"Hello, this is your captain speaking!"

Zac became fast friends with the pilot and captain of the plane on our flight home. They let him tour the front of the plane and see what they do. The captain took his picture and e-mailed it to me. Zac was so excited and I wanted to share it with everyone!

Pearl Harbor

One of the coolest places we went this week was to Pearl Harbor. It was just so amazing to see all of the pictures and hear all of the history and stories about that terrible thing that happened there. I mean, we have learned about it our whole lives, and then to stand where it actually happened, and see the sunken ship was just unreal! It made it very real and not just a story that I had been told. Zac was so interested in everything about it. We took the audio tour of the site and museum and he listened to every word of it! He was very concerned about what had happened there and he said "Mama, is that war still happening right now?" I told him that we were in the middle of a new war now. I was so impressed with how he was paying so much attention to what was being said. He watched the movie that they showed about it and was amazed about seeing the sunken ship and all of the artifacts. It was just so amazing to see all of the stuff that they had there. It was a very moving experience!

Making Waves!

We went to the beach on Friday evening to watch the sunset and take some pictures. Zac and Taylor had some fun playing in the waves. Mom also got some good shots of the sunset. Check out her blog later in the week for more pics. Zac just loves the water so much he stayed in it as much as possible this past week. There was this thing across the street from our condo that had water squirting up out of the ground and he wanted to play in it after we left the beach. Here are a couple of pictures of the great fun he had. I wish I was still that carefree! He just had a blast this whole week on our trip!

Our Catamaran Ride!

Zac driving the boat while the captain put on sunscreen, "AHHHHHH!"

Danny and Zac looking at the water under the boat.

We got to ride on the Mikani Catamaran for breakfast on Friday morning. It was a huge sailboat that is 47 feet long and it was a 2 hour sail out in the ocean. It was pretty neat. Zac made a friend named Danny and they had a blast running around the boat and looking under it at the water. They got wet and that thought that was awesome! It was nice to just relax and ride with the wind blowing and seeing the beautiful sites around us. The pastries were quite odd though, I grabbed what I thought was a doughnut. But, it wasn't a doughnut, it had tuna inside of it! Gross! I almost threw up!

A Rather Blustery Day!

The other day we went to a lookout point at this park, and it was so windy that it almost knocked us down! We also had a picnic looking out at "Chinaman's Hat" it is a little island off of Oahu that I guess looks like a Chinaman's hat. It was so windy that little Thor could hardly walk on his own without falling down! Zac and Taylor enjoyed a little quality tree climbing time.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Zac and I at the Luau!
Zac and his smoothie served in a real pineapple!
Zac and I at the Hawaii Temple.

We went to a luau while we were at the cultural center and it was a lot of fun! It was buffet style so I got to eat some normal things from the kids buffet! It was odd, because the bread is made from taro and it is purple. It was very strange to eat a hot dog on a purple bun! Also, after the luau, we took the bus that takes you to the Hawaii Temple and BYU Hawaii. That was really neat. I have always dreamed of seeing the Hawaii temple in real life! It has always been my very favorite temple. It was neat to ride through the BYU Hawaii campus and learn about it's history.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Here is Zac weaving a fish out of palm leaves in Tonga.

Here he is with his tattoo he got in Tahiti, cool dude!
He loved the sticks and the Poi Balls in New Zealand!

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Wednesday and it was amazing! There was so much to do there that we couldn't even fit it all in. Zac had so much fun at all of the different villages doing activities and getting his passport stamped. They have these little kid Ohana Passports that they can get stamped for doing different things at the different villages. He seemed to make a friend everywhere he went. He got one on one attention weaving fish out of palm leaves in Tonga, and also with the stick things in New Zealand. The lady in Tonga that helped him weave the fish walked him over and got him a special hat to put it in! He thought he was something!

Dancing Queen!

At our hotel, they have had Hula lessons 2 mornings this week. I went both mornings and really loved it! It was very interesting to learn the history of Hula and the meaning behind it. I am going to one last lesson on Sunday morning before we leave. I bought this cool exercise DVD that is Beginning Hula. I am excited about that! You know how I am with all of my crazy exercise tapes! I think I am really going to try and use this one though!

