On an island in the sun... HAWAII!

5 years ago...

Spencer and I were married...

...on the 26TH of June,
inside the San Diego Temple.
We spent a week honeymooning in San Diego.

We stayed in a HUGE suite at the Hanalei Hotel in Mission Valley,
courtesy of my brother, Jeff, and his wife, Corina.

We spent most of our time during our Lua de Mel inside our suite.
What couples don't???
but by evening, we were usually a bit hungry and had to eat
and/or we felt obligated to get out at least an hour or two during the day and actually do something,
like visit the beach.
In this picture below, Spencer and I were dining with Jeff and Corina
at some fancy Mexican Restaurant in Old Town.

5 years later...

along with 3 boys and 1 more on the way
and 40 + pounds heavier... pathetic.
(the weight I've gained is nearly all baby weight, from babies 3 &4;
I'm not sure what Spencer's excuse is... sympathy weight???)

we were FINALLY able to take our
OWN vacation...
ALONE...
with out the boys!

It wasn't to Bora Bora, Tahiti
(I had ALWAYS dreamt of vacationing there on my honeymoon;
maybe we'll go there for our 10 year anniversary)...
Bora Bora actually wasn't that much more $expensive$ than where we went
but...
I didn't have a passport and had no time to apply and wait for one...
so....
we chose to vacation on the island of Oahu,Hawaii instead!!!
*Sunset @ "Shaggin' Wagon Beach" on the North Shore.

Our plane left the main land, just before noon, on Thursday, June 25TH,
and we arrived later that same day on the island of Oahu, just after 5p.m.
We picked up our rental car
a red convertible Mustang

and made our way through Honolulu, west on the H-1 and north on the H-2
towards our destination, The North Shore.
I had NEVER been to Hawaii before,
so my very first impression of Hawaii was only of what I could see driving along the highway.
I wasn't impressed... not at all.
in fact, I was a little disappointed
because I thought it looked A LOT like coastal San Diego.
Here we had paid a fortune
(not really, I'm completely exaggerating; we found a GREAT deal through Orbitz only two weeks prior to going)
to come all the way to a place that looked like San Diego...
I couldn't believe the resemblance
until we were on the H-2, headed North and we drove past Banzai National Park...
the change in scenery was DRASTIC.
The view was AMAZING and the BANZAI trees were crazy incredible!
Heading North, away from Waikiki and Honolulu,
away from the crowds and more into the rural countryside
I became more and more impressed with the BEAUTY of the islands.
Hawaii is truly a paradise.

Almost at our destination, an hour into the drive,
the sun was setting
and the gorgeous *pic above* was snapped at a small beach we found off the road side.
(we never were sure if this beach had an actual name;
we just called it "Shaggin Wagon Beach".
because every time we drove past it during our time on the island
There was a red VW van, with curtains draped shut across the windows, parked there in the dirt lot...
Something about old VW vans with curtains on them makes me think of "Hippie Love",
hence... that is where we came up with the name for that beach... "Shaggin' Wagon Beach".)


We knew we were almost to our destination once we saw this sign along the highway.

Something about seeing this sign above,
reading that we were on The North Shore in Hawaii
made me giddy like a school girl...
perhaps it's because I've watched movies like "North Shore" and "Blue Crush"
more than a million times,
the scenery already looked familiar to me...
or maybe it's because I've watched video footage on television or in surf documentaries
for YEARS
recapturing wipe outs
at surf event competitions like The Vans Triple Crown.
I dreamed for years of visiting surf spots in Hawaii like this!

Not far from where we snapped a picture of The North Shore sign along the side of the highway,
we found our hotel.
We stayed at The Turtle Bay Resort.

I didn't have our actual camera out as we came into our hotel room,
but this was the view we had from our balcony,
a pool and ocean view,
with the sun setting in the background;
I actually snapped this picture on my phone.
The sight was GORGEOUS!
The picture really doesn't do it any justice at all!

