Hawaii - Part IV

Wednesday, July 31st we said goodbye to our rental Jeep and took the very short flight from Kahului Airport, Maui to Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. Big city - no rental car here. 

Brent cashed in a good chunk of his Marriott points from all his business trips for our stay at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa - our room was on the 30th floor! 

Everything was walking distance here - big city vibes for sure. Brent and I agreed it felt like Miami. 

Our first dinner in Honolulu was at the Tanaka of Tokyo - teppanyaki style (dinner and a show!). As expected, the boys enjoyed the white rice the most. 

Brent showing off my orchid from my drink. 

They look like twins!

I loved the walk back looking at all the architecture intermixed with palm trees. This is the Moana Surfrider, currently a Westin Resort hotel. The Moana Hotel was the first hotel built in Waikiki, officially opened on March 11, 1901. 

These are very important in the Hawaiian culture. The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu - or the Stones of Life. 

Walking a bit further and we reached the statue of Duke Kahanamoku - the father of modern surfing. 

The boys knew exactly who this was - yay - points for me on making them do a little research and reading prior to this trip! 

Waikiki Beach at sundown. 

Always surrounded by birds..... our quick Starbucks breakfast on the first floor of the Marriott involved birds in the trees and the ground begging for crumbs. I like the ones that stayed in the trees until at least we left! 

Thursday morning we headed out for our tour at Pearl Harbor - booked it 8 weeks in advance to secure tickets! 

A 3D topographic map of the island of Oahu. 

There were quite a few more ships in the harbor than typically - all in town for RIMPAC 2024 - "Rim of the Pacific." RIMPAC is the name of the biennial (every 2 years) international military exercise held in and around the Hawaiian islands. 

We thought this was a museum ship, but NO - this is the USS Carl Vinson - a 1,092 foot long Nimitz-class Supercarrier. 

Fun facts - the body of Osama bin Laden was buried at sea in 2011 from her deck and the same year, she played host to the first NCAA basketball game on an aircraft carrier!

In the back right of the picture below is the USS Battleship Missouri - completed in 1944, she was the last battleship commissioned by the United States. 

The USS Arizona Memorial. 

There are several museum buildings on the grounds explaining the history and significance of this memorial site. This was an active torpedo found in 1991! 

I found this model helpful in explaining to the boys how we were going to see a boat that was mostly sunken. 

How interesting was FDR's first draft of his famous speech. 

Our 9:45am group gathered in a small auditorium to receive safety instructions from the park ranger and then boarded the military boat to be transported over to the actual memorial. 

The names of all the sailors and Marines who were lost that day. 

After our tour, we walked over to Restaurant 604 for an early lunch on the waterfront. 

We got back to the room and the boys and I knew exactly what we were going to do!!

Yes it was a ridiculously crowded and touristy beach, but the water was so inviting and clear! The boys LOVED playing in the waves. (You can barely see them in this picture - they are two little heads right in the middle of the photo) 

I will comment, for how much they fight and bicker ALL THE TIME, they play SO well together at the beach. It is surely their happy place!

Waikiki Beach! 

Dinner that night was at Cheeseburger in Paradise - wasn't expecting a gourmet burger by any means at this very touristy location, but it was pretty good! I had the "Island Style Cheeseburger" with colby jack cheese, teriyaki glazed grilled pineapple, & avocado and it was delicious - went really well with my Blue Hawaii! The boys thoroughly enjoyed our little drink umbrellas! 

Brock missed out on the shave ice from Maui, so he was determined to try this shave ice with ice cream on the bottom in Honolulu - Mango & Strawberry combo flavor!