HAWAII

We took our "big" family vacation this summer from the 15th to the 25th of July. It was a nice TEN days of relaxation and beautiful sight seeing.

We cruised around the Islands. It was so awesome to see how each Island is different and still so pretty.

In Honolulu we visited Pearl Harbor (sort of). We went on a tour to see it but since we brought our sweet little boy we had some complications and we missed our boat out to the actual Pearl Harbor sight. So we admired from afar.

Honolulu was filled with tourists but we loved the beaches there. The water was so warm and the waves were not too big. Tysen loved being out in the water. It was definitely his favorite part. He laughed so hard when the waves hit him in the face. We also went to visit the Honolulu temple, which is under construction, but it was so nice to be able to see it and to go into the visitor center. It is such a beautiful building.

Finally, one of the last things we did was visit the Doll Pineapple Plantation. That turned out to be really fun and interesting. We had pineapple ice cream and I never knew there were so many different kinds of pineapples. Honolulu was a BLAST!

(P.S. Honolulu has the BEST french fries EVER!!)

Maui was our day of true relaxation! We just hung out on the beach, swam in the hotel's pool (not sure we were allowed too), and took a great nap together. We rented a Jeep, which was so fun and SO Hawaii. We also found a great "secret" breath taking beach and there were only about five people on the whole beach. Maui will always be one of our favorites!


Hilo did not have many beaches but the sight seeing was amazing! We went to visit the Botanical Garden, where I had a photo field day. Then we went to see Akaka Falls, which was so worth it. It was like seeing the waterfall in the movie "Jurassic Park". It was HUGE and very overwhelming. Then we went to visited the active Kilauea Volcano. We didn't see the lava but the steam was flowing up from it everywhere.
When we got back to the cruise ship, later that night, we passed by the other side of the Volcano which was flowing lava into the ocean....THAT WAS SOOO COOL!!! I have never seen Lava flowing like that before and it was one of those things you just don't believe unless you see it.

Then we visited Kona and Kaui.

In Kaui we visited the Canyon. It was great to see and it wasn't a huge hike either. When we got to Kaui there were flash flood warnings! It was pouring for half the day so I didn't take out my camera too much. But when the sun came out a little we hung out at the beach where a sea turtle swam right up to us and kept bumping into us....It FREAKED me out a little so Dan got up closer to get the picture.

Even though it was a little gloomy this day, Kaui was soooo Beautiful!

In Kona we did some shopping and we went on a glass bottom boat. We sighted a pack of dolphins (which I have never seen before). That was very exciting. They even did some flips for us. We did hang out a little on the beach but the water was a lot colder for some reason. Even so, it was a nice time and very beautiful and fresh there.

Hawaii was a dream come true! We wish we were still there :-)