Around Oahu

We were staying close enough to the Dole Plantation that we made multiple trips to visit this little spot on earth. The Dole Whips were really as yummy as we had heard--light, and the perfect mix of tart and sweet to capture true pineapple flavor.

There were a few other highlights as well at the pantation. Like our gorgeous girl sticking her blonde locks through the patch of pineapple.

This--this was a sight to behold at Dole Plantation. The corner of the structure you can see is the edge of a feeding dock. The large gold fish would flock around the dock, and when food was thrown into the water, some of it landed on the sloping bank. I was amazed to see how the fish fought their way, some of them even coming out of the water to get the food on the bank. Once they got too far out, and their gills were out of the water, panic among the fish would ensue the and stressed fish would rush back to the safety of the water. Repeated, over and over, we really had fun watching the fish that fought to climb on top of each other's backs.

David climbed every tree he could find. This one was while we waited in line at Matsumotos Shave Ice.

We met up with everyone at Matsumotos for their infamous shaved ice. I wanted the authentic bowl, so I got the whole works . . . shaved ice, on top of red bean paste, with sweetened condensed milk over the top, in the rice bowl and with mochi balls to top it off. I would do it all again, without the Mochi balls or rice bowl. The rest of it was super tasty.

We stopped to get Mochi wrapped ice cream with the kids, and afterwards we wandered around a dock at the back of the shop.

Sam enjoyed this view from a lookout near Hanauma Bay. He and I had a guided tour of Hanauma Bay, and we loved it. I'm not sure if we saw any more fish than we would have on our own, but it was super nice to make our way around the bay with their high-end equipment--including float belts and really nice flippers.

We also spent an afternoon looking around BYU-Hawaii. We were really sad that the bookstore was closed while we were there, it must have been between semesters because the whole campus was very quiet.

On one of our last days, I took the kids to a splash pad on one of the bases. We were trying to keep cool, and this was a little less intimidating than taking them to the beach by myself while Sam was with some members of the family that ran a 5K grueller race.