Hawaii 2015 days 1 and 2

Pamela . She does not love to fly. But she did it!

Downtown Honolulu.

Views of our little room. Murphey bed, kitchenette, shower, window-mount air conditioner. Comfy sofa...a good thing since the bed was NOT.

Entertainers at the nearby shopping center.

Awww, it's little kids, too!

Gorgeous orchids in the shopping center.

And this great big tree, soaring up to the sky, right in the middle of fhe shoppjng mall.

We quite liked the fancy wooden tree benches.

below: The view from our balcony hallway. 4th floor, apartments right over the railings. Waikiki is PACKED.

Sunday, driving around Lanikai, I spotted this round house up on the hillside. And a bunker way above on the TOP of the hillside.

Bell from the Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

Pam in yellow.

The guy in wheel chair is WWII vet, accompanying on the launch and narrating his experiences and history of the Arizona. They always have WWII vets on hand at the memorial to visit with visitors.

I was  quite impressed with the size of the tanker/freighter in background.

Do we look enough like tourists?

Hawaii 2015 Ukulele lessons, Mighty Mo and Bowfin

The Wyndham Resort that Damian's family stayed at had occasional activities. Friday morning it was ukulele lessons, so we came over to watch.  Braeden is a natural and did very well!

The family also got a (shell ) lei greeting at the front desk. The folks were very helpful, provided pool/beach towels, and two fire drills!! One was on Saturday night/Sunday morning around 1 a.m. the second was Sunday afternoon/evening. Fire trucks and all. There actually was a fire in a restaurant in the neighboring building . The Wyndham has two towers. We did not have to evacuate, thankfully. I think we would have hauled all our luggage with, as we had to leave that evening for the airport, and what if we weren't allowed back in the building on time?! Poor kids were very cranky and tired on Sunday morning for sure after that rude awakening in the wee hours.

Friday afternoon we headed over to Pearl Harbor to the Memorial of Valor in the Pacific. Tickets were all gone for the Arizona, but we went to see the submarine Bowfin and the Missouri Battleship. Good stuff.

Below: In and On the submarine.

Approaching the "Mighty Mo"

Those are some hot and tired kiddos sitting in the shade, awaiting ticket purchase by Damian.

Tandy had the same reaction that I did of the statue of the kissing couple--she took a picture. I don't know where mine is. probably on my phone.

Tiny bunk rooms.

Click on the photo below, tilt your head, and read the poem below. It explains a lot.

Hawaii 2015 Surf Competition

Ella, Braeden and many other little ones (and some BIG ones) had some fun times digging and playing in the sand. B is wearing long white sleeves; E is in purple and pink toward the front. 

  The weather was gorgeous.

You cannot tell unless you zoom in, but this water is PACKED with people. Poor B couldn't even catch a wave because he was blocked by beginners or tourists and he was polite and let them have the right of way.

 This is Lexi, after her competition. The waves during her heat did not cooperate and she didn't catch ONE wave during her 15 minute time on the water. Oh well. She had fun catching some others just for fun, later on.

Tandy spent a LOT of time standing kn this rocky wall, taking photos of all the team members, both during practices and during the competition. We sat under umbrellas in the shade. ONE time, she and Damian took a dip together. Damian also spent time in the surf watching and helping the littler kids who weren't competing, but had taken lessons from Coach Jo. 

 Damian with Tandy, "official" photographer.

 Typical size of the waves the girls surfed on. Lexi did manage to catch a few on Day one, heat three. She did really well for being such a beginner. Day one of practice was quite harrowing and about did her in, but she kept at it and did okay.

 Yeah. The sun was hot.

Pamela, posing.

And that was the end of my camera battery! I  missed photographing most of the second day of competition because I forgot to charge my camera battery the night before.  It looked very similar to the previous day, only Mike and I actually got in the water that afternoon to cool off and enjoyed the sun and surf on Waikiki beach.
We came home on Sunday, June 7, arriving in Cedar City on Monday afternoon at 2 pm.  As of today (Wednesday, when I downloaded all these photos and more), Tandy and kids are STILL trying to get back to Guam.

Cool Bench

Playing Tourist

We  went to the Dole Plantation on Monday. On Sunday we missed church. We drove by the south shore and saw big waves on Saturday by the Blow Hole. We went to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial and Punchbowl on Sunday, too.  Tuesday,we watched Lexi surf, went grocery shopping, ate IN, switched Hotels and rooms (Pamela) and caused great concern for OUR hotel people who wondered just how many people we had staying in our room. (Two. Really and truly)