Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Honeymoon

The night of our wedding we stayed at the Little America. We got there really late but our room was so nice. My parents got us the honeymoon suite. It had roses, chocolate covered strawberries, and a brass key with our names and the date engraved on it.





Sunday:
The next day we tried to go to Brunch at the Little America but the wait was SO long. Since Chet left that afternoon my family was in SLC... so, we met my family for lunch and my dad took us to the airport. And we were off to HAWAII!!








My brothers and sister contributed so much to our Honeymoon! Chet gave us spending money so we could do so many fun things. Brendan gave us a gazillion movies and the first season of 24... which was great for the 7 hour flight there and back! Brooke was so sweet and left her Jeep at the airport for us to use the whole week we were there. Also, my dear grandma who passed away in October had gotten us her timeshare in Honolulu for us as a wedding gift. We got to Honolulu around 10 pm. It was so bittersweet when we got there. I wanted to call and tell her thank you so I was so sad... but I was so happy cause I knew she was so excited for us when she rented it.
We got the the hotel and found out all the power was out... so they said we could use the service elevator. Well... that didn't work either. We had to hike up 14 flights of stairs in HUMID 80 degree weather WITH all our luggage. The bell boy was nice enough to carry my 50 lb. bag (over his head). I thought I was going to die. It was weird when we got to our room cause the power was on in there. Strange. But the timeshare my grandma got us was a 2 bedroom/ 2 story condo called the Presidental Suite :). It had 3 different balcony's (One off the master bedroom, one off the kitchen, and one off the second bedroom).

Lobby:

We had our OWN elevator for our room! Great huh? This is me showing just how close it was!




Living Room



Master Bedroom

Extra Bedroom downstairs

Master Bathroom (It was HUGE!)






On Monday we got up and tried to go to Pearl Harbor. It's free but they only give out a certain amount of tickets. It was only 11:30 and they had already given out all the tickets for the day. So we went to Walmart and Sam's. We decided to go grocery shopping and buy things for breakfast and lunch since we'd be eating out every night. (Every morning was so fun sitting on the balcony eating breakfast together just watching the ocean). Then we went to Laie and saw the temple. While we were up there we drove to 'the point' and I showed Cory where I used to live. Then we went to this yummy ice cream shop and got Sundae's.


On our first day there was a rainbow! You can't tell but it's a full one!



















On Tuesday we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It has the world's largest maze and inside there are 8 stations you have to go to to complete the whole maze. My sweet husband was determined to finish the maze. The record time was 8 minutes. Cory wanted to beat it.
I'm very excited about filling out my card at each station :)


I told Cory to flip the hang loose sign... This is what we got:
This was at the end. We finished in an hour and five minutes! Ha. So much for that 8 minute goal!



We also had lunch at the plantation. It was delicous. However, Cory has a little special place in his heart for all animals and must make friends with any he encounters.

Exhibit A:
The peacock.

Peacock see's Cory.



Cory feeds peacock.



Cory stops. Peacock stares.


And stares.



Cory feeds it more.




Peacock likey Cory. A lot.



Then that night we went the this restaurant called the Shorebird. It's RIGHT on the beach and we sat at the closest tables to the beach. There is a big salad bar and then you choose your meat. The waiter brings it out to you raw and then you go grill it yourself. ***Notice how stressed out the girl is in the back! (Thats why I made this picture large!)



Look how close I'm sitting to the 2-man"band"


Awkward isn't it?



Wednesday we went to Laie and met Brooke at Pizza Bob's for lunch. The rest of my family hates it cause it takes FOREVER to get your food. One night our family waited probably 2 hours for our pizza to come. It was ridiculous. But when Brooke and I lived there we loved it. I think I talked it up too much to Cory cause I don't think he was too impressed! Then that night for New Years Eve we ordered pizza to our room and just hung out (we did not have pizza at Pizza Bob's... for those of you who were wondering).

Thursday- We woke up early and attempted Pearl Harbor again. It was closed for New Years Day! So we tried to go to Haunauma Bay and it was closed for the holiday too! So we went to what's always open... the beach! Cory would not quit feeding the pigeons peanuts. They were surrounding us! (By the way...this is Exhibit B for Cory's obsession with ALL animals)











Then that night we went to the PCC. Brooke's roommates Aunt works there so she got them for us discounted. They're regularly $90 each for the cheapest show and she got got us a better package for $88 (grand total, not each!).

Cory bought me this yummy strawberry smoothie inside a pineapple :)



That night at the luau dinner they had everyone who was celebrating their birthday in January stand up (just at there tables) and everyone sang Happy Birthday. So, when they announced all Honeymooners to stand, we did thinking they would sing us a song. Oh no. They called us on stage to dance. Cory was devistated. Haha, but he was so cute and led me to the stage. Oh, and the cute older couple sitting by us took our camera and took pictures of us while we were up there!



Friday- We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It is serioiusly a MUST-DO when you go to Hawaii. We saw so many fish up close. I had done it before, but I still loved it. Cory enjoyed it so much too.

The mask left a mark on my forehead! Gosh, why didn't Cory get one?


Saturday- Scuba Diving
This day was so much fun! I took pictures with an underwater camera and it's getting developed right now. So I'll post pictures later. We saw so many turtles. It was great. We aren't even certified but it is so easy to pass off the basic things to go for one day. We went with 3 other couples that were from Argentina (i think). Anyway, all 6 of them ended up getting sick or chickening out on the boat. So Cory and I got special treatment from the instructors!

We had to check out of our hotel on Sunday even though we didn't leave until Monday night at 10pm. We woke up and packed then headed to Pearl Harbor! We FINALLY made it! It was the one thing Cory wanted to do most in Hawaii. We were finally able to go and he loved every minute of it. We went to the USS Arizona that is underwater and then we went and took a tour of the USS Missouri. Cory is a HUGE history buff and just learned everything he could while we were there.



Can you see in the middle it says Hilton?


After Pearl Harbor we drove up to Laie and stayed with Brooke. She had a delicioius meal made for us then we went and watched the sunset. It was amazing. After we drove over to the temple for more pictures and we went to the visitor center. We wanted to do a session so bad but the actual temple was closed for renovations! But it was SO fun just hanging out with Brooke and her roommate Tania.


This is so us...

I LOVE my sister...






Monday- Beach and Home!

The next morning we all went to lunch and went to the beach. Cory and I were there for seriously, about 7 hours. It was great. Then we had to leave and go to the airport! It was such a long vacation and so relaxing. I could have definitely stayed longer but I didn't feel like we left too soon. We did everything we wanted to do! I loved spending so much time with my new husband! It was the perfect start to our marriage :)