Chinook Arch

On our way to the Temple this morning we were treated to a beautiful chinook arch.

It has been very quiet since we returned from Hawaii.  We did have visits from Sue-anne, Langley and Carter, Julie and from our home teacher.  There was snow one night, but not too much.  It is a beautiful day today - +5 degrees C.

Last Day in Hawaii

It was necessary to vacate our place by 10:00 a.m. on Friday morning.  It was the warmest day we spent in Hawaii.   Bob, Liam, Keaton and I went into Honolulu and later joined Nathan and the rest of his family at the outlet shops on the other side of Pearl City.  We shopped and had dinner at Chili's.  Bob's GPS gave out when we were getting ready to leave the outlet center (he was able to download a program to fix it after we arrived home).

We followed Nathan to a school that had a playground with shade and spent a couple of hours there.

 Nathan and Tara Resting at the Playground

 Orson with his White Toque Reflecting the Hot Sun

We left the playground at rush hour and we lost Nathan the first block.  Without a GPS we started on our way - the opposite direction from the airport.  After seventeen miles we realized our mistake and stopped for directions and turned the opposite direction and found the airport.

Our flight left at nine p.m. and after a stop in Vancouver we arrived in Calgary about 9:30 a.m.  Bob and I drove directly home and I had a long nap.  It was hard to adjust to the cold weather.

Pearl Harbor as well as a Sea Turtle

Thursday morning we left early and drove across the island to the U.S.S. Arizona monument.

We toured a submarine - the U.S.S. Bowfin.  How could anyone live on a sub? 

Later we saw a film with original footage from the Pearl Harbor attack and then took a boat ride out to the U.S.S. Arizona monument which is on top of the sunken U.S.S. Arizona that has been left as it sunk on the 7th December 1941.

We didn't go across to the island that had the monument to the U.S.S. Virginia on which Mervyn Bennion, one of the Bennion relatives, was killed. (http://usswestvirginia.org/stories/story.php?id=10)

The U.S.S. Bowfin

Inside the Sub

Top of the U.S.S. Arizona

The Monument above the U.S.S. Arizona

On the way back from Pearl Harbor we stopped at a beach where sea turtles often sun themselves.  We were in luck and along with a large crowd we watched a turtle.  He did move his head once or twice.  The sea turtles are protected and an organization to save the turtles sends people down every day to keep the crowds from getting too close and to answer questions about the turtles.

 

After ordering in Pizza for supper Bob and I got dressed and went to the temple for the 7:00 p.m. session, but the session was already filled when we got there and there was a line-up for the 8:00 p.m. session so we went back to the house.

Hawaiian Temple

Margaret and Tom left to return to Oregon on Wednesday.  We said good-bye to them after the evening entertainment at the Polynesian Cultural Center the previous evening.  It was great to spend time with them after not having seen them for two and a half years.

We had a quiet morning and after Matthias napped we drove to the Temple and wandered around and played at the playground next to the Temple.  The grounds were beautiful.  In the evening Nathan and Tara did a session at the Temple.

Polynesian cultural center

 A War Canoe for Orson

Roast Pork

Hauula Loop

Internet & Computer Problems

Bob's laptop computer worked fine until yesterday morning but now will not connect  to the internet.  I am forced to learn more about my tablet.

On Monday morning Margaret and Tom, Bob's sister and brother-in-law, came over and we visited and ate pineapple and papaya and had lunch.  Later all the males over two years old hiked the Haaula Loop.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Polonesian Cultural center.

Aloha

We had a fairly quiet ten days in which we watched Courtney play one basketball game and saw Erica in her drum band, Vertigo and prepared for our Hawaiian adventure.

Nathan and family met us in Vancouver and after a layover of a couple of hours we settled in to our Air Canada flight.  We arrived at our beach house late last night (well before 10 p.m. Hawaiian time) and we were all exhausted.

It wasn't quite like I was expecting.  The waves were high and roared as they reached the wall at the back of the yard and the salt water flew four feet into the air.  It was very warm and humid reminding Liam of Nova Scotia and me of Nanjing.  It was hard to sleep - either the room air conditioner was loud or if the windows were open the roaring of the ocean was loud.

Everyone except me  has been down at the beach this morning.  It is quite cold in the water - at least the little boys came back shivering.  Bob said it was the warmest ocean water he has been in.   Here are a few pictures taken from the upstairs balcony.