Turtle Bay is an amazing resort.
It offers MILES of private beaches for hotel guests to explore,
private one on one surf lessons,
a private cove to snorkel in, it has two ridiculously HUGE golf courses
(Spencer was tempted to play but couldn't find any open tee times),
it has a spa and salon
(I nearly came thisclose to getting a pregnancy massage there but when I went to get one
the spa hadn't opened yet and we had plans for the rest of the day),
horseback riding along the beaches, tennis courts and private lessons,
and private helicopter tours of the island departed from the resort each day.
The resort also had the yummiest breakfast buffet.
I know,
it probably sounds weird that I'm writing about a breakfast buffet,
but when you're deadly allergic
to something like wheat/flour/gluten,
commonly found in most foods,
like I am,
you tend to get a little apprehensive about dining conditions while traveling.
The last thing I want to do is travel somewhere new
and get sick because I ate something
that had flour in it.
You'd think restaurants and food servers would understand a food allergy
like mine, and just how severe the consequences could be should I eat it,
but think again...
I saw lots of interesting/new food options all over the island
but everything either had teriyaki sauce on it
or was seafood, something like shrimp...
I can't eat teriyaki and I won't eat shrimp or seafood; WILL NOT!
Going back to the fore mentioned breakfast buffet,
it was awesome!
$Expensive$, but worth the expense.
We stuffed ourselves full at the buffet each morning
before heading out for the day...
some mornings we'd actually have to go back to our room for a little cat nap
just to let the food settle in our stomachs....
Breakfast usually could hold us over till dinner,
upon which, we'd find a fast food place like McDonald's (in Laie)
while we were out and about
and grab a bite to eat
(it was either always a salad for me or a burger, no bun, and french fries-
I am SO SICK of hamburgers and salad now).
The only downfall about staying on The North Shore
was that there weren't any actual restaurants near by;
a few shrimp shacks, but that was it.
Our hotel had a few of their own restaurants with in it;
but the food items were all so dang expensive!
I'm talking, the first night we were there,
we called up room service
and I ordered a burger on lettuce, no bun,
with french fries, and a glass of chocolate milk,
and Spencer ordered just a side of mashed potatoes
and our bill came to about $50!!!
CrAzY!
I could have purchased 50 hamburgers, no bun, @ McDonald's
for the one I got there!

I could go on and on about Hawaii and the observations I made while I was there. Spencer and I LOVED it there so much; we even started to look into real estate while we were there. We found something in our price range of 250K, only problem was that it was only 900 square feet! I'd give anything to live there, even if it was only for a couple of years. Maybe Spencer could go on to get his PHD after he completes his Masters this next year, so he can teach at BYU Hawaii or the University of Hawaii and we can live there for a little bit. It's been 3 weeks since we left the island and returned home but still at times I find myself imagining as if I'm still there on the beaches. The heat and humidity wasn't too bad; at times I was a little uncomfortable, but the heat didn't kill me, not like the dry heat here in Utah does. I've decided I'd rather be basting in the heat and humidity than dry roasting like I do here in Utah; this summer heat and dry spell is AWFUL! I was really afraid prior to going to Hawaii that I'd get a terrible sunburn on vacation- especially since this girl hasn't seen sun since last summer; everyone Spencer and I talked to that had been to or lived in Hawaii told us how brutal the sun could be and to take some serious precautions! I traveled to Hawaii armed with a couple cans of sunscreen sprays 50+ and some aloe, however I never needed the aloe because the 50+ completely shielded my body from any rays at all! I was a little embarrassed the week after we got back home any time I told someone we just got back from Hawaii, cuz I didn't get any sort of color while I was there at all! On the other hand my husband refused to wear any sun block at all and suffered the consequences; he didn't burn too terribly but his ankles, shoulders, chest, forehead and nose were pretty pink; to this day, he still denies it was any sort of burn. Please...

