Okay, I know. This is the post everyone has been waiting for. I've been backed up and busy editing photo shoots lately, but Matt has been telling me that he forgot we even went to Hawaii because I haven't blogged it yet. Well people, here it is. And let me just tell you it was AWESOME!!!!
Be prepared to see a freaking TON of photos here. Seriously, there's like 70.
We made it to Hawaii super late, well Main Island time, on Sunday night. It's a 4 or 5 hr time difference from Utah. Me and the boys flew to San Francisco and met Matt there and then we all flew to Oahu, Hawaii.
We stayed in a house in Sunset Beach, on the North Shore.
We were up bright and early the next day and walked across the street to see the ocean....ahhh it felt SO good!
I love this picture of Devin's first experience at the beach, watching the water rush up to his feet.
Most mornings Matt and his dad would jog down the beach.
I honestly can't remember what event happened which day, so I'll just do my best.
We went snorkeling a few times and it was so fun. It's always quite freaky and takes me a while to get used to it, but we had a great time. We saw some beautiful, bright fish, an eel, big turtles and an octopus. First snorkel stop was Sharks Cove or Pupukea. We even saw a few old guys with big shark knives holstered to their ankles.
Devin sure loved the sand.
There's grandpa!
Another beach we went to a few times was Sunset Beach, since it was right across the street from where we were staying! It had gorgeous, soft sand. The first few days we could play in the water on the North Shore, but the last few days the surf came in and the waves were way too big for us (besides Matt and Rob) to safely play in.
It was SO nice to spend a week of vacation with Matt and even better, in Hawaii!
Oh and while I was in Utah, before the trip, my best friend Dani, did my toes. They were so cute! I had to take a picture. Thanks Dani!
(sorry if you don't like feet. I still feel a little weird posting this picture)
Luke's latest thing has been drawing pictures and especially stick figures. He is actually really good at it.
Another highlight of the trip was the Waimea Botanical Gardens. We "hiked" through some beautiful gardens and saw the most gorgeous flowers and trees.
Our poor boys were quite sick most of the trip. Luke threw up for almost a week straight and Devin had fevers, a rash and did some throwing up of his own. It was awful, but they didn't slow us down too much.
This picture is pretty awful, but hey at least it's a family picture!
Grandma is always teaching along the way.
The pink fuzzies were my favorite.
Who knew there were so many different kinds of palm trees?
When you reached the end of the hike there were some pretty falls that we swam in. It was a lot of fun.
Matt's dad is hardcore. Well, he's a swimmer, he swam out there a few times. I thought I was going to die out there with my kick board! It was tricky to swim against the raging water to get under the waterfall.
There's Anne, me, Luke and Matt out there.
That's me and Matt in the falls. Doesn't it look romantic?
Well, it's not. I couldn't even see because the water was pounding down on us so hard. Haha.
There's Rob sitting in the falls.
I think one of the biggest highlights of the trip for the guys was Pounders. It's this awful beach, just kidding, where the waves are SO hard they pound you and pull your pony tail and bobby pins out of your hair, then you get smacked in the back right after the wave that already wiped you out and your eyes and nose burn from salt water. Then you drag yourself out and wonder why in the world you let your sweet husband drag you into that brutal water. Oh and did you notice that all the other people out there are husky men? Hmmm.
But it was sure beautiful. And at least the guys had fun.
One day we drove down to the south eastern side of the island and visited Waikiki. I have a love hate relationship with this beach. It's the super touristy beach, it's absolutely gorgeous, the water is pretty clear and shallow for a long way out, which makes great surfing for us amateurs, but the beach is packed with lots of overweight old and young women in their nasty bikinis.
They have a lagoon or cove that is man made, but it's great because we could take the kids there and the waves were tiny. Luke could swim around with a life jacket and not get washed up on shore. We played there for hours.
We went surfing and Rob stayed out forever! Matt was out with him and then I went out and got up a few times. I think it's tradition now that I get hit in the head with the board, because it's happened both times we've gone surfing at Waikiki. It is SO MUCH FUN though. After Matt and I were exhausted, because it is a very tiring sport, there goes Rob out for a few more waves. He's like the energizer bunny, it's amazing.
Anne wanted proof that she could stand on a surf board...so here it is!!
While the surf was up on the north shore it was fun for us to just sit out and watch the pro surfers out. They are amazing. You can't really see any in this picture (below) but they were out pretty far.
Another beach, Waimea. It has this great jumping rock, but unfortunately the day we went the surf was too high, so the rock was closed. Bummer. Guess we'll have to go back!
Our little camp. The playpen was nice for Dev, but he knew better and didn't last long.
There's Matt between those two huge waves. See how close they are to the beach? They were honkin.
More snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. This is back on the south side of the island.
GORGEOUS, eh?
The fish seem to be brighter and even more beautiful here. We also hung out with this big turtle that was only about 10-20 feet from shore and he was there for over an hour. Luke even got to go out and see him. It was so fun and so beautiful. I just love being in the Hawaiian sun!
Off in the distance you can see Diamond Head. Matt and I hiked it and watched the sunrise 2 years ago. I definitely recommend.
Other things we did:
Swap meet at the Aloha Stadium-lots of shopping and souvenirs!
Spent the day and swam at the fancy timeshare with Steve and Lindi on the west side of the island.
Shaved ice!!!!
Saw lots of beautiful beaches.
And more shaved ice!!! Mmmmmm
What there's more?! Yeah, can you believe it? I just realized I have a whole bunch more photos on my little camera....so guess what. Here they are! I told you it'd be a long post. Didn't take the time to edit these ones, but at least they are here.
One night we went to dinner and the show at the Polynesian Cultural Center, HA The Breath of Life. I actually liked it better this time. Even with our barfy baby and squirmy children.
Matt's parents took the kids while we went to the Laie Temple. It was beautiful.
This is the view from outside the temple doors. If you look close enough you can see the ocean straight out from the temple.
One day we tried some more snorkeling at Turtle Bay. Matt and Luke also went on a seashell hunt.
Devin miraculously fell asleep on Grandpa's shoulder and slept for a while in the sand.
Matt and Luke ended up catching some fish instead.
This is Luke doing yoga, the downward dog, on the beach.
Just before we had to head for the airport Matt and I took off and went on a last adventure without the boys. We took the bikes from the house and went on a bike ride down the beach, it was so fun.
We got to the airport 3 hours before we could even check into the air port. Because Anne and Rob were staying an extra day and had to be to a luau at 5pm, but the airport was on the other side of the island, so they had to take us really early. We sat out here for 3 hours. Matt was so nice and took the boys most of the time while I read.
Then we finally hoped on our plane a few hours later and started the loooong journey back to cold Cleveland. We had a red-eye flight and traveled for about 24 hours. It felt good to get back home, but boy do we still miss that Hawaiian air!
