Thanks to my mom, Darrin and I were able to go to Hawaii this summer ALONE!
She was a trooper to watch the kids 24/7 for 4 nights and 5 days. And they didn’t just stay home and play.
She took them all over the place: movies, bowling, store, pump it up…she was C.R.A.Z.Y!! But we are super grateful she was up for the challenge.
Cause we had a blast!
August 23rd
Darrin and I left at 7:30am for the airport. We were giddy as we drove away!
We got all checked in and sat back and enjoyed flying Hawaiian Airlines.
So fun! To me the flight was one of the best parts. I was a little nervous as we flew over the coast and all we could see was the ocean, but as we started to see land again we could hardly contain ourselves!
The flight consisted of an in-flight movie, lunch, pineapple juice, Hawaiian water and informational movies on what to expect in Hawaii.
We got off the plane in Honolulu which felt like a foreign country. We found the rental car place, and then started the drive to Waikiki Beach and our hotel: Hilton Hawaiian Village.
We survived the drive and all the traffic. We found our room and walked around a bit to find a place to eat dinner. This restaurant was right on the beach. It’s so weird there, everything is outside!
We also bought postcards to send to the kids…they got them about 12 hours before we got home…oh well. We tried!
We did venture to Wal-Mart in downtown Honolulu. It was a little scary, and it even had a parking garage which I thought was funny! But we were able to buy some food and souvenirs for the kids.
We went to bed pretty early because we tired from traveling, and we had to get up the next morning for a “city tour” at 5am.
August 24
We got up and found our tour bus which took us to Pearl Harbor and then all over Honolulu.
It was sobering to learn more about Pearl Harbor and all that went on there. It truly is a sacred place.
This is how the memorial fits on top of USS Arizona.
Next our tour took us to downtown Honolulu.
We made it back to the hotel for lunch and to rest up for our dinner cruise later that night.
Around 5pm we got on another tour bus, and they took us to the dock where we got on a boat to eat dinner and enjoy the scenery.
It was a lot of fun with a beautiful sunset at the end of the night.
I was glad to prove that I could be on a boat and not get seasick!
As part of the entertainment Darrin was selected to dance in front of everyone.
Unfortunately…but probably on purpose…the camera was in his pocket. So the pics I took were with my phone and not too good.
It was hilarious anyway!
August 25
After an early morning swim in the ocean, we spent the rest of the day on the north side of the Island.
We stopped at the Dole Pineapple Farm on the way there.
The North Shore
Our final destination that day was the Polynesian Cultural Center.
We had a blast seeing all the demos and eating the food. The show after dinner was great! We especially loved the fire dancer.
We took a tour bus to see BYU-Hawaii and the Hawaii Temple.
We went into the visitors center and ran into Mark Eubank…you know the weatherman in Utah that wears the white coat when it’s going to snow?
Darrin’s loved the guy since he was a kid and was in awe to meet him. lol!
Apparently him and his wife are serving a mission at the Hawaii Temple visitor’s center.
It was definitely a highlight!
August 26
On Friday we planned to go to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. Darrin’s whole vacation revolved around this point in the trip.
He had practiced snorkeling in every pool at the hotel, in the ocean, and even in the bathtub. He was stoked!
To preserve the reef, they only let so many people in the park at once. We got there at 9:30am, and it was already closed. Darrin was soooo sad
We just kept driving by several times and on our last attempt the parking lot opened up, and we were able to continue on with our plans!
We spent the rest of the day snorkeling. Darrin loved it, and I just liked it. Darrin was braver than me and went out a lot further and was able to see more fish and even a shark.
After we got back and cleaned up, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for some familiar food.
On Friday nights just after dark the hotel does fireworks on the beach. It was a great show!
It was an awesome end to our trip and quite romantic I might add!
August 27
We said good bye to our hotel and Hawaii and got on the plane to come home.
Unfortunately our plane had some problems, so we all had to de-plane and wait a couple hours for them to fix it.
Luckily they were able to, but we didn’t get home until 3am in the morning!
What a great trip! Next time we will take the kids. They will love it
4 comments:
ahhh...sounds awesome! i so want to go back!!!
How fun!! I'm so glad you got to go to Hawaii together. It's nice to do a get away without kids. It's been 2 1/2 years since we have done one, and I'm itching to get away.
what a great trip!
Am I the only one who's never been to Hawaii? Thanks for posting so I can live vicariously through you. Also, you look so pretty! Your hair is so long and I love the curls.
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