Aloha!

Or I should say Aloooooo-Ha! We are back from the land of milk and honey AND sunburns. Hawaii... does it get any better than that!? Beautiful beaches, radiant flowers, friendly people, and slow driving. As for the whole relaxing bit... well did I mention that this was our first family vacation? ... Yaaaa, relaxing isn't what comes to mind when traveling with 3 kids, one being a napper, different time zone, red eye flight, ear infection with fever for 3 days, migraine (me), and did I mention 3 kids? With three kids, my husband and I at times felt more like Julie McCoy from the Love Boat, than relaxing vacationers. But seriously, I can't complain. Despite all of those factors, we still had a blast. Relaxing- no - fun - absolutely yes!
I especially loved hanging out with some friends of ours whom we hadn't seen in 9 years, and I would have to say this was the highlight of the trip for me. As I've mentioned before, my husband and I lived in Hawaii quite some time ago, and as beautiful as Hawaii is, the people are even more beautiful. It was as though we had never left our friends. They are the most natural, real, and warm people I have ever met. Friendships I will cherish forever.

Rather than going on and on about Hawaii and risk feeling like I'm on Survivor and just got back from a challenge reward (where I don't necessarily want to go on about how awesome the reward was for fear of being voted off), I'll just highlight some of the moments. But, I also can't pretend it was awful because we all know it wasn't.

• The plane ride over had a lot of turbulence. When we were descending into Honolulu we hit an air pocket that made everyone scream on the plane... including me. My kids, however, thought it was like a roller coaster ride and lifted up there hands and yelled "aaaaaaah" with smiles on there faces. They were clueless that death indeed could happen. I'm no longer a fan of flying.
  
• I ate a lot. I should say I ate a lot of Lampert's ice cream where they tell you they inject extra fat into their ice cream to make it taste even better. Where most ice cream stores try to say their ice cream is healthy, Lamperts doesn't and I like that =)
• My kids love to body board.
• I have a decent tan now.
• Love the luau!
• There was a Doctor on staff in the hotel, so we didn't have to go to the hospital to get an antibiotics prescription for my little guys ear infection.
• Spent 4th of July with friends on Kailua beach.
• Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.
• I sound Swedish when I try to speak pigeon "yaaaaah braaaa." =0
• The beaches are even more beautiful than I remember.

Here are some pics from the vacation...

Hawaii Kai

Hanauma Bay

Kailua Beach on the 4th of July.

My happy feet!

Cheers,

Jamie