Hawaii Day 1 & 2

I've always dreamed of going to Hawaii and I've been begging Matt since we were married. Matt was able to go for the first time in 2006 with a club he was a part of at BYU. His first time was while we were married and I stayed home. So needless to say I have been bugging him ever since. We finally decided that since I was graduating and we didn't really do anything big for our 5 year anniversary, we would go to Hawaii! We went for 8 days and spent 5 days on Oahu and 3 on Maui. We left Phoenix around 2pm and took a nonstop flight. It was a fun flight because everyone was really happy we were going to paradise! However, it was a 7 hour flight and I am not a lover of flying. The airline keeps you busy with movies and TV so it did go by pretty fast. We arrived at 5pm (Hawaii time) and took a shuttle to our hotel. Someone from the Phoenix Hyatt had called ahead and upgraded our room and asked that they stock our fridge with soda and leave fresh fruit out for us! It was really nice and we were so happy that we had an ocean view. For dinner we went to the hotel's very pricey restaurant and I had the best chowder! The waiter brought the bowl out and all it had in it were clams, shrimp, scallops and corn...I was a little confused as to how it was chowder. But then he brought out a tiny pitcher of cream and poured it over the seafood! SO GOOD. The rest of the food was equally delicious. It was probably our most expensive meal of the trip and we even got 50% off with Matt's discount! It was subway and BK for the next few days!

The next day we took the 1.5 hr bus ride over to Pearl Harbor. Matt was sure it would be really crowded since it was memorial weekend but it wasn't at all. They had recently opened new museums and had a new system to ride the boat over to see the Arizona so it wasn't crowded. It was really humbling to hear about the day that changed the war and hear the stories of those who lost their lives and all that were involved in the attack. I realized that Pearl Harbor was the 9/11 of the older generation and it helped me understand that event a little bit more. After Pearl Harbor we paid a taxi to take us back because we didn't want to sit on the bus for another 1.5 hours! Once we got back we decided it was time to hit the beach. The water is so beautiful in Hawaii. After swimming we were too tired to do anything else and we went to bed really early (3 hr time difference mind you)!

View from our room

I made Matt take this picture because he had the same picture taken when he was there 5 years ago! Well except it was taken on the opposite side. His facial expression sure has changed! I told him to smile or something and he said this is what he would really look like if he was firing the gun!!

Matt in 2006!

At the Arizona monument

You can still see the oil from the Arizona on the water.

Another view from the room!