Hawaii Part 1 - Waikiki, Oahu

Where do I start with this trip? It was suppose to be one of our best vacations - M had planned almost every detail of this trip and it was going to be awesome. This trip is so hard to categorize. Did we have a good time? Yes, but there was a dark cloud hovering over us. Did it suck? Yes, but we were in one of the most beautiful places in the world and it was still our vacation. In the end we made it work and managed to have as much fun as we can under the circumstances.

The first leg of our trip was to California to drop the boys off. They were going to stay with my parents for 9 days while M and I enjoy our trip with no kids in Oahu and Maui! 

Settling into our seats.

I finally got to watch Beauty and the Beast!

We flew right over Maui to get to Oahu. So beautiful and blue!

Lunch on the beach at Duke's. I have to say that I was grumpy when we arrived because I was hungry and had a headache. This poor guy was trying so hard to accommodate me. Love him.

We spent the rest of the day hanging by the pool and in the beautiful waters of Waikiki. It is one of the best beaches because you can go out in the water for 400 yards and still be in waist-deep. I love all the pink.

We stayed at the historic Royal Hawaiian - one of the oldest hotels in Hawaii. It's also known as the Pink Lady and is one of the few pink hotels in the world.

It was so pretty. I love that you can be indoor and outdoor at the same time everywhere you go.

This is the outdoor hallway leading to the pool area. Gorgeous.

A view of our hotel from a pier we walked to.

We had the perfect view of Diamond Head. Look how beautiful the was is!

The night we arrived, we had dinner at one of the restaurants at the hotel.

Next morning, we went to Island Vintage Coffee for their famous Acai Bowl. It was delicious.

We were up at 5 in the morning and got to this place when it opened at 6. This was our view at about 6:30 in the morning. People sure are out and about early in Waikiki.

Loved having breakfast with this guy.

Then we headed out to the pool and pretty much stayed there the rest of the day with breaks to the beach. Morning coffee + a good book = happiness. I finished 4 books on this trip.

We went up after our day at the pool and got dressed for dinner. Dinner was lovely. Little did we know that the next will completely change our trip.

The plan was to enjoy a tour of Pearl Harbor, more of the beach and pool, and a delicious dinner. However, as we were getting ready to go to breakfast, M got a call from his boss and found out that he was being let go. I don't want to dwell on the negative so I'm not going to over the details of our emotional state, but needless to say, our trip was now covered with a dark cloud that followed us.

We quickly cancelled all our dinner reservations and found ways to eat as cheaply as we can. We went ahead and took the tour of Pearl Harbor, but probably did not enjoy it as much as we should. We were kind of going through the motion. It was not for lack of trying.

We took a bus to the Harbor and then a ferry to the Memorial.

The Memorial was built over the USS Arizona. This is one of the tower where one of the big gun was.

Here's a model of the Memorial.

The next couple of days, we walked around Waikiki, hung out by the pool and beach. One good thing about having to tighten our budget was that we found some good cheap places to eat that we other would not have known about like the ramen bar.

By the time we were scheduled to leave Oahu for Maui, we were so ready. We were ready for change of scenery and ready to leave this place behind. We were excited to head over to Maui and hoped that our mood would improve - and it did.

This and That

Phew! A little catch-up post before we head out to California tomorrow morning. It's been awhile since I've post about our little corner of the world. 

My friend Jodie and I went to a wine party last Thursday. I had no idea what it was about and found out that it was actually a multi-tiered marketing event. Not our cup of tea, but we had so much fun because we met up with some of our other friends and just enjoyed each other's company and the wine that we brought with us :-) 

The house where the party was at was very museum-like and just gorgeous. Lots of modern furniture and art.

The next day, I packed up the kids and met up with a some friends at Hawaiian Falls. The kids loved it! This was our first time there and it was perfect-lots of little slides for the little kids and big slides for the big kids. Mark was brave and enjoyed the big slides with the big kids as well.

The big kids.

The little kids.

Some big kids and some little kids. It was impossible to get them all in the picture at once.

Mark and Tristan. They've been friends since Mark was two.

Mark went on this ride with the big kids like 5 times.

Waiting in line with his big brothers. Such a big boy!

On Saturday, Michael had his soccer signing with Liverpool. He was so proud. I'm not sure who's more excited about next season - His dad or him...

One Sunday, Michael got invited to go to BSR Cable Park in Waco with his friend Michael. He had a blast and couldn't wait to tell us about it when he got home.

My friend Jodie sent a ton of videos of Michael doing flips off the slides. She's so sweet and great at documenting all her events.

On Monday, Mark had his annual check-up where we had to catch up on his shots. He had to get 4! But he was so brave and didn't even cry. I was also proud on how he answered all the questions the 

doctor asked with confidence! As of 7/3, he is 42 1/2 inches tall and weighs in at 39 lbs. Tenth percentile in both height and weight.

Getting his vision screening done.

Waiting for the doctor

Later that evening, we celebrated 4th of July at Stars and Stripes at our town square which is a tradition that we started last year and hope to continue on after the boys go off to college. Our plan was to have dinner, walk over to the movie theater to see Cars 3 and then go out to our spot to enjoy the fireworks. Unfortunately the service at the restaurant we went to was at a snail's pace and we ended up missing our showtime so we just walked around and enjoyed the Stars and Stripes festivities.

The fireworks show was awesome! Can't wait until next year!