hawaii day 8-9... the last days!

Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27

nate wasn't feeling well saturday... he actually had a cold the whole time we were in hawaii. anyways, loni and jake were going to a bday party at the beach... so guess who went with them?! me :) nate stayed home to rest, while i soaked up some sun at lytgate beach. we had it literally all to ourselves! it was awesome!! after the party, i think we just went home and chilled? maybe we went to another beach, i honestly can't remember. guess that's the problem with waiting 2 months to blog about your trip. but that's beside the point! ;)

saturday nite we went to a place called sushi bushido to eat. we met our friends there. i was the only one at the table to get silverware. know why? bc i was the only one to order something OTHER than sushi! :D we ate upstairs in the loft area, and there was a band playing down below. it was a great little place, i loved the atmosphere. and we had some icecream ball things for dessert.. they were kinda good!

can't believe sunday was the last day of our trip!!! :(( so super sad. but we decided to make the most of it! we went to one last beach that we hadn't been to before, called mahalapu, or hideaways beach. can i just tell you, these north shore beaches are no joke. we had to hike down the steepest hill (mountain!) to get to the beach. seriously, it was crazy. but wow. we got there and it was again, perfect!! jon had taken his guitar, so he and nate played around some. i have to say that was def a first... a guitar on the beach. but it was fun!! jake went snorkeling a little, but i wanted to get some last minute hawaiin sun!! and i acheived my goal! i'm pretty sure when we left the beach that day, i was almost as tan as loni, and she's pretty dang tan :) we had to make the drive back home, and on the way we stopped at a cool souvenier shopped called hilo hatties. if you ever go to hawaii, check it out. they have great things at pretty affordable places! 

we had to rush home and pack pack pack!!! seriously, our room was a WRECK! how bout this... on the way to hawaii, nate and i shared a checked suitcase that weighed in right at exactly 50.0 pounds. that's AMAZING if you know us. we both like clothes, a lot! ;) so yeah... we had to borrow an old suitcase of loni's bc we had sooo much more stuff on the way home! and low and behold, it was a miracle that we could get it all in those 2 suitcases and our carryons! we had some flight drama, and had to fly delta from hawaii to la, b/c our other flight got cancelled. it was a blessing in disguise, b/c delta let us check TWO huge bags that were 50.0 pounds each (i'm telling you, we cut it so close!) for FREE!! :)) anyways. back to packing. after we got the car loaded, we went for one last dinner. i figured if i had a full belly, hopefully i could manage to sleep on the flight! we ate at an italian place and man, it was yummmy! i think it was called kp pasta or something? 

we made it to the airport, and on the plane. i took some meds to help me relax and sleep. i had heard the flight was horrible. but on the way there, time managed to pass by quick enough. and on the way back, i was actually able to sleep! we left hawaii at 8 pm sunday their time, which is 1 am monday our time. i got confused at all the time changes after that... but we arrived in LA at like 6 am. then we flew to denver, i think? and finally got home to birmingham at 2 pm!!! we had the sweetest welcoming crew meet us there, with posters and flowers, and fevers. :/ both kids were sick, but man we were glad to see them!!

all in all, amazing, incredible, beautiful, awesome trip... we went thinking it's a once in a lifetime trip, but we came home saying... we WILL be back!

hope you've enjoyed my ramblings... i'm sure noone really has read my novel of our hawaii travels, but that's ok.. i'm mainly doing this so i can look back and remember all the details!

ALOHA!!!!!

hawaii day 7

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friday, may 25, 2012

friday morning we headed out to the south shore again. we went to a super secluded beach called... wait for it... hideaways. imagine that! yep, another long hike down a small trail, and a beautiful beach appeared before us!! seriously we had it all to ourselves!! it was a gorgeous day. well i haven't really mentioned that, but all week the weather was PERFECT! in the low 80's, with little to no humidity! it was cloudy a few times, but we'd set out to our beach for the day, and by time we got there blue skies and sunshine. lots and lots of sunshine!! :D nate and i went walking on this beach and climbed up some huge rocks.. it was so peaceful to just look around at god's amazing creation. so relaxing to just soak in the beauty of it all! 

we then ate lunch at a cool little place with another amazing view. i think i got a burger to eat, and nate had fish tacos. and for dessert... HULA PIE! and ohmygoodnessgracious it was amazing! really it was just a HUGE slice of vanilla icecream with whip cream and chocolate syrup over it, but man it was good!! 

