Spring Break in HAWAII!

Back in December (January?) we had a fun FaceTime convo with Jody and kiddos.  She asked when we were going to head out to visit them in Hawaii and I kind of jokingly said "how about spring break?"  We checked the calendar and both Billy and my spring break was the same week!!  So we planned on it and once March rolled around, we made it happen.  It was amazing!  Thanks so much for everything Jody!!  Just warning anyone reading this: picture OVERLOAD.  This post is super duper long.  Anyways...

School was over on Friday March 4th and we headed to the airport Saturday morning at 6:15 AM.  We made it on the flight!  Yay!  Once we got off the plane we felt the wave of humidity and sunshine and joy.  Oahu is incredible!!  We went to lunch with Jody and fam right on the water at a place called the Shack.  The girls were super cute, Taylor was not a fan of me.  He ran screaming into a gate and was trying to climb through.  Then he just chilled and drooled on Dieter's shoulder for like 20 minutes before turning around to look at us.  Haha it was pretty funny.  He warmed up to us eventually though, Billy more so than me.

In the car, goofy faces

Ceci's grin is the best!

I love how Taylor grabbed this whole onion ring and just had it in his mouth forever

He let me hold his hand on the way out :)

He sure is super cute!!

After lunch we got changed and headed to Makapu'u beach, which is only like 5 minutes from their house!  Incredible.  After hanging out at the beach for a while, Jody dropped us off at Makapu'u lighthouse trail which is a nice paved hike up to the top of a hill where there is a lighthouse.  It is an incredible view!!  We even saw some whales!  We saw one breach from really far away.  It was awesome!

I was dying because it was so pretty.  My eyes couldn't believe it.

Love these cute kids!!

WOW

Lighthouse on my head

Reading the sign

After Makapu'u we had Jody pick us up and we had delish dinner at her house, then went to bed early since there is a 3 hour time difference and we were exhausted from our early morning and big day.

Taylor letting me read to him

Sunday we got up super early to do a sunrise hike with Jody up to the top of Koko head.  I felt like Jody very much under-described this hike.  All she said was that it's "harder than Makapu'u" but it was much harder haha!  It was just stairs up the whole way.  It was intense but oh so worth it!!  We made it just in time for sunrise.  It was an amazing view.  It was super crowded though and I was surprised at all the different kinds of people that were able to make it to the top!

Yes, that's sweat.  It's really humid there, alright?!?!

Hanauma Bay...where we'd be snorkeling later that day

Coming down was scary

After Koko head we went home then sped over to Hanauma Bay for some swimming and snorkeling.  You have to pay to get into that beach, and watch a film about preserving the reef.  It was an awesome beach day.  I learned, however, that I am a little terrified of snorkeling.  I kept feeling like my body was going to be smashed into the reef and I would break my neck and get eaten by fish.  So I didn't venture too deep.  The fish were INCREDIBLE!  There were so many different kinds with different sizes, colors, etc.  It was crazy!  We were wishing we had an underwater camera to be able to take pictures of the fish with.

The bay

Ceci was brave and went snorkeling!

Cute girl lounging

After the beach we headed home, had an early dinner, then headed out to a lookout point up a mountain.  It was an awesome view of Honolulu!

Monday we got to borrow Dieter's car and head up to Laie for the day!  We went to see BYU- Hawaii, went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for most of the day, then saw the temple at night on our way home.  Awesome day!

The drive there was absolutely breathtaking!  The water was amazing, mountains on the other side were amazing, it was an all around incredible drive.  I was also loving looking at all the little beach houses along the water the whole way and imagining what life would be like if we lived in one of them...

Lunch at a place called Seven Brothers.  It was delicious!

Billy's favorite part of the PCC was that Shawn Bradley was there, a former NBA player (for the Mavericks?)  We have LOTS of creeper pics of him.  He is 7'6"!!!  Crazy tall!!

They had him be in one of the preformances...LOOK AT HOW TALL HE IS!!  AMAZING!

We had a buffet dinner after the center and before the night show.

