December 21st 2003 - Honolulu, Hawaii

Hawaii! I had been to Hawaii before, but only to Maui (the best island, I think). I was excited to see the North Shore and Waikiki Beach. Alex and I were with Dan and his boys and we were meeting almost his entire family over there. His niece lived in Waikiki but we were splitting our time between the North Shore and Waikiki beach.

We rented a house on the North Shore. This was the back yard. We had this huge deck with steps down to the beach. It was just incredible to hear the ocean at night. One thing though, even though Christmas is a great time to be here, you cannot go in the water in very many places because the water is too dangerous. We walked along the beach close to the water and got caught up in a wave and almost were sucked out to sea. It happened in an instant.

Alex on the North Shore - this area is the famous Pipeline and you could go into the water here. Not sure of the difference, but a few hundred yards down the beach, you could not enter the water. There were plenty of surfers here to watch.


A view of the Pipeline

I took a blow-up Christmas tree with us, so we wouldn't feel too sad being away at Christmas. It was still a little strange to be here without my family in a place that just does not look like Chirstmas.

OK... biggest disappointment of the entire trip. I canNOT believe people rave about the Polynesian Cultural Center. I just can't! Forget that it's run by the LDS church, it's just boring! You can't even get a real diet coke here! All the exhibits are cheesy... it's very cheaply put together and it's SUPER expensive to get in. It's a beautiful spot, for sure... but if you are not into LDS theme parks, I would save your money.

The one VERY interesting thing we did in Hawaii was visit Pearl Harbor. This was a fascinating day. Incredible history here! Truly something every American should see.

Here is the USS Arizona - the final resting place of the 1102 of the 1177 sailors killed onboard the battleship on December 7th, 1941. This memorial is amazing. You really have to see the aerial view to understand it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arizona_Memorial

They have these markers out where other battleships were.

Inscription in marble of all who lost their lives onboard the USS Arizona alone.

My Christmas photo. This was taken at Dan's niece's place above the city of Waikiki.

June 21st, 2003 - New York City! My first time!

It was my first time in New York City! I was so ecxcited! Dan and I and both the boys flew into Newark... rented a car and then drove into the city. The boys were leaving the next day on a train to the lake up in the Adirondacks and Dan and I were staying in the city for 4 days and then meeting up at the lake in the car. Let me first tell you about our car rental experience. We flew into Newark in the rain and finally found our car rental counter. While we were checking in, the man at the counter asked if we would like to upgrade... ummm, no thanks... So, he does a little looking in his computer (we were to have the car for 2 weeks) and gives us the keys and a slot number of where we'll find the car. So... we head out walking to find our car number. We get there and it's a NEW Jaguar! We walked back to the counter and said "I think there has been a mistake??" and the man looked at us and said "Have a nice vacation Mr. Sutliff." SUPER COOL!!! A Jag!

This is us in our Jag making our way to enter the Holland Tunnel.

The next morning we had to take the kids to Penn station and put them on a train to Amsterdam New York where they would be picked up by their aunt. After dropping them off, it was out to explore. The rain had stopped but the puddles were huge. Here is a shot of my favorite building in NYC. The Empire State Building. Built in 1930 during the depression and only took 13 months to build!

Atlas - famous figure from Greek Mythology. Atlas was half-man, half-god and condemned to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center

Prometheus - bringing fire to mankind.

This is where the tree is at Christmas... the ice skating rink. In the warmer months, it is a great sidewalk cafe. Rockefeller Center is a huge group of buildings with a giant shopping area underground.

The famous Times Square

Here I am waiting for the ferry to take us out to the Statue of Libery and Ellis Island.

The Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island

It's kind of hard to see the wall of names here on Ellis Island but it wraps around this entire park. Very interesting stories.

This is the area around Ground Zero. This was an incredible experience to be here. The empty area between all the buildings is where the World Trade Center used to be.

Here is the Stock Exchange Building. Since 9/11 you can no longer go inside.

Federal Hall on Wall Street... Where George Washington took the oath of office for the first President of the United States. Federal Hall was home to the first congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch of government when New York City was the nation's capitol. It is now a museum.

The Brooklyn Bridge... the coolest bridge ever. Completed in 1883, it's one of the oldest suspension bridges in the U.S. There is a huge bike/walk path that runs down the center on a higher platform, with cars running below. It's a very strange thing being up there... but cool.

Had to get a photo of this... This is a Hummer for children inside FAO Schwarz. Can you see teh price tag? It's $30,000!!! Unbelievable!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

http://www.metmuseum.org/

Inside the Met... it is just the coolest museum in the USA!

Inside the Met

A stroll through Central Park

Conservatory Water - a pond where you can sail your own boats or rent one. There is a snack bar here and restrooms. It's a great place to take a break and watch the kids and adults race their boats.

One of the adorable trails inside the park. You better have a map if you want to go off the sidewalk here. There are so many pathways and the scenery is just incredible.

Looking across the pond... I love Central Park.