Hawaii Trip 2016.....Day 1 & 2!!

Richard surprised me in January with a trip to Hawaii. He had booked it online and I found the papers on the floor by the door when I came in. He called to me and asked me to bring the papers to him. Me, being the curious person I am, picked it up and was reading it while I was walking toward the office. I stopped and looked at him and asked if he was teasing me. Then I started jumping up and down and screaming!! He smiled!! I was super excited to go! He is such a sweet heart. It is to celebrate our 15th Anniversary!

The big day was May 4th. We were flying out of Calgary at 6:20am. So we decided to go up on the 3rd and stay over night. That was on a Tuesday. My whole plan was to have everything cleaned and organized and ready to go. I had Monday and Tuesday to finish things up. But instead I had Abbi home with strep throat and Cadence home with Tonsilitis. I got as much things done as possible. Then we woke up Tuesday morning and Abbi and Cadence were good to go to school. They were both on antibiotics and feeling better. I then looked at Leia and noticed she had a HUGE open sore on her back. So I ended up running her to the vet in Cardston. I did my bus run and got a call from Brianna saying DJ wouldn't get on their bus. The bus driver left them on the trampoline with her phone and she went and got the last 2 pick ups and was coming back to get them. Say what??? So I talked DJ into getting onto the bus and I'd wait for him. Sheesh. Kendell (the bus driver) noticed that Richard wasn't home so she didn't want to leave DJ. Which was nice, but I told her to call me next time and leave him. I was 5 minutes away. Crazy boy. So he was with me that day. We ran Leia to Cardston and then came running back and ran DJ to the doctors. He was not feeling good. He just had a really bad cold. Leia ended up being put on antibiotics too. Sheesh. I got some allergy medicine for DJ. So we were leaving 2 kids on antibiotics, 1 on medicine and 1 dog on antibiotics. Oh my goodness! It was an insanely, crazy day! But then after my bus run in the afternoon we were ready to go. We gave all the kids huge hugs and kisses and said good bye. Shelly was here and ready to take over!

We made it to Calgary with my mom and dad and Megan and Chris. We checked into the hotel and was ready to go to bed. I couldn't wind down and go to sleep though. So it was after midnight that I finally fell asleep. We woke up at 3:30, so we were downstairs ready for our shuttle bus at 4am. And our journey began. We flew from Calgary to Denver and then had to wait for 3 hours for our connecting flight to Hawaii! Then we had our 7 hour flight to Hawaii. Longest flight ever! But we were finally there! Yay!

Chilling at the Denver Airport!

And there is our plane almost ready for us to board.

More relaxing going on!

So we got there and got our bags. We arrived around 2:30pm. Which should of been 6:30 our time. There's a 4 hour difference. Everyone else got on a shuttle to go get there rental cars together. We rented our from a different place. Richard kept saying it was across the road, but all I could see was a construction site. I didn't believe him! Ha ha! So we got on a shuttle with a bunch of people that said Enterprise. The guy drove us around the airport 3 times....no joke. Then he pulled up and dropped us off and it was right across the street....just a little bit down from where we were standing. Ha ha ha....oops! I guess I should of listened to him. But we got our car.....which ended up being a Jeep Wrangler. It was kind of cool. We could take the top off of it too!

Coming down the escalator in the Airport! We made it!!

We met everyone at Costco where we shopped for some food for the week. We took turns of when we were to cook supper. Then we got some pizza's there and ate outside at Costco. By this time we were all pretty exhausted. So we took off to find the house that we rented. It was on the other side of the island. We rented a house in Laie. We were across the road from the ocean. We got there and all got settled in. Richard and I had a bedroom, as did mom and dad. Tom and Carol had the master suite with their two daughters. Then Megan and Chris slept on the couch that pulled out in a bed. It was a nice place. We all ended up going to bed around 8:30. We were so exhausted!!

Driving out of Honalulu towards the North Shore. It was raining really hard. But everything looked so green and pretty!

