Oahu Spring Break

Russ has a hard job.  Works all day and night sometimes.  And weekends.  Sometimes 80-100 hrs a week.  When he won 2 trips last year...I cried!  Cried because I was so happy for him.  Happy that after all the stress and sacrifice, he achieved his quota.  Barely.  It was all he wanted.

This trip was an award he won.  We got to plan it ourselves and decided on Oahu with the kids.  After being to Hawaii a few times recently, I couldn't wait to share it with them.  And it was every bit as wonderful and more than I had dreamed.  When we came home, I was driving on the freeway to go pick up our doggie.  I was overcome with gratitude that it actually happened.  I started sobbing.  Tears of joy and gratitude on the freeway.  It makes me want to do it again and again.  And I would if it was not so darn expensive.

 

It was Alyssa's first airplane ride and essentially Ava's too (hers as a baby doesn't count, right?).  They were adorable to watch.  EVERYTHING is more fun when you are watching the magic of it all through a child's eyes!

Got off the plane and went straight to hike a tropical jungle to Manoa Falls.  The kids loved the Tarzan vines and peculiar foliage.  They were surprised by the mud.

When we arrived at our hotel, we were overwhelmed by the view!!!  Holy cow, the best view we've ever had.  Top floor of Turtle Bay right on the ocean.  We saw many many whales and endless crashing waves.  Slept with the doors wide open.

 

Day two we beach hopped.  Hung out at the pool with crashing North Shore sized waves right next to us.  When the kids snorkeled and saw their first fish, they screamed at the top of their lungs, "A FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!!!!!!!!!  I SAW A FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!"  Magic.  Pure magic.  Every moment. 

We discovered Ted's Bakery...a staple for the week.    We fed 100 little birdies under our table. Sarah pointing to the "Sarah" sticker at Ted's. "Surfing" at Ted's Bakery.

Drank coconut juice straight from coconuts from the roadside market.  The girls put hibiscus behind all of our ears.

I fell in love with the running trails at Turtle Bay which has 5 miles of pristine coast line, huge banyan trees, secluded bays, etc.  Ran a LOT (well...more than usual).  Ran every day.  Love to run on vacay.

Russ and Sarah on our morning run by the Banyan Trees.

 

 Chad by the beach after a run with me.

Russ and Sarah in hammocks after our morning run.

 

 

Day three was surf lessons at one of the prettiest beaches on Oahu.  Sarah ate too much at breakfast (she couldn't resist all of the amazing croissants and exotic fruits and coconut syrup), so she had to lay under a tree for half the lesson feeling sick.  But Ava was up immediately!  The whole time.  They even taught her tricks. 

 

 

Chad, Russ, and I all did well and it came easy to us.  In fact, a worker had the whole group of 20 bow to me because I had the best form.  He said it, not me! ;)  Sarah caught a few waves.  But poor Alyssa...had a bad teacher, so we tried again later in the week and she nailed it the second time.

Day 4:  Polynesian Cultural Center.  It was so fun to visit a place I had

 heard about my whole life.  SO much prettier than I had thought.  It was so peaceful there. 
The people and the spirit there are amazing.  We loved it so much we spent 2 days there.  So much to do.  We weaved fish out of leaves, tried poi and coconut bread, learned how to do tricks with poi balls, learned the hula, learned a song on ukuleles, tossed spears, played Hawaiian games, attended the most beautiful IMAX I've ever seen, saw an exhilarating night show where guys kept sitting on fire, held baby ducks, paddled a canoe, etcThe kids now want to attend BYU Hawaii and work at the PCC.  Laie Temple

Day 5:  Beach/Pool and family picture day.  See previous post.
 

Day 6:  Snorkeled Fish's Cove (a nickname because the real name would have scared the girls).  Fed the fish bread and they ate it up by the hundreds.  Then had day 2 at PCC.

Day 7:  Second surf lessons.

 Chad and Sarah

 

 Alyssa

 Ava

 Alyssa and Ava catching a wave at the same time.

Super nice instructors made choo choo trains for the kids to paddle out to the waves when they got tired.  Found out after the lesson they were BYU Hawaii students.

Day 8:  Matsumoto's Shave Ice,

 

 

 Ava's 7th Birthday!

 

 Pearl Harbor, Aloha Stadium Flea Market, and Waikiki.  Flea market was really good.  The pigeons at Pearl Harbor landed on our arms and head when we fed them!  Waikiki is awful.  I feel bad for people who vacation there.  It's totally lame for 1000 reasons (you can ask me if you really want to know).  We spent 2 hours of our precious vacation there and wish we could have it back.  We were thrilled to get back to Turtle Bay!

Day 9:  Snorkeling with wild dolphins in the open ocean.  Now that was a trip!

 

 

More birds...

 

Went on a food safari.  Ate Malasadas for the last time (boo hoo) and tried Mochi Ice Cream which were cool little rice dough wrapped ice cream balls.

A few other things...

Malasadas.  Holy cow.  Malasadas.  Malllllaaaasaaaadaaaaas.  Hot and fresh only from Leonard's Bakery trucks or store.  Nothing like them.  We moaned when we ate them.  Just plain with sugar, cinnamon and sugar, or mango filled were the best.  Why don't they have them here????  NO CLUE!

Chinatown.  Not a fan.  No tourists were there at all and we didn't feel safe.  Went to watch the lei makers.  It was okay, but not worth it. 

Birds.  We found birds everywhere and fed them all.  That was a blast for the kids.  Holding baby ducks, holding pigeons, feeding baby chicks behind Mastumotos.  I always had food with me and we were always feeding birds.

We came home on the red eye and sent Chad straight to school, poor guy.  Russ went to work on 1 hour of sleep.  All worth the sacrifice.  Chad kept saying the whole time he was in Hawaii that he felt so bad for anyone who couldn't afford to go.  He was sad he wouldn't be able to afford to take his family some day.  He loved paradise.  I kept telling him...aim high!  Get a lot of education.  You can do it!

It was the price of a car to take the kids.  The 7500 dollar credit with a travel agent helped pay for a lot.  Our airfare was 1050 each due to spring break inflation.  Spent all our frequent flyer miles on 2 of the tickets.  Our hotel was 500 a night.  PCC...700.  Surf lessons...800.  Dolphin tour...600.  Photographer...400.  Food...who knows.  Spending time with my eternal family in the most beautiful place on earth...priceless.  And no one went to the ER!   That was a first for us.