Hawaii Baby!

Hawaii Baby! May and June have been crazy around here! My Andie graduated from high school, Cassie just had her baby, and we have been coaching Lisa’s city softball team.

In all that craziness, we found the time to go to Hawaii baby! We have never been before and didn’t know what to expect! This is our adventure and how we did it.

Hawaii Baby!

It’s really hard to convince my hubby to go on a long vacation in the first place, so when we got a tax refund, we started planning! We tried to go through a travel agency and decided, for us, the best plan was to make our own arrangements. We found the cheapest flights through justfly. They show you different flight options and then you can choose the one the suits you best.

Hawaii Baby!

Looking at hotels, we couldn’t decide where we wanted to stay and my husband suggested that we stay at the Aulani. When you go with Disney, you usually know that it will be clean and family friendly, and it was! It did cost a little more than some of the hotels but it has a lazy river, 2 swimming pools, hot tubs, splash pad, a play structure and you could walk right down to the ocean from the hotel. We also loved that you could buy a cup and refill it as many times as you wanted in your stay.

Hawaii Baby!

We loved that there were only three hotels that shared our beach and it wasn’t overcrowded. The view was breathtaking! Across the street from the hotel there was a little shopping area, with several different restaurants. On the nights that we stayed at the hotel, we would just walk across the road and eat dinner. The prices were not crazy and the food was excellent! We couldn’t decide if we should rent a car or not, but since the Aulani is a little distance away from the rest of the action, we did. It was well worth it!

The first day of our adventures, we visited the Polynesian Cultural Center. My phone wasn’t charged, so I left it in the car and now, as a result of my action, I don’t have pictures from this fabulous day! This was one of my Andie’s favorite things that we did on vacation. I don’t usually want to pay for the tour guide but it was well worth it. He knew when the shows were going to start and we made it on time for all of them.

The next day, got on a little tour bus with uncle Fred, and visited downtown Oahu. The first stop, Hawaii Five O headquarters!

We went a little crazy with pictures of these trees but they were so cool!

I think everyone should take the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor once in their lives. It is so humbling to think of the sacrifice those men made for our country.

We also had the chance to visit the Missouri. When you take the time to visit things that are important to our history, it makes it feel so real.

After being outside constantly for a few days, we were a little burned. Mike rested while we went to the spa and had pedicures. It was exactly what we needed!

Our tour guide, Uncle Fred, suggested that we visited the flea market for our souvenirs and I’m so glad we did! We found amazing deals and were able to buy so much more because of the prices. I bought 7 T shirts for $20 for my grand kids! My girls were in heaven because I wasn’t saying “no” to everything they wanted to buy!

Andie loves Sushi and one of the locals that we talked to told us about this place that had the best sushi. It was authentic and took Andie a minute to love it because she is used to American style.

One of our last stops was the Dole Plantation! My older kids that have been to Hawaii told me that we needed to make sure we stopped here! It was a fun experience that didn’t cost a ton of money! Most people would love to stop by for a Dole Whip but my girls don’t love pineapple! We had a amazing experience and I love that we had the chance to visit!