Day 1

 After our long light, we were ready for some breakfast.  We grabbed our bags and then waited for our rental car to show up.  We used a service called Turo, which is where private individuals can offer their car for rent to other people.  It's like Airbnb for cars.  Once the car showed up, we drove to IHOP for breakfast.  This was the only time we took a wrong turn and had to make a U-turn, which is amazing!

After breakfast, we drove to Pearl Harbor to start our vacation. Our first stop was the bus that would take us to Ford Island and the USS Missouri. 

We went on a guided tour of the Mighty Mo.  It was interesting to hear about the history.  We then took our time walking around the inside of the ship.  We spent so much time and could have stayed for another hour or so because, when it was time for us to go, we still weren't finished looking around.  I was 

We then had to wait a little while until it was time for us to load up to go to the USS Arizona.  I was excited for this part because I wanted the kids to see the USS Arizona. They didn't have you watch the video before loaded up, so we just got on the boat to go over.

We were a little frustrated/disappointed because we were only at the USS Arizona for about 10 minutes before they loaded us back on the boat to take us back.  We would have liked a lot more time to spend there.  When someone asked why we were being shuttled off so quickly, the guide said "The Navy needs their lunch."  Apparently, it was lunchtime for them.  I think they should have taken that into consideration when selling tickets because you only get one shot to go to the USS Arizona. Oh well.

After Pearl Harbor, we went to see if we could check into our hotel early.  Luckily, they let us check in.  It was the Pearl Waikiki hotel located not too far from the beach at Waikiki.  We went looking for lunch and found a food truck.  Courtney was skeptical and not sure if she was going to find anything she would like.  She had me order her a hamburger with ketchup on it.  Ethan got garlic shrimp.  I got a banana smoothie which tasted like a banana cream pie. I shared it with Bryan.  Courtney said it was the best hamburger she has ever had!

We changed our clothes and went to the beach in Waikiki.  We played in the waves and watched the crabs play on the rocks near the water.  By this time, we were pretty tired and a bit grumpy. Bryan took a nap on the beach while we relaxed near the water.  We went back to the hotel to shower. 

For dinner, we found another food truck that had hotdogs in Hawaiian bread rolls that you could get all kinds of relishes added to.  Courtney and I had regular hotdogs while the boys were adventurous.  We also got 4 flavored lemonades that were SO good! There was strawberry, mango, pineapple, and something else we couldn't pronounce.  They were so good.

We went back to the hotel to sleep because we were exhausted.  At about 3 am, we woke up to a disco outside our bedroom window.  We were on the 2nd floor but some guy had driven up in his car with his stereo at full blast.  It was crazy and woke us all up.  After 3 songs, he closed his car door and drove off.  The concert was over but it was hard to go back to sleep after that.