Oahu

The first Hawaiian Island we visited was Oahu. This is the Island with Pearl Harbor and Honolulu on it and it appears to be the business center of Hawaii. Honolulu is quite sprawled out and covers a large chunk of the Island with a lot of High Rise in the more central area of the city and an extensive suburb especially out to the East with fancier neighborhoods. Honolulu itself we thought looked more or less like a Miami South Beach with Vegas style malls - especially Waikiki - Many fancy hotels, beach & tourist focussed and waaaaaay to many fancy stores (Geared towards the Asian tourists with money). I loved the place we stayed at as it was a real nice hip & fancy hotel and despite it being super busy for christmas there was still a lot of places available to eat and it was right on the ocean.

As it was xmas the first day we where there we opted to to de 3 hr drive around the Island as a day tour and saw the big sea turtles, many beaches including the more famous surf beaches on the north side, the neighborhood Obama was staying at, lost of pretty scenery, old sugar plantation sites, some lush grean mountains, scenic bays and ....lots of other people! The Island is pretty much full - houses & tourists everywhere.

 Rick felt at home within seconds in Hawaii

 Kaat was saving her smiles for the surf boys - but was happy too.

 'I like it mommy!'

 Kaat tried to skip naps to make sure she would not miss anything but occasionally that became too hard

 There was a lot of wind and waves where quite high but of course that is hard to see in a picture. Pretty coast line though!

 Baywatch-Rick - Much better then Hasselhoff!

 Rick did not care much about Santa

Apart from the island tour we also spend some time watching whales (about which more later), did Pearl Harbor and went to the Polynesian Culture Center (strangely enough sponsored by the Mormon community who originally tried to eradicate the Hula and most other Polynesian culture with the locals!)

 The Culture centre was more or less an open air museum but then American Disney style with loads of shows to watch all day and minute to minute entertainment offerings culminating in a big evening show after a nice polynesian dinner. All polynesian cultures where represented (Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, Hawaii, New Zealand, Fiji & more) and as Rick learned the Hula at school and the Haka from daddy / the rugby and loves big guys with big drums in skirts he was happy watching it all (and participating occasionally). 

 Rick also wanted a skirt so we made him one

 And Kaat just dreamed away at the sight of all those beautiful people with nice big smiles.

After 3 action packed days we had settled into Hawaii and Holiday mode, obtained the first tan and left Oahu for a more relaxed Hawaiian Island.