We had an awesome vacation to Hawaii. If you follow me on Instagram you've already seen lots of these pictures! I wanted to take the time to write a little bit more about our trip.
We left early the morning of July 3. The kids woke up excited and ready to go!
Kylee had thank you notes for Kent and me hidden in her backpack to give us on the plane. She was so appreciative the whole trip.
Kase had fun playing with some new blocks I had wrapped up to help keep him busy on the plane!
We landed in Hawaii at about 2:00 their time. The flights were good and the kids were awesome travelers.
We loved having a Jeep to explore in all week!
When we arrived at the hotel we all got leis. The kids just loved the first view of our hotel!
We hit the pool right away.
Kael was excited to find the water slide!
That night we had a welcome dinner to attend. We loved seeing the gorgeous sunset too!
There was some fun entertainment for the kids.
At first Kase wasn't so sure!
They made decorative fish out of banana leaves.
More sunset pictures!
The next morning we were all up early. Jet lag for sure! We took an early morning walk by the pool and beach. It was so peaceful.
Had breakfast in town at a cute little place. Kael loved his food!
Then we went adventuring! Found a secret cove- the kids really enjoyed spending time climbing on the lava rocks and watching the waves splash over. We found little fish in the pools, saw crabs- it was so fun.
Our own little paradise!
Getting knocked over by the waves.
Carwheels on the beach!
We had the whole place to ourselves!
Then we went to another cove and did some snorkeling. The kids didn't want to wear snorkel gear and we had brought their goggles so they just wore that and were able to see a ton! We later opted to say "goggling" instead of "snorkeling" and used that phrase the rest of the trip.
Yellow tang right up by the shoreline!
Back to the hotel for some poolside chips and guac. Yum.
And more swimming! Kael loved the basketball hoop.
And Kase loved seeing the fish in the pond! One morning he got to feed them! Another time he and I sat there for a full half hour naming the fish and watching them.
Later we took a (very hot) beach walk.
The view was amazing!
But we were all pretty hot so we went out for some Hawaiian shave ice. It was amazing. Kent and I had coconut ice cream at the bottom of ours- yum. Kase got red, white and blue for the fourth of July!
Later that night we had a sunset fireworks cruise. Kase had fallen asleep on the way there. He woke up for a couple pictures but pretty much spent the rest of the trip sleeping. Hilariously, he still says that was his favorite part of the whole trip!
All decked out for the Fourth!
The kids had so much fun. We had a great upper deck view!
The sunset was so pretty.
And seeing the fireworks while out on the water was something I will never forget!
The next day Kylee was so excited to wear her pineapple romper.
We went adventuring again- spotted this sign outside of the pizza place! Ha! We looked up and sure enough there was a giant mango tree!
I couldn't get enough of these gorgeous flowers we saw everywhere.
So we picked up a pizza and went to the beach.
The water was SO clear.
Can you see that black rock in the background? Later we all jumped off of it! Kael was the most excited to try it and went first. I got some videos but no pictures since it was quite a ways out. Kael loved it! Kent jumped off too. And then Kael convinced Kylee to try even though it was a pretty good swim just to get out there. Then she did it and loved it! She came back and convinced me to try! So I went too. Such a cool experience and Kael says it was his favorite part of the whole trip! He jumped 8 times!
It was a really fun afternoon. We also did a little goggling there.
That night we had our theme dinner at Maui Ocean Center.
It was so cool! We had the whole place rented out for the Edward Jones people. The kids got to make crafts all along the way.
And Kase was SO excited to see sharks! Six different kinds!
Later a scuba diver jumped in and we got a private showing of a shark feeding! He was even holding a sign that said, "Aloha Edward Jones"- so cool!
They also enjoyed the band with island music and more shave ice!
And cotton candy!
Kylee and I had fun at the gift shop. She picked out some fun bath salts as a souvenir!
Morning coffee with a view and my love.
Spent the morning at the pool!
Then we went on an outrigger canoe. This was Kent, Kylee and my favorite experience of the trip. The guides were so amazing- native Hawaiians who had so much information to share. We paddled out around the rocks then got to jump in and snorkel. We got to see sea turtles! Huge ones! Within arms reach!!! It was so amazing. We watched them for quite awhile.
Kase was too young to go, but he enjoyed his time in kids club playing blocks and learning about hula!
I kept taking selfies of us with tropical backgrounds. It was just so pretty everywhere.
We had lunch at a Mexican place in town that made everyone happy. That's a win!
Then back to the hotel for an ice cream social!
Kent had lost his sunglasses in the ocean earlier that day and was SO happy that someone found them and turned them in! Mahalo!
Kase found some pineapple plants at our hotel!
