The End...

Our last official night in Hawaii...sad, yet will be nice to be home. Home is always great; you get to sleep in your own bed(Skip and I will actually sleep together again! We've been sleeping in separate beds this whole vacation, now is that sad when in 'paradise'?); use your own favorite pillow; use your regular sized toothpaste; use regular sized shampoo and conditioner; have more space than just a bathroom and a bedroom; not having to live out of a suitcase; having my own ice maker; not having to drink out of plastic cups; and no more sand in places we can't speak about. But now who is going to make our beds daily? Who will give us clean towels daily? Who will pick up our trash daily? Who will deliver room service? Who will tidy up our room daily? Guess it's back to reality! We've had a great trip. Everyone has been having a good time. Skip has really been sooo good about relaxing and getting everything out of this trip. I think our credit card survived and so did Skip's blood pressure.

Today we went to Diane's mother's place for a traditional Japanese/Hawaiin New Year's Day family feast. We had a nice visit with all of Ken and Diane's family. My family was gracious to take time out of their day to come along with me. We then HAD to get back to our hotel and get out in the sun, the sun actually showed up today! We spent a relaxing time in the ocean and/or catching rays on the beach then next to the pool. I've been blessed with great kids and a wonderful husband. I know I am very lucky to be able to give my kids this type of vacation. But I know for Skip and I, it's all about family and living in the moment together! Tomorrow, Skip and the kids will go parasailing. I will be in charge of taking pictures. This will be Kora's first time parasailing, we have all done it before in Maui, Kora was only 3 years old then. What a great way to end a vacation in paradise, flying in the air like a bird! Aloha and love to all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! WOW...2008!!

This is my brood sharing dessert we brought back from PF Chang's, please stand back and watch your fingers and toes for that matter with this crowd!: The best laid plans...Skip and I tried so very hard to stay awake for the fireworks and ring in the New Year, we couldn't do it. The sad part, it was only 9:45pm and we went to bed. Taylor said he would wake us up. 2008 arrives and I wake up from the sound of fireworks so I go out to the lainai. The kids' room was completely dark and no movement from within. Guess Taylor won't be waking up! Skip rolls out of bed and joins me to watch the fireworks. I know everyone has seen fireworks so just putting one picture on here. They were good, but not as good as our Omaha one, believe it or not. The only cool thing was the fact that they were shot off in the ocean. So please use your imagination looking at this one picture:
The fireworks lasted about ten minutes. Back to bed we went, gave a quick squeeze to one another, wished Happy New Year and back quickly to sawing zzzzzzzz's.

This is the way to wake up in 'Paradise':

Why do I put the word Paradise in quotes? Because, paradise is where ever you are in the moment. For those of you that know me, you know I LOVE the snow and especially a good blizzard, that is paradise for me too. I love the four seasons really. I love Spring and watching the blooming of life, the green of the grass, the blooms of the flowers. Summer, I have to say my least favorite, BUT I love this season because summer is when my kids get to be kids and hang out with all of their friends all day and all night. We don't have to worry about schedules as much so it gives us all a time to relax! Fall, I love Fall! I have wonderful memories of walking each of my kids when they were young and not yet attending school and pushing them in the stroller and the leaves were falling on us as if it were a blizzard of leaves...it was so peaceful, just me and my baby...I have done this with each of my kids and if only I had a good camera back then, I would have taken pictures, but I truly enjoyed the moment with each of them.

As this is the new year, I stopped making new year's resolutions long ago because that put way too much stress and disappointment in my life if I didn't achieve the resolutions. I try to live life to it's fullest, anyone knows I love to have fun and live life with a sense of humor. I don't take myself too seriously, I can laugh at myself. And how lucky am I that I found my soulmate at such a young age and we balance each other out so well. I am thankful that Skip can laugh with me and at me too and we can laugh at each other and most importantly, with each other. We both know when to turn on our maturity switch, but life is too short to always have that switch on! This is the way I live life, I am not saying how anyone else chooses to live their life is wrong. Remember, this is my blog and my thoughts only. No judging from me; I've been judged all my life so I try not to judge others. Just live your life like you want to, not how others want you to.

New Year's Eve Dinner

The last sunset in Hawaii of 2007: I made some friends as I was sitting on the lainai:
Me familia celebrating New Year's Eve at dinner:
Skip pouring his drink for a toast:
The entire familia outside PF Chang's:
Just watched the ball drop in Time's Square...Happy New Year to everyone on the mainland!! Aloha!

Pearl Harbor

Our morning started with everyone getting up at 0500. This is now close to 0600 and we are waiting for our tour van to pick us up:

So this is what Taylor does to pass the time(playing Monopoly on his cell phone):Is Skip working? NO, he too is playing games on his blackberry: Here is the line for Pearl Harbor around 6:45am:
Time now is 7:10 and the line is growing:
By the time 7:30 rolls around, people are now lining up to almost overlapping where we are standing:
Approaching the USS Arizona:

Entering the Memorial over the USS Arizona:This is the flag flying over the USS Arizona. Anyone can request to raise a flag over this Memorial, take a picture then will have the flag lowered to keep as a Memorial of the trip. During our time there, a veteran from WWII served in the Navy. He is 82 years old, dropped out of high school to enlist in the Navy to serve his country. His daugther told me their family had been saving for a long time to bring him to Pearl Harbor. Needless to say, it was a very moving moment for them and for me to be a witness to it.

This is a Memorial for the 25th infantry at Wheeler Army Air Field:
The Soldiers are represented as follows: The soldier to the far left represents the Vietnam war; the soldier to the middle back represents WWII; the soldier to the right represents the Korean War; and the middle soldier(bronze colored) represents the soldier from Iraq.

