are we done yet? Day 4 &5

I promise. Last post about our vacation. Even I am getting tired of posting about it! :)

So the 4th day was literally the best of the whole vacation. The conference was over, I got through to the Moss's (about the whole wrong day thing), no cell phones were ringing, no social engagements...it was just us. We were free to do what we wanted, and we did!

We slept in, no 7am breakfasts, and decided to go and get our tickets to the Polynesian Culture Center (or PCC). There is an office called ITT where we can get discounted tickets for military.

So we headed out to the base, that is near Pearl Harbor. We drove by the Arizona memorial and Pearl Harbor but we decided not to go. We had already packed in a lot and so if we ever go back, we will hit those two places.

Anyway, we got our tickets ( $17 discount on both, woohoo!) and than went inside their exchange and commissary. Holy cow! Their NEX was 3 stories and their commissary was ginormous. It made me very, very jealous! We picked up lunch and than started our drive out to the PCC. We stopped at a little rest stop on the water too eat lunch. Very peaceful.

I had heard two things about the PCC 1)it's very expensive 2) but it's worth the money. And I would have to say amen to both. However, it feels a lot better paying that money, when you know it is going to help pay someone's tuition instead of just going to some big company.

Anyway, we bought tickets that came with the night show, IMAX and a luau. First we went to all the different villages.I learned to weave with bannana leaves. The kids do this at school all the time but I had never tried it. We stopped and watched shows and watched a parade floating down the river. Each country that is represented their had dancers. Very neat to watch.

We took a tour and went over to BYU-Hawaii campus. I wanted to hit the bookstore and we found some great books and other fun stuff. We missed our tram back but a nice man let us in the back gate instead of making us walk all the way around. It helps to not look very intimidating!

It was almost time for our luau. Yummy food. I think Harm would have been upset to see the pig so it was probably good she wasn't there! We were sitting next to two elderly couples and they thought we were newlyweds. hah! We got our pictures taken and than did a little shopping before the night show.

If you have never seen a BYU dance production, well you are just missing out. It was very neat to watch. They didn't allow flash photography so that didn't make it easy. Instead I found myself recording a lot of it. I will put some of our fav videos on later.

After it was all done, I wanted to go and see the temple. Obviously it would be closed, but I just wanted to see it. We haven't been/seen a temple since we were in San Diego over a year ago. I went and snapped some pictures and than we were on our way back to the hotel.

Ben is tough and so he made us pack that night. OK he did most of the packing but he is good about fitting things in. It is a good thing we did it though because we didn't wake up until 9 the next day. We had planned to check out by 10.Oops.

We returned some stuff to Old Navy and headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed by an hour but no other problems. It's a long flight but without kids it seems much shorter. :)

I was sad about leaving Hawaii but ready to see the kids. So that is it. That was our trip in a not so small nutshell!

bored yet?

Luckily for all my loyal readers, day three was not that exciting! :) I am not even sure I took any pictures! We had the conference in the morning. The spouses (there was one husband) went to go listen to topics on IT and a presentation from the detailer. I think a lot of us took the opportunity to voice some complaints & concerns! After going over time, we had lunch and than Cindy and I went off to do more shopping.

This time we hit Old Navy, and Borders. Later there was a social hour at Tiki's. For those of us who don't drink, these social hours are not that exciting! So we made a quick exit, and headed to...Wal Mart. Yep we went back. (Becky I packed an extra suit case and Ben packed very light. Plus he is very good at stuffing bags!) And that was it. I started to not feel very well and by the end of the night I was still not feeling great. So I crashed!

Day 4: Last day of the conference! We had a chance to speak to an admiral (Ben said I can't be specific)and his wife about the challenges of being Navy spouses. The rest of the subjects weren't really of interest to me. Things like finding work and family stress etc.

After lunch and classes, I put the privacy please sign on the door and slept! Ben came back when he was done and we decided to go walk along the beach. It is such a packed beach. Tons of people out. So many surfers, that it was just fun to watch.

We came back and got ready to go to our friends, the Segalla's house for dinner. We had a great time catching up and spending time with them. They have 2 girls and I think Ben enjoyed "going back in time" a little. Harmony is just too old!

It was on this night that I realized that...I had given the Moss's (friends watching the kids) the wrong return date! The whole being a day behind thing threw me for a loop. Ben was the one that realized my mistake. I had told them Saturday but it was actually Sunday. I felt awful, ecspecially when I got the answering machine!

Vacation Day 2

Ok, so back to the vacation....

