First 2 days.

Well, it's a good thing that breakfast is included in our stay, as well as a managers free drinks happy hour because at least we won't go hungry.  We've put a nice dent in our spending money, shopping, shopping, shopping!!
Yesterday we had a good look around Beachwalk, the shopping area below our accommodation.  The shops are gorgeous, but definitely meant for the more financial shoppers ;)

Gorgeous area though!

Then we jumped on the Pink line trolley and headed over to Ala Moana shopping centre for a few hours.  We finally returned on the trolley with our hands full of bags (no pics, sorry girls.  That would ruin the surprise)


We were rather hot by that stage so it was definitely time for a swim in the pool.

View of the pool from our room.

The Embassy suites is fabulous in that it has 2 hrs of complementary drinks and nibbles each night.  We had to have a mai-tai and a blue hawaiian.  Yum!!!

Sunset from our room

After that we headed to the beachwalk for dinner.  Then it was home to skype the girls and off to bed.

Monday 21st

We woke up to a rather muggy but overcast day.  The light drizzle was actually a blessing as it cooled us down slightly.  To be fair, we haven't found the heat a problem...it's lovely but slightly more humid than we're used to.

After breakfast we decided to walk into Waikiki and have a look at the shops. We had a look at Duke's marketplace and bought a few hawaiian goodies and then we went over to have a drink at Duke's, a famous bar in Waikiki.

Had to put this here for the girls'.  Haven't been here...yet!

Had to take a pic of this for Bryan.  It was on the counter of Seattle's Best Coffee.  Bry is hopeless with US money!

Bry sitting in Duke's having a glass of their finest ale.

On the way back to Embassy Suites Bry stopped off to buy me a lei....before you all go  "Ahhhhhh, isn't that sweet"...I told him too ;)  The smell is just divine.

Just what I wanted...gotta love what the humidity is doing to my hair- it's so wavy

We decided that we would jump on the trolley and head to walmart...Bry was sure he was going to see "A Walmart shopper" but unfortunately we didn't.  We then walked for about 15mins to find a Sports Authority (where we didn't buy anything!).  By this stage we had rather sore feet so decided to wait for a bus.  Unfortunately it was going to cost us $20 each to ride on the one we came across, but the lovely driver felt sorry for us and let us jump on for nothing.  Aloha!!!

We dumped our stuff in our room and headed down to get a drink (it was free drinks time again!)  We tried a Hawaiian punch this time.  We thought that because the drinks were free, they would be watered down.  Hell no!!!  If anything, they were stronger than they should have been.  We decided to order our dinner to eat beside the pool....other than coffee and water, we hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast.  Still, we should have ordered 1 meal between us because we certainly didn't finish either of them.  Bry got the sliders and I got the pulled pork.  Each came with a fresh coleslaw that was filled with pineapple.  It was so good.

Yes, I also had another Blue Hawaiian

We thought sliders were mini-burgers...not here!

Full happy belly now

It was nearly 6.30 by now so we thought we would head down to the beach in time for the sunset.  Unfortunately it was a little cloudy so we didn't really see the sunset, but Bry did decide to go for a swim.

Looking towards Diamond Head

Testing the temperature

He's in!!

So, now we're back in our room and I've just done the exciting task of laundry.  Soon it'll be off to bed as tomorrow we've rented a car to drive around the West side of the island.

xxxx

We're here!!!! :)

I'm sitting in our room at the Embassy Suites waiting for Bry to get ready for breakfast so thought I'd write a quick blog entry.  Fingers crossed- the wifi seems much better here than previous hotels.

Anyway, we had an uneventful flight over.  Getting up at 4.30am from home to get to the airport on time was a bit of a sacrifice, but one we were quite happy to make.  Our flight was delayed an hour from Auckland- someone on the previous flight had to be stretchered out and with oxygen (a little freaky to know).  The flight was 8 hrs, so just long enough to watch a couple of movies, have a catnap and eat lunch and dinner.  It was beautiful flying conditions- we flew right over Tonga and could see the buildings quite clearly!

Again, immigration getting into the USA was quick.  We had organised for a shuttle "GO 808 EXPRESS" to pick us up.  Thoroughly recommend them.  Our driver was hilarious and fill of great tips.  It was 11pm local time by the time we checked into our hotel but there was a huge difference in the temperature we had left...it was so lovely and warm :)  Our check in at the Embassy suites was quick and easy and make even better by the fresh cold guava juice we were given.

Then it was off to our room in the Hula tower, a quick Skype to the girls and then off to bed...airconditioning on full.

Anyway...off to have breakfast and then to Waikiki Beach!! Back later.

Hawaii here we come!!!

I'm sitting here on Wednesday morning and we're on to about day 8 of rain.
However, in 4 more sleeps, Bry and I will be winging our way to Oahu, Hawaii.  Wahoo!!!! Lauren and Taylor are off to Invercargill to stay with Mum and want us to blog each night.  So stay tuned....Hawaii to come :)

WAHOO!!! We're off again, and this time it's just Bry and I.

Roll on April 2014!  More details to come...

