Hawaii Baby

 

We had an amazing time on Oahu as a family. We landed on the 5th and had a pretty good flight out. both Marshall and Quaid were the most excited to fly on the plane, so we knocked out their wish list 1st. We got to the rental car pick up, and our van was disgusting, and we were able to swap it out for a pretty much brand new van. We got in the van around 10 and arrived at Turtle Bay around 11. We had a 2-bedroom condo that fit our family great. Bridger and McCoy slept up in a loft area with Marsh and Quaid in the family room. 

The next morning, we hit the road pretty early. We drove past the temple and had to stop to see it. It was amazing! We drove down to Ho'omaluhia gardens to check out the mountains and then went to Wiamanalo beach to hang out for a couple of hours. It was one of the coolest beaches ever and after we left, we wish we'd stayed longer. We ate poke on the beach and played in the waves. Then, we headed to Kailua Beach. It was pretty, but super crowded. I dropped the family off and drove over a mile down the road to find a place to park. It was nice, but windy, and much busier than the last beach. After that, we treated ourselves to shave ice and then went to Laie to Seven Brothers for Dinner. By that time, it was pretty late, so we headed back to our condo and swam went to bed. 

The next day, we went to the PCC. It was so awesome. We had some time before, so we went to the temple again to take some pictures and walk around, and see the visitors center. We got to the PCC as it opened and visited all the villages. We started with Samoa, which set the bar pretty high. A guy named Kap gave the presentation and was hilarious! After that, we visited the rest of them and did activities at each. We painted, rowed the canoes, played Maori games and did poi balls, threw spears, did Tahitian dances, and juggled. Wow! That was a full day. Then we headed to the buffet, which was amazing, and ate until we were stuffed. Then we went to the night show, which was great. By the time it was done, it was pretty late and we were exhausted and ready to head home to bed. 

The next day (Saturday), we hung out on the North Shore. Bridger and McCoy had surf lessons in the morning, so we started there. It was so fun. They both did great and rode a ton of waves. Marsh and Quaid played in the tide pools and hung out. after the epic surfing, we found a cool outdoor farm-to-table restaurant and then did some shopping. Then we hit the beach for a couple more hours before heading back toward Laie to visit the temple, AGAIN, for sunset. 

On Sunday, we had a free day and decided to go back to our favorite beach, Waimanalo to relax. It was amazing. We had a great day relaxing and polished off some Hawaiian BBQ. 

On Monday, we had an evening flight. We got up and headed toward Honolulu to meet the Bringhursts at Pearl Harbor. It was amazing that their trip overlapped with ours and we were excited to see that with them. We saw the museum, went out to the USS Arizona, and then went to lunch and to get Malsalas. Afterward, we went back to the Bringhursts place to hang out and get one last shave ice in Honolulu before we headed to the airport. We had a red eye back and didn't get too much sleep that night as most boys were excited to watch all the movies on the plane. 

It was a pretty perfect trip. The weather was kind to us. The sites were awesome. The food was great. The housing was perfect. And the boys were kind to each other. We'll be thinking about this trip for a long time!