after lunch we went to a cool beach called glass beach. it was crazy... the beach wasn't really made of shells, but pieces of glass that had washed up. apparently after the pieces of beer bottles and such has swirled around in the sand and been pushed in and out from the tide, they were no longer sharp. it was crazy.. really pretty!! also we found the shadow tree.. we didn't really go late enough, so it was hard to make the cool shadows like we wanted to, but i think you get the idea in the few pics we did get!

loni and jake went somewhere with some friends that nite, so nate and i were on our own! we ate at brickoven pizza, delish of course! then we went into hanapepe for an artwalk. it was a small little town with stores all up and down the strip.. anything from books to paintings, jewelry and food... i'd maybe compare it to a homestead hollow or trussville dog dayz type deal. we bought a few more souveniers here. we also went on this crazy shake super scary *for me, b/c i'm scared of heights!!* swinging bridge! it's a historical marker.. and i can say i made it to the other side and back, and survived. didn't love it, was quite nervous... but i made it! :D after that we went for icecream... then met back up with loni and jake. and we ended the nite by catching up on watching the bachelorette. in hawaii... how cool is that?!?! :)) 

hawaii day 6

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thursday, may 24, 2012

so nate and i had been wanting to go into town one morning and eat breakfast somewhere yummy! so we did just that! you can see where we (he) got freshed brewed coffee, and my delish breakfast of french toast, bacon, and eggs! you know they say everything is more expensive in hawaii? it's true. our total bill that morning was like $35!! crazy... but good food. you only live once, huh? :)

we also went shopping in town... there was a super cool store that sold only homemade soaps and candles! they made them all right there. we bought lots of good smelling souveniers there! :)

we headed to the south shore after that. we went to shipwrecks beach... it's a popular beach to see the surfers do their thing! we went to eat at a local shopping center.. nate and loni both had some famous "puka dog" which is a hot dog cooked in the bun.. like the bun wraps around it and the filling goes inside. the only thing is it's a huge brat, not a hot dog. so i went next door and had an oreo milkshake for lunch... yummmmy! :)) again... you only live once! ha. 

that nite we met jake at smith's family luau. it was a place sorta like the botanical gardens, and we rode an open bus type deal and got to tour the place. there were huge beautiful peacocks strutting around everywhere! when they yelped, it sount like a cat meowing! also, there were roosters roaming free too! then we saw the guys taking the pig out of the ground! i forget what it's called, but it was a neat ceremony! we feasted on lots of good food (if you haven't noticed by now... we ate ALL THE TIME in hawaii... which is why i'm now trying to lose 5 pounds.. anyways!) after dinner, we watched a hula show. it was really cool to hear the story being told and see the hula dancers... guys and girls, boy could they shake it! :D we had a great time and i'm really glad we got to experience a for real hawaiian luau. it's nothing like i imagined it to be for sure! another end to another fun day!! 

hawaii day 5

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wednesday, may 23.

we went to the north shore this day. we went to queens bath... a super cool place to visit! we had to hike down the side of a jungle to get there, but stopped along the way to get our pic made by a waterfall! that was pretty cool! when we got to the bottom, it was like huge black craters everywhere. ok, so historically, i'm sure my facts aren't right. so that's what they looked like to me. maybe big lava rocks? you can see what i'm talking about in the pics! ;) anyways... it was beautiful. apparently it's usually calm and the water is up high enough that you can swim in parts of the little inlets. but the water was wayyy low, so no swimming for us. :/ but we did have a great time just seeing everything and being silly... imagine that! :)) then we went to hanalei for lunch... you know, like in the song from puff the magic dragon! we went to a lil mexican joint that was fun, of course it had a beautiful view! after lunch, we were going to try and rent some stand up paddleboards. what we didn't realize is that the waters were rough and the winds were really high. so noone was renting boards. kinda a bummer, but we went shopping, and i think we went to another beach? i know it was over a month ago, so my memory is failing me. :/ i can't seem to add more space for my pics, which is the main reason i haven't finished blogging about my trip. but whatev.. slideshow is better than nothing i guess! we had a great time at queens bath. i think we went back to the house and jon cooked us a yummy dinner that night...