Speaking of ankles; it was during our trip to Oahu that I saw Spencer wear for the first time ever sandals! YES, can you believe it?! I LOVE a guy in sandals, but yet my husband would NEVER wear them for me until we got to Hawaii . I had to take a picture of his feet in flip flops, for fear that I'd never see him wearing them again. But guess what?! Since we've been home I've caught him wearing his flip flops more than once!

(ignore his white, hairless ankles, look at his toes!!!
You can actually see them;
they're not covered up by some ugly, stinky socks!
Forget the fact his feet really do look like hobbit feet;
just be HAPPY he's sporting flip flops now!
It only took him 5 1/2 years to realize how comfortable they can be.)

Maybe if you hadn't already known,
you might had thunk Spencer was from So. Cal...
sporting the board shorts,
the semi tan, and the flip flops.
SEXY!

Friday, June 26Th... (our 5 year anniversary)
Spencer and I spent the day driving along the entire coast of Oahu. We stopped at a couple of gorgeous beaches along The North Shore and north east tip of the island. We also stopped and visited the Temple Visitors Center in Laie and took some pictures outside the temple on its grounds (the temple was actually closed because it's being remodeled). We drove to Diamond Head on the southern tip of Oahu and thru Waikiki and Honolulu. From our car, while stopped in traffic, I spotted the statue of Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku on one of Honolulu's beaches and had to snap a picture; Duke is a surfing legend; he's the grandfather of modern surf. We didn't care to stop anywhere in Waikiki or Honolulu- all the stores and beaches were too crowded and everything there was a bit too touristy for our taste- it reminded me of So. Cal clashing with the Las Vegas strip; I saw three Coach Handbag Stores on the same block as one another! Boy were we happy we were staying on The North Shore away from all the touristy stuff! We finished the day off by taking a dip in the ocean and pool back at our resort... it had been years since I'd last gone swimming in the ocean (I've been wading plenty in the ocean with my kiddos but NOT yet swimming). I'd forgotten how much I love the water, even the salt and the sand that dries on my skin after getting out of it!

This was my favorite beach we found...
I'm not sure if it has a name but it was along the most northern shoreline of Oahu.

With no one else around to snap our pic,
this was the best one Spencer and I could get of the two of us.

This picture was taken at the same beach as the one shown in the two previous pictures.
I LOVE the pier that is almost "no longer" in the background
and I LOVE that man scribbling our names in the sand.



Yes, just as a reminder, I WAS 33 weeks pregnant during this trip.
I got plenty of stares from strangers through out our entire vacation!
It was obvious from some of the looks I received,
some people thought we were CrAZy to
be vacationing this far into my pregnancy...
little did those people know
what we were vacationing away from,
3 little boys back at home,
ages 3, 2 and 1!
Had they known,
maybe they would have understood
that this vacation
was a welcome reprieve to help us keep our sanity!

Duke... the grandfather of modern surf.

Picture of a guy windsurfing down by Diamond Head.

We found this beach along The North Shore,
near the glider field and airport.
It was Spencer's favorite beach,
probably because there weren't more than maybe 3 or 4 other people there
and because the surf crashed close to the shoreline,
creating an ocean spray.

In fact, Spencer didn't want me to go down to the water,
because he was afraid I would get swept away!
Um, hello!
Obviously he forgot that I know what I'm doing around waves!
Pregnant or not pregnant, I could save myself should a wave sweep me away a little.
The person I was really worried about around water was Spencer!

We actually went back to this same beach the following day to sunbathe and play in the water.
We watched a few crabs crawl along the beach
and spotted some sea turtles swimming along the shoreline.
Pretty awesome!

Saturday, June 27Th...
On Friday, Spencer and I tried to find Sacred Falls, but were told by some locals that the trail leading to the waterfall was closed and had been for years; apparently 10 years ago or so, there had been a land slide at the falls that killed 7 people, so the trail has been closed ever since. The only way to see the falls would be by helicopter. I wasn't too terribly disappointed we wouldn't get to see the falls; the idea of actually hiking the distance to the falls sounded miserable to this pregnant mamma... but the idea of riding in a helicopter over the island loomed in our heads for the rest of the day, and so we booked a helicopter tour of the island for Saturday morning.

