We have come to the end of our trip. :( It has been SOOOO great being with Andrew and Brandi!!
We had a busy day and just our luck it was very rainy. I had made reservations to go through the Laie, Hawaii temple open house this morning and didn't know where I was going, how I was going or how long it would take. With the sky being so overcast the trusty navigation system I've been using was not working. I had no idea what to do and couldn't get anywhere without it. Miraculously it started working and we were on our way.
The drive was beautiful even though I was white knuckling it due to the rain. There were times when the ocean was only a few feet from the edge of the road. It was amazing yet scary at the same time.
I thought I brought a polo shirt for Ryker, but found out this morning that I hadn't so I was going to stop at a store on my way to the temple, but didn't pass any. He looked a little funny wearing khaki pants over a romper with a truck and the saying "I make mud look good" on it. Oh well, I tried. ;)
The drive didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would so we were there over an hour early. I was in a rush because I still needed to buy souvenirs and spend time with Andrew and Brandi before leaving tonight. I explained my situation and asked if we could go with the next tour since it seemed a little empty anyway. They were more than happy to have us go through early.
There ended up being about 15 people in our tour and for the size of the temple it was almost too many. It is a very small yet very beautiful temple.
Unfortunately I was in such a hurry that I didn't even think to take pictures of the temple or Ryker and I in front of it.
We took the longer way to Honolulu by way of the North Shore because I hadn't been there yet. There were some AMAZING views. The next time I go to Hawaii I'm definitely going to spend some time up there!!
We tried going shopping, but couldn't find the plaza so I pulled onto base and called Andrew to find out where to go. He was trying to figure out where I was and when we finally connected the dots and landmarks we realized we were only about 2 blocks away from each other. We stopped and were able to visit with him during his lunch break.
Our next stop was the big mall that didn't have much of anything that I was looking for. It did have a waterfall that Ryker just loved. I tried getting a good picture of it, but this is all I could come up with...
Ryker really wanted to play in the water and was pretty upset when I made him leave the cool pool and waterfall.
We did a little more shopping at the international market. The last time I was in Hawaii I found so much good stuff there, but this time it was the same thing at every booth and not at all what I was looking for. I did get suckered into buying a bracelet for $2.
We finally made it back to the house in time for dinner and to sit and visit for a few hours before we headed out. Ryker was finally comfortable enough to show off some dance moves and just let loose.
It was so hard saying goodbye to Andrew and Brandi. They were so much fun and so wonderful to give me a break and let me kick back and relax.
The flight home was great because Ryker slept most of the way, but I kept waking up thinking he was falling off my lap or to make sure he was doing ok.
It's great to get away, but it's great coming home!
(Sorry for such a long post with hardly any pictures. I had to jot down what I remember so I don't forget it all)
