Part II

Day #3 was Sunday.  We went to a local ward in Hauula for church.  Afterwards, we headed to the temple and visitors center with the family to look around.  What an amazing site!  The Laie Temple is gorgeous. 

Family group shot in front of the temple.

This is the view with your back to the temple.  This is the road that leads up to the temple.

My brother-in-law Russ, found us a sweet photographer in Hawaii that took our  family pictures later Sunday night.  It was so fun and pretty!  I loved seeing everyone in white and khaki.   We went to Sunset Beach for the pics.  It was once again, another breathtaking site. 

These first few are from our camera.

Here are some from the photographer...

This last one is our favorite!!  This was such a fun day!

Day #4 Monday: PCC

We all headed for McDonalds for breakfast...It was quite a task ordering for 29 people all at once.  I am pretty sure the workers wanted to cry when they saw us all walk in.  After breakfast we headed to the PCC (Polynesian Culture Center) for the day.

We had a really fun time there.  They had lots of cute shows from each Island.  They do a really good job re-creating island life from around Polynesia.  They also had a canoe parade, each canoe represented a different Island and the music and dancers there.  It was really cool. 

We went to the Luau for dinner.

These pineapple drinks were AMAZING!!  Fun day at PCC!!  Loved it! 

That night at the PCC we had front row tickets to the "Breath of Life" performance.  It was awesome to see all the dancers from the different South Pacific Islands and the fire show at the end.

Day #5 Tuesday: Turtle Beach and Waimea Bay

Susan, Cameron and me at Turtle Beach

Some of the cute kiddos playing on the beach.

Spence surfing on the rocks haha looking good babe!!

Ready to snorkel...I had never snorkeled before.  I loved it!  It is so cool to see all the fish.  I wish I would have seen a turtle while snorkeling at Turtle Beach..you would think it would not have been too hard given the name.

After snorkeling we did see a bunch of turtles  getting washed up by the waves.  It was sweet!!  They were huge and so cute.  They would poke their little heads up or  you would see their fins come up.  We didn't get a good picture of them.  Greg however, saw one snorkeling so this is off his camera.  Thanks Greg!

 

Awesome view at Turtle Beach

After the Beach we went for Shaved Ice.  Hawaii shaved ice is like a little piece of heaven in your mouth... amazing.  The ice is like snow.  They put yummy ice cream in the bottom, lots of shaved ice, your choice of 3 flavors, sweet and condensed milk then topped with whip cream.  Delicious.  I am pretty sure we had one almost every day!

Then we headed to Waimea Bay..those who choose jumped off the rock, I was content with taking  their pictures and videos.  Jumping off rocks really isn't my thing...

And maybe this is a good reason why it isn't haha.

Another picture I stole from Meggin's blog, the sign by the rock.

View of Waimea

After that a small group of us  went for a nice hike by the house.

Day #6 Wednesday : Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri

The top of the USS Arizona.  Crazy that there is still oil leaking out after 70 years.  1,177 lives were cut short only 337 were able to escape.  Overall 2,400 people were killed in the sneak attack.  Visiting Pearl Harbor is a must-do on Oahu.

The oil in the water

After Pearl Harbor a few of us headed for a huge swap meet.  I am totally a sucker when it comes to stuff like this.  I love finding cheap, fun and cute souvenirs/stuff.  I wish we could have stayed a tad longer.  I was happy we were able to go back the last day.  We got lots of fun stuff!

Day # 7 Thursday:  Not the best  day :(

My sweet husband got really sick at about 2 a.m.  He has these episodes, at least that is what I call them.  He has had a few of them, thankfully no really bad ones since we have been married.  Before we were married he had every test done to figure out what was causing them and they still don't know.  He gets really sick to his stomach, throws up super violently, passes out and gets so  dehydrated he has to go to the ER.  We were dressed and ready to take him to the ER but thanks to priesthood power, his dad and brother gave him a blessing and things calmed down.  He was able to fall back asleep.  He pretty much slept the whole next day!  I was just grateful he was starting to feel better that night.

It was relaxing to just sit around all day.  We went out to the beach later that night.  He even felt good enough for a kayak ride with his brother. 

Another post card sun rise that morning!

While I was at the house all day with Spence I decided to take some pictures of the inside of the house. 

The sweet view when you walk in. 

The massive jet tub in the master bedroom with 3 shower heads.

Spence coming out for some fresh air.

He was even feeling good enough for some shaved ice!

Spencer's cousin Doug and his wife Heather happened to be living a few houses down from our beach house.  They had just recently moved there and he is doing an internship at BYU Hawaii for 4 months.  These are their cute twins.  It was fun to see them and spend some time with them.

Day #8 Friday: Hanauma Bay 

Hanauma Bay was incredible.  It's a nature preserve so there are tons of  fish of many varieties.  Perfect place for snorkeling.  It was crazy how the fish were so close to the shore and right under your feet.

Ready to snorkel :)

Spence and his Dad out enjoying snorkeling.  His Dad is in the orange shirt.

Rosemary taking a little nap on the beach. 

We took a lot of video and pictures under water but they are all on Dwight's camera.  So these are some  photos from the  family.  Just to show you what we saw.

Greg and Emma saw this Shark!! Crazy, huh?

Taking she shuttle back to the top...well worth the $1.

Some of the sites we saw on the way home.

The rainbow we saw later that day back at the house.  That night all the adults did a session at the temple.  Doug, Heather and 2 college students watched all 16 kids.  It was so neat to be at the temple with all the adults in the Marchant family.  I loved it.   I love that we are all Marchant's and how funny it was when the temple workers asked us our last name and with so many of us.  :)

Day # 9 Saturday

We made another visit to McDonalds.  We made friends with  Ronald. 

We took one last picture at the house.  Packed all our stuff in the mini van, headed out for the day and the flight back home that night. 

First stop:  Dole Plantation

We had Dole whips..yummy!

Cute Miranda and Jenna enjoying their Dole Whips. 

We listened to a little presentation about pineapple from this lady. It was rather interesting.  We learned some interesting pineapple facts,  how to properly cut a pineapple  and when to know when they are ripe. 

We drove to Waikki.  I was happy we only drove there.  It was so crazy busy. 

We drove up to the Punchbowl Cemetery.  In ancient times Hawaiians buried their royalty here and also used it as a place of human sacrifice.  It was an incredibly moving place.  There are over 45,000 graves.  Up at the top are over 28,000 names carved into walls of those how were missing or lost at sea. 

The giant statue of Columbia holding a laurel branch.

That night before flying out we all ate at Ruby Tuesday's

At the airport.  Look at all that luggage!  We were all sad to leave.  I am usually always ready to come home from a trip especially after 9 days, but not this one.  We had so much fun! 

Greg "babysitting" while Susan was taking  the other kids to the bathroom. haha Sorry Greg I had to get a picture of it.

Day #10:

We spent that night flying home. We had a red eye flight and landed in SLC at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday afternoon.  Traveling definitely wears you out.  We were all so tired and ready to go to bed.  We got home, took a little nap, tried to watch in end of conference and unpacked.  We went out to my parents for dinner and had fun telling them all about Hawaii!

Our matching Hawaii hats we got at the swap meet.

It's hard to put in words to say thanks to Dwight and Rosemary for all they do and the sacrifices they made to take all 29 of us on this trip.  We are so grateful for the time we had there with the family.  It was so fun to have everyone there. It was for sure a once in a life time trip, with many memories that will last our lifetime!   THANKS again for everything, it was amazing!  We love you and Hawaii!