Valerie and her boyfriend Matt picked me up at LAX Friday morning and we headed out for brunch with our grandparents. Aunt Audrie was very generous and let us stay at her house that night so we didnt have to far to go getting to the airport the next morning. Val didn't wait too long after I showed her some of my knitting projects to put them onto her bear Teddy (Short for Theodore). I've told some of you that I have lots of nieces and nephews (My sister Valerie's bears to knit for.) Valerie is practically making a list. It makes me laugh.
We all met at our grandparents house and caravaned to the airport. It took three cars to get all seven of us and our luggage to the airport. Our seats took up a whole row across the airplane. Grandmommy took a couple surprise pictures of us on the plane(I'm working on knitting a purple sweater for myself and watching some comentary on Hawaii the airline played).
The first thing we did when we got to our hotel was put on our swimsuits and go out to the pool! We stayed at the Hale Koa hotel on the Fort de Russy military reservation. Its open to those who are active in or retired from the Military and since my grandpa Retired Major of the Marines we got to stay there!
That night we walked down the street to The Ocean House Restaraunt in the Outrigger Reef Hotel in Honolulu.
Talk about a table with a view!
On Monday Lane (far left) Taylor, Alex, and Valerie went parasailing. That's not really my style so I went shopping with Grandmommy instead.
That night before we went to dinner we rented a wheel chair for grandpa because it was further to walk. We were quite the parade walking down the street!
We ate at the course and my beverage of choice was an Arnold Palmer. Fitting huh? I thought it was funny.
The hotel lobby was all open and when we got back there were ducks just passing through as though they belonged.
Tuesday night we all went to Honolulu's popular restaurant called Duke's.
Lane(middle) wore heels and we had to document how much taller than us she was!
The flower vendor at the entrance of the restaurant gave us flowers to put behind our left ear so everyone would know we're not married. (Lane just preferred to put hers behind her right ear because it looked better. Shes not married.)
Because we waited a while for a table we had a reservation for, the manager sent us four appetizers and complimentary deserts. Above we're holding a Hula Pie. Macadamia nut ice cream covered in chocolate and macadamia nuts! YUM! It was so good we felt obligated to lick the plate clean so we could show you how cute it is!
Here we are on the ocean side of her home.
This is the little cove Doris Duke had built for her first husbands yacht. Now locals use it for swimming. 
The entrance her visitors would have used when visiting. Impressive huh?
Yah...we could live here! :)
Ready to go!
The whole crew waiting to go in!
Valerie and I were brave enough to go up and learn a hula dance! In heels no less!
My Blue Hawaiian mattched my dress!
They didn't have water for us on our table so since I've had a lot of practice getting water this summer through my job as a hostess in Idaho I took it upon myself to make sure everyone got water. Ater a couple trips delivering tiny cups that I knew would need refilling soon, I opted to go nicely ask the bartenders to borrow one of their pitchers.
There were seven of us staying in two rooms. It got loud at times. No, wait. It was usually loud so I would go out into the hall to use the phone. I got caught by Grandmommys camera sitting on this table. I liked sitting there facing the other direction looking out the window.
Friday was our North Shore day. We went shopping at the North Shore Marketplace, and I got to go to my favorite swimsuit store that makes custom swimsuits to mix and match, called North Shore Swimwear, we also went to our friends shop called Jungle Gems. Then we headed to Turtle Bay where I got to tour another Palmer course. This course beats all that I've seen so far I think!
The "cart guy" (I know Im horrible with names I cant remember his, but he spent the first seven years of his life in Hanford, CA so that kind of makes him a kindred spirit right?)who drove Valerie and me around on our tour.
Can you see the ocean coming through in the very back! So pretty!
Even the cart paths at the Turtle Bay courses were purty!
For lunch we ate at the resort's beach front restaraunt. Good chicken sandwiches AND a view!
Friday night Valerie and I went with our grandparents to Brew Moon, a restaraunt we learned about when we went to Hawaii several years ago for our Uncle Jim and Aunt Cheryle's wedding! It was as good as we remembered! That night we relaxed and got ready to get up at 4:30 am (ugh!) to go to the airport! It was a great trip and we had a blast!
