HAWAII!!

After 15 years of marriage and five kids, the stars finally aligned for our first-ever family trip to Hawaii!  It was such an amazing trip.  Everyday I would post on facebook what we had done that day.  I'm sure it became extremely annoying since we were there for 12 days, but I wanted to remember all of it for when I finally got around to blogging about it. So, here we go:
Day 1
Traveled on a red-eye flight to the Big Island.  Everyone slept almost the entire way except me.  My parents had gone over the day before so they met us at the airport in Kona, which was the coolest airport I've seen!  We went back to their hotel and enjoyed our first Hawaiian breakfast (McDonalds), then the kids got to swim in an awesome lagoon with fish all around, then a little bit at the hotel's pool.  Then we headed to Costco where we stocked up for our time at the house.  When we arrived at the house, I almost cried.  It was so beautiful.  It was nothing I had imagined.  It's way up in the mountains in Waimea.  The house is beautiful and large and backs up to Parker Ranch that has horses.  The town of Waimea is adorable and about 15 minutes from the beach.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and unpacking.

Day 2

Beautiful morning view of Mauna Kea. Hapuna Beach - saw lots of beautiful fish, a sea turtle and threw up in the ocean because 2 hours of snorkeling made me seasick (seriously, what is wrong with me? Who does that?!). Shave ice and plate lunch special. Then took the girls down to Hilton Waikoloa for the boat ride, turtles, sharks and dolphins. Bud even found a road-side pizza oven and picked up a pie. And my parents still like us, so that's good.

 Day 3

Church at the Waimea 2nd ward. Then a drive up Kohala Mtn. road with stops at a Banyan tree in Kapaou and the original Kamehaha statue. Then on to Pololu Valley with the most amazing cliffs and valleys. We hiked down to the beach with the four older kids, it was absolutely amazing! It poured on us going down but had cleared up a lot on the way up. Stopped at Keokea Beach Park and Mahukona on the way back. Finished off the day with dinner at one of my parents faves, Cafe Pesto, where my dad told the kids stories about the artwork. Great day, tomorrow's supposed to be busier! Hope we can keep up the pace!

Day 4

Started the day off right at Hawaiian Style Cafe (holy huge pancakes). Then on to our 10-hour excursion. Waipio Valley, Laupahoehoe, Akaka Falls, scenic drive by the botanical gardens, then Rainbow Falls and Hilo. We finished the day with a couple hours at Volcanoes National Park, which although we didn't get to see any actual lava, we did walk through a lava tube and saw the "glow" from Kilauea. We headed home on Saddle Road which was terrifying with fog, rain and horribly slow drivers. Looking forward to a lazy beach day tomorrow!

 Day 5
It's going too fast, but today was a "chill" day and we needed it. We gave my folks a break and headed down to Hapuna Beach for half the day. The boys cliff jumped, we saw a couple turtles, and C played in the sand...a lot! We spent a quiet evening on the lanai and then headed down to hear John Keawe perform. As my mom puts it, "he's the Justin Bieber of slack key guitar". 

Day 6
My parents are amazing and are watching the fab 5 while Bud and I hop over to Oahu for a few days. We saw Pearl Harbor (absolutely moving) then headed down to Waikiki, enjoyed lunch and a walking tour of downtown with my dad's dear friend, Uncle Tommy. Then we saw where my dad grew up and also visited two cemeteries where my grandmother and great-grandparents are buried. We hit the Pali lookout, but I was so impressed with all of it, it is so gorgeous here! After another family visit, we finally headed up to Turtle Bay. We arrived right before sunset and had a great dinner even with the sudden downpour that had us running inside. 

Day 7

After sleeping in till 9 (!!!!), we had breakfast at Ted's Bakery, stopped at a local fruit stand, then went back to the resort and chilled on the beach for a few hours. For lunch, we headed to Kahuku for their famous shrimp trucks and bbq corn. We tried two shrimp places, and Giovanni's won hands down! Sooo good! We also loved the BBQ corn right next door! We headed over to Laie next and saw BYU Hawaii and the temple. Afterwards we headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center and enjoyed a luau and their show, Ha. It blew us away! It was amazing! If you're ever at the PCC, see that show! Right before the show, my mom sent me a pic of the girls that just made my day. Can't wait to see them tomorrow, but have LOVED this little getaway!

