Hawaii

Beware! Hawaii OVERLOAD!

Josh and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to Hawaii this month for 2 WEEKS!!!

We had so much fun just the two of us and in such a gorgeous place.

Here we go! With only two hours of sleep I'm looking forward to a long snooze on the plane.

1st stop Maui 

3/16

We slept and watched Life of Pi on the flight. 

When we landed we were surprised with leis ordered by my parents.

We stocked up on groceries at Costco and then headed over to our condo.

We stayed at Maui Sands in Lahaina. It was beautiful and only about 80 feet from the water.

After unpacking the groceries and suitcases we headed out to explore.

Fish tacos from Maui Tacos sitting on Napili Bay beach watching whales breach out of the water was the perfect way to start our time here. 

Josh was in awe of everything around him. Especially with how warm the water was.

The sunsets were to die for!!

The next day we explored and tried out snorkeling a bit. Unfortunately, the water was pretty rough which just churned up the sand underneath and made the undercurrents pretty strong.

We went back to Napili Bay later though and boogied boarded our little hearts out.

3/17

How lucky am I to get to celebrate my 28th birthday in Hawaii??!!

We woke up super early and went whale watching on a little zodiac.

 The whales were so active and it was amazing to see these giant creatures launching themselves out of the water.

After the whale watching we grabbed some breakfast (hot chocolate and bagels), sat on the beach by the condo and enjoyed the amazing view around us.

Then we headed on an adventure to find the blowhole 

and this cute heart shape in the rocks.

And of course Josh had to find some humor in the sign. So Josh.

It says "Warning. Stay clear of blowhole. You can be sucked in and killed. It's not a watermark!"

 With nowhere that we had to be we just kept driving along the water. The little towns were so neat to drive by and we found a cute little snow cone truck where we tried our 1st of many Hawaiian snow cones.

We had dinner at Fleetwoods in Lahaina that night. 

Sat up top where there was a view, a band and yummy food.

It was a perfect way to end my birthday especially when I got to spend it with this guy.

 With a couple days out of the water we were itching to snorkel.

We headed to Black Rock where we had a much better experience snorkeling than the first time.

3/19

Took a break for the afternoon and relaxed by the pool.

Then headed back to Black Rock beach where we finally got to swim with a turtle finally towards the later afternoon. We had been seeing them every night as we watched the sunsets but it was so neat to have one swimming right next to us. The clouds had started to roll in so we didn't catch any great under water ones of him. Josh nearly peed his swim trunks when the turtle charged him because too many people got around it.

Wednesday was another early morning as we wanted to see the sunrise from Haleakala Summit.

It was one of the most amazing and beautiful things that I've ever seen.

3/20

It was freezing but so worth it.

As we descended down the mountain we decided to also do some zip lining.

So much fun!

After being up at the summit all morning we were happy to get down by the beaches where it was warmer. What better way to celebrate than with another snow cone.

That evening we ate at Aloha Mixed Plate

and watched the gorgeous sunset. That never got old.

Thursday was a LONG day. We didn't head out as early as we had hoped to but we headed to the Road to Hana for the day. Grabbed some donuts on the drive over for breakfast and then the adventures began.

We saw and swam at a ton of waterfalls along the Road to Hana.

3/21

Walked through a bamboo forest to find some hidden waterfalls

and even jumped off of one of them.
Here's Josh's jump.

Some of the waterfalls were tricky to find along the way but we were persistent to find them and when we did we were normally the only ones there.

These three waterfalls were called The Three Brothers and it made us think of our boys.

Hung out at Black Sand Beach and watched the crazy locals jumping off some cliffs.

We made it to the Seven Sacred Pools as the sun was going down.
Lets just say it was quiet the adventure. I was sure we were going to die.
We made a wrong turn that took us to a trail that I can only imagine was taking us to the top pool.
We hiked and hiked even through some rain. People were hiking down as we hiked as fast as we could up and at one point I even heard a kid say
 "Are they crazy? Why are they hiking up there now? It's getting dark."
We ended up calling it quits when we both had a really bad feeling about going any farther.  We hiked back down in the pitch black dark with just our phone flashlights giving us some light. When we reached the point where we could see the parking lot we were the only car left and of course our headlights were on. Thankfully the battery of the car hadn't died yet so we were able to get in the dry car and drive the windy road back.
Here we are towards the top completely soaked.

