Thundering Trio & the Tired Tandem: Our Aloha Adventures!

As most of you know Shawn won the Psi Chi (the International Honors Society in Psychology) Florence L. Denmark Faculty Advisor Award. The award is given yearly to recognize the top Psi Chi faculty advisor for outstanding service to their chapter and to Psi Chi overall. In our family’s opinion, Shawn definitely deserved the award! Also, the University of Central Arkansas chapter of Psi Chi was recognized with the Ruth Hubbard Cousins Annual Chapter Award. It is very rare that these two awards are given to the same chapter in one year. One of the perks of the awards is that Shawn received an all expense paid trip to Hawaii to receive the award at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. I didn’t want him to be bored (or to be without a chaperone), so I sacrificed and went along with him! Laura’s husband Matt felt the same way. Laura also received an all expense paid trip as UCA’s President of Psi Chi for the chapter award.

We stayed in the DoubleTree by Hilton Alana Waikiki Hotel. It was a great location. We were close to Waikiki beach and to the Cheesecake Factory…what more could you want? Here are some highlights from our trip…

Day 1: Exploring

We decided not to schedule anything our first day in Hawaii as you never know what adventures you are going to encounter during your flight. Our travel ended up going very smoothly. The first part of the day we spent at the APA/Psi Chi conference where I visited with several publishers and Shawn attended a couple of talks. The afternoon we spent time walking in the International Market place followed by a walk along the Waikiki beach. The ocean is so blue…..pictures just don’t do it justice. I braved putting my feet in and, before I knew it, a wave snuck up and soaked me! We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Laura & Matt. Our dinner was good …… but the S’mores cheesecake was superb! (Shawn still holds that the Mango Key Lime pie is better, but he is wrong!).

Day 2: Pearl Harbor
We woke up bright and early and did a Pearl Harbor Tour. We first visited the USS Missouri, aka “The Mighty ‘Mo”. The Mighty Mo was the last battleship ever constructed by the United States. It is also the only ship in the naval fleet to have fired her guns in World War II, the Korean War, and the Persian Gulf Wars. Most significantly, however, was her role in bringing the Second World War to its conclusion; the Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the United States on her decks on September 2, 1945
Our tour guide was a recently retired Navy man named Ernie. I wish everyone had the opportunity to have him as their tour guide; he definitely made the experience very powerful with the passion he felt and the reverence he had for the history.

Next we visited the USS Arizona Memorial. This memorial is built over the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona, the final resting place for the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when Japanese Naval Forces bombed Pearl Harbor. The memorial is part of World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. Visiting the memorial is a very sobering experience.

Shawn said it best with his facebook status after our visit. “Pearl Harbor is such a great reminder of the atrocities of war and the valor of the human spirit. Thanks to all the service men and women who have served our country.” The tour was a truly humbling experience that left all of our hearts filled with gratitude.

That evening we attended the PSI Chi Awards. Psi Chi put on a great reception. Afterwards we found some ice cream and listened to music at the Hilton Hawaii Village.

Day 3: Polynesian Cultural Center Day Tour

The day started with a scenic tour of Oahu. We were able to enjoy Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, the Pali Lookout, Dole Plantation, a drive along the North Shore beaches, a quick view of the LDS Temple in Laie, and ended at the Polynesian Cultural Center. One of my highlights was the Dole Plantation….they had the best pineapple ice cream….mouth watering.

Once we got to the Polynesian Cultural Center we were able to explore the various cultures celebrated in the various villages. We attended the Luau. Shawn was very excited to see the pig ceremony. Their was an evening show, “Ha: Breath of Life” which is a symbolic story of Mana and his beloved Lani, punctuated by Polynesian dance, music, & fire dances. It is so fascinating to see these different cultures!

Day 4: Temple and North Shore

We decided to live it up a little so we rented a black convertible for the day. We drove up to North Shore. We dropped Matt & Laura off at a beach for some snorkeling and sun. Shawn & I drove up to Laie and attended a session in the Laie temple. As much as we enjoyed our vacation it was nice to take time out and feel the peace of the temple. The temple was very beautiful both inside and out. We met back up with Matt & Laura and beach hopped while Shawn & Matt snorkeled around the various bays. They claim that they swam with a “huge” sea turtle, but neither Laura nor I can confirm this so we are assuming it was like when we say that we saw a “huge” spider in the bathroom. Laura and I enjoyed relaxing and chatting on the beach. We ended the night with a little more s’mores cheesecake (Shawn did the red velvet cheesecake and, again, erroneously believed that he made the better choice).

Day 5: Snorkeling and dolphin watching.

Our next adventure was a catamaran dolphin and snorkeling adventure. The captain only had to go about 10 minutes from the harbor to find a playful pod of spinner dolphins. It was so much fun watching the dolphins swim and play. We even saw a couple of baby dolphins and one giant sea turtle.

The snorkeling was not my favorite part of the day. I did get out of the boat (into about 30 feet of water!) and spent about 40 minutes watching the fish swim below me. Shawn was more adventurous and snorkeled around the reef and away from the boat. He claims that I was able to see all the same fish that he saw out on the reef, but I have a feeling he is just trying to encourage me so that I will go snorkeling with him again on our next trip.

The end of the day we enjoyed watching the sunset on the beach…and a little more cheesecake (chocolate chip cookie dough). After this we enjoyed a firework show and then listened to music at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Day 6: Aquarium

Our last day we braved a 2 mile walk to Leonard’s bakery. Throughout our visit we saw their pink little boxes and heard people rave about their Malasadas. These are Portuguese doughnuts without a hole. They were absolutely delicious! We also enjoyed a nice visit to the Waikiki aquarium. My favorite part was the Hawaiian Monk Seal. There were 2 of them on exhibit. One sunbathed but the second one was in the water spinning in a circle over and over. Shawn enjoyed the jellyfish exhibits. Finally, we enjoyed our last walk along the beach and a final frantic search for the last couple of souvenirs. Our flight left at 8 PM that night.

Day 7: Reunited with our Trio

Our vacation to Hawaii was truly fabulous. We made many wonderful memories. However, I was SOOO ready to be reunited with my trio! No matter how much fun we have away from them, we have so much more fun with them. Special thanks to Nana, Papa, Aunt Heather, Aunt Becca, Uncle Cade, and Aunt Andi for taking such good care of them. And they absolutely loved the time spent with their cousins!