A Stay-cation!

What a great time we've had! From attending my sister's graduation in Texas to having Blaine's family here with us in Hawaii, the past couple of weeks have been a blast...

We flew to Texas the first week of June to be at Cassandra's high school graduation. Although it was a short visit, we had a great time and were so happy to be there to celebrate her accomplishments...check out all of the cords and ribbons around her neck! We are so proud of her and know that she will continue to excel at Texas State University in the fall...yes, the alma mater of both of her sisters! :)

Blaine's family actually arrived in Hawaii the day before we returned, so we were greeted by very familiar faces when we got home! From the day they arrived until just hours before their flight back home, we made the MOST of their visit, squeezing in everything that we could. And we had SO MUCH FUN!

Soon after our plane landed, we took Blaine's family to Schooner's, a really neat restaurant on Pearl Harbor. It's run by the Navy base, so they have military prices instead of Hawaii prices. And we sure did appreciate those $3 Mai Tais after traveling for 10 hours!

The next day, while Blaine was working, we took a scenic drive around the Windward side of the island (my favorite drive) after eating at a cozy tea room in Honolulu. The gorgeous blue water and waves crashing on the rocks is just one of the many reasons I love this drive so much!

On Tuesday, Blaine was still working, so I took everyone to Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu. This was our backup plan, after we tried to visit the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor and there were no more tickets available. So glad we went to the palace, though, what a beautiful place! Before we moved here, I had no idea Hawaii was once a monarchy, ruled by a royal family until 1893. Captain Cook only discovered Hawaii two years after we signed our Declaration of Independence! I thought all of this in Hawaii had happened long before that. My favorite room in the palace was filled with the royal family's jewels and King Kamehameha's cape made entirely of yellow and red feathers. You'll see pictures of this cape all over the island when you come to visit ;) but it was really neat seeing the actual thing in person.

Just outside Iolani Palace, you'll find these amazing Banyan trees. The trees drop roots from their branches and the roots grow toward the ground, and eventually grow into the ground, expanding the size and width of the trees. So neat!

The next day, we tried to visit the Arizona memorial again, but it was closed due to high winds. So, we decided to check out the USS Bowfin submarine instead. I can't even imagine living in such a small place for months at a time. Check out where they load the torpedos!

On Thursday, we spent most of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. This place is incredible! It's run by the Mormon church and their profits support students coming from the Polynesian islands to attend Brigham Young University-Hawaii. In fact, most of the tour guides and employees are students of the university. Our tour guide was a native Tahitian who is studying English and plans to return to Tahiti to teach English. The center is made up of different villages, representing the islands of Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, Aotearoa, Tonga, and Samoa. Throughout the day, each village puts on shows and demonstrations. After visiting the villages, a luau dinner was served, followed by an amazing broadway-quality show!

A Samoan climbs a coconut tree to pick coconuts.

Blaine and Tim learn a Tahitian dance. You should really see the video! ;)

Kalua Pig at the luau dinner.

"Ha, Breath of Life" show after the luau.

On Friday, we had Blaine's promotion ceremony at the Officer's Club on base. There is an amazing space at the club available by reservation that sits in a tropical garden and overlooks Pearl Harbor. It was just perfect for us! His commander had wonderful things to say about him and everything was just so nice! We are so glad Blaine's family could be here for this celebration!

Blaine's mom and I pin on his Major leaves.

Reception area in the garden...the club did an EXCELLENT job setting up for this!

Food and drink tables at reception.

"Cupcake cake" for reception.

Celebrating Blaine's promotion with a beautiful sunset backdrop!

After the excitement surrounding the promotion ceremony was over, I was able to relax a bit :) and enjoy the rest of our family's visit. We headed up to our favorite spot, the North Shore, for Mary, Tim, and Lisa's last full day in Hawaii. We stopped at the Dole Plantation, hiked to a beautiful waterfall, snorkeled Shark's Cove, and had a yummy Thai dinner at Haleiwa Eats Thai! It was such an awesome day!!

Pineapple plants at Dole Plantation...how many of you knew pineapples grow like this???

An extra treat...we stopped at Turtle Beach in hopes of catching a glimpse of a sea turtle. To our delight, there were PLENTY of turtles out that day and we got to meet this guy up close and personal!

Waimea Falls...at the end of a gorgeous hike through botanical gardens.

Shark's Cove is a great snorkeling spot. This was Lisa and Tim's first snorkeling experience...had we known how much they were going to LOVE it, we would have done this at the beginning of the week and made time for much more snorkeling! They loved it so much that we woke up early the next day and snorkeled at Hanauma Bay just hours before their flight back home! :)

Hanauma Bay

It has been such an exciting couple of weeks...we loved seeing family in Texas and I also feel like WE have been on vacation here at home. We really learned more about Hawaii and found a deeper appreciation for the culture through this week's activities. We're super excited about all that we will be able to share with our next visitors...I hope you're getting excited, Matt and Rachel!! :)