Hawaii: Day 2 and 3

Day 2:

We spent our first full day in Hawaii exploring our hotel, hanging out at the beach and pool, and in Haleiwa. It was overcast most of the day, but still nice and warm so it worked out great.

We stayed at Turtle Bay and we were SO impressed. Our room was awesome and had an incredible view. The hotel itself was really nice, we loved the pools, and beach there was gorgeous and had great snorkeling. We really spent the majority of our time on the North Shore, so it was close to most of the places we wanted to go outside of the hotel. We loved it so much, we want to go back as soon as we have enough Sky Miles again!

Davis LOVED the bathtub in the room and that he could open the shutters and watch tv while in the tub :)

One of our first outings was to Matsumotos In Haleiwa. Melona still reigns supreme in my book, and despite some pretty good knock-offs in Utah, it's still not as good as Matsumotos.

I've always loved this sign!

That night, we ate dinner in Haleiwa and randomly on the way home it started raining like I have never seen! It came out of nowhere and rained so hard the highway was flooded in lots of spots on our way back to the hotel. Sean had fun driving through the huge puddles and I was really glad we had rented an SUV instead of a mini van! We heard reports the next day that it had rained like 8" or something crazy overnight. 

Day 3: Polynesian Cultural Center

Going to bed during what seemed like a hurricane, I was a bit nervous about what type of weather we would wake up to the next morning. Much to my relief, the rain had stopped, and though there were some lingering clouds, it was a really nice day. After swimming for awhile, we headed into Laie. We stopped at Foodland first to buy the boys some Locals flip flops. I love that you can just buy them in the grocery store. We also drove around a little bit and showed the kids the house I lived in while I was there. We decided to head to the PCC and it turned out to be a good choice because it wasn't crowded at all. I have never seen it so uncrowded, in fact. It was so nice because we didn't really have to wait to do anything in the villages and the boys could roam free.

Bode became very familiar with the various tattoo stations! I'm not sure if we should be worried...

Cool palm visor made for Bode by the poster child of the PCC himself! Even the workers kept asking Bode where he got it.

"Kap" aka the guy who made Bode's visor:

About halfway through the day, the clouds dispersed and the sun and a rainbow came out-- so fitting for Hawaii :)

Ukulele lessons. After this, Bode was set on getting a ukulele. He actually loved it so much I think there may be a future there.

We ended up skipping the luau and just did the island buffet that came with our tickets. We weren't sure if Molly and Davis would be able to sit through the whole luau and it gave the kids more time to explore and play in the villages. We did buy them a smoothie served in a pineapple, which they all thought was pretty cool.

After dinner, we took the shuttle from the PCC to the temple and walked around until it was time to head back for the big show. It was fun going at night and seeing it lit up. Such a beautiful temple!

We loved the PCC's show "Ha," though Davis and Molly fell asleep early. The fire dancers at the end were definitely our favorite. The dancing at the beginning was awesome too, but a little too long for the little kids.

We all crashed hard and slept well that night!