Trains, planes and submarines....week 6

WEEK 6-AUG 8th-13th

On my mom's last day we decided to head into the city and go to Pearl Harbor and tour around down by Honolulu area. We went to our sacrament meeting and then went to our place and had lunch and then headed out. We drove for about 45min-1hr and then we get there and we missed the last boat. So we walked around and looked at the submarine (didn't go on because that costs money) looked at all the names of the soldiers lost at sea, looked at the missiles. We even watched the night before Pearl Harbor so that the kids could get some kind of a glimpse of what it would have been like, so needless to say they were a little disappointed. In the middle of all the sites is this huge map and so Jon came up with one of his great games. He had the kids stand back and he would pick a place on the map and see who could find it first. They played this game for about a 1/2 hour. People would just watch them play, and one guy even helped Curtis find a city before the girls (he said he could never win because he was at a disadvantage-which he was, he can't read) We couldn't even go thru the visitors center because right now it is closed and going thru renovation.
Kenadee trying to get a lead over Bailee. I sat in the shade just watching and if Jake wandered off me going to find him. The kids and Jon (I might add) had a great time, me to sitting in the shade. Again very hot, but it is Hawaii, so I can't complain.
PUNCHBOWL CEMETARY

This is a very interesting place. It is beautiful, and quite moving. I will give a little history about this place: Since 1949 it has been used as a cemetary for those in the military who sacrified their lives in the Pacific. It is built inside the Puowaina Crater and between the entrance and the large statue that you can see are the graves of over 45,000 men and women. It really is a moving place, there are row after row of headstones. In addition to these graves you will find over 28,000 names carved into the walls. If you look to the left you can see some of the walls that these names are carved into. The trees are all shaped into wreaths, and the large trees up top on each side of the statue are shaped into a large heart (5 trees). It is 112 1/2 acres. The 45,000 that are buried are known and recovered. The 28,778 ,were NOT recovered but were identified, are either MIA or lost or buried at sea. When you see the names carved into the stones and you see how many stones there are it is really humbling to think that they sacrified their lives for us. These are men and women from WWII-Korean-Vietnam wars.

Jake having to get his pose in before we could climb the steps to the top.

This picture doesn't do this statue justice it is HUGE, and below it is a quote from Abraham Lincoln that he wrote to the mother of five sons lost in the Civil War. It reads: "The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom." It just seems so fitting to be put at this sacred place.

This is the view from the top of the stairs, so if you look straight down towards the flag pole, you can't see them but there are row after row of graves. There are tons, 45,000 to be exact. One of those things that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't be able to picture it.

There is a road that you can follow and go up above the cemetary to a look out point. Before heading up we stopped at the bathroom, and Jake decided he needed to take a little break so he layed down on the grass to rest. What a cute little stinker!

Up top from the Punchbowl lookout. That mountain range that you can see is Diamond Head. I don't have the desire to climb that with four kids straight up hill with a bunch of steps. Maybe we can come back when they are older and do that.

View from the other side of the lookout-looking out over Waikiki. It was so beautiful!!

This is the view looking down into the crater at the cemetary. That white building that you see to the left is the top of the Punchbowl Cemetary and then it steps down each level and that is where the walls are with the 28,000+ names are carved into stone. Another beautiful spot!!

This is the amazing view from one of the lookouts on the Tantalus Loop. This 10-mile-long road wiggles and winds up the mountains through a pretty forest above Honolulu to the 1,610ft level. The drive is beautiful and amazing. We stopped at this lookout for a brief intervention with Bailee (she was having a melt down) I was glad that we stopped so that I could take this picture.

We were on our way back down the loop and came upon the Pu'u Ualaka'a State Park. You drive to the end and get out and walk about a hundred yards to this lookout point. It was pretty crowded and a guy was smoking right out at the end so we didn't hang around to long, but before we left we got this picture of the kids and Diamond Head in the back (that blue is actually the ocean and then the white is the clouds that were in the sky) Does it get any better than this?

I got a quick shot of the other side of the lookout before I couldn't handle the smoke from the guy smoking up a storm, I just love this shot, it shows the absolute beauty of Hawaii.

This kid will do anything for a picture, so he grabbed my sunglasses and started posing with them. Good thing he is such a cutie, that is sometimes all that saves him! We really do love this kid tons and tons!

The kids and I decided to take a drive to the DOLE PLANTATION. The kids liked the train ride, we were told it was two miles and well it probably was-1 mile out and then 1 mile back on the same track. It gave a lot of good information about the pineapple but I am not sure it was worth the $8 for adults and $6 for kids. Good thing that the kids liked it. If they were any older, it probably wouldn't have gone as well. This is them getting on the train.

The girls sitting in front of the boys and I. They hate it when people ask them if they are twins, but man they really good be.

I gave the camera to Bailee and she did pretty good, but this is why I am not in ANY pictures, it took a long time for her to get this shot.

Well how about a few fun facts about the Pineapple: they take 35 months to grow, only two pineapples grow on 1 plant, it takes 1 man (who knows what he's doing) to plant BY HAND 10,000 plants which is a 1/2 an acre of land. Keep in mind that they plant hundreds of acres of land-mind boggling that it is all done by hand, if you put fresh pineapple in a marinade it tenderizes the meat, and if you eat pineapple right after your meal it helps to digest the protein in your system easier. Anyways after planting by hand the pineapples are then, when they are ready, are picked by hand by men that have to wear heavy duty clothes so that they don't get scratched and cut up while walking down the rows to pick the pineapples. They are then placed on this machine that then they go thru them and check them and then place then in boxes to be shipped out. Now I know why pineapples are soooo expensive, yet they are so good. We have definetly eaten our fair share of them here. We can cut up one whole pineapple and can have it gone in 1/2 hour. We eat a lot!!!

Here is a closer shot of the conveyor belt that they put the pineapples on.

The grounds are beautiful and they have lots of different varieties of pineapples planted. We liked these ones because they are red, and the leaves are really pokie and sharp.

You can't leave the Pineapple Plantation without having their pineapple whip. I gave in and got the kids these souvenoir cups that had the pineapple whip and pineapple juice in them. I REALLY liked it, but it didn't go over very well with the kids. We ended up throwing a lot of it away, I didn't want them to ride home in the car with juice and ice cream. It didn't seem like a very good idea and I was right-just walking to throw the ice cream away Curtis spilled it all over himself. Good decision on my part, at least it wasn't in the car.

So here is each of the kids with their treat-

Well another week down and maybe only 1 more to go. Going to check on seeing about changing our tickets and if it is to much then we will come home. Although I am not ready to come back to reality, but I guess sooner than later we are going to have to. I am just so grateful that we were able to have this chance. The kids have had to learn to keep themselves busy without the Wii and friends. They have had to learn that they can have a great time with each other, I have loved to watch them come up with different games to play or ideas to keep them busy and happy. I have also learned that we don't need a lot to be happy, we have actually survived in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house and are still alive. It is not the stuff that we have that makes us happy but the people that are in our lives to share what we do have with each other. I am very grateful for my husband and kids and wouldn't trade the world for them.