Aloha, Anderson's

Last week, we had the privilege of having the Anderson's come and stay with us for 5 days. These are some friends visiting from Utah, whom we met while we were all attending grad. school in Cleveland. We have kept in touch all this time, though we haven't seen them for 7 years. Has it really been that long?! It was so great to pick up where we left off, without skipping a beat. Aloha, and welcome to Hawaii! After a BBQ at our house, we took them to Ko'Olina, one of our favorite spots on the island. We wanted to show them the gorgeous sunsets. We enjoyed the evening walking on the sandy beaches in this beautiful setting, and catching up.

Dave and Emily took advantage of the 4 hour time difference, and were up and at 'em at 5 a.m. Saturday morning. They wanted to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, and the best time is really early in the morning when all the fish are feeding. Chris decided to join them, since he had not been yet. They had a blast, and got some underwater pictures of some amazing sea-life.
Emily looked fabulous in her snorkel gear!Next, Chris took them to hike Diamond Head. Chris called us from the summit, and told the kids to go out on the patio and wave, and he would wave back. Not that we could see him, but just the thought was enough. Here is a picture from the top. Beautiful!Later that night we all met up in Waikiki to have dinner with some other friends from Cleveland, the Belau's, who were in town for a convention. What a fun night of catching up with these long lost friends.

On Sunday, after church, we took Dave and Emily on a drive around part of the island. The Pali overlook was spectacular, even on a rainy overcast day.

Next, we headed to the Punchbowl, a military cemetery where many of the soldiers from Pearl Harbor and WWII are buried. Since the next day (Monday) was Memorial Day, it was special to walk around and reflect on the lives of these brave men and women. Each grave had an American flag and a lei. We were told that the school children of some local schools made the leis, and the Boy Scouts placed the leis with a flag at each grave. There were thousands. This picture does not do it justice.

The next day was Memorial Day. Dave and Emily had scheduled a private tour at Pearl Harbor, so we let them go, while our family slept in. It happened to be my birthday, so Chris woke me up to my favorite breakfast, Belgium waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Yummm! When Dave and Emily returned, we headed up to North Shore for a Mexican lunch. We passed the Dole Plantation on our way, so we decided to make a quick detour. They couldn't leave Hawaii without at least trying the pineapple ice-cream. It's not my favorite, but then again, I'm not a huge ice-cream fan. After lunch (or dinner, by the time we got there), I wanted to try to find a beach I had heard about where there were supposed to be turtles. We went where we were told, but there was nothing. We walked around on the lava rocks, and saw some swimming in the ocean, but we really couldn't get close enough to get a good look. Oh, well. On our way back to the car, we saw some people on the beach looking at what appeared to be a large rock. As we got closer, we saw that it was a huge turtle. In Hawaii, the turtles are "protected" so there was a preservationist there to rope off the turtle, and make sure that nobody got too close. I was just glad to have seen one up close. "Dude...the name's Crush."On Tuesday the Anderson's spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and didn't get back until we were all asleep. They flew out on Wed. morning to go to the island of Kauai for the remainder of their vacation. After they left, I told Chris my favorite part of living in Hawaii, was showing it off to visitors. Sooo....who's next? Any takers?