Sunday, March 29, 2015

Hawaii- Day 2

Our 2nd day in Hawaii was a Sunday, so we went to church!  :)  The meeting time started at 8am, which in planning I thought would be difficult to get up and ready in time for - but with the time difference from Arizona and our jet lag, we were all up and wide awake at 4am!  So we had plenty of time to get ready - haha.  

We loved getting to say Aloha multiple times during Sacrament meeting at the beginning of each talk.  And there were several musical numbers sung by the ward choirs - in Samoan and Tongan - what a beautiful meeting!  

Family pic after church...





After church, we drove down the road to the Laie Temple - such a gorgeous place!





Temple Visitors Center - we visited with the Sister missionaries and watched a beautiful Easter video...



That afternoon, we changed into our swim suits and headed to Sharks Cove - this place was amazing!







Ben and Emma got some great underwater pics while snorkeling...









For dinner we ate at the Turtle Bay resort...


And played on the beach after as the sun set...




And guess what?!  Today was also big Jake's birthday!!  He's 6!!  What a lucky dude to have his birthday while in Hawaii.  He opened his gifts before our trip - but on his birthday night, we had cake and sang to this sweet, fun, and energetic boy...

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Hawaii- Day 1

We were so excited to get to go to Hawaii!!  This was a first for all 6 of us.  And for Jake, it was his first time on an airplane.  What an incredible family adventure this would be - we were so happy to be going that the 6 hour non-stop flight to Oahu wasn't even that bad :)


The kids were well entertained during the flight with snacks, drinks, movies, games, and coloring...


When we got off the airplane, we all got real flower leis ... eventually I ended up wearing 5 leis... haha..


With the time change, we were actually 3 hours earlier than Arizona - so even though we felt like we had traveled all day - we still had sunlight for quite a while after we arrived in Oahu.  We drove from the airport to Haaula - the small town about an hour northeast from the Honolulu airport.  We met with the owner of the house we were renting and he gave us a walkthrough.  As soon as we unloaded our luggage, we quickly got into swimsuits and headed down to the beach!  We played for a little bit and ate some quick dinner on the beach...





And later we went out for ice cream in Laie...


Dole pineapple whip!