Oahu

Last month we went to Hawaii with Chris' family. The first day we flew to LA, but we did have a layover in Phoenix. The hardest part of flying with Katelyn is take off and landing because you are supposed to have your seat belt on and have electric devices turned off. Katelyn hated being buckled in her seat belt. I fought with her for ten minutes and then finally gave up and took her seat belt off. She stopped crying as soon as I unbuckled her. It was only then that I started to really dread the thought of every flight we would be taking. Katelyn is pretty good as long as she has a movie on and her seat belt isn’t buckled. Coming into Phoenix was really scary. They were having a dust storm and there was a lot of turbulence. When we landed and walked into the airport, we learned that the whole airport was grounded because of the dust storm. We had to wait for our next flight, so we got to LA really late that night. We stayed in LA overnight and flew to Oahu the next day.

The flight from LA to Oahu went a lot better than I expected. Katelyn just watched a lot of movies, so it wasn't too bad. Katelyn and her cousin Matthew even sat in the same seat and watched a video together. So cute!

The lobby of the hotel was beautiful. Some hotel workers were giving out flower and bead leis. All the girls got flower leis and the men got beads. Well, the hotel worker put a bead lei on me. I was a little offended. I guess I didn’t look so hot after our day of traveling and I was wearing a navy blue BYU tee shirt.

Our hotel room had a balcony and a nice view of the ocean. Katelyn loved sitting on the balcony to watch the waves and people below.

It was exciting to take Katelyn to the beach for the first time. She loved it! She really enjoyed playing in the sand and in the waves.

We did a guided tour of Pearl Harbor while we were in Oahu. The tour guide gave lots of information as we traveled to different areas of the city. We drove through Punchbowl, a military cemetery, right before going to Pearl Harbor.

At Pearl Harbor, we walked through some museums, watched a video, and then took a boat out to the USS Arizona memorial. I enjoyed going to Pearl Harbor and learning more. It was a little sad to think about all the lives that there lost that day. So many young men were killed.

This is a picture of the ship I found online. The picture shows how the USS Arizona ship is just below the memorial.

The names of all of the men who were killed on the USS Arizona.

Parts of the ship are sticking out of the water.

The USS Arizona was full of fuel when it was attacked, so the ship is still leaking oil.

Katelyn usually doesn't fall asleep like this but she was so tired.

Me and some of the guys were hungry that night so we stopped by a little diner close to the hotel. We only spent two days in a Oahu so we didn't have time to visit BYU Hawaii, see the Laie Hawaii Temple, or go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. I would love to go back to Oahu someday and see more there.