Our Best Christmas Present

Our best Christmas present for 2017 arrived Christmas afternoon.
We met Steven, April and kids at the McDonalds near the airport,
 since that was one of the few restaurants opened.

Our first day of exploring took us to Kawela
Bay. All the kids loved climbing the
massive banyan tree.

That's high enough William!

Pillbox "Zen" at Kawela Bay.

Walking out on the coral at the pillbox.

Our friend Alma (from our Ward) is one of the student
 Fijian dancers at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We so enjoyed Pearl Harbor, especially
the Battleship Missouri and the
 Bowfin Submarine.

We had to take this  pic in front of the Missouri. It is the
copy of the same statue we saw in Normandy, France.

I am guessing that my father may have worked on building
this Douglas airplane during WWII. He worked for Hughes
and Douglas in Santa Monica, Ohio  and Pennsylvania
   during the war. The plane is the Douglas Dauntless and
was known as the "Hero of Midway" for sinking 4
Japanese carriers during Midway.  

We did finally make it on the Arizona Memorial.
It was so crowded even when we arrived at 7am,
we were lucky to get 3 pm tickets. Fortunately,
April had purchased "GO Oahu" cards for
the trip that included admission to all the
other Pearl Harbor sights while we waited.

We had to hit Seven Brother's Kahuku for their
famous coconut macadamia shrimp.

And of course Matsumoto's for shave ice.

Our "Go Oahu" card included a 2 hour sail on the Makani
Catamaran in the Honolulu Harbor.

We saw this turtle and also some whales.