Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A little more HI

First of all, I love that Hawaii is abbreviated HI. It just seems so incredibly appropriate for such a friendly place.

Secondly, I'm having trouble finding pictures to post that don't expose every member of my family to the ravages of the savage Internet. I'm not talking about my loyal readers, of course, but about the creeps who steal your family photos and use them to sell groceries in the Czech Republic.

Anyway, I tried to find a couple that weren't too bad, but still told a story. The first doesn't have any faces in it at all, but was taken during what was easily one of the most moving moments of the trip. Read this next sentence, and pay attention to it. If you ever go to Hawaii, please visit the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. You will thank me later.



This picture was taken by my 13-year-old step daughter, and is one of the rare glimpses you get of the ship still underwater all these years later. Over 900 men are entombed here, their bodies never recovered from the ship. It is truly a cemetery, and an awe-inspiring piece of American soil. (Or water, if you want to talk semantics.)

Okay, enough of that. Here I am showing off my temporary tattoo I got at the luau with my step-daughter, nephews and niece. None of the other adults on the trip were cool enough to get one. Well, my husband would have gotten one in a heartbeat, but he was too busy videotaping the cool kids.



Lastly, here we are "Hanging Loose" on Waikiki Beach. We learned while we were there that this hand symbol actually originated with a famous Luau performer who used to delight in waving at his fans, minus the three middle fingers he had lost in an accident. The fans began curving their fingers in to wave back, and the Shaka sign was born. Well, at least that's one theory. And I like it better than the one about the surfer having his fingers bitten off by a shark.



Okay. Enough vacation? I promised more in an earlier post, and didn't want to not follow through. I'm well back in the real world by now, anyway. Well, at least as back as I can be while I still have macadamia nuts in the kitchen and sand in my flip flops.

3 comments:

Mary said...

Love. That is all I have to say about this post.

gringa78 said...

Love the pictures! You guys are too cute!! Amazing pic of the USS Arizona too...I'm sure that is a very moving place.

Z said...

Ok, the Pearl Harbor pic almost made me cry.

Such wonderful pictures!!