Our First Full Day In Hawaii

Hawaii is so beautiful! It smells so fresh and clean. When we walk outside of our room in the mornings, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing. It's like a slice of heaven.

This is just outside of our hotel.

Kerry and I had to go pick up a rental car this morning. We took the hotel shuttle back over to the airport to the car rental office. When we stepped up to the counter, there was a very nice gentleman sitting there who said, "What can I do for you?"

Kerry told him we had a reservation, told him our last name, and began to spell it for him.

"Hold on," said the man. "Let me finish my cookie."

He was truely on "island time".

He did finish his cookie. And he gave each of us a cookie too. And then he provided us with a Ford Explorer which will be our transportation until our Honda arrives.

Then we decided to get some lunch. There are lots of well known chains here,

but we wanted to eat at a place with some local flavor.

We picked a place called Fatboys.

All the food was excellent. It was served in styrafoam take out trays and was reasonably priced by Hawaiin standards. Ben tried the Loco Moco which is rice with a one pound hamburger patty and a fried egg, all topped with brown gravy. I kept my finger on the 911 button on my phone in case he had a heart attack after eating it.

After lunch, we went to Lanikai Beach on the windward side of the island with some friends of ours who have already been living here for a year.

Lanikai Beach has beautiful, clear, blue and green water. The sand is white,and so fine it feels like baby powder. It's very soft to walk on.

We had to stop and buy Kerry a swimsuit since his suitcase is still missing. It's interesting to note that swimsuits in Hawaii come with a bottle opener tied to the inside of a pocket. Wouldn't want to be without the ability to open a bottle while you're swimming!

Kerry and Ben got to go snorkeling. They said they saw lots of little fish and some coral.

Katie got buried in sand.

Emily just tried to stay afloat.

While we were there, a group of people came sailing over head with parachutes. There were probably about ten in all although they were spaced apart fairly well. We could look up at the mountain behind us and see people standing on the roof of a building and then jumping off and sailing through the air. They were in the air a really long time. It must have been an amazing ride! They came down and landed on the beach near us. I may have to try that myself.............

More tomorrow!