Aloha

Last week Chris, "the bump", and I joined my sister, Danielle, and her husband, Trevor, on a little trip... to Hawaii!!!  I include "the bump" in this list because, as you will see in the pictures, he is a very large presence in our lives at this point.  But enough about my expanding girth, let's talk Hawaii.  Call it a babymoon, heck you can even call it a honeymoon, since our honeymoon was in Galveston for 2 days, either way, this was the first time we've been able to go anywhere even remotely exotic.  The wait was worth it though.  We were blessed with some amazing hookups and an opportunity to have an awesome week-long get-away!  

In an attempt to not bore you all I will simply touch on the highlights of our trip.  I call this my top 14 awesome things about Hawaii:

1) Beach House.  Here's the view from our back porch.

2) Beach!  We visited a number of beaches, all of which were amazingly beautiful.

4) Cliff jumping at Wiamea Bay.  It goes without saying that I didn't participate in this one.  But it looked like fun! 

6) Wildlife

7) Surfing.  Chris, Danielle, and Trevor tried out surfing for a few hours one day.   From my view on shore it looked like a whole lot of paddling for and just a little bit of riding.  

8) The Polynesian Cultural Cente and Laie LDS Temple.  I got this awesome tattoo from the Fiji exhibit.  I know, I'm hard core, what can I say.  The luau that night was amazing, though.  Our favorite dance was one where all the men wore big thick leaf skirts and sat on fire.  Unfortunately the temple is currently closed for renovations, so we could do a session or even walk on the grounds, but it was still gorgeous!

9) LOST.  We're kind of really big LOST fans (no I haven't seen the finale so don't spoil it).  We had some time one day so we hiked over to this tree from one of the first episodes. 

10) Wiamea Falls.  We hiked up to this water fall on morning.  The walk up was gorgeous and it was fun to swim in the water around the falls (this water fall has also been on LOST, too, just FYI.)

11) Snorkeling.  The water was so clear it was like snorkeling in a bathtub.  Plus we look really cool with our masks on!

12) Pearl Harbor and the Swap Meet.  We tried to get tickets to the actual monument that is built over the USS Arizona, but the only ones available were for too late in the day.  You can see the monument over Chris's right shoulder, though.  And the Swap Meet was an awesome place to get souvenirs!

13) Golf.  Chris got to play golf at the Turtle Bay golf course (he knows people).  Look at that view!  That's the ocean behind him!  No worries.  I was getting a massage while he was golfing.  I couldn't let him be the only one having fun!

14) Wedding reception.  The reason my sister and her husband were in Hawaii was for a wedding.  So we joined them at the reception.  It was amazing.  I've never seen so many tables in the cultural hall before!  A lot of the bride's cousins are former Polynesian Cultural Center dancers, so they performed at the wedding.  The bride and groom each did a hula for each other!  

A special thank you to Grandma, Grandpa, Jon, and Cristina who took our kids into their home for the week.  We really appreciate your help and the time away!