Days 73, 72, 71, and 70-Oahu or a Walk Through Paradise

Our trip to Hawaii started on an icy New Mexico morning at 4am.  Jonathan's mom drove us two hours to Albuquerque where we would catch our first plane to San Francisco and then on to Oahu, where we planned to spend the first 3 days of our trip.  The plane rides were uneventful, just the way I like them, except, of course, for baby Strads' constant kicks and flips.  I told Jonathan that our baby obviously HATES flying, but Jonathan pointed out when he kicks at something I like, then I say the baby also likes it, but when he kicks at something that I don't like, I assume the baby is also displeased.  It might be convenient of me to think so,  but if anyone would know what our baby likes or doesn't it's certainly me!

Oahu.  Oahu is gorgeous.  It is paradise.  It's hard to believe that such a tropical, luxurious place could be America.  I would try to describe it to you, but to try would be...well, a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, probably many, many more than that.  It's been at least mid-70's everyday so far, with bright sunny skies, and turbulent beaches with pretty blue water.  When I imagine the more than a foot of snow in Boston right now... I close my eyes, take in a long deep breath, and try to implant in my memory the sound of the waves hitting the shore and the sun warming my face.  I'm sure this memory is something I am going to need in the next few months.  Here is a photo tour of our first few days in Hawaii (also, please take note of the expanding belly.  Sorry, no bikini pictures yet!)

Day 1: Arrived and Explored the North Shore.  Saw BYU Hawaii, Temple, and Polynesian Cultural Center.  Ate short ribs and garlic chicken at Papa Ole's.
Day 2:  Watched the sunrise from our back porch.  Visited Bonsai Beach to watch the surfers, but the water was too rough so we drove up the North Shore to Waimea Park and hiked to a waterfall.  Went to the Dole Plantation and had pineapple ice cream.  Headed home to have lunch. Then headed south to Makapuu to hike two miles up a mountain to see a lighthouse one the eastern most tip of the island, we watched the sunset from here. We loved Papa Ole's so much that we at there again.  Jonathan was in heaven.
Day 3: We slept in.  We played in the tide pool near our house and then walked down to the beach next door to lay out and go boogie boarding (well, Jonathan went boogie boarding).  Then we had lunch.  Then we went to turtle bay to check out the beach and the resort (our place and beach were better and about 1/3 the cost).  We drove to a surf town to eat a local delicacy, shave ice with ice cream, at Matsumoto's Shave Ice.   Watched the sunset over sunset beach...beautiful.
Day 4:  Woke up, packed up, went to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial, a tomb to more than 1,400 soldiers.  Drove up to Diamond Head a volcanic crater.  Then went to Waikiki to explore.  We saw the queen's palace.  It started to down pour so we had an early dinner at a Japanese Restaurant.  Headed to Borders to hangout, and then finally to the airport to head to Kauai.