The Bishop Museum

Since we will be leaving Hawaii very soon, we have been trying to fit in all of the things that we had thought about doing but just never quite got to. One of those things was visiting the Bishop Museum in Downtown Honolulu. Kelson and I went there for a planetarium show a few weeks ago for date night, and we were really impressed, so we wanted to go back and see the whole thing. This Saturday, we spent the morning snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, then made a quick wardrobe change and spent the afternoon at the Bishop Museum.

They had tons of exhibits, including a science building with a really cool volcano exhibit, a beautiful historical building filled with artifacts from Hawaii's history, a planetarium, and a dinosaur exhibit.

 Sarah was really excited about the dinosaurs. They moved and made noise, 

and she really wanted to go play with them.

 Kitty! (We are working on learning more animal names.)

 However, she wasn't so excited to sit on top of the triceratops. 

Daddy fed her to a T-Rex. She didn't think that was very nice. 

Kayaking Chinaman's Hat

There is a rock formation in the middle of Kaneohe Bay called Chinaman's Hat that is a popular kayaking trip here. At low tide, you can actually walk out to the island. We have been wanting to kayak to it since we got here but never found an opportunity. This weekend, we got together with Zach and Alishia Mattee, borrowed 2 kayaks, and took turns babysitting so we could go out to the island. I had never been kayaking before, so I was a little nervous about going out in the ocean, but it was really fun. We even paddled right past a sea turtle!

Tantalus, Pali Lookout, & Ho‘omaluhia

One of our favorite things to do in Hawaii has been going on hikes, so Kelson's foot injury was a real bummer for us. On an afternoon when Kelson got off work early, we decided to go to some cool lookouts that we could reach by car with minimal walking. It was a good substitute for going on a hike. Our first stop was Tantalus lookout, which overlooks downtown Honolulu and Diamond Head.

Beautiful!

Sarah was asleep, so we had a peaceful drive up and back down the mountain and then stopped at the Pali Lookout on our way through the mountains to the east side of the island.

This sign was placed at the entrance to the lookout. It was especially concerning because it was amazingly windy there. Scary!

Unfortunately, it was too cloudy up there to see much of the view. On the bright side, we didn't get attacked by any bees.

From there, we went to the Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kaneohe. There were all kinds of cool trees and plants to look at, and it was free. Score!

We also finally got to see wild pigs. The baby ones were so cute!

Date Night at Haleiwa Joe's

Swapping babysitting is the best! We had some friends who owed us a night of babysitting, so we had the chance to leave Sarah for the night and actually get out for a date night by ourselves. Sarah tends to scream her lungs out for hours on end when we leave her, so we don't get babysitters very often. We hoped she would do better this time, and she did. She only cried for a minute or two after we left, and then she played with her friend and didn't want to leave when we came home. Success!

We drove over to Kaneohe on the other side of the island and ate dinner at a restaurant called Haleiwa Joe's.

We had a little time to kill while we were waiting for a table, so we went for a walk on a fishing pier. 

Our table overlooked the mountains and a botanical garden. It was beautiful!

Yummy dinner and great company!

Sarah's First Zoo Trip

Since we are living in an empty house for several weeks, Sarah and I have to find lots of fun things to do. Sarah loves animals of all kinds, so we decided it was time for a trip to the zoo. We got together we a couple of other moms and babies from our ward and had a great morning seeing the animals.

 The tiger was kind enough to come sit right next to the fence so we could get a good look at it. One of Sarah's favorite books is about tigers at the zoo. She knows that they say Rawr!

Checking out the elephants

The Honolulu zoo has an awesome children's section with farm animals, fish, and a petting zoo. Sarah had never seen a goat before, and I figured she would be scared. She jumped right in and started petting them. She absolutely loved it! I finally had to pry her away to look at the other animals.

Fishies! They had some of the biggest koi I had ever seen.

There was a tunnel to crawl inside and look at the fish tank. Sarah thought that was pretty fun.

Guinea pigs, or, as Sarah says, "kitties!"

The Honolulu zoo is pretty small, but it was just right for us to see in a morning before nap time. I can't wait to take her to see more animals. It was so much fun seeing how excited she was. Thanks, Paula and Alishia for spending the day with us!

Hickam Dog Beach

At the end of a long, hot Saturday, we felt like going to the beach. We remembered that we hadn't been to the dog beach on the Air Force base since we first moved here, and we thought Sarah would love it. It is a very unusual beach, in that it is on a mud flat that makes it so you can walk half a mile from shore. The water right along the shore is only a foot or so deep and has little wave action. Add to that the fact that there are always dogs there and you have the perfect baby beach.

 Hand this girl a bucket and a shovel and she is in heaven. I love that she has moved on to the playing with sand stage. It is much more fun than the "try to prevent her from eating sand" stage.

 Rocking her hat and sunglasses. She has also moved on to the accessorizing stage. It makes keeping sunglasses on her much easier.

 The dog beach is also a perfect place to watch sunset. I am sure we will be back here several times before we move. What a great way to end a Saturday!

Luau!

Our awesome friends, the Mattees, called us up one day to invite us to join them at Germaine's Luau because they had two extra tickets. Of course we said yes :)

The luau was right next to the beach, and the view was phenomenal. We watched them pull the roast pig out of the fire pit right before we all sat down to eat. The food was awesome. It was definitely the best Hawaiian food we have had on the island. 

The after dinner show was great too. Even Sarah, who was sick that night, got into it. She likes to shake her hips along with the Tahitian dancers. We have a little hula girl in the making. Thanks for a great night, Mattee family!