Hawaii

Jim has been wanting to take the kids to Hawaii for awhile now and I was a little hesitant between the cost, the flight, the time difference, the kids, nap time etc.... but one night in November after doing his nightly "internet" cruising on the iPad, he found some good prices on a flight that actually left at a decent time as well as a perfect hotel for families and he sold me on it! He booked the flights that night and we left 2 weeks later. We went the week of Thanksgiving so the kids didn't end up missing too much school (3 days) and we flew back the night before Thanksgiving.



We had such a great family trip. The weather could have been a little warmer (and not as windy) but honestly, I think I was the only one it bothered. The kids had a great time playing at the pool and making new friends, and little Miss Izzy was awesome! Such an easy traveler. We had a direct flight from Sacramento to Maui that left around 10:00 in the morning. We were all able to sit together and the flight was super easy. We rented a mini van and stayed at a new resort called the Honua Kai. This place is perfect for young families. We had a two bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with a full kitchen and washing machine (which is key when you have young kids). We mostly just stayed around the resort and bounced back and forth between the pool and the beach. Jim spent a fair amount of time in the water snorkeling (see pictures below). The kids weren't into the whole snorkeling thing as much as we thought, but they had fun playing in the water and in the sand. We took the kids to a Luau one night, which we ALL enjoyed. Cole could not get over the guy that was playing with fire. He was truly amazed! And then we also took them on a submarine boat out to a reef so they could experience what it was like under water without having to deal with all of the equipment. I was able to finish an entire book and when I wasn't watching Izzy, I was poolside with a Mai Tai in my hand....man those drinks are good :-)


We ate breakfast at our room everyday which was nice and then we either went out to dinner or ordered food and brought it back to the room. I was worried how the kids would adjust to the time difference, but they did fine and we told them as soon as there was a "7" on the clock that they could get up, turn on the TV and then I would sit out cereal bowls for them. They loved it and Jim and I got to sleep in....zzzzzz. It was honestly a very relaxing vacation!



We also were able to get professional family photos taken on the beach, which turned out to be a lot of fun. The kids did great and other than Izzy falling asleep during the last 20 minutes of the photo shoot, it all ended up working out great. And YES, we were THAT family in all matching Hawaiian shirts and outfits - you can blame Jim for that one :-)



Here are some highlights from our trip. I tried to "narrow" it down, but with over 300 pictures taken, this is bound to be a long post.

The kids didn't waste anytime. They ran into
the ocean the moment we got there with their clothes on.

Playing in the ocean and our first sunset.

Clothes and all.....

Olivia in the pool!

Cole in the pool

Izzy was a big fan of the jacuzzi

Hanging out with daddy

This kid never takes a bad picture!

Our kitchen

Thumb sucking time :-0 (2 out of our 3 are thumbsuckers, the
other one is faking it)

The view of one of the pools from our room

Cole and Isabella at Kapalua Bay - I love this picture!

Kapalua Bay (This is where we were getting our family pictures taken, so
we wanted to go check it out in person first). Beautiful beach with lots
of Sea turtles

The cutest set of buns at the pool

Olivia being Olivia

Time for some sisterly love.

Izzy just started crawling before our trip ( 8months)

We took the kids on this really fun submarine ride out to a reef and the boat
had 2 scuba divers that went in the water and brought all of their cool findings
up to the windows so the kids could check them out.

Cole in the submarine

Finishing up our morning with some shaved ice.

Playing in the sand with some new friends who were also from Sacramento!

A very cool tree!

We took the kids down to Lahaina one night and had dinner
Kimo's. It was delicious!

Olivia with what was left of our mud pie!

This little stinker had us so fooled. She pretended to fall asleep in the

car on the ride home, which I totally fell for because it was late and she

had been swimming all day. So Jim carried her out of the car, up the elevator, down

the hallways and all the way to our room, only to put her down and then she started

laughing. She may have a future in acting!

We took the kids to the Royal Lahaina Luau one night and we had a great time. When
we showed up we got seated in the back and off to the side, so I asked the host if he could
 move us somewhere and he took us straight to the front center. It was perfect - the kids could see
everything we probably paid half as much as everybody else :-)

Our host for the night.

We sat with this older couple who were from Alaska (originally from Sweden) and they
were in their 80's and celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. They never had any children
and they were in love with Isabella. It was great for us because they wanted to sit and hold
her the whole time!

Love this picture :-)

I went for a morning run one day and this was my view!

Black Rock at the Sheraton. Our hotel was on the other side of this rock.

Olivia attempting to boogie board

Cole had a little more luck at it.

On our last day there, we had professional pictures taken here,
at Kapalua Bay. It's a beautiful beach!

After the pictures, we stayed to play at the beach and Jim
went snorkeling.

Mommy and her kiddos (Izzy was sleeping)

Our professional pictures:

A few of Jim's shots from under the water