Hawaii

                                    
                 March  2015
   
   One morning Richard was watching the news and Columbus Travel was promoting a killer deal that we couldn't pass up. We booked our trip to Hawaii right away. We were SO excited since neither of us had been before. We were staying in Waikiki at the Ohana West Hotel. About two weeks before leaving we decided it may be easier to leave Carter home. I was soo nervous to do so, I had never left him for more than a couple hours. My mom who was going to watch him was ecstatic! We planned out our days and before we knew it, it was time to go! We tried to say goodbye to Carter but he fell asleep on the way to the airport. :(

  Once we arrived we were starving. We hopped on the trolley and went to the mall (by request) and ate at Banga Banga. It was so good, we actually ended up eating there a few times! We then settled in out hotel. 

   The next day we got up were able to FaceTime with Carter and took off to Hanauma Bay. This was one of my favorite things from the whole trip. I love to snorkel and this place had so many different kinds of fish that I had never seen. I even saw a turtle! (Thats all I wanted from Hawaii) 

  After spending half the day there we took off to hike Diamond Head. This isn't a very hard hike but when you get to the top the view is amazing! It was crazy windy that day but there was also a beautiful rainbow to enjoy.

  Next up was Pearl Harbor. It was so humbling to walk around and learn about what happened. Its really hard to believe that really happened but I am so thankful for all of the heros that day, those who fought back and those who gave their life trying. 

Polynesian Cultural Center. This was a very fun day. It was so fun to learn about all the different cultures. We had a lot of fun watching all the shows and doing the different activities. We both got called up on stage during the luau to dance. Yikes. haha. 

     

The next day I went with Richard to go fly fishing for bone fish. Well Richard went fishing.. I stayed on the boat to FaceTime Carter and work on my tan. He said it was unlike any other fishing he's done before. I just feel bad he didn't catch anything. 

 The next day we rented a car and headed up to North Shore area. I highly recommend this area because it's more of what I pictured Hawaii to be. It was relaxed and not as busy. Waikiki was great but seemed more like Las Vegas but with a beach. Anyways, we were super excited because when we went to pick up our car we got upgraded for free!

Everyone had to know we were tourists because it was a little "cold" that day. (Not cold when you left the snow in Utah!) We were the only ones driving with the top down haha. We drove all over that day we went to the Hukilau Cafe from 50 first dates. I was so excited to eat there but turns out they are closed Mondays. Such a bummer. Next we headed down the street to see the LDS Laie Temple. It was Beautiful!

  We then visited Turtle Bay, Sharks Cove, and this "private beach'. It was more like someones backyard but I was told I'd see my turtle there. Which I did!! I was so excited since the one I saw snorkeling was just for a quick second. Aren't they cute?!

   Last but not least we hiked Lulumahu Falls. It was quite the adventure to find this without a car.. I would definitely get one to get to the entry point of this hike. It was a longer but easy hike. The waterfall was amazing. 

 Big thanks to my family for watching Carter for us! My mom would have loved if we stayed another week!