Aloha - our final days

July 27: Sunday a.m. I slept in and didn't jog but let Greg finally get out on his own for a walk/ jog around the Ala Moana Beach Park. When he returned we decided not to worry about church for this day. Yes, we ditched. We decided to enjoy the beauty of the forest by taking a hike up to Moana Falls. Over all it was a good way to spend two hours. It was a very anti-climatical hike because the waterfall was a trickle of water- a joke! Luckily, the walk to get there was pretty! We later spent the day around the hotel (if I remember right) just swimming at the pool, visiting the Ala Moana Park and eating at the mall. We started packing in the evening for our return flight tomorrow, Monday. (As you can see our camera doesn't do good with scattered light, kind of blurry on all pics below.)
All the boys took turns climbing a big tree. Payton's pic was too blurry to save.

The anti-climatical Moana Falls.












Last day: Monday our flight left late, 8 p.m. So to fill up our day we first went to the bay Greg had been waiting to go to all week, Hanuama Bay! The world renowned best ever snorkling bay. You have to pay and must watch an educational video before entering the preserved park. Luckily children are not charged with a paying adult. The bay was once a volcano that had sunken thousands of years before. It was beautiful!!!! I am so glad my camera worked well. The pics below are awesome!!! We really should have gone another day because our time here was limited to an hour and a half. We wanted to stay longer but had to leave because we wanted to get to Pearl Harbor. Once we thought about not going to Pearl Harbor and staying here longer, but then we were forced to leave the Bay because Jellyfish were sited and had actually stung a girl so they closed the Bay for the day.
Spectacular!





We tried to get a family picture and asked others to take our picture. A man took the picture above while a women took the pictures below. Notice Payton is missing above! Lesson learned.




So, after the bay we washed up at the hotel and checked out. We ate lunch and did a little bit of suvioner shopping then drove to Pearl Harbor. There we viewed the U.S.S. Arizona. They showed an educational movie about the war and then we took a mini-fairy to see the sunken remains and Memorial. It was sad thinking about all the servicemen barried there.
Across from the USS Arizona Memorial is the standing battleship of the USS Missouri. We didn't have time (we thought) to go through that.


If you look carefully above and below, you may notice a rainbow. Almost everyday in Hawaii there is a possiblity to see a rainbow. Thus, Hawaii is called the Rainbow State!


A view from our hotel room. Aloha!

Well, that was about it. We had another hour to pass before having to return our van so we drove to the Pali lookout- the windy cliffs for one last look at the windward side of Oahu. Then, it was Aloha time. We flew out after sunset. I left feeling satisfied that we all enjoyed ourselves and had a great experience!