I was SUPER excited for our helicopter tour, as was Spencer!
Neither of us had ever been flying in a helicopter!
Our helicopter tour was through Paradise Helicopter Tours;
the aircraft conveniently departed right from our resort
and we had a 50 minute tour of the entire island of Oahu.

The first sight we saw was a birds eye view of our resort, Turtle Bay.
Amazing!

Then, we flew over the shrimp farms just to the north of the resort-
those things were HUGE!
and then onto the LDS Temple in Laie.

The tour took us over and up close to Sacred Falls;
even though we were up close to the falls in the helicopter,
we were tiny in comparison to the falls.

We coasted above the lush green, jagged mountain tops-
at which point I began to tear up and get really emotional!!!
The landscape was so beautiful and breath taking;
what a sight;
I felt so grateful
that my Heavenly Father
created such beautiful places on this earth
for us to enjoy!
After sweeping away a few tears and getting control of my emotions,
I snapped a few pictures of the beautiful Kahana Valley-
this valley is considered sacred land to natives,
and has been used for filming films such as
Jurassic Park, King Kong and Disney's Mighty Joe Young,
even ABC's television series Lost is filmed here.

The tour carried on over the rest of the island.
We flew over a few islands just off the coast of Oahu;
one was called China Man's Hat,
because from Oahu's coastline,
the island looked like a hat the Chinese regularly wear in the rice fields;
we also flew over another island that was used to film Gilligan's Island.
We flew over the crater at Diamond Head,
passed Waikiki and Honolulu,
at which point,
I started to feel a little queasy because of the heat
(it's a little hotter and drier on the southern point of the island)
but the sickness passed and soon enough I was fine...
however,
I looked over a few times in Spencer's direction,
and he did NOT always look fine.
I completely forgot that he gets motion sickness,
especially on planes-
thank our lucky stars
he DID NOT puke!

After flying over Honolulu,
we came to Pearl City,
where we flew over the National Monument of
Pearl Harbor.
It was a pretty AMAZING sight to see from above!
We could see the entire USS Arizona battleship
submerged underwater, along with its memorial
and the USS Utah.
Though the picture I took doesn't show the actual ship submerged underwater,
you can see the oil in the water that is still leaking from the Arizona!

The tour flew us over the Dole Pineapple Plantation
where we got a spectacular birds eye view
of the largest maze in the world,
in the shape of a pineapple!

Afterward,
we flew up the coastline of The North Shore
to Waimea Bay and Sharks Cove
(one of the best snorkeling spots on the island).

Our guide finished the tour by pointing out
Turtle Beach, Sunset Beach and Pipeline-
all known as some of the best Winter surf spots on the globe.

We LOVED our helicopter tour
and would definitely recommend it to any family and friends
who decide to visit the island!
It was worth every penny it cost us.

In addition to our helicopter tour,
later on Saturday
we headed the historic town of Haleiwa
to find Matsumoto's
to try their shaved ice.
Lucky for us,
we arrived there on the right hour,
just before all the crowds came.

Spencer ordered a rainbow shaved ice over ice cream,
and I ordered a strawberry cream & coconut cream shaved ice over ice cream.
The shaved ice's were AMAZING!
AMAZING doesn't even adequately describe how absolutely delish they were!

However,
we returned to Matsumoto's on Tuesday morning,
and I ordered a Rainbow shaved ice with ice cream and BEANS
(I must had heard at least 10 people before we went to Hawaii,
tell me I had to try the shaved ice with beans);
I wasn't "head over heels" about it;
the beans were pretty disgusting combined with the shaved ice and ice cream.
It took me ALL DAY LONG to get the combination of flavors
off my palette.

After delighting ourselves with shaved ice from Matsumoto's,
we headed off to the beach down by the Glider Fields.
We spent a few hours there
before jumping back in our car and heading over to
The Dole Pineapple Plantation.
This is one place I'd been looking forward to visiting our entire trip.
I LOVE pineapple
and I heart Dole Pineapple whips;
(you know, the kind that is sold @ Disneyland next to the Tiki Room).
The only other place on earth that sells Dole Pineapple Whips is at the plantation.

