The 7th day marked the day that my mom, Lark, and Jim would be leaving to go back home. We wanted to make sure that we made the most of what was left of their trip. So we decided on going to see the sunrise at Hanauma Bay. This would be the first sunrise for us to see on the whole trip actually. We left the hotel at a dark 5:30am, and drive straight out to Hanauma Bay. When we went to park the car, we noticed that the attendant that you pay $1 to for parking was not there… so we got free parking! Only $2, but it was a nice treat. The early bird really does get the worm! So after parking, we walked up to the top of the hill (or maybe it was a small mountain?) and shortly after we got to the top, the sun started to crawl over the horizon

After enjoying the sunrise, it was off to go snorkeling! Normally the entrance fee for Hanauma Bay is $5, but we found out that if you enter before 7am, it is free! So Lark, Jim, Yukari, her mom, sister and dad and I all got in for free. So in all we saved $37! And after we got in, I was off to run down to the beach and start snorkeling. My goal was to be in the water as much as possible! Here is a picture of me and Lark as we rush off ahead of everyone.

Once I got in the water, I was so busy taking a look at all the fish. It was amazing at the number of fish that surrounded me and would just swim straight up to me! I found that right over the reef was the hardest part to snorkel, but provided the best views. Inside the reef, I could see all kinds of urchins, and the occasional moray eel. That was a bit scary… like a big worm with teeth slithering through the holes of the reef. And it had a bright red body with white stripes. But there were plenty of nice looking fish as well. I remember seeing a cornetfish, which was very thin and long. I had taken too many pictures by then, so I couldn’t get one of it. But here is a picture of the state fish of Hawaii, maybe Yukari took this one.

Unfortunately, we had to leave around 10am. I really could have stayed there the entire day! We went back to the hotel and everyone met by mom in the lobby to see her off. Her bus was leaving a little before noon, but it was nice that everyone could say bye to her. I guess she cried and stuff when her bus came, you know, her being a girl and all.

After that Lark, Jim, and I went to return one of our rental cars, and then take the other one to Chinatown for lunch. Jim didn’t feel like walking around and eating Chinese food, so he said he was going to stay in the car while we went out. So Lark was looking for a parking spot, and decided on a free one by a park. I noticed an unusual amount of homeless people, but Lark didn’t seem to mind parking there. As we were walking away I mentioned to here about the amount of homeless people and was joking if it was safe to park there. We then just walked around trying to find  a place that had some good looking food and after making a circle around Chinatown, we decided on one place. The food was good, but I think the Chinatown in Yokohama is much better. After lunch, I was starting to get really tired, but we walked around looking at some stores. I didn’t buy anything, but I think Lark bought something. When we were walking back to the car I was joking to Lark about how I hope Jim was still in the car. Maybe he joined the homeless people in the park or something. It turned out that there were some shady people there, and at one point one of them sat on the hood of the car while Jim was there. So, I guess it was a bit more dangerous than I even thought it was. That would explain why Chinatown isn’t mentioned in any of the Japanese guide books about Honolulu.

Well, Jim did survive the car wait, and they were off to drive me back to the hotel. They dropped me off, and we said our goodbyes… then I went to my room and slept. I was so tired from running around all week, it felt good to just relax for a little bit. I wanted to go to Waikiki Beach and relax there, but was too tired to walk down there even. In the evening, I met up with Yukari and her family and we went to Ala Moana Shopping Center to get some final shopping done and grab some dinner. After we went back to the hotel room, we watched the wedding DVD that just arrived with her family. And then I was out.

This was our last full day on Oahu island, but in the morning we would be departing for Maui!

I think our 6th day we got to sleep in a little bit. If I recall correctly, we left the hotel around 7:30 or 8:00am, which was late for us! We got all our beach gear packed into the car and left Waikiki for Lanikai Beach. We took the short and direct route through the middle of the island, which meant we would pass Pali Lookout. I figured it would be a good spot since no one has been there yet. We were dressed for the beach, and this lookout spot was a bit windy and chilly, but it offered a great view of the eastern shoreline.

Day 6 continued all the fun we had! Pali Lookout, We went to Lanikai Beach, then next door to Kailua Beach. From there we rented some kayaks and went out and had fun in the ocean and even did some snorkeling. After that it was off to the Luau! Sunset. Dinner.

After getting enough of the view we head straight to Lanikai Beach! The sand at this beach is so fine and feels so good to walk on. Plus it is almost never crowded, so it felt like it was our own private beach. Everyone enjoyed seeing what the top ranked beach in America was like.  When we go back to Hawaii next time, I definitely want to rent a beach house in this area, that is right next to the beach. Just wake up and go out to this beach and see the sunrise or swim or just relax on it.

