It's been an event filled day for the President and First Family. Mr. Obama, First Lady Michelle, daughters Sasha & Malia and friends gathered at Pyramid Rock Beach at Marine Corps Base Hawaii Thursday afternoon. A place they've visited during past family vacations.
After spending about 4 hours soaking up the sun, sand and surf the Presidential motorcade headed to another First Family favorite - Island Snow in Kailua for shave ice.
Meanwhile, visitors to The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor were being told boat tours for the rest of the day were cancelled.
"We got here at 2:00pm and the Chief Park Ranger says well you can't go out and everyone was all like 'arrggh arrggh', grumbling," said Gary Mckechnie, a visitor from Florida.
He was told the park stopped all tours around 1:00pm.
"They said they knew fairly early {tours} weren't going to happen so there were about 150 people in our group and the 1:45 group didn't get to go through and anybody after us didn't get a chance to go through," said Mckechnie.
Word soon spread that the President would be making a visit.
"You see some guys walking around with suits and stuff, it seemed obvious he was on his way but he was taking a little while so we have to go already," said Kunia resident Danny Addis.
Police boats were seen patrolling the water and secret service set up near the visitors center service entrance. Around 5:00pm the Presidential motorcade made its way from Kailua to Pearl Harbor, shutting down traffic along the route for about a half hour.
When they arrived, the President and First Lady boarded a boat to take them out to the USS Arizona Memorial. Once there, Mr. Obama laid a wreath at a memorial honoring those killed in the attacks on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Then following a moment of silence in the shrine room, the President and First Lady scattered purple orchids into the water over the sunken battleship.
After about a half-hour, the Obamas returned to shore under a beautiful Hawaiian sunset sky. They were accompanied by Admiral Robert Willard, head of U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, and his wife.
The Obamas returned to their Kailua vacation home around 6:30pm.
The First Family is expected to head back to Washington DC sometime after the new year.
