more hawaii.

another goal of mine for our time in hawaii was to hike to manoa falls. i told james about it, and he agreed that it would be fun. after talking with mike's uncle about it, we decided that it was a must do event. it's a pretty easy hike, but so beautiful. here are some photos:






we also hiked up diamond head, which is a big crater that served as a look out during the second world war. i thought i might pass out with all the stairs we had to climb... a set of 77 followed by a set of 99 then two sets of spiral stairs and various other sets of stairs to get to the top after the hike up the mountain. it was a mistake not to bring water with me since we were doing it in the heat of the day. lesson learned. i just can't imagine doing it with all the gear the soldiers must have carried. here are some photos from the top:[this was taken as soon as we got to the top. i was drained... apparently too exhausted to smile.]


and here are some photos of the route:




we wanted to make it out to pearl harbor and visit the uss arizona. unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to do this before james left, but deepa, mike, and i went bright and early on our last day. they showed a little film about the day before the ferry ride out to the memorial. definitely eye opening. here are a few photos from the memorial:



we hit up ala moana shopping center [more than once.], which mike told us is the biggest outdoor mall in the world. it quickly became my most favorite mall. it reminded me of horton plaza in san diego, but it's better. they honestly have everything you could want. i had to get a photo of this sign...
:] i was excited to find a dress i've been wanting in there. deepa and i also had fun in the le sportsac store at ala moana. they had so many really adorable exclusive designs, and i couldn't resist. i limited myself to two, but i actually wish i would have bought a few more. my bank account is probably happy that i didn't though. ha.

we also walked around waikiki at night a few times, where they have some great shopping as well.
i was trying to learn about my new camera at this point. i had basically just taken it out of the box, and i tried to become friends with it during the trip, but i'm not sure i succeeded. i like this shot though. it's james, deepa, selena, and mike.i also made sure to get a photo of this statue of duke kahanamoku after mike told us about it. i thought it was really cool how there were leis on all of the statues along the beach. mike said that it's always like that. how fun.

oh and i found the cutest bead shop. mike let deepa and i spend lot of time in there on the last day while he went to get a hair cut in preparation to go meet up with selena in nyc. deepa ended up making two bracelets with the help of the sales girl while i wandered around picking out some beads to bring home. they have some really fun classes too... i was really wishing we were staying longer so that i could take some of them. deepa said that she may have found herself a hobby. she's been looking for a hobby for a while now. :] 

selena's parents own a jewelry store, which we also stopped by one day with selena. her mom let deepa and i each pick a necklace to being home, which was so sweet. it's one of the best momentos from our trip.

the other store where we got into some trouble was the volcom store out by north shore. they had special shirts that you could only buy in that one shop featuring the famous rainbow bridge, which is like right outside the store... we all got the shirts, and intended to get a photo in them before we left, but i don't know what happened to that plan. we'll have to get one here i guess.

i took these last two photos from mike's balcony. what a view. we kept telling him how lucky he is to wake up and see that each day, and he told us that he hardly notices anymore! goodness.
[this one is a good look at diamond head.]
[this one shows the city pretty well.]

i guess that's about it. deepa and i are going to trade photos one of these days, so i might post a few more eventually. i know she got some group shots that i don't have. i'm really on the hunt for red ink now, so that i can print some of these. i might actually just go to costco. :]