I woke up around 4am to Roosters crowing. It was a little annoying. We closed our windows and I fell back to sleep till around 5:15am. Then I was wide awake. So was Richard. I quietly opened our door and saw that everyone was awake. Crazy time change. Some of us decided to walk over to the beach and watch the sun rise. So away we went. It was so pretty. I love being by the ocean. We took some pictures and then Jessica and I took off for a run. I wasn't going to do it, but it was so cool to run right by the ocean. We ran for a bit and then turned around and came back. It felt good. By then I was all sweaty so I jumped into the ocean and went for a little swim. It was awesome!

Johanna, Dad and Jessica doing a crazy jump on the beach! Ha ha!

Chris, Megan, Carol, Johanna, Jessica, Dad and me doing a crazy jump! Lol!

The pretty sun rise. Love it!

We headed back to the house. Richard had gone back to bed and was still sleeping when we got there. I went back and got something to eat for breakfast. Everyone else was packing up to go back to the beach for the morning. I waited for Richard to wake up and then we headed out there too. It was so fun to be on the beach. I took the boogie board out in the ocean and went for a swim. I ended up going way out there. I guess I scared mom, because she couldn't see me. But I was OK. I came back. I was tired by then! Ha ha! Then I relaxed on the beach. Richard enjoyed laying on the beach and exploring around. He wasn't up for swimming in the ocean, which was fine by me! I was laying there and look up to see what looked like a bunch of spiders running away. I then realized that it was crabs. It was crazy. They were all down the beach. But if we got close they would dig down into the sand. It was super cool! By then it was lunch time, so we headed back and had lunch and got ready to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). We had all bought our tickets at Costco, which was a lot cheaper!

Richard laying on the beach! Don't you love his Hawaiian shirt?!

Jessica and Johanna were going out to try the boogie boards!

Mom Dad and Megan on the beach.

My sandy toes by the surf!

Look closely, there's a crab in the middle of the picture.

The beach that we were on. We were basically the only ones there. It was so nice!

So away we went to the PCC. It opened at 12pm and we got there around 1pm. It was a couple miles down the road from where we were staying. We got there and they booked us all in together as one group. That way we could go to the Luau together and sit together at the Night Show too! Before we went into the PCC Richard and I looked around at some of the shops. I found a super cute dress I really liked. We decided to come back another day.

Richard in one of the shops by a cool looking Beetle!! Ha ha!

Then we went into the PCC. We went to a lot of different villages. I should of written down the order that we went in. But I didn't. I have a hard time remembering each tribe but I will try. The first tribe we went too was New Zealand. They have amazing singing voice......very loud. We watched them sing some songs and play some cool games.

Richard just as we were walking into the PCC!

Then we went off to another tribe. I think it was Fiji. As we were sitting there watching I noticed a little boy standing in a back door way waiting for the signal when he was suppose to enter. He looked adorable. I got a cool picture of him. It was neat to see the difference in each tribe.

The cute little boy!

Enjoying my time with my sweetheart!

Then we went to the Parade of the Tribes on the water. They would each come down the river on a big raft where they would do their traditional dance. It was so cool to watch. But before it started we got to eat an Hawaiian treat. It was sherbert with fresh fruit all over it. It was delicious and it helped cool us down. It was a super hot day so it was nice to eat a refreshing cool treat!! Then we watched the parade.

Yup one of the paddlers fell off the raft!

After the parade Richard and I lost track of each other! Ha ha! It's easily done when there's so many people. I thought he was behind me and he thought I was following him. Oops! I texted him and he told me he was at the Tonga tribe. So away I went. I found him there and we got to watch a cool show of them playing these huge drums. They got 3 volunteers and they went up and had to do whatever they were told on the drums. It was hilarious. So funny. I was laughing so hard that my sides were hurting. So funny!!

Here's the 3 volunteers! So funny to watch!

