Christmas Day

We had a very relaxing day on Christmas.

This is my first Christmas without my family, so I thought i would be sad and emotional, but in Hawaii it doesn`t feel like Christmas, so I didnt feel like i was missing a thing! (Except for during the phone call with my family.)

We went to the beach, read our books, and had a wonderful dinner with our family.

 Merry Christmas!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful day

Polynesian Cultural Center

If you have never been to the Polynesian Cultural Center, you have to go!

It was so awesome!!

  You walk around to each village to learn more about and experience their way of life. 

 At every village there is a show & activity you can do put on by the natives 

There are 6 villages

Samoa

Tonga

Hawaii

Aotearoa

Fiji

Tahiti

Our favorite were the Samoa village

Making coconut milk

Climbing the palm tree

& Tonga village 

 Both of these shows were so funny

That night we went to a Luau

Mom and Dad

Trevor and Brittany

Kyle and Julia

We finally all got Lei'd in Hawaii ;)

The Maddux family, minus Bret

After the Luau we went to the BIG show called

Ha The Breath of Life

It's about this boy growing up and going to all the different villages and having different experiences in all of them.

It was really cool. We loved learning about the different lifestyles and the way people live in all of these villages .

So far, this is probably my favorite thing that we have done.

If you haven't gone, you need to plan a trip to go.

PEARL HARBOR & DOLE PLANTATION

On Sunday we started the day off by going to Pearl Harbor

We saw the USS Arizona Memorial.

We first watched a video on Pearl Harbor

I couldn't imagine being there when that happened.

So sad.

And then we took a boat out to see it.

.

The family, only missing Bret

We have always wanted to go to Pearl Harbor, so it was great to be able to finally learn more about it.

Next stop Dole Pineapple Plantation

This is something that everybody should do at least once
First, we went through the gardens

Then we took a little train ride to see the pineapple fields
Well, a small small portion of their pineapple fields.
Mr. Dole was a smart guy and made very wise decisions to get his company where it is now.

Those are the pineapple fields behind us

Who knew pineapples grew like this? Not us!!

My sweet sister-in-laws

Mr. Dole bought the whole island of Lana'i a long time ago, because he knew that pineapple would one day be huge and everyone would want it.
 Smart investment? I think so!

It's believed that Pineapple was first found in Paraguay. (Which is where Kyle served his mission) It was then brought to Mexico and from there was taken to Hawaii.

We were so glad to learn all the many new things that we did today.
We are so grateful for the people who serve and protect our country.
Thank you!
& we are also grateful for Mr. Dole

IOLANI PALACE

We spent our morning at Sunset Beach

 I couldn't believe how big the waves were

It was cool to watch the surfers

Later that afternoon we headed to Honolulu 

We went to the Iolani Palace and did the audio tour

It was interesting learning all about it and the things that went on inside of it.

This is the original staircase 

They would introduce royalty as the walked down it

The rest of the day consisted of gathering palm tree seeds for my father-in-law and enjoying dinner at a restaurant right on the ocean.

Kyle and I love spending time with our family and are having a blast!

HANAUMA BAY

Kyle and I got up on Friday morning and walked out to the beach

it was windy, but so pretty

Then we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

It was so beautiful there

We saw many different colored fish

and HUGE sea turtles

It was so fun to just swim right along with them, we were so close we could reach out and touch them

Later that afternoon we went to Honolulu and walked around

I had no idea Honolulu was so big, with so many sky scrapers

We enjoyed the International Market where we found some cute things for Monet

& funny post cards for family

Our day was ended with dinner at the Spaghetti Factory, which tasted so good!!

HAWAII

We are in Hawaii 

& having so much FUN!

We flew to Oahu on Wednesday and got in late that night. 

We are staying in a house in Laie.

WAIMEA VALLEY

Thursday we got up and went to Waimea Valley.

The weather was not so great, cloudy and rain off and on-even though its still warm, we wanted sun!!

It was fun to see the waterfall and all the beautiful botanical gardens

This pretty little guy was just hanging out

On the way home we stopped at a fruit stand, I got a coconut and got to drink from it- which I have never tasted. I love coconut, but it wasn't my favorite.

Kyle got his sugar cane, which he loved & I didnt think it was too bad.

A huge snail we found while walking out to the beach

I am learning so many things about Hawaii I didn't know, it's so interesting.
Even though it rained, Thursday was a good day.