Tuesday August 2nd

Tuesday August 2nd
Wedding Day

The day started off insanely early as predicted with  our two sleepover kids getting up very early. Lucas 2.9 slep
With us but talked incessantly all night long as well
As turning around like a Helicopter all night long.
Sienna and Jacob were up at 7 so we all just got up.
We had a massive breakfast of bacon eggs and toast at Dev and Mels. Tim convinced us we needed to come watch him cliff dive so we loaded up the car and off we went.
It was a quick drive but upon our arrival, the skies opened up and it poured for 15 minutes.
We knew it would stop as it rains in the evenings and morning every day and the afternoons are perfect.
We walked down a short beach and climbed some rocks up to a cliff where there was a good 60ft drop.
Tim was the experienced veteran and dove in.  Nicholas was dying to try it again but the waves were far too strong and we aborted the plan much to Nicholas' huge dismay. Devin tried to swim out with a couple boogie boards as a precaution but the immensely high winds and currents made it far too dangerous to attempt.

We made it back to our condo for some lunch while Krista ran a few errands for Jessica in preparation for the afternoon wedding.
We left at 2 and followed the instructions down the bumpiest, rockiest  pothole filled roads to a beautiful beach and arrived at 220. By 245, no one else had arrived and we were very concerned we might be at the wrong place, but eventually all the vehicles started pouring in and we began after 3.
The wedding was extremely beautiful taking place on the beach looking south into the ocean. The wind was extremely strong and our words disappeared into the air when we spoke.
Dan was wearing an all white linen beach shirt and pants with white sandals. He and groomsman Jackson waited while two Ron bearers brought the rings down the beach followed by a flower girl/maid of honour who spread flower petals on the beach before Jessica arrived on the arms of her parents Toni/Fraser.
There were greeting ceremonies followed by a beautiful ceremony, rich with island traditions and blessings. A coconut was broken open and spread on the sand for fertility and luck and then thrown into the waves. As the ceremony concluded, they kissed and years flowed from all in attendance.

We all shared a few bottles of champagne and toasted the couple. We took hundreds of photographs of every possible combination with the family and bride/groom. We made our way back to the vehicles and town the long bumpy road to the resort.
The restaurant in our complex was where the reception was being held. I set up my guitar/amp/harmonizer equipment and sang for 40 minutes. Dans mom Yvonne sang a few tunes as well.
Everyone enjoyed the Apple Martinez' (Martinis).
Appetizers came out in platters all night. The kids stayed til 7 then we rented babysitters til 1030.
We ate and drank all evening. Speeches commenced at 830 and many laughs and tears were shared as we all welcomed Dan to the Green/d'Apice families.
We headed home for 1030 and had everyone asleep in beds for 1130. An exciting fun filled day jan packed with events.

Monday August 1st

Monday August 1^st

The day began with the sounds of rain falling and birds chirping on Kauai at 6am. 8 of the guys had a tee time for 830 a.m. so we hoped it stopped before then. As per island weather, it stopped at 7 and out came the sun and up went the humidity. It was a beautiful start to the day.

We eventually got moving and made our way to the golf course a whole 300m down the road. One guy threw out his back the night before so we were down to 7. We had an amazing round of golf. Darren managed to win the closest to the hole and take a few bucks off all the young fellas. Overall score of 85 and very pleased considering the amount of ‘fluids’ consumed in the process…

We got back from the course and sat around for a while. The girls had taken the kids and gone to the Market for a couple hours in the morning and got lots of fruit and vegetables for the rest of the week. We packed up the kids and headed to the ocean for a few hours of swimming and boogie boarding. The waves were like Bondi Beach in Australia and very strong. You had to keep an eye on any kids (and a couple adults!) as there was even a bit of undertow on occasion. We met people from all over the US especially California as many of them prefer to vacation here.  After heading back to our condos and showering up, we packed up a few things and headed out again.  We made our way down to Dan and Jessica’s condo area and began the Wedding Rehearsal bbq.

