Hawaii Trip 2010

The final day of the BAR exam Arista and I flew to Texas to meet up with Chris. After spending the night in Houston we left early the next morning on an 8 hour flight to Oahu, Hawaii.



We found this little kitty in the Houston Airport, and Arista loved playing with it on the flight.

In Texas we bought Arista this little toy steering wheel. She had a blast driving the plane and shifting the gear.

The flight went by rather quickly. We were able to watch 2 movies, have 2 meals, and Arista slept about 6 out of the 8 hours! Chris' parents picked us up at the airport and then we went to grab a quick bite to eat and then headed to Bellows Air Force base. We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo with Chris' sister Marissa and husband Chris. Chris' parents and brother and sister-in-law we in the one right next door. Our luggage was lost when we arrived, but luckily we brought a swimsuit in our carry on. We threw them on and headed to the beach, which was literally right outside the back door.

I have a huge fear of the ocean but the waves looked just like the ones from the wave pool at Roaring Springs waterpark, so I decided that I would go out there and jump in them. I was doing great, jumping through the waves until a massive one came. I thought that I would be able to stand and take it, and it totally rocked me. I was doing somersaults under the water, and the moment I came up I decided the ocean was not the place for me. So I spent most of my days working on my tan.

While I was in Idaho I made sure to get a good base tan before leaving for Hawaii, so I wouldn't get burned. Chris decided to go the first day without sunscreen...ouch! He was fried! His entire body has peeled numerous times, even his arms! It took him a good 4 days or so to recover from the horrible burn.

Arista was not a fan of the water at first.

We spent many many days soaking in the sun. Arista and her cousin Claire enjoyed playing in a little blow-up pool that Grandma Sue brought for them.



One day we went to Duke's Restaurant for dinner and to celebrate Curt's 27th birthday. We spent the night walking through shops at Waikiki. We went mini golfing one night at Bellows and Arista crawled for the first time on the golfing green. We were all so proud of her.



Were were able to go and see the Hawaii Temple while were were there one day, and it is BEAUTIFUL! It has been closed since 2008 for renovation, so we weren't able to go inside. We were able to watch a video about the Polynesian Culture center and the church, in the visitors center. It was neat to see how their visitors center is set up. After the temple we went snorkeling at Shark's Cove. It was my first time snorkeling and I was really nervous. I did great for about 20 minutes, then my mouth was hurting from biting so hard on the snorkle. We saw soo many neat looking fish, and Arista loved splashing in the water.



One of the days we went to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Arista loved the boat ride over to the memorial. It was neat to see all of the names, and the boat still leaking oil from so long ago. After Pearl Harbor we went and hiked the Diamond Head Volcano. There were many many stairs so Chad and Chris took turns carrying Arista up to the top. It was breathtakingly beautiful uptop. It was a steep hike, but totally worth it.



We had a great trip and were so glad we were able to have this opportunity to all be together. We spent our final days playing tennis, riding a crazy 4 person bike, and going shopping at Waikiki again.



Thank you to Chris' parents Chad and Sue for a wonderful trip. We were sad to leave and head back to the real world, but we are grateful for the photographs and memories we have. We wish our little Preslie could have been there with us, but she wasn't forgotten.