Day 7: Last Day in Hawaii...

Friday, June 11, was our final day in Hawaii.  Our flight departed that afternoon at 4:50 PM, Hawaii time (9:50 PM, Illinois time), which meant that all of our sleeping was going to to have to be on the plane before it landed in Texas for our 1 hour layover.  I will discuss how well that went on another day.  We spent the morning on the beach and in the ocean and then headed back to the hotel to shower and get dressed.  We had to checkout of the Ohana by noon and the airport shuttle wasn't picking us up until 2:30.  The Ohana was great and they had a storage area where we could lock up our bags after we checked out, so after 12 we just did our final walk around Oahu.

Last morning on the beach

One of the things we did while we were in Hawaii that I haven't blogged about yet, was Stand Up Paddleboarding.  Originally, Ryan and I had planned on signing up to take surfing lessons, but our first day there, I had seen some people doing SUP and pointed it out to Ryan.  We were both intrigued.  Several places along the beach offered lessons, but before we signed up for lessons, Ryan decided to research it (have I mentioned that Ryan researches EVERYTHING?).  That night, Ryan pulled up a couple youtube videos on how to SUP and after watching them, we were pretty sure we didn't need to do the lesson (so, yes, it was smart of him to research it).

The first time we decided to rent paddleboards, we were in an area of beach that was a bit crowded.  The guy cut us a deal though, so we can't complain.  Instead of 2 boards for $50 for an hour, we got 2 boards for $40 for 90 minutes.  Ryan was a beast the first time and I did okay.  Ryan was able to stand and paddle past the reef.  I was able to stand and paddle, but when I got to the reef, the water got really choppy and I would lose my balance unless I dropped to my knees (I don't have the abs like Ryan does- and if you have seen Ryan, you know he has a 6 pack-seriously, he does). I didn't make it for the entire 90 minutes the first day.  At around the 75 minute mark, I lost my balance, hit my head on the board and inhaled some serious ocean.  I took that as a sign that I should be done for the day, but I am forever hooked on paddleboarding now.

The second time we rented paddleboards, we didn't get the same deal, BUT we were in a less crowded area and the water wasn't as wavy.  We had been on the island for a few days at this point and had scoped out the beach for the best areas to paddleboard.  The guy we rented from thought Ryan was in the military because of his hair cut and tried to give him a military discount but Ryan quickly told him he wasn't in the military.  This time we only had the boards for an hour, BUT I didn't fall off the entire time, AND I even rode a few waves.  Ryan only fell in once, but he also paddles faster than I do.  The two of us are definitely addicted to paddleboarding now.  It is a good workout and great for working on balance.

You start on your knees in the shallow water

And if you are a beast, like my husband, you stand up immediately

Then you turn and yell, "stop taking pictures and come in already!"

See, I'm standing :-)

Hawaii-Day 1...

I don't count our first day in Hawaii as the day we landed.  Why?  We landed at 7:15 PM on Friday, June 6.  That meant it was 12:15 AM, Saturday, June 7 back in Illinois.  After we got our luggage, made it to the Ohana East Hotel, and checked in, it was after 8 PM.  We were exhausted and had been up for over 18 hours, so we literally crashed as soon as we got into the room (well, I had to find my night guard first- I've gotten so used to sleeping with it, I can't fall asleep if I don't have it).

We woke up at 4:30 AM (9:30 AM back home), so I called home while Ryan "washed the airplanes off of himself" and then he talked to the kids while I did the same.  There is something about taking a shower that makes you feel so much better.  Once we were clean again, we set out to see Hawaii and find some breakfast- Ryan gets extremely HANGRY, so I know the importance of keeping him fed.  I had noticed on the drive to the hotel that on Saturday they were having their Pride parade, and it explained all the interesting costumes that we saw as we walked back to the hotel after we had breakfast and had wandered around for an hour.

Isn't that tree cool?!?

Since we had spent most of the day before on an airplane, we hadn't really planned to do much on this day, so we changed into our swimsuits and walked down to the beach.  The first thing we learned was that the ocean was chilly!  It is not like when you go to Florida in the summer and are on the Gulf side.  You have to sit out on the beach and work up a good sweat in the sun and then you can go in the water.  We spent most of the day at the beach, leaving to eat lunch and go to one of the gazillion ABC Stores to buy big bottles of water to drink (the hotel water is gross), but you can get a big old bottle of water for $1, so we kept a couple in the fridge in our room after the first day.

Can you believe how BLUE the water is?!?

He may have been sleeping here, and yes, his swim trunks are Amazing Spiderman

 Then, we cleaned up for dinner, & ate at this Japanese Noodle Buffet place called Marukame Udon (really good) where I learned how to use chopsticks (Ryan is already proficient in this- of course, what isn't he good at?).  Everyone had told us how expensive everything in Hawaii was, and Ryan and I are fairly frugal people anyway, so Ryan used the Yelp search engine to find us fairly cheap places with good reviews to eat at (and he got some recommendations from his boss whose brother lives there as well). Then we walked around some more and crashed at 7:30 PM- I know, party animals.

The pictures just don't do Hawaii justice.  Everywhere we walked it was beautiful!