An interesting fact I learned during our visit to the Dole plantation
is that it takes 18 months for a pineapple to grow and ripen.
18 MONTHS!
That's the gestation period of an elephant!
I later felt terrible
for letting some of my pineapples I've purchased in the past
just rot.

Something else I didn't know
is that there are different varieties, sizes, colors, of pineapples
that are grown all over the WORLD!
Below is a picture of a couple of sorts;
I LOVE the red pineapples in the back!

Saturday evening, Spencer and I drove around to the north east side of the island
to catch a showing of "Transformers".
Man was that movie a disappointment;
the story line was stupid, the acting was TERRIBLE, particularly Megan Fox's,
the battle scenes were too long and I found it to be slightly crude...
BIG disappointment after seeing how awesome the first "Transformers" was.

Sunday, June 28TH...
We pretty much kept things easy going on Sunday. It started off as one of those mornings, after our buffet breakfast, in which we had to head back to the room to catch a cat nap and let all the food in our stomachs settle. A couple hours later, we hopped in the car and headed to Turtle Beach; we were hoping to see a few sea turtles up close sunbathing on the sand, but hadn't planned for such large crowds to be at the beach. We didn't even stop to try and take a look. We continued our drive, a little further down the coast to
Sharks Cove. It was pretty crowded at this location, but we managed to score a good parking spot immediately. We didn't bring any snorkel gear with us, but still thought we'd climb out onto the rocks and wade out in the shallow water to see if we could spot any cool marine life. Just as we got out into the water, there was a little micro burst rain shower that poured down upon us for 5 minutes and then it suddenly let up. I really wish we had brought snorkel gear because I would LOVED to see what kind of fish were further out in the water.

The "must have" pregnant belly shot @ Sharks Cove.

After exploring the reefs some at Sharks Cove,
we headed back to our resort.
We borrowed some snorkel gear from the hotel staff
and went snorkeling in the resorts private cove.

It's funny,
I forgot how comfortable board shorts were,
and how it felt to have absolutely NO reservations wearing a swimsuit.
Perhaps I should have been a little more concerned
about how white I looked out on the beach,
or how HUGE my belly was,
or how fat and swollen I looked,
but when you LOVE water like I do,
I tend to forget those things.
I can't keep my mind off the water.

It had been YEARS since I've last been snorkeling
(7 to be exact).
I was worried at first of swimming so far out into the water,
and wearing the gear...
would I freak out and inhale tons of salt water???
Would I swim into a reef or get cut on the coral?
It's funny that a freak out now like this;
prior to being a mom,
I NEVER had any concerns like these...
in fact,
I NEVER weighed the possible consequences engaging in such activities.

The worry only lasted a minute;
once I made it into the water with my gear on
my worries were gone and
I was excited to start the adventure!

...only problem...

Spencer wasn't.

I never realized before during the time I dated him,
even during our marriage,
how completely retarded he is around the water.
Yes, I said retarded!
He completely shocked me a second before we hit the water
when he said he didn't think he was a strong enough swimmer to get out to where the coral was!
What?!
It was only 10 or 20 yards out (my calculations though could be totally wrong)
and he was worried about drowning?!
I convinced him he'd be fine,
especially since he was wearing flippers,
and while snorkeling you kind of just drift along the waters surface
so it really doesn't take any effort at all...
but then,
he couldn't figure out how to breath underwater
with the snorkel mask on!
Seriously?!

He tried it a couple of times...
but when it came time to go further out into the water,
he refused;
he wanted to stay where his feet touched the sand.
Whatev!
He made me break one of the cardinal rules in water safety:
ALWAYS STAY WITH A BUDDY!
He backed out of snorkeling and left me to do it on my own!
What's up with that?!
I had mixed emotions;
I felt slightly upset that he wouldn't suck it up and try snorkeling for me
and I was a little disappointed he didn't get to see what I got to see.

