a he nani ke ao nei

I am a little bit behind on this. Mostly because I feel like ever since we've been home from our trip that we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, which made us sick and that is why I am writing about Hawaii in a bathrobe with hurting muscles and tissues next to me.
Okay enough about that because I have HAWAII to talk about!

Day 1: We drove to Vegas with my G&G Wade and Cindy because they were boarding a plane for D.C. (which was a little bitter sweet that we couldn't get on with them, Congrats Jordan and Laura!). Cindy and I watched Singin' in the Rain the whole way down. One of both of our favorite movies.

Then it was the long venture to Paradise.




We landed in Honolulu and a wall of humidity hit us in the face.
It was fantastic, atleast I thought so. Broc was amazed by all the plants in the airport.
He is a plant caretaker of the ones in the airport in St. George so he couldn't get over them.
We picked up our bright yellow rental car and headed to the Wadsworths (our awesome next door neighbors that recently moved to Kaneohe).

Day 2: We woke up extra early. Especially since we were still on Utah time and headed over to the Aloha Stadium swapmeet! Love that place. It wouldn't be a complete trip to Hawaii had we not come home with these Wade family favorite hawaiian sandals.

Then we headed over to Pearl Harbor. It is such a sacred/haunting/incredible place. There were some real Pearl Harbor survivors there signing books. It was awesome. Broc especially loved it.

Then off to party in Waikiki. We even met up with Ashley at the Cheesecake factory! It had only been 3 weeks but I missed my sis.

Day 3: Again woke up mondo early and drove to Hanauma Bay. I've had some traumatizing experiences here (stung by a jelly fish and another time cut up my whole leg on the reef) so we were determined to make this a good day. And it was. We followed a sea turtle for like half an hour. ha

From there we drove our way up to the North Shore, got settled at my Grandma's friend Moana's house, met up with Ashley, walked around the Turtle Bay resort and ate dinner at Kahuku grill. Side note: I'm now a huge fan of grilled pineapple on my burger.

Day 4: We ate breakfast at the famous Hukilau cafe (50 first dates). Then it was off to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The different villages were so much fun. One of the funniest parts of the day was when we were on the canoe tour and the tour guide was making all of his tour guide jokes. He asked everyone how to say "hi" in Hawaii. The Asian sitting next to me raised her hand and said "Hairow!" (hello). She was super confused when the tour guide said "uh...close...".

And Ashley met up with us for the luau and the night show

Day 5: Went to pounders. Got POUNDED. Must say that it's for sure one of my favorite beaches ever. Then we headed to Sunset beach and down to Halieva. We had a couple m.matsumoto shaved ice, stopped by the Dole Pineapple plantation and headed back to pounders with Ashley this time. Again got POUNDED. So. Fun.

Day 6: Sunday. We went to church with Ashley and her roommates and Broc and I took a little stroll around Laie. First to the temple and then to Hukilau.

Day 7: Sharks Cove super early. (Which was better than Hanauma in our opinion). The water is so clear and there are hundreds of fish. We actually saw two sea turtles this time. It was beautiful! We also headed over to sunset beach and enjoyed our last day in the sun.

We said our goodbyes to Ash (which weren't fun). And said our goodbyes to the Hawaiian sun (also not fun). We woke up at 4 a.m. the next morning and made our way to the airport to head home. Aloha Hawaii. We will come see you again soon. Promise.