HAWAII! (Yes, there's more.)

We don't have ANY pictures from Thursday! It's because we were underwater. The scuba company did get pictures but, to save you a long story, we didn't get them. And neither of us thought to take pictures on our own of us in our scuba gear above water/on the boat.

So. Scuba diving. I tried it. Let's move on to Friday.

Friday! Our LAST day in Hawaii. {sigh}

We slept in. Well, mostly Mitch slept in. I had fallen asleep early the night before and was awake early. We got ready, packed up our stuff, and then went on a quick trip to Walmart before checkout. (I thought there were no Targets in Hawaii and that's why we came home rather than staying there forever. Turns out, there are TWO Targets on Oahu-- just nowhere near our hotel. Oh well.) We had a few things there that we had to pick up for our flight. While we were in the candy aisle, I discovered--


BONBONS!!!

(Okay, forgive the poor quality picture from my phone.)

The French Club at my high school used to sell BonBons every year as a fundraiser and they. are. fabulous. I've almost spent $25+ online to buy a case of BonBons more than once. I haven't actually done it. Just almost. They're that good. And you can't buy them ANYWHERE. Except, apparently, the Walmart in Waikiki! Hooray! (Mitch was kind enough to let me buy as many as I wanted. Which I did. And some to export for other people too.)

After Walmart, we checked out of our hotel and went to the Dole Plantation. First up, the Pineapple Express.

The Pineapple Express takes you on a tour of the plantation. You get to see how the pineapple is grown.

Did you know it takes over a year for a crop of pineapple to grow??? Crazy! And, they all have to be harvested by hand!

There are other plants to see as well like bananas, mangoes, macadamia nuts, chocolate, coffee, etc.

There's also a gorgeous reservoir along the way.

At the end of the train ride, there's a koi pond with a MILLION fish.

Personally, I think they're kind of gross looking. I guess they just look slimy. And hungry.

Next, we took our pictures by some of the pineapple plants in the garden.

And THEN, we visited the store. Let's start with the food part. We got this pineapple sundae.

I'll admit, I was skeptical about trying pineapple ice cream. Frankly, I thought it was rather presumptuous of Dole to think that everyone would like pineapple ice cream and not offer any other choices. I was pleasantly surprised. It was SO good! The funny thing is, before we left for Hawaii, Emily said that the only thing she wanted us to bring back for her was a pineapple. She said that they taste completely different in Hawaii-- and she was right. We don't have real pineapple in Utah.

Anyway. We loved the Dole Plantation. After that, we drove up to the North Shore. We took a nap on the beach and read and did our last bit of relaxing.

AND THEN, we found an AMAZING Mexican restaurant on the North Shore. I knew it would be good too because we only find good Mexican restaurants when we're out of town and can't come back very easily. (Calgary, St. George, Hawaii, etc.) I've decided that the amount of goodness of the restaurant is equivalent to how far from home the restaurant is.

And after dinner, we dropped the rental car off and reported to the airport. We had a red eye flight-- my first one ever-- I will NEVER fly red eye again. I hated it. I can't sleep on airplanes and it's way worse to not be able to sleep when you SHOULD be asleep. And, Mitch CAN sleep so he kind of has an "every man for himself" attitude when he flies. He doesn't want to trade seats with me or get up so I can get out to walk/go to the bathroom. He wants to sleep.

OH! And, the lady next to me on the first flight STOLE my pillow before I got there. So I hated her from the start. And, she slept the whole time and kept invading MY space. Not good.

I thought I was going to die. But anyway. We made it. And I learned my lesson with red eyes. And now we're home.