Although Lanikai is so beautiful, there isn’t a whole lot to do there. Which I guess is why it is always so empty. So, we got back in the car and drove to the beach that is right next door to Lanikai Beach, Kailua Beach. This is a bit bigger and more crowded, but has some things to do. We were planning on getting a kayak and spending the morning doing that. So we got some sunscreen on (I didn’t put enough on my legs though), and went to find a kayak. After we got it rented, rolled it down to the beach, me and Lark launched the first one. Then Yukari and her sister launched the second one. It was the first time for Lark and Yukari’s sister to ever be in a kayak.

As we passed our family that was on the beach, somehow they could recognize us and were waving. My mom was on the beach danching and jumping around as she waved at us. We then kayaked to one smallish island (which is actually a bird sanctuary). Walked around and took some pictures. We saw lots of rock crabs and some kind of rainbow fish. After that it was off to another island, this time it was about a 45 minute kayak trip. Along the way, Lark and I got a big surprise! A sea turtle was swimming in the water near us, and it actually almost swam into us. I stuck my camera in the water, aimed blindly and clicked the shutter button. Here is what I got, you can see the turtle somewhat.

When we got to the island, I did some snorkeling for the first time ever! There were a few fish, and they did look beautiful. So it was a good experience, but I knew Hanauma Bay would be much better.  Maybe I snorkled for around 15 minutes, and then we decided it was time to go back and head into town to get some lunch. We were running a bit short on time, but everything worked out OK. I even had time to get a little desert from the Lanikai Juice store. Jim of course got another fruit smoothie.

After lunch it was time to head back to our hotel and get changed for the Luau! The Luau was at Paradise Cove, which just happened to be right next to the chapel we got married at. When we arrived at the Luau, it was just in time for the sunset! So we got to see another beautiful sunset in Hawaii.

After the sunset, they started to have the shows and it was time to get ready for dinner. They had a huge dinner buffet for us!

After dinner the show continued on for a bit more, it was good, but I was getting a bit tired so I got a little bit of shuteye during the show After all that, I drove back to the hotel and think I stayed up for a little bit more before hitting the hay. Another long day, but as much fun as every other day was!

The start of our 5th day was a bit later than most of the days, instead of 5am we got up at 6am so we could leave between 7:30am and 8:00am.  After breakfast, all of us got into two cars and started our trip around Oahu. Not long after getting out of Waikiki, we stopped at Koko Crater for some pictures and to see the view.

We got back into the car and within 5 minutes we were out for pictures again. This time the location was Hanauma Bay, which provided us with a great view of within the bay, and then out into the ocean as well. We heard that going snorkeling here was the best place on Oahu, so we decided to come here on early Friday morning to do some. I checked about the time it opened and asked about rental snorkeling equipment. After I got that information, it was back on the road.

The next spot was fairly close again, Halona Blowhole. It wasn’t really blowing at the time, but we got to see a little bit. Plus the view was spectacular. In the wintertime, this is supposed to be a good place for whale watching. If we were there a month later, we would have most likely have seen some whales there.  We also stopped at a few places along the way that offered some interesting views. Just take a look at all the pictures to see what I’m talking about.

We made a point to stop in Lanikai at Lanikai Juice to get some juice. Jim loved this place and wanted to go back there. Little did he know that I was planning to go there twice! The juice was great as expected.

Next up was the Makapuu Lighthouse. I drove past the driveway to enter the parking lot, so we ended up not doing the hike up there. Which actually worked out well since we had such a busy schedule still. We did stop along the coast when we started heading north, and we could see the lighthouse from the road. So we at least saw it.

After that it was off for lunch! Of course we were planning to get some shrimp from a Shrimp Truck. We were driving until we found Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. This was the first shrimp truck in Oahu, and they had some great garlic shrimp. I also bought a coconut to drink, and then when I was done they cut it up so I could eat the coconut as well. Anyways, take a look at this shrimp, it was very good:

Once we were full of shrimp, we got back into the car and headed up to Laniakea Beach to the see sea turtles that are supposed to always be there. When we arrived, there were two large sea turtles hanging out on the beach. They didn’t move much, but it was still a sight to see.

Figuring that all the driving and walking to see the turtles burned some of the shrimp, we headed to Matsumoto’s Shaved Ice. Very different than normal shaved ice… it is very fine and they mix it with ice cream so it gets a nice creamy taste to go with the flavored syrup. Plus it is quite colorful.