North Shore

We went to the North Shore the other day and got shaved ice and went to the beach. There is this famous shaved ice place called Motsimotos and I have been reading about it and I wanted to go there and get a shirt. When we finally get there, the line was so long that we had to go to another place down the road. I was disappointed, but the shaved ice was still pretty good. We also went to the beach and there were these huge turtles swimming right by us in the water! It was crazy! Zac of course thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Yesterday we went to the North Shore and went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We rode the Pineapple Express Train around the plantation and it was really cool! We got a bonus on our train ride, because there was a helicopter flying over that was getting water from the reservoir to water the plants. It was pretty cool. There were so many pretty plants to see there, and we also learned the very interesting history of the pineapple plantation. When we got there, there were these little stands out front that were jewelers that sold fresh pearls. We got to spin a wheel to get a coupon, and Zac won me 50% off, so I couldn't pass that up. He got to pick an oyster for the lady to crack open and get the pearl out. He got to tap it 3 times and say Aloha! Then he was heartbroken when she said she was going to drill a hole in it so she could set it on a necklace for me! He thought the pearl was his and he didn't want a hole in it. So, the lady felt sorry for him and let him pick another oyster to crack and he got to keep his pearl, free of holes! Then, there was a lady selling leather bracelets and she would engrave your Hawaiian name in them. So, she looked up Zac's name and guess what it was, Kaka! Go figure! Of course he thought that was hilarious! The lady was like "are you sure you want me to write that on your bracelet?" He was like "Yeah!" It was so funny! Then, when we were getting ready to leave, he tried to jump up on Taylor and she didn't have time to catch him and he fell back and banged his head on a bench. So, he had a nice huge goose egg on the back of his head and he was crying for a while! I know it hurt because he hit it really hard, you could hear it hit! My little graceful!

Our first real flower Lei!

We got back from Sea Life Park and they were having an Aloha Reception at our hotel. They gave us these gorgeous flower leis and they had live music and refreshments. It was neat, and I was most excited about the lei! I love the music and Hula dancing they do here. I went to a Hula lesson at our hotel yesterday morning and it was awesome! I am going back this morning. Y'all better watch out, when I get back I will be a Hula dancing fool! Zac got an Ukulele at the flea market and thinks he is awesome now. He looks so cute trying to play it.

Sea Life Park

There were lots of other things to see at Sea Life Park. We saw turtles, sting ray, sea lions, penguins, and lots of fish! It was a really cool place to visit. There was a baby sea lion that was just a little over a month old. It was so cute! It was so little and hyper! It's mama kept yelling at it to get over there with her and lay down. It was pretty neat to watch them.

"They Call Him Flipper, Flipper!"

Here we Go!

This is me showing off my dancing skills with Niya!
Zac was attempting to dance with Niya, and she was pretty happy!

This is the "Wolphin" isn't it strange looking?

Today was a most exciting day for us. We went to Sea Life Park and swam with the dolphins! Well, I guess Zac and I didn't exactly "swim" with them, but we were in the water with them and got to spend time with them. We got to touch them, give them kisses, and dance with them. It was so cool! They were so gentle and very smart. Amanda and Thor did it with us as well and Thor loved it! He wanted to grab the dolphin's mouth. Our dolphin's name was Niya. Zac a just a little nervous and didn't really want to kiss her. He did dance with her and she made a big splash because she liked him! That excited him a lot. There was this strange looking animal called a Wolphin, which is a whale and a dolphin mixed together! She was huge, like 400 lbs! She was very bizarre looking, but very sweet. We had a lot off fun and it was fabulous to be in the cold water because it was sooooooo hot!!!

Hula Week!

It is Hula Week here at Waikiki Beach and it is a big thing where hula dancers come from all over the world to dance. It is cool because yesterday they were dancing right across the street from our hotel! We got to watch the dancers and listen to the live music. It was really awesome and Zac loved it of course! He especially loved the little girl dancers!