 Day 8
Woke up early today and took a little walk by myself around Turtle Bay. Such beautiful scenery, so I headed back to the hotel, woke Bud up and we rented bikes and rode around. Saw the head of one turtle pop up, but that was it (so much for TURTLE Bay). Then we had to pack up and head out. We ate at the Hukilau Cafe for lunch, very good and cheap! We stopped at Waimea Valley on our way to Honolulu and saw the most amazing trees! Then we headed to Matsumotos. The shaved ice really is awesome, but honestly the t-shirt business seems to have overrun the place. We drove on to Honolulu and met our friends the Fairbanks at Diamondhead. We only got to see them for a few minutes though because we had to get to the airport and it took forever. The traffic in Honolulu completely reminds me of LA. We got back to the Big Island though and got to see the kids and it was so much fun. It's great to have a break, but we found ourselves saying "the kids would love this" constantly. Next time they'll come with, but thanks to my folks for an awesome getaway! We appreciate it so much!

Day 9

Slow start this morning, but headed south to Kona to see the temple. It is beautiful and I got my favorite pic of the whole trip with my folks. Then headed to the beach for a delicious lunch at Huggos on the Rocks. Afterwards, we kept on going to Kealakekua Bay and Puuhonua O Honaunau (say that three times fast)  It's also called City of Refuge because during the Kapu system, natives could go there if they'd broken a law to be forgiven, as long as you weren't killed first. Yikes. It was neat, but it was so sweltering hot we could hardly stay very long. Then we headed home and had a quiet evening in cool, rainy Waimea and loved it. Bud stumbled across an awesome Saimin food truck that even my dad gave the seal of approval to. That about does it for the touring. Our last couple days will probably be pretty laid back.

Day 10

Started the day off being woken up by an earthquake! Only half of us felt it, but it originated on the Big Island and registered at a 4.8. My dad said our Hawaii experience was now complete. Then we headed to the Kohala ward for church. After sacrament meeting, they have all the visitors come up and they sing "Aloha Oe" and give hand-knit leis to everyone. I cried through the whole thing. After church, the adults got to steal away for brunch at the Mauna Kea resort. The food and views were phenomenal! We had a quiet afternoon and then after dinner we headed to the actual Mauna Kea volcano to see the stars. It was really crowded, but absolutely beautiful! As you can see, we wore the kids out!

Day 11

Last full day here. We spent the morning at beautiful Hapuna Beach again. Didn't get any pics though. Then headed home and started the depressing process of laundry and packing. Took a little break and got some parting shots of this gorgeous house. Tonight we had a little bday party for Mae since Papa and Grandma will miss her birthday because they get to stay here longer. My folks got her a ukelele. I'm sure the people on the plane will love us on that six hour flight! (Just kidding, we're packing it.)
I have loved this trip and am really sad to head home tomorrow, but so grateful for the chance to finally be able to come here with my family. A huge thank you to my parents who have put up with us for 11 days and have been the best tour guides ever! And to an awesome husband who finally took more than a few days off work for a vacation and made this whole thing possible! I will happily eat ramen noodles and look at these pics for every birthday and anniversary to come till we replenish the bank account. Aloha!

Day 12

Finished packing up and said goodbye to paradise.  It was so hard to leave!  This was the experience of a lifetime and our goal is to try to get back before the boys finish high school.  :)  We did get to experience quite a miracle though! The kids favorite babysitter and my dear girl, Zoe, was leaving for BYU Hawaii, but we didn't get a chance to say goodbye because of back to back out-of-town trips. We got in around midnight and the red-eye flight she was on was the actual plane we had just gotten off! We ran into her even after my cell phone died and we didn't know if we were even at the airport together. Such a perfect ending to our trip and beginning to Zoe's new phase of life!