After that, it was off to Sunset Beach to get a good spot to watch the sunset. As one would expect in Hawaii, it was a beautiful sunset. While we were there, a dog came up to us, so we were playing with that dog for awhile. We never did figure whose dog it was though.

Since it was getting dark, we decided to drive around a bit and find a restaurant. We ended up choosing a Mexican restaurant that had some Hawaiin fluence.

This was a very busy day, and we saw so many different places so we were a bit tired. But if you are going to be in Hawaii, you don’t want to be wasting your time around the hotel (which we didn’t get any chance to do anways). Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing about this day (or recalling it, if you were with us) and hope you enjoy all the pictures.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Hawaiian Wedding Day 4, we paid to get some extra pictures at Lanikai Beach. In all, there are 116 professional pictures, and then an extra 63 that were taken with our camera. Lots of pictures are duplicates, so you will have to go through them yourself. It is kinda hard picking out which picture is the best, so we just kept them all!Here are a few highlights:

Here are the links to our 2 different sets on Flickr:

• Professional Camera [Slideshow]
• Personal Camera [Slideshow]

Enjoy! Look for pictures from Day 5 in the next day or so.

Since the wedding was over, we were a bit more relaxed and glad to have it out of the way. It was a great wedding, but now it was time to enjoy going all over the island with everyone!

First plan was to get up at 5am and go climb Diamondhead to see the sunrise. Sounded like a great plan, until I found out that it was closed for maintenance. So Lark, my dad, Miki and I decided to just watch the sunrise from Waikiki Beach (if we could even see it). Later I found out that Lanikai Beach was a better place to see it. And on top of that, it started to rain… so we didn’t see anything at all. Here is what the view was like:

After the rainy sunrise, we went back to the hotel and had breakfast with everyone. After breakfast, my  dad took Yukari and me to the place for our beach photos. Upon arrival, we picked out the clothes to wear and Yukari got her hair and backup done. Then it was off to the beach for our photos!

We will put those pictures up tomorrow. They turned out really great! So I won’t go into much details about those pictures now, and just skip over that part of the day.

Next up was the sunset dinner cruise! While we were waiting for boarding time to come we were looking at the ocean and saw many types of tropical fish. I had no idea that they would just come right up there and saw easy to see. After a bit of fish watching and picture taking, we finally got on board and set off. Dinner was very good, but then before we knew it, the sun was starting to set. So we ran out to the deck and took many pictures. Here is one of the better ones.

After the sunset was over, we went back and had our dinner that consisted of Steak and Crab Legs. Watching my mom eat them was quite fun. Then watching her go crazy dancing was even more fun! I’ll have to see if I can find a video of that and upload it to YouTube or something.

Here is one final picture to show here. One of the teams that I am in at work, they bought me a camera that is like a polaroid as a wedding present. Before the cruise, we got a picture of everyone and they wrote a message on it for us. Here is what they look like:

Anyways, check out the photos here or watch the slideshow!

Then as we arrive at the chapel.

The actual ceremony.

And some pictures after the ceremony as well.

Anyways, take a look at all the pictures of our wedding here. Or just watch a slideshow of our wedding pictures.

Finally the big day arrived! The wedding was going to start at 9am, so all of us had to get up early to start getting ready. Yukari was the first one up, slightly before 5am. I was a bit groggy still, but got up at 5:30am to go buy some breakfast for her. Then I met everyone for breakfast at IHOP. After that it was my turn to get ready. I got my tuxedo on as Yukari finished up with her hair, makeup and dress. It was the first time for me to see her in the wedding dress, and she looked really beautiful!We went down to the lobby, where our limo was waiting for us. All of our family was already there, so they got to see what we looked like and take lots of pictures as we climbed into the limo and drove off to the chapel.

When we arrived at the chapel, everyone was already there, so they could get more pictures of us as we got out of the limo this time. We met the man that would be taking the video of everything, and started to get our pictures taken. We did a quick rehersal with me, Yukari, and her dad. It was mainly for pictures, so hopefully we got some nice pictures! After rehearsal was done, it was time to get ready and do the real wedding with everyone watching!

By this time I was a bit nervous, so my main goal was to not pee my pants…  which was actually a difficult task to accomplish. Next task was to make sure I didn’t goof up. I think I goofed up the vows. All I had to do was repeat what the minister said, but I missed a few words at one time I think. In the end, the wedding was good and I think only my mom cried for a brief moment. I won’t talk too much about that, but if you want a copy of the DVD let me know and I can send one to you.After the ceremony was over, we had some cake and a toast with champagne. Then it was off for some more pictures. We have lots of pictures and a great video of this, so that can describe it more than words here. Let me just say that I think it was a great wedding and was so happy to have such a wedding with a beautiful bride!

