Hawaii!!!!

So some of you may know but Rob and I just got back from a trip to Hawaii...it was amazing! My wonderful mom came in for the week to watch Brooke, Julie helped too, THANKS you guys. It was so nice going not having to worry about Brooke. If anyone knows me you know I have wanted to go to Hawaii for a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY long time and it actually happened. We had the frequent flyer miles and Rob won a raffle through his work so it was basically a no-brainer and free. So three and half weeks after wining the raffle we were off to Oahu and Maui. It was so much fun!!! We were able to spend a whole week in Hawaii and it really is paradise. So seriously here is a photo overload! I figured I would count this as my scrap booking so I have posted TONS of photos. So if you are bored with Hawaii photos just skip to the next entry to see what we have been up to in Jan., Feb., and March. Aloha!!!.

When we were landing on Oahu, Wed afternoon at 2:00 pm (non-stop flights are the best) We flew over a rainbow, my first time ever flying over a rainbow. Then when we landed there were a couple of rainbows, so beautiful. One of the rainbows actually ended on a beach we drove past on the North Shore. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to look for the gold!

We stayed at a condo, right on the beach about 5 min. from the PCC. It was a nice area and I loved staying on the North Shore...fewer tourists.

Some photos from a lookout right near where we stayed.

I love this tree.

On Thursday, we went to this garden. It was beautiful and it was fun to see all the flowers and trees.

Rob pulling a face on our way of the the gardens.

We went to the Dole Plantation on Thursday as well. They have the best ice cream ever! It was fun to see the pineapples acutally growing and pineapples from Hawaii are now my most favorite fruit...so sweet and juicy.

Me enjoying the icecream!

Thursday Night, we went to the PCC. It was so much fun. I wish we would have had more time to spend there, especially if we had kids with us. There was just so much to do and a lot of it is hands on.

Do you like my tattoo? We were going for a Napoleon Dynamite pose.

The coconut tree climber.

We went to the Luau in the evening before the night show. If food was yummy but this drink was my favorite and I loved how it was served.

Isn't it pretty?!

Rob and I waiting for the signal that the buffet is ready. We sat by people from KY and Canada.

Us walking to the Night Show.

The night show was awesome! and they serve these ice cream Delights things that were so tasty...a bummer that they still don't serve them in pineapple bowls (like they did when Rob went to Hawaii the first time) but still good.

Friday we went to Pearl Harbor and Wikikki and did some shopping.

A clock they found aboard the USS AZ frozen in time the moment the ship sank.

The anchor from the USS AZ.

Us aboard the Memorial.

They Memorial as we were leaving.

Oil leaking from the ship. They refer to it as the "tears from the soliders."

It was a really neat experience to be able to go to Pearl Harbor. We did a headphone tour and were able to hear some more details about the events that took place that day.

On Saturday, we went to Kualoa Ranch and did an ATV tour. It was incredible. We did the hour tour and were able to ride our ATV's back to some movie sites.

It was pretty windy the whole time we were there but the views were amazing and I loved riding the ATVs. Not a huge thrill for Rob but I thought I was pretty daring.

A little out of order, above is Hanauma Bay. We went to snorkel Friday after noon after shopping and Pearl Harbor. I couldn't stand it. It was my first time wearing flippers and I thought I was going to drown. It was REALLY windy so a lot of the sand was being swashed around. I saw four fish and it freaked me out...The water was deep where I was but it was fun practicing how to breathe in snorkel gear before going to Maui.

Saturday afternoon we island hopped over to Maui. I loved Maui. We went grocery shopping Saturday Night and then just to our Beach Resort. We stayed at the Napili Kai, on Napili Bay and it was BEAUTIFUL! I would stay there again and again. We did the Road to Hana. That road is worth it but be prepared for windy, windy, slow roads BUT BEAUTIFUL scernery. I had a book that told us different places to stop and the photo below is one of them. It was pretty lame and pointless and I would never recommend that book but there were tons of other spots that luckily we found or other people hiking told us about.

We only made it a few miles over halfway, the curves were getting to me. But we stopped at a waterfall that had restrooms. The first waterfall was fine but then we saw some people hiking and they told us about a waterfall that was BIGGER a few minutes up the hill. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! You had to hike in the forest, use a bridge that was 20 ft. about the ground. And the waterfall was beautiful!

Here I am hiking. You can't tell from the photo but it was really high and I was fairly nervous, but again I did it.

Rob swimming in the waterfall. The water was cold and this waterfall was pretty strong so I didn't stay in for too long (I'll post a funny video about it) but Rob swam around for a few minutes. There were a couple people there that told us about another waterfall so we decided to hike to that one too.

The big waterfall, don't you just love my face.

The bridge above and other shot of the waterfall below.

When we turned around Rob found this great lookout spot. It was incredible and there were waterfalls in the distance.

See the little white church by the ocean...so pretty.

The view was so much better than this photo but hopefully you get the idea.

So these next few photos are the 2nd waterfall that we went to. It didn't have nearly as much water rushing over the edge but it was so tall (so tall). Because the water was not as strong, however still cold, I decided to jump in for a longer swim.

It was about a 15 minute hike over these rocks along the riverbed.

A view of the waterfall at the top.