We're back :)

I'm sitting here at home, finally finishing off this blog...at least, for this trip.  The wifi connection over the last few days of our holiday was terrible, so I gave up.

Anyway, all up to date now.

Our trip home wasn't the best.  It was probably the worst turbulence I've ever had.  The hostesses had to abandon the dinner service half way through, and remained seated for about an hour.  Never mind, we made it home in one piece.  Once things settled on the plane, Lauren slept for about 7 hours, and Tay about 8.  Mum slept most of the way and even I slept for about 5 hours, on and off.  Poor Bry didn't get a lot of sleep, but enjoyed watching movies and listening to music.

Getting through customs and immigration was quick and we made it to the domestic terminal with enough time to spare for a decent cup of coffee...it was SOOOO GOOD!!

All our bags managed to squeeze into the car when we got back to Christchurch and are all now unpacked and away (have to say, the girls drawers are bulging!)

Back in Christchurch

We had the most amazing holiday.  5 weeks was an awesome time to be away.  Although I cursed writing this blog at times (when I was exhausted and everyone else had fallen asleep), I'm so pleased I stuck with it as we now have a written 'memory' of our holiday, something that I'm sure we'll read over and over again.

As for our next trip....watch this space.
xxxx

It's time to go home....

We got ourselves up, managed to pack the car with our 6 suitcases, Mum's 2 and all our carry on luggage, checked out of the hotel and headed to Disney for a couple of hours.

Our 2 bedroom suite at Howard Johnsons...great place to stay

The place was mad, but we knew it would be.  We got ourselves coffee and Bry and the girls decided they wanted to ride on California Screaming at DCA one last time, while Mum and I headed to Disneyland to go on Startours.  Apparently there are 7 different scenarios you can find yourselves in, and ours was definitely different from the first time....soooo much fun.

in the queueing area

Still in the queueing area

We meet up with Bry and the girls in front of the castle, said our goodbyes to Disneyland and headed back to our car (which we had left at Hojos) for the last time.

Our plan was to head to the California ScienCenter to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour.  It was really interesting to see.

The tyres from its final landing

A space loo

The tiles on the exterior

Apollo

Tay trying to lift  a ute

We had to rush through and didn't get to see everything but what we did see was worth the visit.

Right next door to the museum was the Olympic area.

Downtown LA

The last place we wanted to visit before we left was the Griffith Observatory.  We made it to Griffith Park and realised that everyone was enjoying the hot day and had headed there for a family day out.  We weren't able to drive up the hill to the observatory because all the carparks were full, so we parked at the bottom and headed up the hill.  It was fairly steep and very hot, but all the miles we had walked helped us get to the top without to much trouble.  We were so pleased we had made the effort as the views were amazing.

Looking towards Disneyland...somewhere out there

Just as we got back to the car, they opened the road to the top back up...we felt good, knowing that we had walked up (yeah, right).

It was now that time, time to head to the airport.  :-(

We dropped our car off at Alamo's rental car lot, got on their shuttle to the airport, made it through customs extra quick and then spent the next couple of hours in the most boring terminal ever.

Thank goodness for fully charged tablets

Madhatters T Party

After an unexpected visit to the local mall to buy yet another suitcase, we headed to Disney for our last night.

Two VERY lucky girls with their 14 day Disney passes

While we had been there, the Haunted Mansion had been closed so they could take down the Halloween/ Christmas overlay they put up every year.  This morning was the first time it had been opened so we headed straight for it. 
There was a real difference in the number of people who were at the parks.  It was the start of a long weekend, and the weather was beautiful so there were people everywhere.  There was also going to be a half- marathon held at Disneyland on the Sunday, so lots of people were there for that too.

Anyway, we made it into the Haunted Mansion, and it was as neat as I remembered it.

Lining up

Should I be scared?

Ahh, what am I doing?

Along the waiting area

It was so hot, it was time for a cold treat.

A Mickey icecream sandwich

A frozen chocolate covered banana



 

We hadn't spent much time in Tomorrowland so we headed over to watch the 3D Michael Jackson short movie, Captain EO, and then we went into Inoventions.  Here we saw a newly designed robot...it was quite incredible to watch.

We headed over to the Monorail which we took to Downtown Disney.

An the Monorail

going past the bus entrance to Disney

Where we ate on our first night

At Disneyland Hotel

The Lego store in Downtown Disney

At the Marceline Store...a candy apple.  We got the girls one to share...under the chocolate there was a layer of caramel, then a Granny Smith apple.  They couldn't eat it...it was way too sweet.

A window display at the Downtown Disney disney store...just for Flynn.

Heading to DCA

We headed back into Disney California Adventures.  The plan was to do Midway Mania and Soaring over California again, and to also watch the Mad Hatters T party.  We waited 50 minutes to do Midway Mania, but had fastpasses for Soaring, so got straight on....and also got back on it right on closing.

A marshmallow Mickey tail...way too sweet so it ended up in the bin too

Wasting time while waiting in a queue...all our new runners we were wearing

The interesting Mad Hatters T party

Alice singing

It was a great last night.