That plan changed when my darling husband, who is known for his ability to peruse travel websites, came across a deal we just couldn't pass up. So we scrapped LA and said aloha once again to Hawaii.
After 4th period on Friday, we whisked away to LAX and rode a pretty awesome flight into O'ahu. We once again stayed at our anniversary night hotel in Waikiki: the Wyland. Saturday, we made our way up the windward side of the island visiting beaches and sights and Magnum P.I.'s "Robin's Estate" on the way along the coast. After seeing some awesome sights we headed to our condo on the other side of the island, through the inland highways. On Sunday, we rose early to get up to the famed North Shore and took a boat ride three miles off the coast. We were paying to swim with sharks. Usually it is TIm who gets sick on these boats, but this time he's proud for me to report that not only did he not get sick, but I threw up for once. I think it's the first time he's had to witness that. Usually fine, I believe the pregnancy finally increased my sensitivities enough to mandate a feeding of the sharks. (gross but funny) Okay, so after 20 minutes of violent rocking, we finally got into the cage and it was awesome. Initially, I was a little freaked out. I found myself thinking "Wait, I'm in the water with 20 sharks around, this isn't right" but I then recognized that I was a little weirded out and then I was fine. The sharks are very beautiful and sleek in the waters and I enjoyed our time. We spent about 15 minutes in the water, and we were rocking just as much in the cage as we were on the boat, so when our guide called that we had 3 minutes left, I didn't really mind. After the whole ordeal with being sick and swimming with sharks, I was exhausted. (Pregnancy is breaking my stamina!) We drove through a little North Shore town and had lunch and then headed back toward the windward side to see what we had missed beyond our highway turnoff the day before. After another long drive to the condo, we played around on our "private" beach. No beach in Hawaii is private, it's all public land, but no one comes to the area by the condo, so Tim dragged me in the water and took pictures using his anniversary gift: a 10.1 megapixel digital Olympus 1030 SW camera that is waterproof to 30 ft. and shockproof to 6 ft. He really loved using it, and that makes me very happy.
That night we watched some TV at the condo and baked cookies to share. Monday we just toured around the leeward side of the island and went south to a development called Ko Olina. Marriott has built some awesome vacation rentals in high rise towers and created some man made lagoons to cut the surf break, this resort has some awesome beaches: clean and equipped with cabanas. Again, since all beaches are public, we just waltzed right in and grabbed a cabana. The snorkeling wasn't that great and we were really hoping to see a sea turtle like on Hawaii, so we headed back up to Makaha and stopped at a suggested state beach. We were so blessed to see two sea turtles swimming and eating urchins in the open water. Some people there said they had seen dolphins, but we didn't see them until Tuesday. We had a blast, but the wave motion really left me tired. (Again, nothing slows me down like being pregnant-Tim is loving it.) We retreated to our condo for a while and then that night headed out to Roy's for dinner. Tim gave me pearl earrings as a gift and I was able to wear them to our special dinner. We shared pupus (appetizers) and I had the macadamia crustedMahi; Tim had Colorado lamb. We shared the signature chocolate souffle. We retired to our condo and crashed out. The next day we were delayed getting out of the condo because the owners ask guests to wash the linens. So we didn't get a chance to visit Pearl Harbor. It was also Veteran's Day, so I don't know how successful we could have been going to the historic site on such a day. We took it slow and climbed some rocks beside the condo, took a last stroll on the beach and then packed up. As we were passing our turtle snorkeling spot, we saw an enormous pod of dolphins breaking water just a few hundred yards out. Boats with snorkelers were running parallel to the pod and snorkelers were hoping in the water to intersect the pod. I would really like to swim with dolphins at some time, but the resorts cost $600 and the ocean is free, so we'll have to go back another year and give it a try. Unfortunately on the ride home we were separated. I tried to plea the, "It's my anniversary and I'm pregnant" ticket, but there were no takers...oh well, Tim and I battled it out over online trivia amongst 15 other plane riders and Tim beat my overall by 50 pts. I think it was due to the fact that he played 3 hours and I only played 2. =) Just kidding, he's a smarty pants. Good thing our baby's got so much going for her already. Tim's smart and gorgeous, plus he loves me madly and his heart is to glorify God. Thank you for the dash off to paradise love. No matter where we are, being with you is always the best gift to me.
Love, Lauren
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