The tide was starting to come in, so the water was a little murky,
but a good variety of fish were still out looking for food.
We purchased one of those cheap/disposable underwater cameras
to take pictures of us while we were snorkeling;
it's kind of frustrating trying to take a picture of a fish
while floating on the waters surface without any zoom lens.
It didn't help either that my big ol' pregnant belly acted like a buoy;
anytime I wanted to dive down in the water to catch a closer look,
I couldn't; it was too much of a struggle-
I was only good to just float above!
The pictures didn't turn out fabulous,
but you can sort of make out in some of the pictures what fish I saw.

Here's a look at some of the actual fish I saw;
but just in case you were wondering if I took these photos,
I didn't.
I swiped them off of the inter-net.

Yes folks,
I actually saw a pufferfish floating below me in the water;
it wasn't puffed up though;
thank goodness
or I could have been as good as dead if I bumped into it!
Most of the coral in the cove was dead;
I half expected that when I saw snorkelers earlier
STANDING on the reefs;
DUMB IDIOTS didn't have a clue that what they were standing on was alive!

Monday, June 29TH...
After breakfast Monday morning, Spencer and I headed off to our resorts private cove. Spencer sunbathed while I went out for an early session of snorkeling. The water was a little clearer, because it was still low tide and there were a lot more fish out looking for food. I could have stayed in the water all day looking at the fish but after an hour or so we had to go and get ready for the day; we had tickets to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.

We bought Ambassador tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center online through Orbitz when we booked our vacation deal. Neither Spencer nor I were half expecting the center to be what it was. With the Ambassador tickets we had our own private tour guide to take us through the park, and I remember telling him, the center reminded me of Disneyland, a Hawaiian Disneyland. (I know, it sounds so dumb, and I should have put my foot in my mouth). Our tour guide (who happened to be from Tonga), just sort of gave me that look. We didn't have enough time during the day and evening to visit all of the 6 villages and see all the shows, but we saw the best. Our tour guide was very kind and arranged to have us sit in the handicapped seating for the pageant of boats show; it was already SUPER crowded with NO spots to sit or stand to watch, but apparently I looked handicapped waddling around with my big pregnant belly, so our guide had some compassion on me and scored us great seats for the show. We were particularly interested in seeing the villages of Tonga and Samoa, since Spencer's parents lived in Tonga for a short while with him while he was still an infant and because Spencer was BORN in Samoa. I've never seen Spencer express any interest before in knowing more about the place he was born and where he lived for a little bit, until our trip to the Polynesian Center. Perhaps our next tropical vacation will be to one of those two islands??? I'd LOVE to go. The center and the entertainment was AWESOME! We're both so glad we took the time to visit the Center that day.

With our Ambassador tickets we had access to the FANCY SEAFOOD luau but hearing that it was a seafood luau, we asked to go just a normal luau that roasted a pig... little did we know, until later that evening, after we'd eaten, that the FANCY SEAFOOD luau had more food options I could have eaten, including prime rib, and not everything was seafood. The luau we attended though wasn't so bad... we had front row dining seats to watch the entertainment.

I was super excited to get "lei'ed" upon entering the luau.
I'd been wanting a Hawaiian lei our entire trip.
The food was okay.

These guys were unearthing the pig from the pit...

I was excited to eat the pork, but it tasted a bit too salty to me;
I'd forgotten that Hawaiians probably don't have all sort of sauces and marinades
at traditional luaus.
There was some sort of creamy gelatin dessert that tasted like coconut
and was cut into tiny squares,
it was REALLY good and I was almost tempted to take the entire platter
but stopped myself from doing so.

