Pics from Hawaii!

I loved every minute of my trip to Hawaii.  I'm sure it helped, of coarse, that my husband's position had people falling all over themselves welcoming us, treating us to dinners, and generally spoiling us.  A mother needs that once in a while!  The weather was beautiful, the people were beautiful, the scenery was beautiful.  I just loved the relaxed atmosphere, and well, being kissed by Polynesian men wasn't so bad either.  ;-)

The beautiful lei the hotel staff presented me with.  It was incredible - every blossom was wrapped in a flower petal, and then the flowers and the stems were all woven together.

At Pearl Harbor - you can see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and the U.S.S. Missouri in the background.

We went to visit a macadamia nut farm, and it just so happened to also be the location where scenes for my favorite t.v. show (Off the Map) are filmed.  Look familiar?

My husband lived in Japan for a couple of years, so it was wonderful to partake of the Japanese culture on the island.  This is the Byodo-In temple which is in the Valley of the Temples.  Many television shows have been filmed here also, including Lost.

My husband and I were on the island running a music festival for junior high school and high school aged children.  This was the setting for the awards ceremony that we presented after the festival.  We were at the Polynesian Cultural Center and this is the stage were they perform their night show.  Have you ever seen a more beautiful stage?  The show was incredible, and very moving.  After seeing such a display of incredible dancing and music it makes me feel that the American culture is just a complete lack of culture!

This is what was waiting for us when we returned to our hotel room after the awards ceremony.  I told you we were spoiled!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this!  We went to the Dole Plantation and these were for sale in the gift shop.  I opted to try the pineapple and the most delicious Dole Whip instead of the Spam flavored macadamia nuts.  Call me crazy...

We are Food Network junkies at our house, so naturally we had to travel to the north shore to Matsumoto's to try their famous shave ice.  We also ate at Hank's while we were there, a hot dog joint featured on Diner's Drive Ins and Dives.

And last but not least, we had to go back to Laie so we could see the beautiful temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I would have liked to have gone inside also, but being General Conference weekend it was closed.  Between the Polynesian Cultural Center, BYU-Hawaii, and the temple, all of Laie is just beautiful.

And there you have it!  Even though it was a working vacation, I loved every minute of it.  I can't wait to go back!