The symbol representing a fallen soldier:


Kim and Kora standing next to a helicopter used in the Korean war, can be seen at Wheeler Army Air Field:
Our tour was called 'Home of the Brave' Hawaii Victory Tour. We toured Pearl Harbor, Schofield Army Barracks, Wheeler Army Air Field, Fort Shafter, and Punchbowl National Memorial. The only places we were able to go walk around was Pearl Harbor, but we did have lunch at Wheeler Army Air Field. To tour all that we did and learn about the history of Pearl Harbor was pretty amazing. I do wish for everyone in their lifetime to be able to visit Pearl Harbor to honor those that lost their lives.

We returned to our hotel around 1:30, long day after such an early start, but so worth it. We do recommend you take this tour in order to bypass the very, very long lines. Yes, it is a little more costly so if you don't have to worry about your entire day, then take your time and do the tour on your own. As we left Pearl Habor, there were people in line still waiting to get in.
We are now relaxing to gear up for our New Year's Eve dinner out to PF Chang's! Skip and Taylor do not blend in as well with the diverse group of Asian and Hawaiin poplulation and tourists as us ladies do, but I think Skip is liking the state of Hawaii uh lut, uh lut. He wakes up, turns on the tv and it's football, football all day long! We are anxious to experience the fireworks display tonight, supposed to be awesome and we should be able to watch them sitting on our lainai's outside of our rooms, won't that be sa-weet! Cha! I will take pictures and hopefully catch some nice fireworks to share. Until then, since all of our families on the mainland will ring in the New Year way before we do, we wish everyone a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration. Party it up and celebrate the fact that you have your health, and the love and support of your families and great friends! May 2008 bring all that you wish for, all that you dream of, and all that you DARE to dream of! Aloha!

I forgot to add that it really is a small world after all, our tour guide, he and his wife(wife is Chinese and Philippino)he is 'white' and from the East coast, has lived in Hawaii for 30 years, they adopted their daugther from Korea 19 years ago. Not thru Holt, but still! His daughter is attending college at Willamette!! Everyone join me in singing, 'It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all...'

Helicopter, helicopter over my head...

This is where we had to wait for our van for our adventure today: We are giving you sign language clues as to what we are doing(sign for helicopter):
And we wait....And wait...Finally!Look who we saw at the helicopter place, another cousin!
Aloha, ready to board!Our hotel, the Sheraton Waikiki standing proud:Breath taking scenery:
Flying over the volcano crater:
Amazing...
Pearl Harbor ahead:




Natural agricultural maze:
Love these trees, look like umbrellas from the ground:

Our night out on the town:

The inside of the waiting area of the theater above

Of course, we HAD to have some entertainment before the show and here he is(dedicated to Jeff and Jennie):

Sorry no pictures of the actual show, no cameras were allowed. The performance was good and some of the performers made me want to cover my eyes and hold my breath. We all enjoyed the show. We did manage to escape the line for the picture purchase at the end of the show...yes another way to get us to pay more money!

We have been to the island of Maui and we have come to the conclusion that Maui is so much more relaxed than Oahu. Not that we are regretting coming here. It's just a whole different experience. I am amazed at the amount of tourists here. I feel like I'm walking the streets of Seoul. And once again, I am not the minority, Skip is. There are a lot of Japanese and Chinese tourists here. I still get people thinking I am a local. Like yesterday, when I was waiting with Kora at the hair braid stand, an old gentleman said to me, 'You can't make money if you don't open up your stand'. I told him it wasn't mine. Apparently he didn't hear me and asked me, 'Do you work for wages or do you get a salary'. I told him, again, that this wasn't my stand, I was a tourist! He looked at me so surprised and said, 'Oh' and walked away. Amy, the girl that braided Kora's hair took about 45 minutes to do it. I don't think I could ever braid like that, way too small of braids for me. But good luck doing Em's hair and please take a picture for me. Kora wanted her whole head done, but I only had cash for half, darn it! And it is pricey here, like everything else, her whole head with longer hair would have been $90.

The shopping is unbelievable, the amount of stores everywhere, including inside all of the big hotels. It can get a wee bit overwhelming, yes I said that. It's just not what I would want to live near. I love more of what we experienced in Maui. The next island I would like to visit is Kauai. The locals here say that island is more laid back and more of the true Hawaiin culture.

I'm glad we came to Oahu, I got to see my friends Ken and Diane that I met when I went on the Vietnam/Cambodia trip last April. I went to their house today to meet their children, one daughter is adopted from Korea. Ken and Diane had invited two other couples that had adopted children from Korea to hear my own adoption journey. It was great to be able to share my story, as if I don't tell it, I won't be honoring the Holt's and David Kim for their hard work in givng me a chance at life.

To experience Waikiki though, it's been a great ride so far. We have sure done most of the touristy things. Tomorrow morning, we will be going to Pearl Harbor at 6:00am to avoid the lines, we actually signed up for hte VIP tour to avoid waiting, let's hope that plan works! Papa, Erika said she would write her report on her blog, I will have Taylor write his report on my blog.

Lynlee, Tara says hello and of course, so does your future hubby!

We will be celebrating New Year's Eve with dinner at PF Chang's then there are to be HUGE fireworks displays here. Ken and his family told me that the fireworks are so big that we will feel like we are being attacked...that should be quite the show and experience!

We wish we could be with family and all of our friends to celebrate and ring in the New Year, but know that you are in our hearts and minds as we say goodbye to 2007 and live 2008 the way God intended. Aloha!