Wednesday we decided to head to Haneuma Bay, which is on the southeast corner of the island, just east of Koko Head. This is an underwater museum, in which you can snorkel and see the corals, fish, and other aquatic life. It is an old volcano crater that opened on one side, making a perfect cove to provide protection to the marine life. We dosed each other up good with sunscreen, but mine wore off midway, so I manged to get a pretty good burn too...

we all rented snorkel gear and swam for several hours, then took a break on the beach...

We managed to find an accomodating tourist to take our photo together...

Then we headed back towards Wakiki, stopping at Diamondhead, a volcanic crater that is now a National Landmark, but was used as a military lookout or outpost. They had actually built a concrete bunker in the top of this thing..quite a hike up there, several sets of stairs and a pedestrian tunnel, and a set of spiral stairs...

you can get a perspective when you look down on the lighthouse...

there was a survey marker at the top...

And a surprise shot of Maureen when we were coming through the tunnel....

We headed back to our hotel, got cleaned up, and went to a nice restaraunt for dinner. It had changed since the last time I had been there, was more casual this time. Except the prices, they were still premium. We were in a busy spot, right next to the stairs, which was a bit distracting. All in all, it was nice.

The next day we decided to spend at the Polynesian Cultural Center, a 42 acre place on the northeast shore that re-creates ancient Hawaiian and other island chain (Tonga, New Zealand, Samoa, etc) life, with dance, dress, song, etc...

our tour guide was great, we sort of glommed onto her, as we snuck in with part of a tour group she was hosting...she was a lot of fun...

the pageant of the long canoes, with dancers from each of the 7 islands doing a traditional dance...

all colorful costumes, etc. Actors are mostly college students from nearby Brigham Young University, and the proceeds are used to underwrite scholarships for the students.

After the pageant, we went to an area where they were doing some dances with coconut shells, and wanted audience participation, that was fun...

this guy was awesome, he did a mens cooking demonstration, and really knew how to play the crowd. We would find out later he was the star of their evening theatre performace, where he did a fire dance with twirling batons on fire on each end. Pretty awesome.

Some of them demonstrated how they scaled  trees...

we all managed to get some temporary tattoo's...

we later went to a Luau, which was great. Here the hostess explains about the firepit they roast the hog in...

we all got nice flower leis too...

It was late by the time we got back to our hotel, but the kids all agreed it was worth it...

Monday we went to Pearl Harbor and spent the day there, saw the USS Arizona memorial, the battelship USS Missouri, and the submarine USS Bowfin. Neat place, we ran out of time, so decided to come back to the gift shop for souvenirs. We did manage to snag matching shirts tho...

the Missouri, as viewed from the shore....

and the Bowfin, moored nearby...

about the only thing left of the Arizona, as viewed from the Memorial. A Gun turret...

the Arizona had just loaded with fuel, 1.5 million gallons, and they estimate there is still somewhere around 500,000 gallons still on board. It is leaking at the rate of a quart a day, and you can see it rising to the surface...

there is a neat memorial over the ship....

with an open roof, the names of the deceased all on the north wall.

From the Arizona Memorial, the Missouri looks a bit bigger...

we went into the Submarine museum, lots of neat information on the role of submarines in military actions, and in the attack on Pearl Harbor...

the kids had a really great time being together, and did great for an entire week...

torpedoe tubes in the Bowfin...

a bit dark, but Kyle standing next to a display of a Titan missle...

Then we headed onto Ford Island to see the Aviation museum, across a bridge that wasn't even there the last time I was here...

we then headed over to the Missouri, huge battleship...

Kyle took a turn "driving"...

as did Allen...

We headed back and ate at a place called Moose McGillicuddy's, similar to Hard Rock but a little less pricey. They had a "challenge" omelet, if you could eat all of it you got it free and a free T-shirt, and your name emblazoned on a placque...boys were tempted, but Allen was trying not to put on any additional poundage for the military, so....we headed back to our hotel for the rest of the evening...

