Days 6, 7, 8

OK, I think it's about time to wrap this up...

Scot just took Ava to a Guard friend's house (they have a daugher who is a few weeks older than Ava). I'm thankful for the break. We went to Wausau for the weekend and it was a lot of fun, but exhausting.

Day 6 - July 24
We grabbed coffee and donuts from the hotel and headed out to Diamondhead mountain a little after 7am. We wanted to get an early start because it is a fairly grueling climb so it's advised to go then when it's less busy and not as hot. This is a picture of the sunrise from our hotel balcony. It was the only day where there wasn't haze over the mountains - you can see the mountain line clearly here.


Most of the path was semi-paved and then there were over 100 steps at the end to get to the very top. I had to take quite a few breaks so my heart rate didn't get too high (I probably would have had to stop often even if I wasn't pregnant, but it was nice to use that as an excuse).


It was all worthwhile once we got to the top, though - the views were incredible.

(So happy to finally be at the top)


After our hike (which took about 1 1/2 hours roundtrip), we tried to stop at Hanauma Bay to snorkle, but it was already full at around 9am, so we continued on to another beach to look around, and then we headed back to the hotel.


Showered, had lunch, and then lazed around on the beach and at the hotel pool for the afternoon. Scot did some snorkeling right off our beach and saw a sea turtle! After he got over the initial shock, he ended up swimming with him for awhile - pretty cool.

In the evening, we had tickets to go to the luau at our hotel (another military perk - it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else on the island). It started at 5:30 with drinks and music.

We thought these little girls were so cute.


Then we had dinner at 6:30, and the show started at 7:30. It was a lot of fun. We ended up sitting next to a really nice couple from Virginia - as it turned out, they have family in Minnesota and actually own their own cabin on Leech Lake. The woman and I had a lot in common with our jobs - she works for the National Institute of Health in the clinical studies area. When I told her I worked for Medtronic, she got so excited because her mother has a Medtronic pacemaker and her quality of life had improved drastically over the past couple of years. It's great to hear stories like that! The man was in the Army Special Forces (now retired) and jumped out of the C-130 (Scot's plane) many times. Lots of interesting coincidences!

Anyway, the show itself was hosted by Glenn Medeiros, who had a couple of hits in the 80s and is Hawaiian. You may remember this hit (well, I do!) and he actually sang it at the show too! :-) Ahh...1987.



He was a bit of a cheeseball, but he did do a lot to honor the military throughout the show, so that was really cool.

Day 7 - July 25
This was our last full day. This time we got up early to get to Hanauma Bay to snorkle - we got there a little after 7 and stayed until about 10:30. I did a little snorkeling, Scot did a lot. I realized during this trip that I'm not a huge fan of snorkeling - I get a little panicky with the breathing, it also didn't help that we think my mask was a little defective - I kept getting water in it, just after I would finally get comfortable - so that was pretty frustrating. Anyway, this beach/bay area was amazing.




We grabbed lunch at Subway and then headed back to hotel and sat by the pool the rest of the afternoon. It was relaxing and this is when I felt the baby kick for the first time! (I was about 16 weeks along) It was so distinct and lasted quite awhile - in fact, I haven't felt it that strongly since we've gotten back. I think I was just aware of it more in that setting with no other distractions :-)

We had dinner at the hotel and then watched the sunset and fireworks at the Hilton Hotel beach, which was right next to ours. It was a great way to celebrate our last night on Oahu.



Day 8 - July 26
Our last day in Hawaii (sniff, sniff). We walked to another hotel on Waikiki beach for breakfast and then lingered on the beach on the way back to our room - we cleaned up all of our stuff by noon. We still had a few hours to kill, so we went over to the Waikiki Aquarium, which was pretty cool. Then we headed in the direction of airport and had lunch at P.F. Chang's. Boarded our flight on time at around 5pm, lost 5 hours of precious time, and arrived at MSP at about 6am the following day (July 27). Truly enjoyed seeing my baby again - it had been way too long!