Oahu: Day 3

Friday we visited Pearl Harbor. They have a great museum on site that we had plenty of time to look through as we waited 3 hours for our timed ticket out to the remains of the USS Arizona. It was a very hot day so we spent some time walking around the outside exhibits, but quickly decided our time was best spent indoors!

Looking thru the periscope out to the harbor

Geoff testing out the big guns

One of the remaining turrets from the Arizona, which lays beneath where Danielle is standing

Behind Geoff is the USS Missouri which stands guard over the sunken Arizona

*****

After spending all morning and early afternoon at Pearl Harbor, we went back to Waikiki to cool off in the ocean for the afternoon. Then we walked downtown Waikiki to get dinner and watch the sunset over the ocean. Beautiful ending to the day!

20 weeks

Baby is doing well and we're so thankful. Doctor says he/she has a "beautiful" looking heart, and everything else baby needs. Counted 10 fingers and 10 toes. Amazing. God is good!

Oahu: Day 2

Thursday we drove along the other side of the island from Waikiki to the North Shore. On our way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation. We learned the history of the pineapple and how James Dole used the unique climate and soil of the Hawaiian islands to build a pineapple empire. Most importantly, we got pineapple ice cream (mine was also topped with fresh pineapple) which was delicious and the perfect treat for a hot day. Tried to figure out how to bring some home with us, but I guess we'll just have to go back... :)

Leaving Dole, we kept heading towards the North Shore. We stopped in Haleiwa for some shopping and to get lunch. Geoff got another plate lunch, this time with pulled pork, and I got a hot ham, pineapple and cheese sandwich. yum. (I managed to have pineapple in some form every day while in Hawaii). From Haleiwa, we drove to Sharks Cove where we went snorkeling

(no Sharks spotted). We weren't in the water 2 minutes before we came face to face with a sea turtle! We saw at least a dozen different types of beautiful, brightly colored fish. This was one of the highlights of our trip for sure! After snorkeling, we left the cove and walked to the nearby beach to do some swimming (the cove was very rocky). The North Shore is where all the surfing competitions happen in the winter, but thankfully the surf is much calmer in the summer so we amateurs could enjoy the water.

For our return trip to Waikiki, we drove down the other side of the coast and enjoyed spectacular views of soaring mountains and jagged cliffs offset by crystal clear waters. Please excuse the pictures since they were taken from the moving car and don't do the views justice at all.

Oahu: Day 1

With baby on the way, Geoff and I took the opportunity to have one last big get-away together (i.e. "babymoon") by spending about a week in Hawaii. It was fabulous. So fabulous in fact that I plan to take you through our trip day by day, because its just too good to fit into one post :)

So, here comes Day 1: we got to our hotel late on Tuesday night (which felt like 4am to us) and after checking out our sweet lanai (balcony), we crashed. Wednesday was our official Day #1, and we packed it full! Since our bodies were still on EST, we were up and out the door by 7am to enjoy some delicious breakfast at the beachfront restaurant next door. Then we walked into downtown Waikiki (about 10mins from our hotel) to check out what was what. And to find a Starbucks of course. Here's the view of downtown from our hotel...

For lunch, we went to a "locals" spot where Geoff got his first plate lunch. Basically, its some type of meat served with rice and either a green salad or macaroni salad on the side. Its the standard lunch fare on the island. This place also had amazing iced tea (with pineapple and mint in it).

After lunch, we decided to drive along the Windward side of the island. It was breathtaking. If you go to Oahu and only see Waikiki, you are missing out! A few snapshots from our drive...

National Pali Lookout

Halona Beach Cove

Hanauma Bay (popular for snorkeling)

We did some more exploring and decided we'd need to come back to this side of the island later in the week. You'll see more pictures of that to come! Check back tomorrow for ice cream and snorkeling adventures :)

Food

Now that I've reached week 14 of pregnancy, little baby is about the size of a lemon! Isn't s/he cute?! My second check-up and ultrasound is tomorrow and we're super excited to see Baby P looking more baby-like, with legs and arms fully developed, and a neck holding up its head.

We have made the decision to not find out whether we're having a boy or girl, so bring on the neutrals!

The toughest part for me so far has been the lack of food that is appealing. I really don't crave many things, but there is a lot that I avoid like the plague. This makes meal planning/ take-out/ grocery shopping pretty difficult. Poor Geoff has not had a decent home-cooked meal in weeks I'm pretty sure. Pasta and pizza are about the only things I'm really digging right now, and I'm ashamed to admit we've had pizza 3 times in the past week. I just identified meat as another big category of food that I've developed an aversion to, so any good vegetarian recipes you know of, please do share :)

I'm determined to not have pizza again tonight so I must go peruse the kitchen for some inspiration...