Another Trip To Atlantis

One day while company #2 was here, we headed to Waikiki to take a ride on the Atlantis Submarine.  Again, we had good luck with traffic, so we took a stroll the gardens at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  Here, the kids pose with the penguins...Well, Carly and Clay did.  Andrew was too busy watching the penguins.

Carly posing for me in front of a waterfall.

I caught Andrew in a "smiley" mood; dirty mouth and all!

The Atlantis submerging.

Our gang, ready for an adventure.

Me and Drew

A parrot fish in the mix.

Puffer among the little guys

Blurry picture, but it's a starfish!!...er, excuse me "sea star" would be the politically correct term.

Turtle taking a break.  We saw a shark too this time, but he was on the other side of the sub, so I didn't get a picture! :(

Me and the kiddos looking out the window.

I love the submarine.  It's so fun getting to see all the marine life down below.  Carly was looking through her "dive log" at all the pictures of different marine life in Hawaii.  She told Andrew that we would see dolphins.  All the adults were like "Well, not really.  We have them in Hawaii but we won't see any in the submarine."  Well she showed us!  On our boat ride back to the pier a small pod of spinner dolphins were swimming along side out boat!  It was neat!

Look Who I Found!

I met Ashley at Auburn; Freshman year, I think.  We were Tiger Splashers together, so we knew each other all through college.  She was a great friend, but unfortunately like most of our friends in life, we all go our separate ways and lose touch somehow.  Well a few years back we were reconnected. (Thank you Facebook)  I learned that Ashely married a military guy as well.  And what do ya know?  They're now stationed in Hawaii!   After 8 years, thanks to the military, I get to be reunited with an old friend!  

Too bad all my Auburn pictures are in Alabama, or I'd post a picture of us back in the day!

It was so good to see her and I'm so glad they're here.  Too bad we have to leave now.  It would have been fun to have her here for the past several years.

Ali'i Kai Dinner Cruise

After being on the boat from 8-12, we filled up with gas on base and headed back to Waianae for showers.  We had to leave the house at 3:15 to head down to the pier to board the Ali'i Kai dinner cruise.  Our house guests bought our tickets as a "thank you" so we joined in on the fun.
Traffic was unusually light so we got there with some time to spare.  Andrew, Carly, and I sat on the wall and watched a couple of yellow fish swim around.

Clay took a pic of me and the hubby waiting.

Drew and Andrew on the top deck. It was super windy!

The girls: Nana, Carly, Me, Gina

Back inside Andrew sticks his head through the drink menu.

Then he and Clay work on their "shakas."

Carly has it down pat!

After the buffet line, we has a small/quick Hawaiian hula performance.

After the performance, we busted out with the macarena followed by a conga line.

We even did the cupid shuffle, cha-cha slide, and some other line dances.

*Tina and Micah, I did the cupid shuffle for you!

And of course I had to have my picture made with our hula guy and gal.  Sorry hula girl, my hubby cut your head off!

The only other time we had done a dinner cruise was on the Navatek, 5 1/2 years ago.  It was a nice, relaxing ride with pretty cheesy entertainment.  So I've got to hand it to the Ali'i Kai for upping the entertainment factor.  Because if it hadn't been for the 20 minute dance party at the end, I'd say "no gracias" to all future dinner cruises.  Alas, they let me dance, so it was a really fun night.  Thank you Nana and Gina for buying our tickets!

Cloudy Day At The Sandbar

On Thursday, day 4 of our company, we rented a pontoon boat and headed out to the sandbar.  It was pretty cloudy and the tide wasn't as low as last time, but we still had a great time.   We just love being on the water. So with Andrew as our Skipper, we were on our way!

The rest of us in the back

Chinaman's hat out in the distance

We hung out for a while and had a picnic on the boat...WHAT? We forgot the cups!

The tide was going out as we were leaving.

On our way back we tied to a buoy while Drew, Carly, and Clay did some snorkeling.

 Andrew and Clay trying to stay warm.

Drew at the end of our journey. (photo courtesy of Clay)

After we got off the boat we had to hurry home, shower, and get dressed for the dinner cruise!

Paradise Cove #11!

The night after the Remembrance Tour and the swap meet, we headed over to Paradise Cove for our 11th luau! (yes, I've honestly been 11 times!)  We headed in for our complimentary mai tai's - non alcoholic of course. Andrew liked his "juice."

After a group photo with half naked hula dancers, we went inside to enjoy all of the pre-show festivities.  We started with Hawaiian tattoos.

The finished product:

Next, Andrew, Carly, Clay, and I took a canoe ride around the lagoon.  Andrew had a good time paddling.

Then it was over to try our luck at a little spear throwing.

Good try, Andrew.  We got shell lei's for "good effort."

We took a hula lesson.

The ladies pose with all our flowers.

Andrew and Daddy waiting for the ceremony to start.

Before the show, we found time for a family photo....sort of!

Then it was on the Emu amphitheater for a royal presentation.  Andrew wanted to take some pictures.

Before the presentation was over, I had to sneak off and take some sunset pictures. 

After the presentation of the royal court, we stuffed our faces with some ono kalua pig and settled in for the big show.  Half way through they invite anyone on stage who would like to learn the hula.  Guess who wanted to go?  (NO..not me)  ANDREW!  Can you believe it.  My shy in public child wanted to get on stage!  Of course he wanted me to go too, so I sacrificed for his sake.  He was such a HAM up there!  I was so proud.

When the show was over, we all had our pictures made with some hot Hawaiians! :)  This was Clay's favorite part of the night!

Carly and I take a picture with the best dancer.

But this one had the cutest smile!

Gina wanted her picture with the fire knife dancer.

Ahh, the luau...such a good time!  Stay tuned because I'll take my 12th and probably last Paradise Cove trip in a couple of weeks!