Kael loved cruising with the top down on the Jeep. He was an awesome navigator!
We spent one afternoon exploring La Perouse bay. We heard you could see dolphins there in the morning/evening but the only time we could make it was the afternoon so we didn't see dolphins. It was really cool to see the site of the most recent lava flow though!
Then we stopped by Big Beach. Just breathtakingly gorgeous. Huge waves too. The kids wanted to swim but it is the second most dangerous beach in all of Hawaii so we just looked!
Later we stopped by the cove we had snorkeled in before but the waves had gotten higher. Kylee got scratched up on the coral so that was a bummer but she handled it so well.
Went back to our hotel to have a relaxing evening. We loved watching the sunset there.
Kase and his to-go cup of Trix (we had picked up at the store earlier in the week and he literally at the entire box), spotting geckos. This was a highlight for him.
Also he loved running around the resort collecting the fallen plumeria flowers.
That sunset.
This night the kids joined in the sunset lighting ceremony! This guy ran all over the entire resort lighting the torches and blowing in the conch shell. It was really neat.
The next morning we did the Road to Hana. First stop was Turtle Beach! All of those things behind the kids are giant sea turtles, not rocks!
We got some awesome, lush jungle views! The kids loved me telling them about how part of Jurassic Park was filmed here!
Waterfalls!
Kael was ready to hike anywhere and everywhere.
He found a $20 bill on the side of the road!
It was pouring rain most of the day but that didn't stop us from getting out of the car. This is a place where supposedly there are a lot of sharks. Kase kind of wanted to see one but I know he would have been terrified if we had!
This banana bread was so, so good. Served warm- yum! We ate two loaves in a matter of minutes!
And we had a pineapple orange smoothie too.
We found a neat cave to hike in.
Kase didn't want to go all the way through but Kent, Kylee and Kael did. Cool banyan tree roots!
Isn't it gorgeous here!
Kent wanted to hike closer to a waterfall but it was pretty slippery. He fell down but was thankfully ok!
The bamboo was so cool!
It was a fun, adventurous, wet day!
Here was Kase's favorite spot to hang out, literally, in the hotel.
We had dinner at a place that had surfboards for tables!
Went souvenir shopping. The kids all had their own money to spend and imagine my surprise when Kael snuck away and returned holding this for me! He had spent his own money on a gift for me. So, so thoughtful.
More geckos!
A sunset swim.
Patterson stack!
And Kylee did a little triathlon training!
The next morning we went on a mission to find Kase a sea turtle in the water. The rest of us had gotten to see them up close when we went canoeing but Kase hadn't swam near one yet.
Success! We found some right near our hotel beach!
This is a view of our beach with Kael standing near the water.
Kent and Kase had fun building a sand castle.
Then we rented a boogie board!
Fun way to spend the morning.
Got cleaned up and went into Lahaina. Front street was pretty cool!
Had a fun lunch with a great view at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Then visited the Banyan Tree. It's huge! It takes up a whole city block!
Kase is pretending to be sad because he wanted to climb the trees so badly but it wasn't allowed.
Then we got ice cream and strolled back to the car.
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Kylee and her colorful mango ice cream! She also got several comments from locals on her rockin' shades.
We kept on exploring the North side and went to Honolua Bay where we heard the snorkeling was pretty good. It was quite a hike down though so we just watched.
Then we went to the Nakalele blowhole.
We didn't get to close and for some reason I can't find a photo but the water shot up so high! Super neat!
Kase loved wearing his pineapple shirt.
It was a cool show! A fun way to wrap up our trip.
The next morning Kase had breakfast on the patio while we waited for everyone to wake up.
Then we had a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel and went swimming one last time!
Good-bye, beach!
Dressed in our Iowa gear to head home! We had several people shout, "Go Hawks" to us in the airport so that was fun.
We ate at Fred's one more time because we knew it would be awhile before we had a regular meal again!
Kael loved his steak and shrimp taco.
We walked across the street to a playground and while the kids played, Kent and I wandered over to the beach and saw a few more turtles!
Then, we hit up the food trucks for Kent. He had been wanting to eat at one but I knew it wouldn't be food the kids loved.
But he really liked his shrimp! We had seen this place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives the other night and were excited to check it out!
Lastly, with a couple hours to kill, we went and saw Ant Man and Wasp. It was nice to sit in the cool movie theater before heading to the airport!
Kase fell asleep before we even boarded the plane and slept the whole way to Phoenix! In fact, we had to wake him up a few hours later to board our plane to Des Moines! The rest of us didn't sleep great but the kids hung in their so well considering what a long day of traveling it was.
It is so good to be home! What a trip of a lifetime it was though!
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