Hawaii recap!

You should've known it would take a bit to get this up...

If you read my last post, you'd know that Scott and I took a little last minute vacation to Hawaii!

So I'm just going to jump right in with a recap post! Hooray!

Alrighty, first off, I will say that we only went to the island, O'ahu. We did want to jump to at least one more island but after doing some research I found there was a LOT to do on this one island. PLUS, we wanted to cut down the costs as much as we could...Hawaii is expensive~!

(Very excited...but also very sleepy *.*)

This is us...early Thursday (30th) morning. Scott's brother (Robert) picked us up to drive us to the airport - Thanks Rob! We left behind the snowy cold city of Calgary, and landed in a slightly less cold city, Denver, Colorado. We only had time to grab a quick snack (Jamba Juice {one of my favorite things in the States!} and McDonalds {we're not ashamed}) and hasten to our soon departing plane to a warmer place.

(Right next to our gate in Denver, I noticed some cute little birds hopping around!)

This flight was LONG...it was very windy, so our Pilot went back and around to avoid the gust. This flight was about 7.5 hrs. But it was all worth it to land at the Honolulu Airport :D

(Even more excited, but also even more exhausted as Hawaii is 3 hours behind as well)

So we went to pick up our rental vehicle, which was a small, silver Jeep (which we got for quite a good deal) and ventured out in search of our hotel - Moana Surfrider.
**Fun fact - actually the first hotel here...built in 1901!**
(I don't have any pictures of the Jeep...or Hotel...)
You'll have to take our word that it was a very nice hotel ;).
So we got to the Moana, and we got Lei-d! :D

(We've been Lei'd!)

(So pretty~)

Soon after this we met up with Scott's parents who were ALSO in Hawaii (but were leaving in the morning unfortunately). So we went our for a delicious dinner (at a burger place) and then wandered around a bit together!

After a few hours (when I was pretty well a walking zombie), we bid our adieus, wished them a safe journey 

home, and went and crashed!
ZzzZ~!
(The King bed was so large and plush and comfy!)

Something I enjoyed most mornings (included at our hotel)... yoga on the beach! So no, there wasn't much sleeping in on my part ;)
It was a lot of fun...but also a LOT different than what I was used to.

(Switching over to point form...day by day will take far too long!)
What we did over the next 8 days....

• Went to Pearl Harbor. Saw (and toured) the USS Missouri (Might Mo) and also went out to the USS Arizona Memorial. Pretty crazy to think about that day and what it would've been like. At the Memorial it was also interesting looking down in the water at a MASSIVE ship sunk below. You can still see bubbles of oil coming up occasionally. We also explored the Museums.
• Took an AWESOME tour up around the North shore of the Island. Included we got to:

            - see a LOT of awesome views
            - see a lot of movement and blow hole sprays from whales!
            - stopped at a Macadamia Nut Outlet to taste all the flavors!
            - see SEA TURTLES. Just laying around in the sand. (No touching allowed)
            - snorkel WITH said turtles (only saw little guys...it was fun following them around!)
            - stopped for some fresh delicious Shrimp! (well, Scott thought so anyways...no seafood for me)
            - stopped at the Dole Plantation to explore and have some scrumptious DoleWhip!

(random Rooster outside the Macadamia Nut Outlet...though there were actually stray Roosters EVERYWHERE!)

(China Man's Hat!)

(Our creative pictures with it are on Scott's camera...)

(My favorite picture from the trip :D)

(Sea turtle! Sorry...it won't center...)

Oh man this is getting long! Let's get going and then wrap it up!

• Went to the Paradise Cove Luau which was a BLAST! Great times, great food! Scott was a part of the show in a grass skirt. It was funny :D I got some fresh coconut water :3
• Went on a hike up Diamond Head. Not too difficult or long but really beautiful views! It was SO busy! Sometimes it was irritating to be stuck behind people, but overall it was really nice!
• Went to Leonard's Bakery for some Malasada's! Portuguese donuts...SO GOOD! (And also some other yummy treats...)
• Polynesian Cultural Center! Such a good time! They have 6 little villages representing the Polynesian Islands and their unique cultures. Great dancing and information! It was also so funny, we were laughing a ton! Especially in Samoa and Tonga :D PS. It's crazy how fast some people can climb a coconut tree...seriously!
• Spent a lot of time exploring and walking around - A LOT!
• Obviously spent a bit of time walking along and relaxing on the beach :)
• Went to Farmer's Markets A LOT! The fruit (especially pineapple and papaya) is SO GOOD! I ate so much fruit while there! (Needlesstosay, my tongue was covered in sores...)
• Also ate lots of delicious food and ice cream of course!

That pretty well sums the trip up! I'll share a few more random pictures and also thoughts in another post :)

It was sad to leave, but we were also missing our 2 little fuzzballs back at home. Thanks Paige for house/cat sitting! And also thanks to Cody and Paige for picking us up :D (PS. Congratulations on getting engaged!!)

And you know what was awesome....our luggage wasn't even overweight coming home! :D

HOORAY!

And that's a wrap for today. Too many words and pictures... *.*

Love you too. 

xo T