HAWAII....

In September I had an awesome opportunity to go to Oahu,Hawaii for the first time EVER with Julie (my sister), Hale (uncle), Richard (uncle), Kanani (aunt), Mabel (uncle's friend). Actually, I have had plenty of opportunities to go but something always seems to come up! This time I was bound and determined to make it there even if it meant swimming across the Pacific Ocean to get there.

My awesome, supportive husband knew it was something that I have been wanting to do in a long time and allowed me to go without any of my kids for a whole WEEK. My mom was nice enough to be willing to help my husband take on all of the little ones while I was gone.

My cousin Keala works for a private school there called Kamehameha. She has an apartment up at the school, so we were able to stay with her there. It is located up on a big hill and this is the view from her place. It's gorgeous!!

Of course, one of our first food stops was Leonard's Bakery for a HOT Malasada!! I have been hearing people rave about these for years and I was so excited to finally have my first one!
(Hale, me, Julie & Kanani)

We stopped at the Macadamia nut farm for some yummy samples, of course, and to walk around the grounds. (Julie,me and Kanani)

While driving around the island taking in the beautiful scenery we stumbled across the Dole Pineapple factory. Of course, the goal was that at every stop we took we had to buy a shirt. So we basically stopped to buy some souveniers and have some delicious pineapple!!

Yes, another food stop. If you haven't noticed we are wearing the same clothes in all the food pictures. Yes, we did go to all of these places and MORE in the same day. It was a major food fest, to say the least. This was us at a little store called Matsumoto's where they also serve the best shaved ice. (Mabel, Kanani, me and Julie)

This was another stop to get a T-shirt. BUT, the point of this picture was to see how green and beautiful it was there. The cliffs behind them were huge. I was told that in the winter time where all the little indents are in the cliffs there are huge waterfalls when it rains.

This is a picture of the beach that we went to. It was a private beach so there weren't a lot of people there. The sand was amazing. It is kinda course, pebbly, a lot different than California beaches. The water was clear. I am not much of an ocean person. I love to lay out on the beach but don't spend much time in the water. I actually did this time as long as there were people around me and I had my eye out for sharks!! We were able to see a big sea turtle that was swimming close to shore.

This is Jules of course rolling around in the waves, body surfing!

My mom's dad (grandpa Nagai) is buried there on the island. We were able to visit his grave. We cleaned up the headstone a little and added some fresh flowers. (Julie, Hale & me)
This is me and Jules with Auntie Alice. She is our Grandpa Nagai's sister who lives a couple houses down from our cousins that live in Kaimaki.

On our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center we stopped at the temple Laie. The temple there is a lot similar to the one here in Mesa, AZ as far as looks go.

Near the end of the week we needed to work off the food that we had inhaled every day we were there so we hiked Diamondhead. It was a fun hike with an awesome view of the ocean and city. These were one set of stairs that we had to hike up. I would much rather go up than down!!

YES! We made it to the top ! (Mabel & I)

The view on top of Diamondhead!

It was so much fun to be there with family! We had a lot of good laughs! Hopefully it doesn't take another 29 years to make it back there again.