Ready for the night show

Awful picture of the temple but we stopped by on our way back to Jody's house.

Tuesday was another busy day!  We started the day slowly, eating breakfast and hanging out.  Billy went golfing with Dieter.  I decided to go for a little jog around the neighborhood down to the beach.  Their house is only ONE MILE from the beach, people!  Wow.

After Billy and Dieter got back we took Dieter to work and then borrowed his car again for the day.  First stop was Pearl Harbor.  It was really windy this day and pretty chilly.  They stopped taking shuttles out to the USS Arizona memorial because the weather was bad.  We were pretty bummed.  We watched the video and walked around the museum a little bit.  It was a really somber place.

The memorial is behind me

 After Pearl Harbor we didn't know what to do because it was a little rainy.  We didn't really want to go hike if it was going to be raining on us, but we didn't know what else to do.  I suggested we try Diamond Head instead of another more rural hike to try and keep as dry as possible.  So we headed to the Diamond Head trailhead.  It stopped raining and there was just nice cloud cover for the whole hike.  It was awesome!  The view at the top was so worth it!!!

Jumping pic but holding onto my hat because it was super windy

Steep climb to the top

Those clouds were so dramatic!!  I was loving it.

CLOUDS

On our way out..BLUE stop sign!  What does it mean??!

After Diamond Head we headed to a little bakery Jody told us about, but it was still pretty early in the day and we wanted to do something else touristy while we still had a car.  So I decided that we would try another hike, Manoa falls, that we were planning on doing earlier but didn't because it was rainy.  It was even rainier now so I'm not sure what my logic was, I think I just wanted to pack in as much as possible.  So Billy was a good sport and we drove to the trail head.  It was really misty and getting dark so we did the hike as fast as we could!  It was AMAZING.  Might have been my favorite hike of the whole trip (no, not possible I don't think), but it was so so cool.  It was like Jurassic Park for reals.  Our minds couldn't register the beauty we were seeing.  It even made it better that it was all rainy because it felt more dinosaur-ish.

This picture does not even do it close to justice, this place was blowing my MIND!

The grand finale was this waterfall that was more of a trickle.  I'm sure it's more of a waterfall during summer or a more rainy season.

Jurassic Park...

After Manoa falls we headed to the bakery to pick up some treats for us and Jody, then back to Jody's house for dinner and a shower (we were soaking wet!).  What an awesome day.

Phew we are almost there, one more day!  Wednesday was another super fun filled day.  We got to spend the whole day with Jody!  Woo!  We started the day with the Lanikai Pillboxes hike.  The water at these beaches is SO BLUE.  WHAT!  So amazing.  Again, pictures don't do it justice.

Ugh I wish I was back there so bad and could just go jump in that water.  After the pillboxes hike we headed up to the North Shore for some food truck food, wandering around the beachy shops, and seeing some famous beaches.

I wanted shrimp from a food truck and oh boy did I get it!  It was delicious, but the price was out of control.

Famous Matsumoto's shaved ice

Stopped at "Turtle Bay" where there were a couple sea turtles up on the sand!

Tons of people trying to see a couple that were swimming right in the shallows at the beach

Then we went to famous Waimea beach, then Sunset beach.

Waimea

Being a tourist

Being cute

After all our beachy fun (but no going in the water...too cold!) we headed to the Dole Plantation to end our day around some adorable baby pineapples.  I was a little crazy obsessed with them.  I got a dole whip and we walked around looking at all the little pineapples, then called it a day.  Phew!

SO FUN spending the day with Jody!

Once we got home we had some yummy quesadillas, watched The Voice, and called it a night.  We decided to try and leave Thursday since flights looked the best that day.  Thursday morning we spent just hanging out around the house with the kids.  We left to go to the airport around 11 and got on our 1:00 flight.  Yay but sad.  What an amazing trip!  I can't believe all the fun we got to have.  Thank you Jody and family for making it possible!  We love you guys!!

He loves his penguin <3

Sad to be on the plane :(

What an amazing trip.  Can't wait to head back out there again soon!!  Congrats if you finished this entire post :)