A week in paradise

So, really quickly I just want to say we had an incredible time in Hawaii with my family. (Everyone but my little brother Dustin was there-He was missed!) We were so fortunate to be able to go and my mom was awesome and looked online months ago to see when Dan's spring break was so we could be there. If a picture says a thousand words here is how our family felt about the trip:

AWESOME!!!

My parents own a time share on Oahu opposite from Waikiki, it was so great to be away from the hustle and bustle, and although we were still on a resort it felt a little more authentic. The resort was incredible and seriously felt like you stepped into a post card. We had an amazing time relaxing on the beach and by the pool, but mostly just spending time together away from work and school. For our little family just the time together was priceless- for a woman whose husband is gone nearly fourteen hours six days a week I can't express how great it was to spend time with Dan and let him and Shad play all day. This was the view from our room:

Some of the great activites we enjoyed were Pearl Harbor, can't really describe this experience other than the USS Missouri was INSANE!!!

The Polynesian Cultural Center, so fun to make some kissing fish and learn about the cultures, wish we would have realized you pretty much have to choose between activities and shows we may have split it up, but we still had a great time. The night show was of course awesome and Shad was a trooper and had fun until falling asleep again:

An awesome Luau at our hotel with a Samoan Chief-- we perhaps enjoyed this even more than the PCC, and Shad loved every minute of it until he fell asleep, he was shouting along with the drums and dancing all over the place. The spotlight guy noticed him and gave us a grass mat for him to play on and some flowers so that certainly didn't hurt either. One of the solo dancers was the Chief's niece, THAT GIRL CAN MOVE! They said she has won every competition she has entered and I would believe. The whole performance was awesome but we also got to interact with the people and learn to make headbands, get Shad a tattoo that lasted a few days, learn about making fire etc. . . it was great. . . and my dad did some fanagling so it was free . . .even better! Here is the chief getting ready to fire-knife dance:

The Dole Plantation, totally fun to go ride around on the train and learn about raising Pineapple- The first crop takes over twenty months!! Also had great pineapple ice cream (Who doesn't love ice cream, right!): Unfortunately, we didn't get our camera out here but it was a fun little place to see.

And finally my favorite activity other than just spending time with family, Snorkeling!! Never would of thought such a terrible swimmer as myself would love it so much, but after getting the hang of it I was hooked!!! I snorkeled pretty much every chance I got and since Dan and Shad liked to nap on the beach it worked out pretty well. We did have one small incident that got a little dangerous, who would have thought treading water in snorkel gear could be so difficult but trying to do it while tying your swimsuit back on is a little scary. Someone thought it was pretty funny- can't imagine who that would be- oh yes, the person who untied it. Snorkeling was not as much his thing, I guess he was just trying to make it more interesting for us. I realize many people would edit this picture so it didn't look like two albinos but I am just looking out for everyone else's self-esteem here. You can thank us for making you look good:

My older brother and Dan indulged me by snorkeling with me a couple times but my mom was my go-to snorkel partner, we both really enjoyed it and it was fun to do together! I didn't think to take an underwater camera both because I didn't expect to be so impressed and I forgot with a snorkel you don't have bubbles so your pictures are better but thanks so much for the snorkel gear for christmas, awesome present!

Some of my favorite fish included the Threadfin Butterflyfish (I kept noticing them in pairs and commented on it, come to find out they are monogomous-Cute!).

The Hawaiian Dascyllus:

We also saw tons of others that were all on an identification sheet the resort gave us as well as a puffer fish and peacock flounder that weren't on it, pretty cool I thought.

Our last day there we had a red-eye flight as well as my brother Ryan so we had some time to kill in the afternoon after the rest of the family had left. We decided to check out a hike at Manoa falls we found in a guide book of my mom's. It turned out it was a bit of a sketchy area and signs advised not leaving anything valuable in your car. My brother was awesome and offered to watch our luggage while we went and saw the water-fall. The hike was beautiful and definitely seeing if you are there. Just don't take all of your suitcases so no one has to stay at the car. THANKS RYAN! The bamboo made really cool noises in the wind and it was the perfect weather! Shad grabbed this tree while Dan was passing under it and was pretty excited about it:

All in all we had a fabulous time and will never forget it, MAHALO!!