Then we met up with my parents and Megan and Chris at the Tahiti Tribe. As we sat down my phone started ringing and it was our kids facetiming us to say good night. It was just as the tribe was showing us how a Traditional Wedding went. It was kind of like a play. So I told the kids to be quiet and asked if they wanted to watch. They said yes. So I turned the phone around and they watched for about 10 minutes. It was cool that they could see it. I then whispered that we would call them back. Then we finished watching the Traditional Wedding. They had us all stand up and renew our vows (just pretend)! But it was cool!

Chris, Megan, Mom, Dad and I with someone from the Tahiti tribe. We had to take this picture and send it to Trayden. He's on his mission in Tahiti!!

The tribe leader to marry the couple.

There they are! The married couple! So cool to watch!

Then we found a shady spot on a bench and called our kids back to say goodnight. I love Face time. It helped make leaving them for so long easier. They were all happy and excited to hear what we have been up too. Then we kissed them good night (I would actually kiss the screen), which they thought was hilarious! Then we hung up!

After we finished talking to the kids, we slowly made it to another tribe. We got there in time to watch the show start. The guy that was talking was pretty hilarious. He had such dry humour that it made it funny. He would look at us and would say, "Say it, come on say it." Then we would all repeat what he said. So funny! They had someone do a fire dance and then another climbed a coconut tree super fast. It was cool.

After that show we had about 45 minutes before our Luau started. I was tired and didn't feel like walking to another tribe.  I should of went back to bed....instead of going for a run at 5am. Ha ha! It was catching up to me, I should say most of us. So we relaxed and found some shade. Then we took some pictures together by a waterfall.

Most of us girls all together. We were missing mom. We couldn't find her or dad!

Then it was time to go to the Luau. We went all together. As we were walking in they put a Laie on each of us. It was real flowers too. So cool. They walked us to our table. The place was huge. They had someone on the stage that welcomed everyone and was the host for the evening. When we were there on our honeymoon, Richard and I got a cool smoothie in a pineapple. They were selling those again. So, of course, we had to buy one. Yummy! Chris and Megan got one too! Then they showed us where they cooked the pig and they brought it to the stage so we could all see it. Then it was time to eat! It was delicious!

Chris and Megan looking so cute together!

Richard and I!! Love him!

Mom looking so beautiful!

Megan and Chris with their cool pineapple drink!

It was a delicious smoothy!

This is just some of the people at the Luau!

Here they are getting the roasted pig out.

There is the roasted pig.

Here's my plate of food. The purple thing is actually a bun. It was delicious!!

They served it like a buffet. We could go back and get as much as we wanted. I tried a whole bunch of different, and delicious food. As we were eating they put a show on for us. As we were finishing they called up to the stage all the people that came to Hawaii to celebrate their Anniversaries. I think that this is what Richard was waiting for. He jumped up and grabbed my hand and took me up to the stage. We were one of the first ones up there. There was a lot that came up. Then they sang a song as we danced together. I loved it. Reminded me of our Honeymoon. Love Richard so much! It was fun! They had a few more things on the program then it was over. It was a fun Luau!

There's Richard and I in the middle of the stage. A lot more people came up.

Dancing together. It was so nice!

This is a 14 year old girl that did an amazing fire dance show.

We then headed over to the stadium for the Night Show. I was excited to watch the show. I remember it being so amazing. And it didn't disappoint! It was so cool. No pictures though, we weren't allowed to take any. By the time the show was over it was about 9:30pm. Mom and Megan and Chris came home with us because dad took off before the show started. It had rained while we were in the show. The bad thing was we had the top down on the jeep. We got out there and Megan got in the back and was sitting there at the same time Richard grabbed the top and flung it over. Well Megan got a HUGE wake up call with cold water landing right in her lap. It was so funny. We were all laughing so hard. We got home and I went right to bed. I was so tired!! It was a busy, fun day!

Waiting for the Night Show to start. I bought a chocolate bar hoping it would give me some needed energy. We laughed at what it said on the wrapper....."SLEEPY"!! Yup that described me perfectly!!