Hawaii and the last 6 weeks

If there's anyone out there that is still following me, thanks for not giving up despite my noticeably long absence from the blogging world.  I apologize for the lack of updates but I assure you, you haven't missed out on too much in our lives.  

Before I get to the Hawaii trip here's a quick recap of the last 6 weeks: Alex decided to be brave and go on quite the excursion with the Ostby's and some of their friends a few weeks back.  Since the snow machine trails weren't open due to the minimal snow this season, they decided to hike/cross country ski to a cabin just north of Anchorage on Eklutna Lake.  This cabin was 12. miles. each.way.   I'm up for trying new activities but that was a LITTLE far for me.  It also happened to be the coldest weekend since December so it wasn't the best experience.  They all spent the night in the cabin and hiked back the next day.  Unfortunately, Alex didn't bring the camera and his phone wasn't working so he didn't get any pictures.
Sadie has also changed quite a bit since the last post [I promise to post new pictures soon.]  She's now 14 weeks old and doesn't look as puppy like anymore.  She loves attempting to play with Mosie and somehow always manages to find a sock to play with - I thought I kept things picked up but she can always locate one! The pups went to day care/a boarder last week while we were soaking up the sun.

That's about all that we've been up to - pretty boring, right? :)

Which now brings me to last week.  Alex & I decided we needed some sunshine, sand and a few cocktails so we booked a trip to Hawaii.  Since it was our first [but certainly not last] trip to the islands we stayed on Oahu this time - beachfront of course!  I was apparently naive in my visions of Hawaii.  As we were flying into Honolulu last Tuesday night, there seemed to be a ton of lights so I asked Alex how big the city was thinking it was probably the same size as Anchorage.  WRONG! It has around 1 million residents which is nearly 4 times the population of Anchorage.  Anyway, Alex's co-resident from last year, Jon, is stationed in HI so he picked us up from the airport and brought us to our resort.  It was located in the heart of Waikiki and we were surrounded by high end shopping and all kinds of local & touristy restaurants.

View of Diamond Head from our resort

While we wanted to relax on the beach, we also wanted to tour the island and of course check out Pearl Harbor.  The water was GORGEOUS and we had a beautiful view of Diamond Head Crater from the beach.  We rented a motorcycle on Thursday and drove around Oahu for the day which was a fantastic way to see the island.  On our road trip we saw: Hanauma Bay [great reefs for snorkeling,] North Shore [known for it's massive waves & surfing,] and the Dole Plantation.

Hanauma Bay

Waves at North Shore

On Saturday, we booked a tour of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, USS Arizona, USS Missouri and Punchbowl National Cemetery.  Even though it was a long day of tours, I am so happy we had the opportunity to visit all of the historical sites.  It was beautiful to see the memorials in person, honoring the all the victims.  I learned that the USS Arizona and USS Missouri were the bookends of the war.  Over 1,100 men were killed on the USS Arizona during the attack which led to our involvement in the War.  At the memorial, oil is still visible in the water above the sunken ship.  The USS Missouri marked the end of the war as it was there that the Japanese surrendered to General MacArthur.

Inside USS Arizona Memorial with USS Missouri in background

One afternoon, Jon brought us to Aulani, the new Disney resort, as there is good snorkeling there.  He had all the gear so he helped us out and showed us the good spots.  We also managed to get in on the Annual Honolulu Festival which consisted of a parade [went right past our resort] and fireworks over Waikiki.  Other than those activities, we mainly stayed at our resort.  It's so nice to have some color again and the sun felt amazing.  It was much needed and very therapeutic.  It was tough to come back to snow and two more months of winter... Hopefully the time will pass quickly since we have a lot of visitors to look forward to this summer starting in May with Alex's family!

Whew hopefully I didn't lose anyone in that lengthy post!! All the Hawaii pictures can be found at http://therothsalexamy.shutterfly.com/.