Our First BIG Family Vacation....

Oahu Hawaii December 2012:
We finally made good on our word to kaylin that we would take him to the beach in Hawaii! It was such a great vacation and one to never be forgotten, we made so many family memories and I loved watching my boys have the time of their lives with new things they have never gotten to do or see before!
We wanted this time to just share with each other together, our lives always seem so busy and on the go that Nick and I felt like it was time to just spend "time" with the boys before their new baby brother makes his way to our lives. Most all of our time was spent on the North Shore, that's our favorite place and the only place to stay when on Oahu. (in no order)
Here are the fun high lights of our trip to Hawaii a place that is our second home!

First full say we hit the beach of course, we took the boys to Sunset Beach one of our many favorites as well, the boys loved it, kiptin dove right into the sand and was in heaven. kaylin wanted to go right into the water with dad and do some boogie boarding for the first time!



We took the boys to the battle ship, that was a must on kaylins list and he loved seeing how BIG it was and walking all through it!


We wanted to boys to see the Byodo-In Temple since they love to feed animals that was a good place to start. They loved Ringing the Huge Bell, feeding the big koi fish, the black swan and the many birds.


Breakfast at the Hotel is a must for me, it is so yummy and full of everything you can think of and the best fruit and passion fruit juice on the planet!


PCC was our next stop, though it was a very wet rainy day we still loved it. Kaylin got called up on stage at the Samoa island to help with the drinking of the coconut water, he HATED it, he pulled all kinds of funny faces after drinking it, but he thought it was the coolest thing that he got called up to be the helper!
We got to make angel fish out of plants, the same leafs that they use to weave baskets, the boys loved those and they made them part of our Christmas Tree decor when we got back to the condo. Kaylin got to open a few clams and get mommy some new pearls, he got a pink ones, he was sad cause he wanted to get a black pearl so bad.


After our first sunday church meetings there we took the boys over to the temple grounds and had a blast there, they thought it was awesome that they could swing from the "swinging vine trees" and he loved climbing up in the huge trees with daddy.
We visited the visitors center and this was the first time I have gotten to see inside, it is by far the best visitor center i have ever been in, they have a little hut village in side and it was full of Christmas Trees which were so beautiful.


We had to stop by the Dole Factory and let the boys have some of the famous Pineapple Ice cream, they really liked it just like daddy, I dont care for it too much but a few bites is alright with me. We road the train and daddy and Kaylin went through the huge corn maze. Then we headed inside to get a bite to eat and kaylin really wanted to try another clam to open so we let him pick one out and he was such a lucky kid, he picked a clam that had TWO BLACK pearls in it and they were so so beautiful, it really made his day (and mine!!)



We went to the Bishop Museum and Sea Life Park, the boys loved both places as well!
At Sea Life park they got to see and touch a new baby sea turtle and some star fish and well as the cute dolphins, seals and sea lions, birds, turtles and kaylins favorite the sharks!



Kiptin was a lucky boy and got to have and spend his big day in Hawaii, he turned 3 years old while we were there. We wanted him to just pick out what he wanted to do and of course he said go to the beach and the pool. later we took him to the store and let him pick what ever cake he wanted to have and he chose some red and green cup cakes!


Turtle Bay Hotel Beach is the one we went to the most, its right where we were staying and they have a reef break off the shore line that breaks up the huge waves so it was safe for the boys to play in the water there. They dug a HUGE hole in the sand to play in and kaylin went out snorkeling with daddy for his very first time, he was super lucky to get to see a Sea Turtle while he was out not many people get to see them in the winter months and usually not their first time out either. It popped it head up for some air right in front of kaylin and then they watched him swim right under them!



Christmas a nice and quiet this year, which was a little strange not to have family and lots of noise around but it was so awesome to just get my 3 boys all to my self. The boys and I made cookies for Santa and kaylin drew him some pictures and left him some Chocolate milk, Santa even wrote a Thank You note back! We watched them open presents and then headed to the beach of course. Strange to sit in the sand on Christmas instead of playing in the freezing cold snow, but i rather liked it!