Dan and Jessica (along with their parents) prepared Pork Tenderloin with potato salad, green salad and 7 layer dips. A great time was had by all as we stayed til sunset – which unfortunately arrives just after 8pm – and when it gets dark – it gets DARK! We got kids home and ready for bed. In a moment of weakness, Darren and Krista were talked into accepting Sienna(6) and Lucas(3) for a sleepover. This was going to be a long night…

Saturday July 30

Saturday July 30th

Everyone managed to sleep in until after 7 but we didn't get rolling til 9. We packed our bags intent to find a rental car and see the island. After riding the city bus for a couple hours yesterday, it was time to splurge a little.
We grabbed some breakfast sandwiches at Subway and headed to Budget. Every single minivan was gone on the island and we thought maybe a convertible would hit the spot.
After some serious negotiations and a couple coupons, we snagged one for half price.

The boys were really hoping for Bumblebee from Transformers but I couldn't resist the red one. Have always wanted to rent a red convertible to drive around on vacation. They only had two so I picked my favorite. A 2011 Chevy Camaro. What a phenomenal ride. Tunes cranked up cruising around Waikiki was fantastic. Squealing tires at Green lights was so much fun...

Alas, the gas mileage not so great! Ha!  Ah well, one more thing off the bucket list!

We cruised out of downtown and headed for the far north side of the island. Hawaii seems to be so lush all year around. We were amazed by all the different shades of green foliage. There were these really cool trees that looked like pine christmas trees but were some type of fern tree.
Oahu has quite a fee hills and valleys with spectacular views. It is very difficult to focus on GPS directions with all the scenery, the music cranked up and the wind blowing in your face ( only 2 wrong turns and detours!)
 After 30 minutes we arrived at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We went to the huge maze first and found the eight checkpoints. It was in the 2008 Guinness Book for largest maze in the world at that point. Afterwards, we had a ridiculously expensive lunch and souvenir shop. We learned how to look for the best pineapple and how to cut it properly also. We left after lunch and headed to the North Shore seeking some giant waves for the boys. Alas, the winter season is supposedly better but we did manage to find a great cliff diving beach at Waimea.
We parked a km away at St Peter and Paul RC Church and the $5 fee went to raise funds for their trip to WYD in Madrid in a week.
After walking down to the beach, it was apparent that we had to keep an eye on the kids as the North shore undertow should be taken for granted...
We spent a couple hours on the beach. Nicholas enjoyed watching the cliff divers/jumpers and joined them for 3 jumps from about 40 feet though some were 70-80 feet. Lots of people were doing backflips and belly flops so we stayed a while to watch.
After a couple hours, we headed back down the coast with the top down and tunes cranked and grabbed a couple pineapple cones at the Dole plantation. We headed back to Waikiki with a quick stop at Diamond Head crater. You arent allowed to hike it after 430 pm as it takes approx. 90 minutes to do so.
We headed back to Waikiki and sadly dropped the car off early as we didn't need it any longer. We wandered down the street crammed with thousands of people watching buskers and such.
I purchased an Entertainment book for $10 online a month ago. We grabbed a bite to eat in the food mart. We had a rack of ribs, fish and spaghetti. We got the kids back to the hotel, showered and to bed by 10. We had a busy day coming Sunday as we need to be gone by 9 to the airport to fly to Kauai at 10. Great day.

