The main thing on my mind tonight is the epic vacation that our family just went on to Hawaii. Becky was generous enough to take all of the GLEKS families on a Hawaiian cruise, and it was so much fun I can hardly describe it.
Our trip began on June 28th when we flew from Des Moines to Phoenix (almost 3 hours) and then from Phoenix to Honolulu (about 6 hours). Because of the time change, we arrived in the middle of the day, and we had to try and keep the kids up longer than usual. That was a long day, especially because the kids cried for long periods during the flights. On the day of our arrival, we did get to dip our toes in the ocean at Waikiki beach. That night we went out for dinner at Maui Brewing Company.
 |
| Nolan LOVED the beach at Waikiki. |
On the 29th the main thing we did was play at Waikiki beach. Both kids really had fun playing on the beach and in the shallow waves. Maxwell would be silly and bend over so that his head was on the ground and let waves splash his face. He stopped after getting mouthfuls of salt water a couple of times. We had a big pizza party for Becky that night to thank her for the trip.
On the 30th of June I took Nolan parasailing. I thought that parasailing was one of the most enjoyable things that I did in Hawaii. The view was spectacular. Nolan did get a little frightened when we were up at the very top, but overall he handled it well. We also boarded the cruise ship that day.
July 1st was our first day at Maui. We took the kids to Kaanapali beach, where we set up a rented canopy and beach chairs, and we enjoyed the beach most of the afternoon. The Gleasons did meet up with us there, and they went snorkeling. The let me try it for a while as well, which was a lot of fun. I even saw some humahumanukanukaapuaa while snorkeling. Elizabeth and I went to bed early that night because we had a big day planned for day 2 of Maui.
 |
| Elizabeth and Maxwell building sand castles at Kaanapali beach. |
On July 2nd, we woke up super early, like 1:45 AM. We hopped on a shuttle around 2:30 in the morning, which took us up around 10,000 feet above sea level on Mount Haleakala. The idea was to watch the sun rise from on top of the mountain. It was actually super cold up there, and we stood around in the cold for about 45 minutes before day break. Unfortunately, it was cloudy at that time, so all we saw were clouds at day break. Later on the clouds did lift some so we could see the sun, but it wasn't the true "sunrise". After that, Elizabeth and I went on a 7-mile downhill bike ride, and then we went zip lining. The very last zip line was quite long, and it was a lot of fun!
 |
| The view from Mount Haleakala once the clouds lifted. |
July 3rd we spent at Hilo on the big island. We bought tickets to the "Hop on, Hop off" bus, which took us to a variety of places around town. We saw Rainbow Falls, the Hilo farmer's market, a statue of King Kameamea, and we went by a row of old Banyan trees that were planted by famous people (I remember Babe Ruth and Amelia Earhart, and president FDR). On the night of the 3rd, our ship cruised past the active Kilauea volcano. That was spectacular to see in person, and it was probably my favorite moment of the whole trip.
 |
| Rainbow Falls |
 |
| Elizabeth with a yummy poke bowl that we split for lunch in downtown Hilo. |
 |
| The volcano is on the right, and where the lava flows into the ocean is on the left. |
On the 4th of July I went deep sea fishing with James, Christian, Emily, and Becky. It turned out to just be a 4 hour boat ride without any fish (or even any bites), but it was still fun.
On July 5th and 6th we spent time in Kauai. We drove the kids to Lydgate park on the 5th. The beach there was pretty rough, so we were not able to go swimming. On the afternoon of the 6th the ship cruised along the Na Pali coast, which was very beautiful.
Our cruise ended on the 7th, but we still had a day on Oahu before our flight that night. We did a quick tour of the Dole pineapple plantation and had a Dole whip (pineapple ice cream that was smooth and very sweet). We also stopped by the Polynesian Cultural Center, where Nolan got a temporary tattoo of a lizard.