Funny thing about the luau.
There was one point during the dinner,
at which point the hostess invited any couples up on stage
who were celebrating
their anniversaries or newly married
to receive something.
Spencer and I gave each other "the look",
the one that asks with out actually asking,
if we should go up on stage...
we decided to go ahead and go,
along with 4 or 5 other couples,
and were told by our hostess that she'd like to have all the couples
SLOWDANCE ON STAGE!
I wanted to walk off stage immediately!
SLOW DANCE?!
in front of 1 or 2 hundred strangers,
GROSSLY PREGNANT...
it had been YEARS, 5 to be exact, since our wedding,
that we last slow danced together in front of anyone else.
To make the situation even more comical,
we got booted out onto the front of the stage,
while all the other couples hung out and danced behind us.
It was sort of embarrassing,
but you know what,
after having that moment with Spencer
I was happy we did it.

After the luau,
we headed over to watch the evening performance.
We had AWESOME seats for the event, 4th row up.

Our favorite part of the evening show
were the Samoan fire dancers.

Tuesday, June 30TH...
Tuesday was our last actual day on the island. We slept in, ate for the last time down at the breakfast buffet, packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Just after checking out, we headed south along The North Shore to Laniakea Beach (a.k.a. Turtle Beach) to see if we could spot any sea turtles sun bathing on the sand or swimming along the shoreline. When we arrived, there were already one or two turtles sunbathing, and there were at least 6 or 8 others trying to join them from the water. Funny thing about the sea turtles- I never thought much about what a challenge it is for the turtles to get up onto shore from the water, until Tuesday morning when we watched them. The poor things must have so much patience waiting for the tide to sweep them onto the sand; then once they're on the sand, they must hold on tight to the sand to keep from being swept back out to sea!

After visiting the sea turtles, we headed to Haleiwa, where we indulged in yet another Matsumoto's shaved ice; after, I did a little bit of shopping across the street at the Quicksilver Boarding store. I LOVE surf shops and I knew that I'd be able to find name brand surf wear for the boys cheaper on the island next to the beach, than say at the Quicksilver store back in Park City, UT. I found the boys the cutest pairs of sandals and matching red rash gaurds (they're those little shirt like thingies the boys wear swimming that have UV protectant built into the material). After our visit to Haleiwa, we cruised back over to the Polynesian Cultural Center to take a few more pictures, and catch the IMAX movie on coral reefs; then we left and stopped off again at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I needed to pick up some treats to take back to our families, and thought chocolate covered pineapple sounded yummy. After a short trip to the Dole Pineapple Plantation, we made our way down towards the south part of the island, near Honolulu, and cruised along the shoreline there until it was time to turn in our rental car and grab our boarding tickets to fly home. Our flight home was a red eye- we left Hawaii around 9p.m., arrived in San Fransisco for a layover around 4 in the morning, and then we connected to Salt Lake and landed around 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, July 1ST.

We were exhausted after our travels; even a bit sad leaving vacation behind, but SO HAPPY to be back with all 3 of our boys.

ALOHA HAWAII!

Just a funny note:
Last week I overheard Noah telling one of our neighbors that Spencer and I
went on vacation to a land called "lulu lulu".

Additional note: This trip was planned at the very last minute. In May, Spencer and I were going to take the kiddos and drive down to San Diego to visit my fam for 5 or 6 days; during which time we'd get to play at the beaches, visit Sea World, the Zoo and Disneyland... you know, the usual trip we make every 6 months each year, but the day before we were going to go we decided we were tired of making the same trip, every time, and needed to go somewhere new... possibly just the two of us. Spencer threw the idea of going to Hawaii out there, and I thought it sounded fun; it's a place neither of us had ever been before. I started to look into booking travel plans immediately and we nearly went to Hawaii over Memorial Day Weekend, which would have only allowed us to have 1 day to plan and pack for the trip... I held off on booking the trip for May; Spencer and I discussed traveling to Hawaii a little bit more over the next week or two, and finally about two weeks into June I found a SMASHING deal on Orbitz to travel to Oahu and stay at the Turtle Bay Resort the last week in June, which ultimately meant that we'd be in Hawaii for our anniversary!!! Perfect! Things couldn't have been any more well planned! We had so much fun!