SO we went to Hawaii . . . 3 months ago! I know- I 'm WAY behind! Spencer's been making me feel especially guilty about not having documented our trip yet, especially since I've been documenting all sorts of other random things! It's just so daunting to go through the hundreds of pictures we took - on my phone, his phone, my camera, etc. It's a LOT and I'm not sure where to begin. Let's just say - it was AWESOME!!!
I almost had to pinch myself to make sure it really was actually happening. To get away with NO kids for a week is quite an accomplishment. It really was quite incredible how it all worked out so perfectly.
Funny how we want so badly to get a break from our kids, but then when we actually get one, we miss them like crazy! The hardest part of the trip was definitely missing my kids. My parents are amazing and I never once worried about the kids (which is huge for me since I'm a worrier), but we were on a very kid friendly beach watching everyone with their families and I couldn't help but miss mine.
But oh man was it a nice, much needed break away for Spencer and I. We stayed at the JW Marriott Resort in KoOlina and soaked up all the beauty of this gorgeous island. Check out the view we had from our balcony:
We made sure to make the most of every second we were there. We arrived Friday afternoon 11/21, and spent the afternoon/evening exploring the area around our resort.
Our little protected lagoon was the best! Every morning we went for a sunrise swim after our work-out.
It was pretty steep and along old railroad ties the entire way up.
It got pretty scary at one point when the tracks were open below.
The views at the top were pretty amazing!
We made some friends at the top who offered to take a picture of us which was nice.
I'm not a fan of posing alone for pictures!
From the top of Koko Crater you could see where we were headed next - Hanama Bay!
The way down seemed just as hard. I lost my footing at one point and slipped a bit. Some people walked along the sides of the tracks when it opened up below. Others forged a path off the tracks to avoid it altogether.
I found it easiest to go straight down the middle and not slow down!
Pretty cool that we climbed that crater!
The view from one side of the beach:
And from the other - you could see Koko Crater that we had just climbed!
On Sunday we tried keeping it low key. We got dressed and ready for church and then headed over to the Marriott beach Club (just 2 Lagoons down from us and where we would stay if we ever come back) for a sales presentation. Spence and I never decline an offer to these things when we travel because they always give such great gifts (and we don't have any trouble saying no)! They gave us wrist bands to use all their facilities and pools as well as a bunch of different offers for discounted excursions which we ended up not choosing and opted for 10,000 Marriott points instead! The sales presentation went much longer than expected though and it ran over into the time we needed to get to church. Totally disappointed (I was looking forward to attending a Hawaii ward) we changed our clothes and loaded up good church reading material and headed to the far west side of the island to Yokohauma Bay. We stopped by a local deli on our way there to pick up some sandwiches and snacks for a picnic! Couldn't resist getting a delicious Hawaiian Frost while we waited for our food!
Yokohauma Bay was absolutely gorgeous with huge waves! The waves would pull us far out in the ocean and then push us fast back onto the shore. Sand got into pretty much every crevice of our body! It was a blast though. We'd play in the water, then lay out - try to read from the Ensign, and then fall asleep. It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon.
I must have been so relaxed that I forgot to take pictures cause this is all we have from this gorgeous beach! I do remember being interested in the other people there on the beach though. One mom was there with her parents and 2 girls. They must have been from the east coast because they had really strong New Jersey accents. The grandparents were great and playing fun games with the girls but they wouldn't let the girls into the water because of the "strong waves". I felt so bad for those girls who desperately just wanted to get into the water!
On Monday we decided to take a drive up to the North Shore. KoOlina is on the dry side of the island so we had gorgeous sun our entire time there, but as soon as we left and headed north, the rain started.
The rain didn't stop us from having fun though. We braved the rain and ran into the Dole Plantation
where we found a necklace for me, dresses for the girls . . .
. . . and bought a freshly cut up pineapple!! DElish!!
Then it was onto Ted's Bakery for lunch (thank's for the recommendation mom)!
We stopped off the side of the road to check out "turtles beach". I was anxious to stop here after seeing pics from my mom's trip just a month earlier.
If it had been warmer we would have loved to lay out on the beach and do some snorkeling here.
It was fun to have the freedom to do whatever we wanted, for as long as we wanted. We passed by this cool house and decided to flip around and check it out. It was on the same property as a deserted convalesant home and the entire inside of the house had burned down, but the foundation stood strong. A forest was growing inside and coming out through the windows. So cool to walk around and do some exploring.
Just beyond the park was a totally deserted beach with amazingly soft sand.
From there we stopped by Waimea Valley. It was so gorgeous that we wanted to walk around for a bit and check it out. We could have payed a $15 fee to hike to a waterfall, but I was perfectly content just walking around the grounds!
Then we drove on through Hale'iwa and stopped at some local surf shops and art galleries.
After a full day of exploring we made it back it time to enjoy the gorgeous sun set.
It was a gorgeous sunrise!
This was day 6 of being in the sun and my skin was starting to do some funky things. Not sure if it's heat rash or sun poisoning, but my hands and arms had faint little red bumps all over them, and they itched like crazy. By this point I was trying to limit my sun exposure so we didn't stay long.
Totally hit the spot!
Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning we got up early and headed to the airport to catch a 7am flight back to San Fransisco. I can't say I was sad to go cause I felt like our trip was the perfect length. I felt feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready to conquer life again with my favorite guy by my side!
And I was pretty excited to see those kids of ours! 
