Hawaii!

I'm seriously (once again) behind in the blogging. We got to spend eleven fun-filled days in Hawaii in March! We went with my entire family - 13 of us, three grandkids included. Here's a quick re-cap:

Day 1: Traveled to Honolulu. Claire did really great on the airplane, thanks to a few tips from some friends. Read: candy. View from our hotel.


Day 2: Toured Pearl Harbor,


went to the Dole Plantation (Claire kept asking, "What's this Mama?"),


got Matsumoto Shave Ice (so delish!),


hung out at Waimea Bay Beach,


and finished off the day with a tour of the Laie Hawaii temple. Whew - long day!



Day 3: My brother Ryan was already in Oahu for work (lucky guy-seriously, who travels to Hawaii for work?) so he wanted us to hike up to these waterfalls with him. He told us it took about 20 minutes to get up there and it was "kind of" muddy. Twenty minutes turned into 1.5 hours in mud so thick and sticky that you'd loose your foot in it! My sister's flip flops broke and I couldn't walk in mine, so we ended up going barefoot most of the way. And Claire and Drew couldn't walk in it so we had to carry them the whole way. I'm still not sure if it was worth it, but it was beautiful.


Nate and the other guys got to do some cliff jumping. I got to take pictures. Claire and Drew got passed from person to person. We all loved it.


Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at Kaulua Beach.


Day 4: Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay - gorgeous fish, but freezing water! I had goosebumps the whole time.


Then we hung out on Waikiki Beach and did some shopping.




We left that night for Maui. I wish all flights could be 35 minutes.

Day 5: Went to church,


went on a drive to the North Shore - SO beautiful!


Then hung out on Front Street in Lahaina.


Day 6: Beached it for most of the day at DT Fleming Beach...known for its big waves. My parents had brought their boogie boards so we had a blast! That is, once I got in the cold water. Seriously - am I the only one that thinks Hawaii's water should be warmer?!


Claire's heaven - playing with Grandma all week.


Day 7: we hung out at the condo and swam, then went to Napili Bay Beach.


My mom brought the kids a little pool and that was about the extent of Claire's ocean-touching. She's like her Mom - too cold! (PS-I just love how Nate is striking a pose and my brother Ryan makes a weird, different face in every picture I take of him.)


Claire loved the sand. At every beach she'd run, chase birds, roll around, twirl until she fell, and ate at least a gallon of it.




Ended the day in the hot tub with a sand bottom (which - side note - I thought was really creepy. The sand was probably over 5 inches deep, so you couldn't feel the bottom, I had to keep my legs on top of Nate's the whole time. Ewwww.).


Day 8: Rode a catamaran out to Molokini Crater for some snorkeling, then went to Turtle Town to swim with sea turtles - it was amazing. Didn't get any pics in our snorkel gear. But my mom did bring an underwater camera - can't wait to see how those turn out!

Then drove around the ocean looking for whales and dolphins. We ended up seeing a lot of both!


That afternoon we went to Fleming Beach again for some big waves. My brothers and Nate rented a surfboard. Yeah, it didn't go so well for any of them. At least Ry and B got up for a bit (sorry Nate). Next time we'll go for some official lessons.


Day 9: Hung out at the beach again in the morning,


Seriously, she ate the sand everywhere we went.


then went to a great Laua that night. Claire, Drew, and Corgan went up on stage to learn the hula. It was so cute! Claire actually got into it and was dancing around. I'm not going to lie - I teared up watching her up there. She's just getting so big.


We even managed to get a few photos on the beach.


The whole clan.


Day 10: Biked 28 miles down Haleakala Crater. Loved this.


Then went to the park so the kids could get some energy out.




That night we did my brother's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. It was so cool - how many kids can say they had their Court of Honor in Hawaii? We're so proud of B for accomplishing this - it was a lot of work!



Day 11: Said bye to the condo...Claire loved the fish pond.


Drove along the coast on the Road to Hana. It was gorgeous...much better than I remembered it. We found this peninsula where the huge waves were crashing over black rocks. Here's my bro-in-law Mike, getting a little wet.


And my brother Brad...


It was nice to have someone there so we could actually get some shots of the three of us!


We left that night at 9 pm, had a layover in LA and finally got home the next morning at 9 am! Claire slept for pretty much the next three days.

What an amazing vacation with memories we'll never forget. (To see even more pics, look on my Facebook page!)