Hawaii {Part 1}

I've reluctantly returned to the land of the rising sun after a glorious 5 days in Hawaii!  It took me almost the entire day yesterday to narrow down my photos to a "reasonable" 127 to post on Facebook, now I'm struggling to narrow down what to share on here.  I've decided I'm going to have to just break it down into multiple posts so no one goes into paradise photo overload!

We arrived in Hawaii at 0730 (greeted by awesome friends and beautiful lei's, but I was so tired, I didn't even think to take my camera out) and couldn't check into our hotel until 1500 (more than 24 hours since we woke up for the day in Japan) so we had breakfast and spent the morning on the beach 

then went off in search of lunch and ended up sleeping in the car in a mall parking lot for a an hour or so (wow, that was one incredibly long run on sentence...I apparently haven't completely recovered from jet lag).  After we checked in, we slept for a another hour then ordered pizza and watched tv on our computers.  (him, House and me, Grey's Anatomy)  It really is the simple things about life in America that we miss!  We were so happy to just have a "normal" night in together!

My 1st slice of GOOD pizza in over 4 months (Anthony's doesn't count).  YUM!

Our 2nd day there was really cloudy and overcast yet still warm, so I was happy.  After I dropped Jason off at work, I met up with the awesomeness that is Sarah, who writes over at GI Joe's Wife.  She was so gracious to show me around the local malls in Hawaii in search of the perfect anniversary dress.  I was so thrilled just to be shopping again, that I may have bought way more than just an anniversary dress.  My suitcase might have been overweight on the way home =/  Somehow, 2 bloggers made it through an entire day together with out taking a single photo!?!?!?!  We made up for it later, don't worry!

That night after a huge miscommunication between Jason and I that left me waiting at Ft Shafter for 2 hours we met up with those friends that had lei'd us the day prior for dinner in Waikiki.  Of all the restaurants there, I chose Cheesecake Factory which is normally not my thing, I normally go for the local restaurants but I was so happy I did!  Mmmmmmm yumminess!

We're so grateful to have friends like these guys!  The Army really is a blessing in disguise sometimes =)

The real fun starts tomorrow =)