We were so tired the next day from the long day of hiking that we had a very chill day.
Plus it was our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!
We walked along the beach in the morning.
We spent the afternoon hanging out in Lahaina walking around the Banyan Tree checking out the vendors stationed around it. Then we ate lunch across the street at Cool Cats Cafe.
We did some shopping in Lahaina for a new dress for me and got my hair done for our fancy anniversary dinner.

Went back to the room to freshen up and change and then we headed over to Mama's Fish House.
Josh had made the reservation and let them know it was our anniversary so they gave us a great window seat so we could see the ocean while eating and overall treated us fabulously.

By the time we were leaving they had lit the tiki torches and we got to have a romantic stroll on the private beach. I can't believe it's been 10 years since we got married. This vacation for just the two of us was long overdue and just validated all the reasons we married each other in the first place.

Saturday was spent snorkeling in the morning and then we headed over to the
Wailea area of the island to check it out.

Then we came back to watch the beautiful sunset over Kaanapali.

I seriously can't remember much that we did during the day on Sunday. 

Probably more snorkeling at Black Rock (that was our best snorkeling spot)

 and then packing of our bags.

Found this gem though.

I do remember the evening though. 

We went back to Black Rock to watch the nightly "show" on the beach of the tiki torches being lit and the young men cliff diving. We watched our last Maui sunset and relaxed.

We watched our last Maui sunset and relaxed.
Oh how I miss you Maui!

Monday we island hopped over to Oahu.

3/25

We left pretty early in the morning and Josh remembered walking through a spiderweb he couldn't see in the dark. While moving some things around to make our luggage meet the 50 pound weight limit we found the owner of that web.

Once we landed and got our rental car we headed straight over to the

 Pearl Harbor Visitor Center to get tickets. With it being just the two of us we completely lucked out and got some of the last tickets for the boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial.

 The USS Arizona Memorial was such a beautiful reverent place to stand and read over all the names of those that lost their lives.

After the USS Arizona Memorial we walked around the grounds a bit and met one of the men that survived the Pearl Harbor Attacks.

We then were able to go on the USS Missouri Battleship. 

This is the same ship they used in the movie Battleship.

Later that day we checked into our hotel room.
We were right across the street from Waikiki Beach and Zoo.
We could see Diamond Head from our lanai too.

3/26
Tuesday we spent at the Laie Hawaii Temple.
We were able to do an endowment session and some sealings.
It was such a special day especially since we were celebrating our 8 year anniversary of us taking out our own endowments and being sealed with Riley for time and all eternity.
Josh had forgotten his temple recommend at home by accident, but thankfully the temple president was able to get a hold of our Stake President back at home and get it okayed.
It was the most beautiful sealing rooms I've ever been in.

After we drove past the BYU campus and got a great recommendation for a place to eat.
Seven Brothers was AMAZING!
It's probably good that I don't have one close otherwise I'd be the size of a house.


The next day it rained. We were able to go have some Starbucks hot chocolate and pastries out on Waikiki Beach before it did which was nice.

Then we headed back to our room to watch a couple movies that we had rented from Redbox the night before.
While we were watching our movies a bird decided to fly into our room and take cover from the rain for a bit. It reminded me so much of when I was younger and came to Hawaii with my family. We had a bird that we named Russell that came into our condo and hung out every day.

The next day we headed back to the North Shore and explored a bit.
3/28

We then headed back to Seven Brothers for some more amazing burgers and then went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

So much to do there and so much to learn about all the different island cultures.

Took a canoe ride.

Josh learned some games from one of the islands.

We made fish out of palm leaves.

Josh fished.

Met a Somoan Chief.

I even learned a little hula number.

On Friday we hiked up Diamond Head.

Great views all around!

We walked along the shops of Waikiki Beach later and then had some ice cream on the beach as we watched our last Hawaiian sunset.

We even saw a Storm Trooper and Bobba Fett while on the beach.
Guess they need vacations too sometimes.

We had an amazing time in Hawaii especially with it being some much needed one on one time.
We missed the boys but if it weren't for them I don't know that I would have come home.
Until next time Hawaii.