So I promise this will be my last post on Hawaii. It was just SOOO much fun. So this post will take you from the beginning to the end of our trip. For those of you who don't know my sister Shirlyn and her family lives in Hawaii so Matt and I went out for spring break for a visit. Thanks to Shirlyn and Deven's great knowledge of the land and great personalities it was the best trip ever. There was no research needed on our end- they already had the best beaches and food already picked out for us. The whole trip consisted of rushing from place to place, laughing hysterically and really enjoying each other. We can't wait to go back- we've decided it's an annual trip we will make as long as they are there...maybe even over christmas break!!?
Ok so here are the highlights.
Day 1: We went to Sharks cove for some awesome snorkeling. Matt is very afraid of Sharks and we were wondering if we were going to get him in the water at all but Gracie took him to the "baby pool" to start out... ironically it's called Shark's Cove. Next we went to the infamous shrimp trucks along the North Shore. They instantly became Matt's favorite. We then went to get a shaved ice...also some very famous place. We topped the day off with a trip to Waikiki where we got some cool shots of the city against the bay.
Day 3: (Sorry out of order) We started this day off nice and early to beat the traffic down to hike Diamond Head. The picture below is actually a picture from off the coast but we did hike to the top. The picture on the right is part of the beautiful view from the top. After hiking we topped it off with a trip to a Bellows Beach, a military only beach, so it was private, quiet and really beautiful. Here we tried Boogie Boarding. As you can see Matt and Deven had a lot of fun with this. That night we went on a dinner cruise..just the adults. That was pretty fun, especially after I got over the sea sicknesses.
Day 2: (sorry, out of order) This day Deven got to teach Matt how to surf. We were really proud of Matt for getting out there with the sharks and showing off his moves. He did really good. This was his first time and he pretty much got right up!! I was able to get on my knees if Deven helped me catch the wave!! :) We also did this on our last day. We topped this day off with a quick trip to a lookout and hiking to a beautiful lighthouse mixed with some whale watching. We saw a couple of whales but they were in the distance and didn't get good pictures! :(
Day 4: This was a fun day. We started with the swap meet and of course had so much fun shopping for things. We then headed over to the Dole Plantation for some great pineapple ice cream!!! Yummy. We were going to start the tour and it started raining so that got cut short. However, this still managed to be one of my favorite places. That night we went out to a restaurant called Haleiwa Joes. Matt and Deven literally ate that fish that is in this picture. I know it looks gross but it was actually pretty good.
Day 5: Just when we thought things couldn't get better it totally did. This day we rented a boat and took it out to these sandbars in the middle of the bay. Deven was certified so we were able to take a military boat out by ourself. Here we rented a paddle board and had a little fun. This was really cool. Probably one of the coolest things we did.
However, the coolest thing came right after on the same day. We rented a cottage right on the beach at Kaneohe Bay. It was again through the military so we had a pretty private beach, we just shared with our neighbor. This was so much fun. We were literally on the beach. We ate dinner on the patio overlooking the bay. It had the perfect view of the sunset and then as soon as it got dark we firepitted it at the beach. We roasted some great mallows and had makeshift s'mores.
Day 6: We were so sad to leave but we had a show to catch. On day 6 we made a quick stop to see the temple and then head to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We got to do some fun things like watch the different shows, throw spears, learn a little hula, eat great food at the luau, and topped if off with the their big cool show!!
Day 7: This was also a fun day but very sad. Were glad we at least got to spend the whole day with them. That morning we went to Pearl Harbor which was really just kind of sad! The history was pretty cool to learn about though. After that we hit up the beach one more time to try out surfing. I think Matt was out there for 3 hours straight. After that we rushed home to make it to Gracie's big performance. Gracie's been learning hula dancing and she was performing at Mililani's town center. It was a cute public performance in the middle of an outdoor mall. She did so good and Matt and I were so excited that we got to watch her do this while we were there.
Day 4: This was a fun day. We started with the swap meet and of course had so much fun shopping for things. We then headed over to the Dole Plantation for some great pineapple ice cream!!! Yummy. We were going to start the tour and it started raining so that got cut short. However, this still managed to be one of my favorite places. That night we went out to a restaurant called Haleiwa Joes. Matt and Deven literally ate that fish that is in this picture. I know it looks gross but it was actually pretty good. 
Day 5: Just when we thought things couldn't get better it totally did. This day we rented a boat and took it out to these sandbars in the middle of the bay. Deven was certified so we were able to take a military boat out by ourself. Here we rented a paddle board and had a little fun. This was really cool. Probably one of the coolest things we did. 
However, the coolest thing came right after on the same day. We rented a cottage right on the beach at Kaneohe Bay. It was again through the military so we had a pretty private beach, we just shared with our neighbor. This was so much fun. We were literally on the beach. We ate dinner on the patio overlooking the bay. It had the perfect view of the sunset and then as soon as it got dark we firepitted it at the beach. We roasted some great mallows and had makeshift s'mores. 
Day 6: We were so sad to leave but we had a show to catch. On day 6 we made a quick stop to see the temple and then head to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We got to do some fun things like watch the different shows, throw spears, learn a little hula, eat great food at the luau, and topped if off with the their big cool show!! 
Day 7: This was also a fun day but very sad. Were glad we at least got to spend the whole day with them. That morning we went to Pearl Harbor which was really just kind of sad! The history was pretty cool to learn about though. After that we hit up the beach one more time to try out surfing. I think Matt was out there for 3 hours straight. After that we rushed home to make it to Gracie's big performance. Gracie's been learning hula dancing and she was performing at Mililani's town center. It was a cute public performance in the middle of an outdoor mall. She did so good and Matt and I were so excited that we got to watch her do this while we were there.
Thanks again Shirlyn, Deven, Gracie and Dylan for letting us come and visit you. We just can't get over this trip. It was SSOOOOO much fun! Love and miss you guys already.
3 comments:
wow what a wonderful trip. Hope shirlyn and deven rent a cottage when I come!
Hawaii?! No freaking way! That is so awesome! I am so jealous. You're pictures are awesome and it looks just beautiful over there! How fun!!
that trip sounds and looks so wonderful! Why does Shirlyn live in hawaii? You mentioned military beach, is he in the military? Do you remember SHirlyn doing our nails? and then we tried to do them ourselves later with stuff from the store- oh brother :) I don't like reading your blog, it makes me miss you- I wish we lived by eachother-
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