We had a great time headed out on our vacation, first stop was past the Phoenix airport, where Rick and Sandra met us for a few quick seconds between planes. I was so pleased they would come to see us...

Then on to Honolulu, late at night, and the next morning this is the view from our ocean-side room on Waikiki beach...

we all couldn't wait to get our toes in the water, so we went over to the beach after breakfast and waded in...

Later that day we drove around Waikiki, Honolulu, and headed up to the North Shore to see Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay. There were beautiful plants and birds everywhere...

We managed to forget sunscreen on the backs, so they all got fried, Maureen was rare, Kyle medium, and Allen was well done. He got second degree, blistered all over his back.

Maureen got the Boy Scout award of the trip, she came prepared with Aloe gel, and Motrin. We resupplied with sunscreen at the stores. They had spray on 70 SPF stuff. Neat stuff.

Neat place. We drove along the north coast, then down the east side, through a tunnel, then back to Honolulu, and stopped at the Hard Rock. There were some pretty cool motorcycles outside...

and a Caddy station wagon in the restaraunt...We had  a great time there, bought the usual T-shirts and souvenirs, then headed back to the hotel.

Saw the Steam Crane running at Camp Creek, was fired up on coal this time, pretty cool....

also, this fellow leading a gaggle of geese around. He had them dressed up in little outfits. Said they'd bonded when they were chicks just hatched, and follows him everywhere....

Went to Camp Creek Threshers this weekend, had a great time. Lots of fun tractors and cars, etc. there. Several sets of horse drawn equipment out there, with teams.

very nice 57 Desoto...

a Federal, about 1943, in need of restoration, but still....

hauled in by this International Wrecker, with this winch...

one of the teams hitched to a mower....

another team standing ready....

very sharp '58 Ford Fairlane For Sale at the show....

nice 68 Dodge Charger R/T with a Hemi enroute to the National Dodge Charger show in Nebraska City this weekend.

right behind it was this nice 69 Dodge Charger....

neat little Nash Metropolitan at the show...unrestored, in great shape.

 More photos from the Mustang meet on the 15th...

not exactly a Mustang, but I wasn't complaining...

nor this one...

another Mustang II, unusual to see them fixed up. They were not popular....

Very sharp paint job on this one.

sharp little 57 T-Bird, notice the tail fins....

next to this baby blue 56 T-Bird, note the rounded rear fenders....

this was kind of fun, a Police Special, owned by the Town Police Chief...

very nice 56 Ford Crown victoria coming into the lot...

and stuck over in the corner, hidden off out of the way, was a sharp little 57 Chevy. I realize it wasn't a part of the Mustang show, but still....

More Mustangs from the show on the 15th...

very nice flame job on this one..

this little Falcon Ranchero had an elderly couple in it, perhaps the original owners...

Went to a Mustang Club show on the 15th, great way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

this one was just like Maureen's except for the 5.0 and white top.

we frequently see this little Falcon running around town.

very nice 60 T-Bird snuck in there.....

this is a 61 or 62 T-Bird...

seldom see the little Mustang II's fixed up...

Went to Aunt Babe's last weekend, for June/July birthdays, and to have a work day on her place. Painted the Kitchen and Back Porch, really brightened it up. Then we took the railing and old steps off the deck, built new steps, installed a new section of flooring, and built a bench seat.

Rich and I went down there today, finished the railing and one piece of floorboard.

Her little garden bench looks nice, Paulette brought her a couple potted plants to sit next to the bench, that was a nice touch.

 I did a little hoeing, then we started the water on the garden, it was pretty dry. Lots of melons and tomatoes springing up. Picked 5 cucumbers, but the little Gerkins are not producing at all. Have no idea what happened to them, but those are the ones good for pickling.  We will have buckets of tomatoes, it looks like. Lettuce is doing well also. Beans will be marginal. Hotter than heck out there, 95 in the shade.