Friday July 29

Friday July 29


After a succulent breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage patty, hash browns and an English muffin, I headed out on the street to get my bearings. Having arrived in the dark with a tired grumpy family, we had hit the sack asap last night.
There was a guy unloading a Coke truck so I asked him the obvious question,
"excuse me, can you tell me where the ocean is?" seems it was only a block to the north so away I went. There were already at least 50 people surfing at dawn on Waikiki beach. I went for a walk down the beach for an hour and eventually made my way back to the hotel. I grabbed a small chai latte for Krista and was back at the room for 7. Everyone was just started to get moving, so a quick shower and backpack pack and out the door we went.
Back to Burger King for the Ultimate Breakfast for the rest of the family.
We headed a block down and caught the city bus to Pearl Harbour. We met three girls from Melbourne who were on a US tour from Hawaii/LA/Vegas and home...
An hour later we arrived at Pearl Harbour. Extremely strong military presence with Navy/Marine personnel everywhere, many toting two handguns.
After checking our bags, we bought the package deal to see the USS Missouri ( famed battleship since WWII and even in desert storm ) as well as the sunken USS Arizona and the submarine USS Bowfin (ranked 15/175 in sinking other vessels during WWII.)
Surprisingly, half way through our day we bumped into Kristas mom, sister Amanda and cousin Nicola as they decided to do Pearl Harbour on this overcast day. They were off on a your and we never did see them again that day. They are staying a block away from us in Waikiki.

We headed over to the USS Arizona after watching the video footage of the tragic events of Dec 7/1941. The sunken ship with hundreds of entombed soldiers was very disturbing but nonetheless very interesting.

We toured the USS Bowfin submarine. Quite amazing that they could house 32 missiles and that it was ranked 15/215 vessels in numbers of ships/vessels sunk. Alas, submarines suffered the extremely high causalities of the war.
We did a bit of shopping and headed out to the street to catch the city bus back to Waikiki. After a 15 minute wait and 1 hour bus ride through rich hour, we made it back to our hotel.
We quickly changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool for a couple hours. We ordered food and drinks which came very quickly.
We went upstairs to change and decided to wander around the ships for a couple hours. We bought some souvenirs and I found a nice dress for Krista.
We ended up at a tattoo parlor kiosk where we all got Henna Tattoos! Nicholas was very excited with his flaming soccer ball. Jacob got a dragon. Krista got a turtle and I got a turtle band around one leg. Hopefully this will not inspire them to get a real one down the road...

We watched some street performers and had some shaved ice with blue raspberry and coconut. We got the kids into bed around 10 and we called it a night. Good day!!

Off on the next adventure....

Well, the summer is cruising along and we are off on our next adventure! We arrived in Vancouver at 430 pm with all four of us. Only mishap was the boys leaving their backpacks at the Starbucks and Darren running back 30 gates to retrieve them...
Getting on our connecting flight and more updates later.....

July 28th

When we got on the plane, I sat beside a lady and immediately struck up a conversation. Her name was Elaine and she was going to Hawaii for 5 weeks for some closure. 
In getting into a conversation, she revealed that her husband has died a month ago in a freak climbing accident falling 80 feet off a cliff. 
The strange thing was that he was an experienced climber and had been around the world several times climbing anything and everything. 
We talked for a good hour about her life and 4 grown kids, all strong Mormon people who attended BYU(including the Hawaii campus). Such a sad and distraught reason to be going to Hawaii but I felt that she really needed to talk about it. She had a couple of rough weeks coming up returning to the scene of the accident and dealing with everything. 
Her kids are all coming sporadically over the next month to spend time with her (she's only 55). 
After watching a few tv shows before the satellite went down, I went to the washroom. On the floor lay 2 boarding passes with the name Moroz on it. WEIRD!
Alexa in seat 25c must have dropped them. I delivered them and struck up a conversation with the mom. They are from Calgary and her dad is from the Yorkton area so I'm pretty sure our Grandparents were first cousins. Crazy! 
It was weird chasing the sun as it never ever got dark. It was bright and sunny the whole evening!
Kids finally went to sleep at 1030/630. Arrived in Honolulu at 930(130am). Raining a bit so grabbed a cab to our hotel. Streets were hopping with people   
200 locals on every type of bicycle imaginable riding down the street. Got the kids to bed and time for some shut eye. 242am Calgary time but 1042 Hawaii time. It's been a hell of a long first day.....