Aloha from Hawaii

We decided that being married for 10 years was a pretty good reason to go on an awesome vacation...without the kids.  So, we planned a trip to Oahu for the first week of October and my amazing parents offered to watch the boys while we were away!  It was so nice to get away for a week with my best friend and just relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery! 

We started our trip with 2 nights in Waikiki.  Our first night we were so tired after traveling all day.  With the time change even though it was 7 pm while we ate dinner at a cute Mexican restaurant called Cha Cha Cha; in Utah it was 11pm and I felt like I was sleep walking! 

Unfortunately without kids around it was hard to remember to pull out the camera to take pictures.  So, on our second day we have this nice picture of us at a scenic stop somewhere.  We had spent that morning at the swap meet at Aloha stadium picking up some souvenirs and gifts. 

 That afternoon we went to the beach and Shafer tried his hand at boogie boarding.  I honestly had no desire, so after a nice swim in the ocean I spent the afternoon taking a nap on the beach and people watching, it was great!
The next morning we got up early, which again wasn't hard because of the time change, and headed to Haunama Bay for some snorkeling.  It was so beautiful there, we had a great time.  Especially after the instructional video that made us giggle all day! 

We spent some time getting used to the snorkel gear, then headed out into the bay to see what we could see.  It's amazing what's under the water, you just can't see it until you're in it!!  We saw some awesome fish and some with colors that I didn't think existed in nature, like florescent purple!  After a while in the water we were feeling pretty tired, so we kicked back and relaxed under a palm tree!

 We had one more go in the water after that, then decided to call it quits when we both were feeling a bit nauseated.  I guess floating with your face in the water while you bob up and down with the waves can make a person feel a little woosie! 
We watched an Asian family next to us literally have a photo shoot with different poses and the women kept changing sarongs.  It inspired us to try to pose more in our pictures for the rest of the trip to make our pictures more interesting and funny.  So, if you see any silly poses in the next few posts, you'll know why!

 After Haunama Bay we were done with Waikiki, the next 4 nights were spent on the North Shore.  We decided to take the long way there and drove up the Windward side of the island stopping at any beaches that seemed interesting.  This beach was our favorite, the sand was so soft and squishy.  It's amazing that so many people go to Waikiki and it's one of the worst beaches we spent time at on our trip.  This beach was maybe 1/2 hour away from there and the sand was amazing and there was only a handful of people there!  We spent this entire day in our swimsuits.  By the end I was anxious for a shower!!

 Shafer was jumping in the ocean at every beach we went to.  After a while I got tired of being wet and instead started on my mission of collecting shells for the boys.  It was the one thing they asked us for when we left.  It was so fun to see a less touristy side of the island! 

Next post: our time on the North Shore!