Monday, March 20, 2023 - chill day

 So, we got up very early to see the Sanders off! It was such a fun week with them here. Then we decided that since we didn’t have to be at work until 4:30- we would just take a fun day. We had heard from our friends Elder and Sister Phillips at church that they had gone out to Turtle Bay to see a monk seal momma and her baby pup.  So, we decided we would go too! It was about a mile hike back into the place. But, it was a little overcast and a nice cool breeze…so it was lovely!

They had the area all fenced off, so you couldn’t get very close…but we could still see them. Mom is the large dark one laying on beach and her pup was right beside her out of view.

Here you can see the momma and the little pup is off to the left just going into the water.

Here is another one that is laying by the rocks…dark grey with a white tummy….we heard this was a pup whose mother had left him, and he was just by himself…about 2 months old.

Then we had packed a picnic lunch, so we just found a shady spot on the beach and enjoyed lunch!

Sunday, March 19, 2023- Sunday and the Sanders last day!

 We went to church and then headed to the temple to take some pictures….

Will we ever get used to wearing real shoes to church again???? Love those sandals and flip flops!!

Sat. March 18, 2023 - Big day!

Since it was their last full day, we crammed in as much fun as we could!!!!  So, as I said in the last post, you now have to have reservations for practically every big tourist spot…and they are hard to get!  After getting up early to try and get reservations for Hanama Bay snorkeling, they actually got through, but the only times were for this morning!  That meant driving an hour down to Hanama Bay, snorkeling, then the drive back through road construction, in order to be here by 12:30 when we had reservations for the PCC. (Polynesian Cultural Center) whew!!!

We had to work in the morning so we could go with them to the PCC in the afternoon. Took pictures of those going home.

                                Sister Weaver, one of the Lead STL’s….she is a basketball player.

  And Sister Suka, below…one of our most fun Tongan sisters going home to SLC.

The whole group….left to right…Sister Gallano (who’s first name is Heaven- from the Philippines ), Sisters Faylor ( San Antonio,) Sister Liu (Las Vegas) , Suka, and Weaver

Later I got this pic pfrom Elder Bushman of the going home people at Transfer News that night and their Aloha Oe. (We were not there because we went with the Sanders to the PCC)

Sisters Faylor, Gallano, Glassett, Burbidge, Liu, Weaver, Lameroux , Suka, Peterson, 

Elders Carter & Mead

Next up for the day was our trip to the PCC… of course we had to start with our tattoos ….

         Our friend Josie who does the fire dancing in the Samoan village! She married our temple security guard Tyler Brown

What a fun day!!!!

 

Friday, March 17, 2023- Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

We started early this morning!  Colby was bummed that he didn’t get to go to the temple, so he and Papa went over at 6:30 am and thought they would try to get in to do some baptisms. As luck would have it, a ward that was there adopted them and they were to do some baptisms!!!   So thrilled that our grandchildren are growing up loving the temple!

Of course, afterword, they HAD to go to McDonalds for their Shamrock Shakes!!!

And Lindsay took some relaxing time at the beach for a beautiful sunrise!

Then we decided to go show everyone Laie Point and the waves there.  Again, not the biggest we have seen, but it was nice anyway !

Then, we had to go to work…but we HAD to represent our Irish heritage!!!!

Then we had a nice surprise- a couple we had trained to work in the office in San Jose, who knew Misty came.  Actually it was just Tulu-  her hubby, Leroy had to stay home, but it was great to actually meet the Navarro’s in person!!! (Since we had trained them during COVID over zoom)

While we were working the Sanders headed down to Honolulu for a hike…. Up Diamond Head! Now, you have to make reservations to go to practically any big tourist spot, so they were lucky to get these!

View from the top was pretty amazing!!

Honolulu in the background.

Of course, no hike is complete without going to the famous Leonard’s Bakery for malasadas!

Thursday, March 16, 2023 - Papa Ole’s and Waimea Falls

 One nice thing about traveling to Hawaii from the mainland is that you end up waking up very early each morning until your body’s time clock gets acclimated.  The nice thing is that you are awake for some beautiful sunrises!

Another nice thing is that we are able to start by going to Papa Ole’s for breakfast!

Papa and I always split the short stack supreme. It is 2 pancakes with banana bits and chocolate chips inside and this wonderful macadamia nut sauce on top!   Colby liked it too!

Lindsay and Cambria split an order of the thick French toast with the same sauce on top! Luckily I got a picture before they completely ate it all!!!

Then we headed out to Waimea Falls. A quick, easy almost a mile hike.

Along the way we saw some original Hawaiian village huts

Then we arrived at the Falls and some VERY COLD water!

We even got in under the extremely cold waterfall!  

Fun day! But, then we had to go to work at the VC…so the Sanders went in search of some waves to boogie board on. While they were here, we had amazingly flat water!  Not hardly any waves on our beach, or Pounders….so, they wound up at Pipeline to finally find some good waves!

Then, of course, no trip to the beach is complete without shave ice!

Later on that night the Sanders came to the Visitor’s Center to see what we do!

Had to take the traditional shot in front of the Christus!

Then, we played the narration of the Christus where Christ bears witness of himself.

And showed them the Welcome to Laie video.

And the Book of Mormon corner…

We always love showing our children and grandchildren how wonderful it is to serve a mission!