After everyone went back to the hotel by limo, we got ready and went out for our reception lunch. We had a course lunch, with cake and some special things planned. Yukari made a book with information about everyone and messages that we got from friends and family. We also had a slideshow of pictures from when Yukari and I were growing up, up until this year. Yukari also made some nametags for the places to sit and it looked great. Plus we exchanged gifts… just take a look at all the pictures to see what I’m talking about!

After the reception, we took it easy for the rest of the day. We all went to Waikiki beach, and I stayed to swim with my dad as lark sat on the beach. Yukari and her family went out to a shopping center. Afterwards, we were going to go get some drinks, but Yukari was pretty tired from a long and stressful day (we still had more pictures to do the next day actually), so she went to bed early. Me, my dad and Lark went to an interesting bar near the hotel. The MaiTais were cheap during Happy Hour, so me and Lark enjoyed them. We also played a few games of darts (I won all of them ;)).

Our wedding was over, so it was a huge relief. The next day would be our beach photos, and after that it would be all freetime for us to enjoy whatever activities we had planned!

The original plan for the second day was to wake up early enough to climb Diamondhead and see the sunrise. Since Lark and Jim missed their flight on the first day, we decided to wait until Tuesday morning for that. So instead of getting up at 5am, I got up at 6:30am. I still had to pick up the rental car at 8am, and would have to take a bus to the place since Lark wasn’t there to drive me.After I got the car with my dad, we returned to the hotel where me and Yukari and her family got ready to leave for the outlet. In the lobby we ran into my dad and made some quick introductions since we were running to the outlet and my dad was running (walking 45 minutes is more like it) off to church. Since Lark wasn’t there with a second car, I had to take two trips to the outlet. Once with all of Yukari’s family, and then once with just my mom. Turned out I didn’t miss that much. Yukari’s family was in one store the whole time, so it worked out nicely. So, all 6 of us were finally at the outlet and I ended up buying some new shirts. My mom got one for my cousin as well. I forget what else we bought, wasn’t too much.

Then we grabbed some lunch, which turned out to be too much. The “mini” size was larger than most portions you get at places in Japan. After that, I went to get a prepaid cell phone. I found out the one that our travel agent got us, the word “free” was not quite accurate. The phone was free, but it was $1.25 a minute for every call. So I got a Virgin Mobile phone for $20 plus 200 minutes for another $20. It was cheaper this way if I was gonna to use the phone for like 36 minutes.Then off to the bookstore and KMart. We ended up hanging out in the area till after it was closed. Since we had more people than would fit in the car, we had to wait for Lark to arrive and come get us. Which she finally did. We loaded up into the 2 cars after she got there, and went off to the top of a small mountain/big hill. From there we could see all of Honolulu. The pictures we took don’t justify how nice of a view it was from up there.

For dinner, the 9 of us went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Service was so-so, but I was able to get Lark a birthday sundae. The wedding was going to be in the morning the next day, and everyone was a bit tired so we called it an early night to end the second day.

On the first day in Hawaii, we arrived slightly before 9am.

First thing was to take care of getting the details sorted out for our wedding. That ended up taking up most of the morning, so when we were done with that we just went out for lunch. After lunch we were able to check into our hotel room, but we didn’t stay there for long. We called up our limo and got dropped off at a shopping area to find some clothes and souveniers. I only got a few souveniers and then decided it was time to go back to the hotel and wait for my mom to come in.

Eventually my mom arrived, shortly followed by Yukari and her family. There was a bit of drama about Yukari’s wedding dress that we had to take care of before dinner. After that was done, we found a nearby restaurant that had some nice food for dinner. Over dinner we discussed our plans for the next day, which was going to be going out to the outlet shopping center and then see a few places before going out for dinner.

After dinner, everybody went back to the hotel to get some rest after a long day with not much sleep. I stayed up and waited for my dad to come in, which he did, around 9:30pm. All the restaurants were closed so we headed out to find anything edible. We ended up going to Gyu-Kaku, which I enjoy going to in Japan. The menu was almost the same as well, so it was kind of interesting seeing everything in English. Since I had dinner already, I just had some grilled veggies and a beer. By the time we went back to the hotel, I was ready for some shuteye.

Not too eventful of a day, but just enough to ease into getting ready for the wedding and seeing family.