the temp, waikiki & the stairway to diamond head

our last days in hawaii went a little something like this:

first we said goodbye to our beautiful, roach-infested north shore beach house,

then we headed straight for the temple grounds.

we didn't do a session, but we did go in the visitor's center to chat w/ the

missionaries and watch a short video, which i remember nothing about.

i do, however, know that this was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

this fountain is labeled "maternity"

chelsa thought i'd get knocked up just by posing next to it.

nearly 2 months later, i can safely say that birth control also works against

the fertility powers of fountains.

next we made our way back to haleiwa to eat at the waialua bakery.

sandwiches were great, dessert was heavenly.

richard had to give the hawaiian pizza a try, of course.

next we went a little bonkers finding waikiki before the rental ran out of gas.

we went snorkeling (no pics!) next to this great old war memorial that looked

like it came straight out of that movie wild hearts can't be broken - i seriously would not

have been surprised to see people jumping off of a high dive on horses at this place!

we also went to the aquarium right next door before getting spiffed up to hit the town.

this is a place i remember sitting outside of w/ my bff's ceara and jackie when we

went to hawaii on our senior trip after high school.

waikiki has so many big, fun stores!

we hooked back up with the bates at old reliable, the cheesecake factory for dinner...

and then walked over to another restaurant (that i can't remember the name of!)

for dessert.  it was right on the beach so the atmoshpere was really great!

dessert was out of this world, too :)

that night we had a slumber party at sam and melissa's house,

and in the morning melissa made us a wonderful breakfast - still dreaming about her

coconut syrup.

it was sad to say goodbye to our friends, but we're so glad we got to spend time with

them and make such fun memories!  we have to meet baby girl bates eventually,

so we'll be back.

after leaving the bates, we picked my dad up at their hotel and went to hike diamond head.

it starts in the valley of a volcano crater and you make your way to the top to see incredible

views of the city and the ocean.  we almost didn't get to do this, but i'm really glad we did!

there were so many dang stairs we had to climb to get to the top!

and a few tunnels to walk through.

we met my mom and sisters back at the hotel to get washed up and head home.

our flight wasn't til really late, so we killed time by going to the punch bowl and

seeing a movie, Arthur, which we all really like (surprisingly).

eventually, the time came to drop off the rental car and wait in the airport.

settling in to wait for the plane.

one last post coming...