a vacation from my vacation

Oh Hawaii...

Paul went on a business trip to Oahu while I was in Texas and he called and said that "I just had to come out and meet him". His boss had been out there with him and encouraged him to bring me out so... Don't have to twist my leg too much! Since we were already in Texas, my parents offered to watch the kids and off I went to Hawaii! (After all... it just seemed so meant to be!)

Let me just start by saying it was an amazing trip. Honestly one of the best of my life. Not just because (duh) we were in Hawaii and it is beautiful there with amazing weather but also because I got to be with Paul 24/7 with hardly any distractions. We felt supremely spoiled the whole time and made lots of fun memories. Paul is my best friend and there is absolutely no one else that I have a better time with or love being with more than him.

So here are the highlights of our trip:

-Friday: I left in the morning and had a direct flight (8 hours) to Honolulu. It was so weird to be alone with nothing to do for such a long time but it was a nice feeling at the same time.

- I got into Honolulu around 2 PM and Paul picked me up in the rental jeep.. That was such a fun car to drive around.

-We went and checked into our hotel: The Modern Honolulu. It was an awesome hotel. I loved the decor, the service, the amenities. All of it.

 

-We got lunch at a patio restaurant and then went out to Waikiki beach.

-That night we got to see fireworks on the beach from one of the day beds by our hotel pool.

-We went to downtown Waikiki-- they have a really fun downtown area with tons of shops and restaurants. We walked around for awhile and shopped a little then got some food at a lounge place right off the beach.

-Saturday morning we went to breakfast at Wailea coffee house and got macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup. (food played a very big part of this trip!)

-Then we went to Hanauma Bay and went snorkeling. Which was amazing. The most fish I have ever seen. They were everywhere along the reef. I loved all the bright tropical colors and varieties.

-That afternoon we went to northern shore. We stopped at Matsumotos and got shaved ice on the way. The large size was only 50 cents more than the small so obviously we got the larges with ice cream and ate every single bite. We also went to one of the shrimp trailers that are all over.

-Went to Polynesian Cultural Center that night and saw the show there called "HA the breath of life" it was awesome and so much fun to watch.

-Sunday we went to church in the morning and then went to the pearl harbor memorial. It is a really beautiful memorial out on the water and it was interesting and also heartbreaking to learn more about what happened there and see it in person. Afterward we relaxed, went downtown again and then came back and went to dinner at our hotel. The restaurant is Japanese style and they had amazing sushi. They thought it was our honeymoon so we got a complimentary dessert (we thought that was pretty funny). Then we decided we needed more dessert so we got ice cream at Lapperts. I got coconut macadamia but fudge in a waffle cone and it was one of the top 5 best ice creams of my life (which is saying a lot).

-Monday we went scuba diving in the morning. It was my first time to actually go after getting certified a few years ago and I totally loved it! We got to do two dives: a deep one (about 100 feet) around a wreck and a shallow one (about 30 feet) around a reef. I told the dive guide all I wanted to see was sea turtles and as soon as we had popped under water to start descending the rope we saw one! We ended up seeing 5 during the dive and got really close to them so I was very satisfied. We also saw cool fish, a starfish and an eel. We came back and laid out by the pool and then moved to the beach. That night we went downtown for dinner at Wolfgangs Steakhouse with another couple that is working for vivint in Oahu.

-Tuesday I flew home. I was sad to leave our amazing trip but ready to get back to my kids. They did great while I was gone and my parents did a great job watching them. It was another long day of flying, but all well worth it for getting to go on such a fun trip! I would definitely recommend Hawaii in September. Ok fine I'd recommend it any time of the year.