Hawaii Trip!

On Friday we got home from one of the most wonderful vacations of my life: Hawaii with the whole family. Tina and her now husband Jon had decided to do a destination wedding on Oahu, and my parents generously offered to fly the family out so that we could all attend and spend a week celebrating and vacationing together. Quite frankly there was no way we could have afforded to go on a trip like this, especially with the kids, so we were so grateful for their generosity.

As you would expect from any vacation in Hawaii, it was amazing! The only downside to the whole trip was that I lost our camera there. Luckily it was not an overly expensive camera, but I of course am super disappointed because it means I lost a lot of pictures from the trip including the ones taken on Tina's wedding day. Luckily we did manage to get some photos on our phones throughout the trip. Here are some trip highlights:

Hiking Diamond Head. Although it's a pretty mild hike compared to what we climb in Utah, it was still a lot of fun and the view from the top is pretty amazing. I also was proud of Miles for hiking the whole way.

Tommy's "cheese" face over some extremely expensive sandwiches. Groceries in Hawaii cost literally 2-3 times as much as they do on the main land.

The measly couple of photos we have of the wedding since the camera got lost. These photos just don't do justice to how beautiful she looked! The ceremony was also very nice with good insights from the pastor, and in spite of a huge rain storm the night before knocking over the gazebo at the wedding's original location the setting was absolutely picturesque and the sun was shining.

At the last minute Tina asked me to do her hair, so we got up early and winged the whole thing. I'm dying to see the photos the professional photographer took!

Tommy living Aloha in his lei at the wedding. We all had beautiful leis that smelled heavenly! The wedding was in the garden of the Hale Koa Hotel on Waikiki, and the boys could hardly contain themselves from running around and exploring during the ceremony and while photos were being taken. 

After the wedding there was plenty of time for relaxing. Here's darling Micah and Pop catching some zzzz's. Benjamin snapped this photo from the loft of the house where we all stayed together. The house was phenomenal: right on Hukilau beach in Laie where I used live! Although many of the beaches on the North Shore have dangerously huge waves this time of year, Hukilau beach is in a cove and the waves were perfect for playing in and the beach is perfect, fine sand. The house was also well stocked with sand toys, boogy boards, chairs, etc. so each day we just went down to the beach and camped out. 

Mother, Tina, Jon, and my new nephews Luke and Gage on Hukilau

The weather was in the low to mid 70's while we were there (typical for Hawaii in January) which is not exactly ideal beach weather, but it didn't stop us from having a blast. The boys absolutely loved digging in the sand.

We went for walks down the beach and around Laie. 

Miles and Tommy were absolutely fearless of the water. Miles initially was a little nervous about the potential for sharks in the ocean, but after the first five minutes in the water he seemed to forget all his concerns. He learned to snorkel at Turtle Bay (we even saw a turtle among hundreds of other beautiful fish!) and dove in for boogy boarding like a local. Tommy would race out into the waves and make me catch him before the tide knocked him down, and loved just rolling around in the sand and water. They both swam until they were literally turning blue from the cold (the ocean feels pretty darn cold when it's only 70 out). I love that they were undeterred by the fact it wasn't perfect summer conditions and enthusiastically played regardless.

Sean and Cami 

Checking out the tide pools at Alligator Pond, which was the beach by the house where Tina, Jon, and his family stayed. I think I was as excited as the kids when we finally caught a tiny fish in our bucket! 

Besides playing at the beach, my other favorite part of the trip was going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is such a unique place and has such a fun, special spirit about it. It was especially enjoyable because I was able to meet up with my old roommate Mandi who still lives in Hawaii and reminisce about our many good memories from BYU-H.

This photo is for Grandpa Pat. The boys LOVED fishing at the PCC. Future fisherman, I think. One other funny story from our PCC experience: Miles, who is usually totally potty trained, had an accident while watching the amazing night show (it's about a 90 minute show of story telling through all different types of Polynesian singing and dancing and even includes fire dancing). The funny thing was when I was chastising him for having an accident afterward (I had stayed home with Tommy and Miles had wet his pants while sitting on Tina's lap) he told me "If you could have seen it (the show) you would have known why I wet my pants. I couldn't leave to go to the bathroom!" Haha! Tina was not very happy about her wet lap, but I could see why in his four year old enthusiasm he just could not tear himself away from the show! 

And of course we had to put in the photo of the gecko Miles and I caught, which Miles insisted on bringing with him into the outdoor shower. (It's in his right hand.)

And last but not least, another photo of the wonderful couple whose marriage we were thrilled to help celebrate. Congratulations, Tina and Jon! We are so happy for you!