as the trip from California to Hawaii.  Holy cow.

Finally we made it to Hawaii.  After traveling to the hotel, we fell into seats at the registration desk.  We were greeted with warm smiles, kind words, cold towels, and juice drinks.  We were upgraded from "city view" to "garden view."  This meant that our room (on the second floor - perfect) looked over the pool (perfect) and the nightly entertainment (perfect).  This is the only floor that the balconies are really patios that connect together with a walkway.  We could simply walk two rooms over and visit the Webbs from the front door or the back door.  Although the day was crazy long, the hotel in Oahu seems terrific.  It's going to be a wonderful stay.

ATV Movie Tour Plan - Luke

Today, we will be taking a movie tour on ATVs. We will ride on ATVs, and drive through places where movies were filmed. We will also see some things that have been in movies. Unfortunately I will not be able to drive the ATVs, but it will still be fun.

Timeshare Presentation - Luke

Today, all the adults went to a timeshare presentation to get free stuff for us. The timeshare presentation was 2 hours long (10:30-12:30). Each family got a different sales representative. My parents saleswoman caught my dad starting to fall asleep. While they were doing this, all the kids enjoyed ourselves at the pool. When they finally came back, they had necklaces made of seashells and no plans of buying a timeshare.

Beach #2 - Luke

Today we went to another beach. We stopped at Target on the way there to get boogie-boards and floats for the beach. It was a 45 minute drive to the beach, but it was worth it. The water was clear and refreshing. There were light waves and soft sand. I got many photos and videos that will be on the Videos and Photos page of the blog. That's it.

Diamond Head Mountaineering - Luke

Today we went to a mountain called Diamond Head. It took us awhile to get up. We went through multiple tunnels, and 4 flights of stairs. Finally when we reached the top, it was worth it. There was an amazing view.

As you can see, there is a platform on the left/middle part of the picture. We met a guy named Richard. He had gone onto the platform many times. He took all the kids out onto the platform. We had to go on the narrow path to get to the platform. We got many pictures from on the platform.

We later learned that Richard's son works for the White House. Also, his daughter works for Google, my dream job. Richard is also an author and a real estate agent. That was all of our adventure.

Day Two - Jake

If you haven't read my blog posts from previous trips, all you need to know is I'm not the biggest fan of the historical landmarks.  One day, I will appreciate them and wish I could go back and revisit, but for now they aren't my cup of tea.  Pearl Harbor changed my view slightly. Seeing the ship and oil still coming out of it years after, you can't fathom to think that there are a thousand bodies underneath you in the ship.  I was sleepy the whole day, so I sleepily went to the beach to swim and came back to more rest. Overall, it was a better day than I expected.

Day One - Jake

Today we traveled.  A lot.  From 3AM to 12AM (eastern time) we were on our adventure to Hawaii. This made for quite an exhausting day.  Our plane was just called and I drowsily ran to stop at the restroom one more time before we started our 10 hour flight.  Jogging, I turned the corner and almost ran into the cleaning guy. We both made eye contact, and then he started to laugh.  Here I am just wanting to go to the bathroom and this guy is laughing at me. Then he says, "Bro, that would've been tragic." and I got even more confused. When he walked away I finally put the pieces together. I kindly stepped out of the ladies room I had just accidentally walked into and entered the right bathroom to do my business. I made it back and enjoyed the whole flight.  As we landed and I turned my phone off from airplane mode, it recognized where we were and clocked my phone back seven hours. It went from the middle of the night to around dinner time. I still haven't adjusted to the time difference. 9:00 I gave up and went to sleep.

The Beach - Luke

Yesterday, we took a trip to the beach. All we had to do was go out the back door and it led straight to the beach. When we got to the beach we noticed that under the water there was a lot of rocks, and the water was very shallow. You could stand far out, but you would sink in the rocks. We rented a boogie board, but it was hard to boogie board because the waves crashed to late. However, Jake and I enjoyed sitting where the waves crashed. You would get pulled back in and pushed out. That was all.

Pearl Harbor - Luke

Pearl Harbor was not one of the most exciting thing, but it was cool. First, we went to the visitor center complex to get our reserved tickets. Then, we went to watch a 23 minute movie explaining Pearl Harbor. Next, we got on a small boat to go to the USS Arizona memorial. I got this photo of the memorial.

At the memorial, we were in the white building, and we looked at pieces of the USS Arizona. You can see a brown thing in this picture. That was a piece of the USS Arizona. Well, that was it.

Early Morning - Luke

Good morning, everyone! It's 6:25 here, but 12:45 EST. All the posts are posted in EST, but we of course are 6 hours behind EST. This morning, everyone in my family was awake at 4:00 Hawaiian Time. We decided to put on Big Brother, so we watched last night's episode. Everyone in my family ran except for me. We're now getting ready to go to Pearl Harbor. We leave at 6:45 AM for our 8:00 AM tickets. Woo-hoo!

Outrigger Reef - Luke

 After landing, we drove a really nice rental car to the hotel. The hotel looks like this.

Upon arriving, we went straight to the pool. There was a restaurant right next to the pool. Next, we saw there were 2 hot tubs in addition to the pool. The pool is very deep (3 meters and 9 feet). Then, we walked out the back, and onto the beach. We will go there tomorrow. I then went to check in, where the lady there gave me a wet towel for my face and an orange mango drink. We went to the restaurant near the pool for dinner, an then we went for a night swim. We're all about to go to bed.

The Plane - Luke

We just landed in Hawaii and we are at the hotel. The plane we took was a Boeing 767-400. Those things are HUGE.

The seats were set up as 2, 3, 2, and on each seat, there was a blanket and a pillow. Also, a mini TV was placed in front of every seat. On the TV, there were movies, TV shows, games, and music. I enjoyed playing the games because you could play against other people on the plane. For the first 40 minutes of the plane ride, my screen was frozen. Eventually, I moved to another seat. With my new seat, I watched Batman vs. Superman, Zootopia, and Superstore. The plane landed at 4:55 Hawaiian Time.

Fun in IAD - Luke

We are in IAD right now! We landed here at 7:04, and we will leave for Hawaii at 1:00. Right now we're killing time by playing many games. I would always get eliminated first from the games. We are about to go eat lunch with our $80 credit for food here. Our plane will be rolling up around 11:30. We're ready!

Packing & Plane Problems - Luke

We just finished packing, and we are finally ready to go. We just learned that our plane from DC (IAD) to Hawaii (HNL) has been delayed due to awaiting aircraft. Now we will leave IAD at 1:00 instead of 8:55. That means that we will arrive in Hawaii at 5:05 Hawaiian Time. Hawaii is 6 hours behind us. There will be 2 posts tomorrow, when we're in IAD, and when we're in Hawaii.