Day 2 - Waikiki, Oahu

16th June
Happy Father’s Day, Travel DayI woke up to some great cards and gifts from Jemma and Ryan. One of the gifts was a new Nikon Coolpix underwater camera! Something I had my eye on but was disciplined enough not to buy.We had a lovely breakfast at Nanny’s and hit the Sumas border at noon. A quick stop to pick up some fried chicken and snacks before parking at I-5 parking near Bellingham Airport. This is the way to go. Parking is $2 per day and they provide a ‘Town Car’ taxi, cost $15 each way. The total cost is a fraction of that to stay at Bellingham.Our flight was on time, leaving just before 4:00pm and we were up to 35,000ft before we could say Alaska Arlines Rocks! They do rock. Our return flights were just over $300 each! If we had flown Westjet or Air Canada out of YVR we would have paid closer to $1,500 each, saving a total $4,700!We arrived in Honolulu at 8:00pm, picked up our car from Alamo and were in the Ilima Hotel room by 9:30pm. We picked up a few groceries for the morning and hit the hay. We were exhausted! Thanks to everyone who has provided top tips where to buy groceries, where to stay and what car rental service to use.

17th June. Day 2 - Waikiki, OahuRyan had some problems clearing his ears after the flight and woke up with a very sore ear at about 11:30pm. I gave him some tylenol and thankfully after about half an hour he fell asleep. Jen and I both work up just before 6:00am (9:00am Vancouver time) and popped over to Starbucks for a coffee.The kids were awake when we got back and we were on the beach by 8:30am. We were not prepared for how beautiful the beach would be! We have heard so many times how commercialized Waikiki is but when you walk through a hotel lobby and see the azure blue water and Diamond Head for the first time it is quite breathtaking.We frolicked in the surf and rented a wakeboard for $5/hr.We had not put any sunscreen on yet so after a couple of hours we went for a walk up the beach and got out of the sun. We had some fish tacos at a place just around the corner form our hotel and all cooshed out for a couple of hours.It’s 2:12 pm and we just woke up and Jen and Jemma have popped over to the hotel pool. We have reservations at the Outrigger tonight for dinner at 5:00pm.

Ryan is a natural!

A real life mermaid!