Vacation to Hawaii

We have not seen my mother since we moved to Japan last June so we decided to meet up in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.  She has always wanted to go to Hawaii and I will never turn down a tropical paradise.  At first we thought we would be able to take a hop from Yokota Air Base in Tokyo but the flights I was watching disappeared and I got nervous so I looked for cheap commercial flights.  We ended up dividing our trip between two airlines.  We took a flight from Misawa to Haneda Airport in Tokyo and spent the night there in a tiny business hotel. We had two rooms but the kids had to share one double bed.  Poor Bear was scooted out of the bed by her siblings.  

Japanese bikes are so cool.  We saw these cute moms in a park in Tokyo.

The next morning we took the train (and got a bit confused) back to Haneda.  We had a four-hour flight to Beijing, China.  Josh wants to go to China and is thinking that this is closest he might get.  They had us do a security check just for entering the country and they confiscated our lithium battery packs for our cell phones and tablets.  We felt a little violated.  We also bought a new carry-on bag because we were over the weight limit on some of our bags.  Every time we fly internationally we have had to buy a luggage piece.  I need to start a luggage fund because I never seem to be able to figure it out.  We had a 12-hour layover in China and we got to know Terminal 3 well.  We did homework, ate two meals, played on tablets, played hide and go seek, found the indoor play area, and walked on the moving walkways countless times.  Finally, at 11:30pm (12:30am Japan time) the kids fell asleep one by one on the benches.  And we still had two more hours to wait for our flight. 

Josh is pretending he is in China by standing next to the display in the Beijing airport.

Out for the count- 11:30pm (12:30 am Japan time)

The second one gives in- 12:00am (1:00am Japan time)

And Number 3 succumbs- 12:30am (1:30am Japan time). One hour to boarding

The flight was 9 hours long, all through the night.  When I booked the flight, the information said that we would arrive in Hawaii on 10/12, so the same day we left China.  This is because we cross the international date line.  So, I booked our hotel for 10/12.  Then when I received the flight itinerary, it listed that we would be arriving 10/13.  I was really confused by this but did not change the condo reservation for fear of losing my spot.  My mom’s flight was arriving on 10/13 as well so that is when I booked our rental car.  When we arrived in Hawaii, it was still 10/12 at 5:00pm, just as I originally thought.  My mom had not even left Utah yet!  Regardless of what day it was, we were happy to be arriving at our condo on Bellows Air Force Station.  

We were excited to see the beach so close to us.  Bellows has a white sand beach with gorgeous aqua water.  They have an ITT and Outdoor Rec called Turtle Cove.  We were able to rent chairs and boogie boards, my personal favorite thing to do at the beach.  Here are a few things I did that day:

When it was finally time to greet my mom at the air port, we had a happy reunion.  We gave her a candy lei which my kids promptly ate. 

Our first adventure together was to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We went on a train ride that took us around the plantation and it was fun to see what they grow there.  We learned about the history of the plantation as well.  We went into a beautiful garden and we walked through a maze to find 8 secret sections that represented eight Hawaiian Islands.  The highlight was getting the Dole Pineapple Whip.  So delicious!

I found a way to do yoga here too.  I found a Bird of Paradise.

Yummy Dole Whip

We drove to Haleiwa, an old surfing village in North Shore.  They have some fun boutique shops and the famous shaved ice shop, Matsumoto's.  I enjoyed seeing the Japanese influence in some of the flavoring, things that I would not have noticed before we lived in Japan.  Josh bought a cool Matsumotos shirt with Kanji lettering on it.

Two delicious treats in one day!

We took a trip though the rain forest at the Monoa Falls hike.  It was a lush, green forest area that never dries out.  Jurassic Park and Lost were filmed inside. It was a slippery hike but very beautiful and the waterfall was stunning.

We headed over to the Pearl Harbor memorial.  We were led through an automated tour of the museum and it made the experience more personal to hear the accounts of the tragedy that happened that day.  It was very sobering.  Unfortunately, we were not able to go on the USS Arizona Memorial due to high winds.  It overlooks the sunken tomb where so many lives were lost.  The wreckage is only eight feet down and part of the ship can be seen above the water.  We did motor around it on the ferry but we were all disappointed that we could not feel the full impact by looking into the water.  Bub really enjoyed the memorial.  He is interested in war books and often checks them out from the library.  He just recently read a Pearl Harbor book so he was looking forward to seeing the ships he had read about.  He and Josh went on the USS Bowfin submarine together as well.  I reminded the kids that Lake Ogawara by our home on base was a practice lake for Pearl Harbor.  I tried to impress upon them that the only reason we are living in Japan is because the United States won the Pacific Theater.  Sometimes I do not think that these facts were memorable to me as a child but I think it will be different for my kids. 

USS Missouri

USS Oklahoma Memorial

USS Utah Memorial- Josh was able to go to this site because he has a military ID, general public are not allowed on site

The Bowfin Submarine- "The Pearl Harbor Avenger"

The Bowfin Submarine

The Bowfin bell

The USS Arizona Memorial.  The black area just above the water is the turret of one of the guns on the ship.

USS Arizona Bell

The Tree of Life 

 We drove to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific to see the statue representing the grieving mother and the gravestones there.  It was a good compliment to the Pearl Harbor Memorials. The view of Waikiki was pretty amazing from the Punch Bowl.

We visited the Hawaii temple grounds and visitor center.  It is breathtaking, the white building, the blue sky, and the blue fountains around it.  The temple looks like a tropical paradise all on its own.  I just don’t know how anyone could be unhappy in this beautiful place.