This time to Oahu I told nick we were GOING to find "Lanikai Beach" its in the worlds top 10 beaches for hawaii and i was so wanting to find it, it is also a private beach and not many people know about it or where to find it, it was tricky to find. It really was the most beautiful beach i have ever seen. on a really sunny day it would have been so amazing to see. the water was crystal clear and so smooth, the sand was as soft and white as could be, it was like walking on baby powder no joke. For sure this is my ALL TIME FAVORITE BEACH!!!



On our last beach day we took the boys over to Pounder Beach and yes its called that for a reason, the waves seriously pound you in to the sand. We found a spot that was fun for nick but still ok for the boys as long as we were with them, kaylin did get pounded one time and after that he was done riding the waves onto the sand :)
The boys played in the waves and dug one last HUGE sand hole to play in and they really loved jumping into the hole but had a really hard time getting back out of the hole since it was way deeper then them. kaylin had to boost kiptin out everytime and then find a way for him to climb out.
When we were about to clean up and get ready to head back home, i saw some huge thing waddling on the sand and saw that is was a Sea Lion!!! I yelled at nick to get out of the water and come see it with us and we all walked over to it, it was amazing to see a sea lion on shore with us just sun bathing and resting. They look so different when they are right from the ocean. It was so fun to see that and get to share it with our boys.




Before we headed across the island to the airport we took the boys to Waimea Falls and hiked up to the water fall. bad planning on my part cause the hike is 1 1/2 miles and then we had a 5 hour flight and another 1 1/2 hour flight after that, need less to say i paid dearly for all the walking with major swollen ankles.
The boys loved that water fall but kaylin wanted to swim so bad..i didnt think about that either and did keep out any clean cloths for him so he couldnt swim. They found a Peacock roaming around the grounds and loved chasing it and feeding it kaylins tuna fish sandwich.




Here are some random pictures from the trip that I love! Including some of our favorite yummy treats of the island which include: Malasadas so so YUMMY, Ted's Chocolate Cream Pie, Lilikoi juice, Chocolate Macadamia nuts, and lots of fruit!!!
On our way to the air port we took the boys through the H3 tunnel that goes right through the mountain, they liked that. The boys were also so excited that we got a 4door jeep and they loved riding every minute in it and told us we need to trade our durango for one...dont temp daddy boys he just might do it!







Our flight home was a red eye, we planned that so the boys would sleep for the flight and they did! Once we landed in LA we had to hurry to our next plan in the 15 minute window we had before it left so we ran across the airport to the next flight only to find it got delayed til 9 am, it was 5:30am at this point so we had a while to wait. we got some breakfast (i hate paying airport prices for food, $19 for a cinnamon roll and muffin and 3 drinks) we ate right by our gate so if they called it early to board we wouldn't miss it. we sat and sat and sat for hours. and then 8:30 rolls around and they gate still had not changed everyone still waiting and by now they should be boarding us. I watched a guy go over and ask a lady what was going on and she said "oh that flight got cancelled, you have to go to customer service to find another flight out" WHAT THE *******...I was so pissed, we had waited and they never once announced that is was cancelled so everyone had to rush to a huge line that took nick almost 2 hours to get through to find us a flight to vegas, they told him there was no flights leaving LA to Vegas til 6am the next day. so we got a flight to San Francisco which we had to run too to make it since it was boarding already and it was the last one as well. Once we got to San Fran we asked if there were any earlier flights to vegas and they again said no only 2 more tonight and the first one is not til 6pm tonight....so we waited 7 hours in the airport, totally exhausted by this point and then once again our flight was delayed another hour. We finally made it to vegas at 11pm and i told nick in san fran that i was just sooooo done and needed some sleep, my legs where huge swollen and hurting and there was no way after being awake for the last 48 hours that i wanted to drive another 3 hours home..so we stayed the night in vegas and got some much needed rest!
The Trip was SUPER GREAT, getting back home NOT SO MUCH! but my boys did SOOO amazing they never cried on the flights or had any melt downs at the airports...thank goodness for modern technology that kept them happy and busy!

Once we arrived in cedar the first thing nick had to do it shovel the walk way so we could get out bags in the house!


Here to a very memorable Family Trip!!! Now its on to planning the next one!!!