The conference started bright and early Tuesday morning. We didn't sleep very well at all, so being down to breakfast by 7 was not easy! I felt bad as people would come and talk to me and all I could do was yawn! :)

After a quick breakfast, with the yummiest pineapple ever, the conference began. The first day the spouses & military members met together. My friend Cindy has been gone all summer, so it was fun to catch up. The husbands didn't want us sitting next to each other because they figured we would just ignore them! But they let us sit by each other anyway. There were some very interesting speakers although I noticed Ben designing an entertainment center for us! So he couldn't have been too interested!

After lunch and a funny get to know you activity, the guys were heading back to the conference. When they were done, they were heading up to Diamond Head for PT (physical training). The wives were invited to go on the hike...but we decided to go shopping instead!!

We put the top down ( how fun was that) and went straight to Wal Mart. I was so giddy! I will not even tell you how much money I spent. Suffice it to say...it was a lot. I was so happy with all my good deals that the cashier told me she had never seen anyone so happy to shop at Wal Mart. So I had to explain to her I hadn't been there for over a year!

The trunk space in the car was not great, so we went to drop off our bags. The guys were just headed out to Diamond Head when we got there. So Cindy and I decided to stroll down the street by our hotel, and go into all the little shops. We loved going in and out and seeing all the crafts, jewlery, knick knacks etc. I dropped a pretty penny walking around there!

We went into a little market where the vendors were all trying to get us to buy things! We stayed strong and didn't although some things were very tempting! By this time the guys were back so we walked back to the hotel.

Ben was totally crashed out! They had run to Diamond Head, then hiked, and then ran back. Needless to say he was tired. After a little while we, along with Cindy and her husband Kirk, went to Cheesecake Factory.

The line was insanely long! I lost track of how long we stayed in it. We got some mean looks from Japanese people for saving spots on a bench. We finally got in though and ate. I had the Macadamian nut cheesecake, and holy cow Alishia, thanks for the recommendation!! It was soooo good. We were going to buy a whole one but they were all out of the size I wanted! Too bad. I am totally craving it now. Anyone know how to make one?

After eating we headed back to the hotel and decided to go and relax in the hot tub. It was really full, so we just went and swam in the pool for a little bit.

Ben is going to email his pics from Diamond Head and then I will post those.

We had planned to go and get a few things done today. But we are still worn out so the kids and I decided on a nice quiet day at home!

Day 1

OK, so I must still be on Hawaii time...because I am worn out. I have been doing laundry, cleaned the fridge, gone grocery shopping and emptied suitcases. So I worn myself out! I have a lot of friends & family who have been/are on vacation and are trying not to bore their readers with their vacations. But as this is my blog and serves as my journal...you have to deal with it. Although you can skip it if you want, I'll never know! :)

I dropped the kids off on Monday afternoon and went shopping! I had ordered clothes and they didn't make it in time. Ben came home from work and we got to go out to eat by ourselves. We enjoyed Chinese food without the kids running around the food court. Gotta love that! It was just the beginning of our taste of freedom!

The next morning we started out at 3:30 in the morning. I know, I know! Way too early! We were on the plane for a good 7 hours. It went by pretty fast though! The food wasn't bad either. By the time we got off, we were sooo tired. But it was only like 6:00. My first stop was the bathroom. Don't you love the sign? Ben was teasing me about taking a pic of a bathroom sign but I thought it was cute.

We went to pick up our rental car and I just sat with our luggage. We were walking to the car and as we walked past sports cars, I kept saying, "oh is this ours?" So Ben pulls up to a red convertible mustang and says how about this one? I just laughed...until he unlocked it. The car we had reserved had all been rented and so would we "settle" for this one at the same price? You betcha!!

We got a little lost finding our hotel but it was fun to drive around and look at all the shops and sites. The weather was PERFECT! No humidity, no sweat dripping down my back. So nice.

After finding the hotel and checking in, we decided to go and get dinner. We went to this cute little (expensive) restaraunt called Tiki's. They had tiki's all over the walls and tables. It was cute. I had guava glazed ribs that were totally delish! We also tried this banana butter. It was so yummy. (Julie or Wendy do you know what I am talking about?) After eating we were tired though! I did buy a few little things that night but...

So that is about it for day 1. Watch out for more updates!

I'm home...and I'm tired

My house looks like a tornado went through it! With around 9 (or more) bags that need to be unpacked, gifts that are everywhere, kids who don't want Mom to leave their sight, kids who are talking their Mom's ear off, no groceries, and a to do list that is a mile long...well I guess the vacation is officially over!

We had such an amazing time and I can't wait to sit and blog about it. Unfortunatley, the above mentioned items need to be taken care of! So for now I am going to work on that and I will try to update later this evening. I am posting just a couple of pics though....