After three tries, we finally made it! We got to spend 30 May- 5 June in Hawaii. I was there for work, so we took the opportunity for Tim to fly over commercially and meet me there so we could take in the island together and have a (work related) babymoon before Little Miss arrives! We had a wonderful time and now can't wait to get back. We spent the whole time on Oahu, so next time we would love to check out another one of the islands. I did fly a few times while we were there, but we still had plenty of time to enjoy the tropics! Here is a run down of our week:
We got there on Sunday so that evening took it pretty easy. We went with another of of the crew members (and his wife, who also made the trip) to Duke's. It is a restaurant/bar right on the beach, and a favorite of many of the aircrew from Forbes that are regulars to Hawaii. Though I didn't get to partake, they are said to have some of the best MaiTais around...guess I will find out next trip! It was completely packed there that evening so we put in our names for a table for dinner and just stood outside and enjoyed the view when one of the servers came and set up a table for us and took our order right then and there. It was perfect, our wait to eat INSIDE was like 2 hours, but instead we had a table on the beach in no time!
Tim with his Mai Tai
We had Monday off since it was Memorial Day, so Tim and I made the drive up to the North Shore. It is generally much quieter and slower pace than Waikiki, however, not so much on a holiday. It was jam packed with beach goers. On our way there we came across the Dole Plantation, so we stopped and toured that before getting to the beach. Once we finally found a parking spot and made our way to the beach it was great. We enjoyed the water for a while, and then I got out to snap some photos and play with our new camera that we bought the Saturday before we flew out. (More on the camera later) There were a few surfers out so I got some neat pictures of that, the North Shore is what you see frequently on TV when there are surf competitions in Hawaii. I believe they are their biggest in the winter, but it was still really cool! That evening we met up with Aunt Cindy and Rick, who have been living in Hawaii for a few years. They are family on Tim's moms side of the family. It was great to see them and catch up for a while.
At the Dole Plantation
Bird of Paradise....one of my favorite flowers!
Tuesday, we took in Pearl Harbor and went to Ford Island to the Pacific Air Museum. We didn't tour the USS Missouri, but did see it and get some good photos of it. Pearl Harbor was very surreal, many monuments you visit and so far from where what they are commemorating took place. In this not being the case with Pearl Harbor it was a very humbling experience. The museum was very cool and housed planes from the war. Seeing such a huge part of history in the USS Missouri was amazing. That is where the Japanese surrendered and WW2 came to a close. That evening it was time for some work. We were scheduled to fly, however, as we were just getting ready to start engines, we got a call that our receiver had a maintenance problem and was a cancel. So we called Tim, who had just started a round of golf to come and get us, then we had an evening in Waikiki.
Pearl Harbor Memorial
Control Tower on Ford Island, you can still see bullet holes where it was hit
Tim and I at Pearl Harbor
Wednesday, Tim and I decided to make it a beach day and relax since I had a flight that evening. We spent the morning on the famous Waikiki beach and then once we had gotten enough sun, we headed back to the room so that I could get ready to go fly. We did get to fly that evening and it went well. Tim stayed on base and relaxed while we worked.
Thursday was another day off for us! We stared the day (like we had a few of the others) with a big breakfast at Wilbur and Orval's, which is a great restaurant on Hickam AFB that faces the bay to Pearl Harbor. We saw this ship, many times you can see ships docking or subs emerging! After breakfast we headed for Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. Since many of the guys at work have been to Hawaii many, many times they know all the good spots to check out, this being one of them. Hanauma Bay is a state park area with world class snorkeling. After about a mile walk (up hill) this pregnant lady was tired and ready to chill on the beach for a while. I did snorkel for a while, but then took my spot on the sand while Tim checked out more sea life. We had met up with some other in our group there and then after a while we all headed for Bellows for an evening BBQ. Bellows is an Air Force Station. They only have Security and Services there. They have bungalows that you can rent out right on the beach and it is AF owned so very quiet. We loved it there, and hopefully will get to have family vacations there at some point!
View from Wilbur and Orval's at breakfast
Hanauma Bay, AMAZING!
Tourist Tim!
Friday morning was another flight for us. It wasn't to long and left us some of the day to enjoy as our last day together on the island. Tim's flight left that evening and he had to be at the airport about 7pm. We pretty much got done flying, went and got some lunch, did some shopping and then it was time to say good bye!
We left early on Saturday morning to fly back to Forbes. Tim got back to Kansas City about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday after flying all night. He got a nap and then headed to Topeka where we landed about 9:30 p.m. We had a wonderful trip and loved being able to spend quality time together in the tropics.
While there we also finished week 22 and began week 23. I felt great the whole time we were there. I did get tired, but am actually grateful now that I didn't go in January. I was really not even close to 100% at that time, and was in the midst of the first trimester blahs. So even though we were excited to go then, it worked out so much better to go at this point in pregnancy versus earlier!
22 weeks, we forgot to take a "real" belly shot
Looks like a wonderful time!!
ReplyDelete