We spent two days at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We had an Ambassador pass the first day so we went around with a group and a tour guide.  At the very beginning we met the members of our group by exchanging leis.  Pants was paired with a huge Maori man from New Zealand and when the tour guide said that we had to look out for and stick with our lei buddy, we noticed that Pants walked right by him.  It was funny and sweet to see our little blonde girl with such a tall, dark, giant of a man.  We got some good chuckles about this all day. 

Bubs and his lei buddy

Showing off our body art in Aotearora

Weaving craft in Samoa

Pants' lei buddy

Canoe pagent

Fuji

Tahiti

Hawaii

Josh got pulled on stage for the Tonga show.  He had to shake his hips, chant, and play the drums

Showing off our body art

Dancing in Tahiti

In the evening we attended the luau where we had some great food and enjoyed some performances of dancing and singing.  The day was ended with a show, Ha Breath of Life.  There was a loose story line but each country was highlighted with dance. The most memorable was the fire dancers at the end of the performance.  The kids all enjoyed seeing the ten performing spinning the two ended fire sticks. 

We found that we loved the North Shore.  We spent one day beach hopping.  We started at the Haleiwa Beach Park.  It was a bit of a rocky beach but it was in an enclosed area so there were minimal waves.  I like the waves but the kids had fun because they could really swim. 

The next beach area we went to was Shark’s Cove.  It is an area with dangerous undertow but they have an enclosed reef area where we could snorkel.  It was hard for Bub and Pants because they are not great swimmers and we needed to stay on the top of water looking down at the fish.  There were a lot of rocks and it was shallow in areas.  The rest of us just took turns being with the kids on the shore and going out.  I found it to be thrilling to swim around with the fish and there were a lot of them.  Bear and I followed a school of fish as they swam.  I saw a beautiful big blue fish and an angel fish.  I enjoyed my time immensely.

Lastly, we went to Waimea Beach Park.  Here the waves broke right on the shore and it dipped down quickly.  When we could get above the break, we just floated with the waves.  It was lovely!  We had our boogie boards and just stayed on and floated.  We got Bub and Pants to come out with us because they saw how we just rode the waves.  Pants even swam out a few times.  The trick was just to time it right.  At one point the fish were jumping all around us and hit Bear and Josh in the head a few times.  It was pretty funny because I thought they were lying at first until one hit me.  We played and floated until the sun sank below the ocean.  

We also enjoyed snorkeling in Hanauma Bay.  It is a natural protected reef for snorkeling.  Bear has grown into a great little swimmer and we discovered a lot of beautiful fish together.  Sometimes we were right on top of them as the reef is shallow.   We did have a tragedy though, Josh lost his Air Force ring in the reef.  He looked for it for a while in vain.  It was so sad!  On the way back to Bellows we stopped at the Halona Blowhole, a molten lava tube that sprays water 30 feet into the air. 

We went to the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse trail within the Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline.  This was on the dry side of the island, so we saw rocky beaches and cactus along the trail.  When we reached the top, we had a view of Makapu’u beach, Koko Head, the windward coast, and in the far distance, Molokai and Lanai neighboring islands.  

We visited the Iolani Palace. We learned about the monarchy and the eventual overthrow in 1893 by businessmen in Hawaii.  Queen Lili’uokalani was imprisoned in the palace while waiting for the US to give the power back to the monarchy.  This never happened, and it made me sad.  The building was lovely, and we enjoyed an audio tour to learn about the features and history while in the palace.  We saw the statue of King Kamehameha who originally united all the Hawai’ian islands under one rule.  We saw the Kawaiaha’o church, one of the first Christian churches to be built in the Islands.  We also went to Foster’s Botanical Gardens.  It is the oldest botanical garden in Hawaii started by Queen Kalama in 1853.  It was full of huge and unique trees that we had never seen before. 

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Hawaii eventually.  We had most of our last day to play at the beach by Bellows.  I really love, love, LOVE the white sand and beautiful aqua water there.  

Our flight back to Misawa was frustrating.  We took the first flight back to Beijing, and 11-hour flight.  At security we noticed that Pant’s tablet was gone.  I just lost it.  I was so tired, and I really hated China because both times we had things confiscated things as we went through security.  I went to information and asked if they could look for it.  We only had about an hour and half until our connecting flight and luckily, our flight was delayed.  They did have the tablet down in the lost in found.  An employee led me all over the airport toward the lost and found.  I had to be given a 72-hour visa even though I did not leave the airport.  We had to really hurry, and I was scared because I did not know how to talk to anyone and I did not know what they were saying as they cleared me.  When I got to Lost and Found and saw Pant’s tablet, I was so relieved.  I then had to go back through security again and made it back to my family just in time to board.  I tried to show my appreciation to the employee as best as I could without being able to speak to her.  It was a frantic, stressful dash through the airport.

            
The next flight was four hours from Beijing to Tokyo. When we got to Tokyo, we were told that there was a typhoon that was delaying flights.  We were delayed three hours there.  By now, the kids were so tired and sick of airports.  We were jet lagged because it was the middle of the morning in Hawaii.  We finally got on the plane and landed in Misawa around 9:00pm.  So, I have to remind myself that we either get cheap flights as we did in this case and deal with all this inconvenience, or we pay most of Josh's salary to fly across the ocean.  Regardless, I now have a happy place to go in my mind, the beautiful blue and white of the beaches in Hawaii.