Aloha!

 In January I found out that my parents and my brother/his family were headed to Hawaii in April.  When the opportunity came up for me to tag along I couldn't pass it up.  Brad stayed home with the kids and I was off! I was able to see and do so many cool things!  My first time seeing a REAL palm tree, first time swimming in the warm ocean, first time snorkeling and seeing cool fish.  LOTS of 'firsts'.  First time leaving my kids :(
Here are just a few of the highlights :)

What I didn't expect when I landed in Hawaii was that we would be
in the middle of a lava field.  

Brought Brad home some Frosted Ass Donkey Balls.  Umm so yummy :)

I found out that a must stop on Ali'i Dr. was to get shaved ice.
These were a size small, they were delicious!

I was forced had the privilege of eating a local breakfast.  Called the
Loco Moco it is rice with a beef patty then a fired egg topped
with gravy.  Just what everyone wants first thing in the morning.

Sporting our Olamau shirts.  www.olamaurace.com

This picture makes me laugh.  First the look on Payton's face-priceless, and the fact that I am about to see how it feels to lose all sense of which way is up while getting tossed in the wave. I wasn't even planning on going in but was peer pressured into it.  Happy I did.  It was a blast!

Beautiful Pololu Valley

After our hike to the beautiful black sand beach at Pololu we stopped in Kohala for some fruit smoothies and to take in the surroundings.

I will never look at my Vancouver Island beaches the same.  Nothing
compares to the beaches in Hawaii!!

One of the coolest things we got to do while there was going
zip lining.  We zipped through banana trees, over valleys and best of
all over a HUGE waterfall!  Something I will never forget!

Walking through banana trees

Soared right across that waterfall in the back ground.  

Beautiful Akaka falls

Place of Refuge
Honaunau Park

Add caption

After we went to Place of Refuge we slipped into the water for a quick snorkel .  There
were tons of Yellow Tang fish!

We went to the outdoor market in Kona.  You could pretty much buy anything
there.

Our condo is the bottom left corner.  

My last day there we went to Waialea Bay to get in some last min snorkeling .
This is Dad relaxing in the shade.

We had been on the lookout for an octopus since our very first snorkel.  On the VERY last day I was there at the VERY last moment Rick managed to catch one.  It was SO soft and the feeling of its tentacles was pretty weird on my hands

After a week in paradise it was time to head back home to see my family.
I hopped on a plane Thursday night a got in to Vancouver at 6:30 am on Friday.
Then after killing a few hours I hopped on a float plane from Vancouver to Comox.
The kids were pretty excited to see me but I think they were more excited to see what I
brought them home.  They are all sporting their new shirts, necklaces and lei's.  It
was an awesome trip.  I already have plans to go back, this time with my family in tow :)