part IV

so im not in hawaii anymore. unfortunately. but i am back in dallas with friends again. so thats good too. i really miss my family already.

its been a little more than a week since i left, so this might be hard to catch up all the rest of what we did on break. it'll just be some highlights...

on christmas eve we went to the chapel at schofield barracks. it wasnt quite home. i dont ever remember wearing flip flops to christmas eve service. i really missed my home church. it didn't feel like christmas. i still had a good one, but i had to remind myself what month it was. if it was going to be different, i wanted it to be memorable. so we went to the beach on christmas afternoon!

we went snorkeling at hanauma bay... twice! that was definitely one of the best things to do. it was my first time and i was amazed by how close the fish come. i saw convict tangs and leah and i saw a moray eel! my fear of deep ocean water disappeared when i had the goggles to see in the clear water.

we visited lots of different beaches. waikiki, sunset, bellows, ko'olina, barbers pt. some were really good for waves, others were prettier. my favorite that was pretty and had decent boogie board waves was bellows. also it was semi private, being owned by the gov't and closed to the public during the week.

i got to eat at this wonderful sushi all you can eat restaurant with my dad. it was cool, we're the only ones in the family that like to eat fish. i was excited to try new foods and spend time with dad, since he had to work some of the time we were there (somebody had to). it was decorated really nicely with pink paper umbrellas and green lanterns on the ceiling.

i also had the best waffles ever with macadamia nuts, bananas and coconut syrup.

another fun thing was just hanging out with my family at home. i really needed some relaxing time because of the stressful end of my semester. its nice to be able to hang out with leah or read a book. im so thankful for such a memorable vacation with my family. i love it that we could all be there.