Happy Anniversary

So, with Venita trying to get the blog all caught up, I figured I'd help a little.
Venita and I had planned our trip back to Russia for this summer before life gets even more crazy with her Masters program and me applying to Optometry school. Unfortunately, because of a few factors, the trip just didn't seem to work out. I decided that for our anniversary though, I wanted to surprise Venita with a fun trip to make up for it. When we found out her sister Kami was going to live in Hawaii for the summer (or until she decides to come back to real life), I decided Hawaii was a definite must! I arranged the trip and made reservations (with Kami's help) and took Venita to the local Hawaiian restaurant to tell her the exciting news. On my way home from work, I took our itinerary to the restaurant and explained that I'd return with my wife for dinner and asked if they could bring the itinerary out with our food. They were great to oblige and everything worked as planned. Venita was very surprised and couldn't believe that we were really going.
When August rolled around, we boarded the plane and said goodbye to an intense summer semester for me and Venita's miserable job of 3 years. We landed at about 3 on Friday afternoon and Kami and her boss were nice enough to meet us at the airport and provide our transportation to the hotel. We stayed about a block from Waikiki beach and you would have thought we were staying next to Pearl Harbor with how many Asians there were but it was still fun and convenient. We spent the evening exploring Waikiki and having a great dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
The next day was our official 3 year anniversary! What better way to celebrate than to spend the morning at the local Flea Market? I bought myself a nice little Ukulele (original, I know) and Venita got some fancy jewelery. That afternoon we just hung out and relaxed at the beach and then headed to Top of Waikiki for dinner. It's a revolving restaurant that was very delicious and had great views of the ocean and also downtown Honolulu.

Sunday we went with Kami and her boss' family to church.

After church, they were kind enough to invite us to their home for an authentic Iranian/Persian dinner.
The next day, we woke up and caught our bus to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

At the Luau, we did have our first public dance of our marriage. They asked all couples celebrating Honeymoons or Anniversaries to go on the stage and surprisingly, Venita wanted to go.

Waiting for the Shuttle to the temple

I bought our tickets on my phone only 2 days prior and we ended up having great front row seats to the show that night!

Tuesday morning we woke up early to beat the long lines at Pearl Harbor. It was a good experience and actually more interesting than I expected.

We were so surprised to find out that it is still leaking oil.

Kami's boss took us on a tour of Diamond Head to show us all the mulit-million dollar houses and then dropped us off at one of the best secluded beaches. It was so relaxing that we both fell asleep for a few hours. Luckily it was our last day there because we definitely paid the price and were downing ibuprofen like it was candy. My burn was so bad that I was feverish the rest of the day.
All in all, it was a great trip and such a fun anniversary. I know it was a pretty typical Honolulu trip but it was fun for both of us as neither of us have ever been to Hawaii. We did everything that we wanted to but next time we go, we will probably hit up a more secluded island. I'm just glad that Venita is in charge of the anniversary next year!!!