Hawaii part one

Back in June Maci had the trip of a lifetime at the little age of 7 months. Lucky girl. She is such a great traveler. We left Billings at 6 am, having the worst time in the security line because we had items over the 3.4 oz limit. I was told if you put them in a bag they would be ok, but no. Maci's food and formula was in our carry-on and we didn't want to throw them away along with the other toiletries so David had to go through a strip search. 10 hours later we were in Honolulu. She either slept or ate during take off or landing so her ears didn't bother her at all. We were taxied to our motel near Waikiki beach, walked the beach and boardwalk, had lunch/dinner and went to bed around 6. We were beat.

Our first day we were scheduled for an island tour so a bus picked us up at 6 and took us to Pearl Harbor. We watched a short film about the history and facts and then took a boat ride out to the Arizona memorial. There were probably 100 people and nothing more than a whisper was heard. Such reverence for these men who lost their lives serving their country. Very memorable and humbling. We then stopped at the Dole Plantation which has the largest maze in the US and if you know how to get through it, it takes at least an hour. We stopped at a few beaches, one which had a rare sighting. A monk seal was taking a nap on the beach (they are endangered). Very cool. We did pass the Laie Temple but a glimpse was all we got. We spent 3 hours at the Polynesian Culture Center. It was amazing the different cultures and how they sang and danced. One guy even climbed a palm tree. Then we were off to see this very old Buddhist temple with lots of coy in a pond. And near this place at the top of a hill was where a big battle took place. You could see for miles and miles out into the ocean. This concluded our tour and we flew out for Kauai at 8pm, landed 30 minutes later, went to the grocery store and drove an hour to the rented house. It was a long day but well worth it.

The next morning, which was Sunday, we drove to a meeting house in Hanalei to go to church. This was a small branch but with all the visitors there were probably 150 people in their small building. It was the most visitors they had attending all year. Later we traveled to see the Kilauea Lighthouse. We would liked to have gotten closer but there was also a wildlife refuge in conjunction with the lighthouse and you had to pay. We didn't want to break the Sabbath so we just took pictures from far away. That evening we walked to the beach which happened to be two blocks away and strolled along the shoreline to look for seashells. Didn't find much but was a great finish to the day.