Hawaii Vacation Day 1

I had promised our boys that I would take them back to Hawaii one day.  We moved away when they were only 18 months old so they don't remember it at all. When my visiting teacher, Pam Shumway, told me her son was getting married in Hawaii in late April, and the plane tickets were a good price, I begged Mario to go.  He reluctantly agreed after much persuasion and promising that this wouldn't delay us paying off our Venice home.  We felt bad because Eric wouldn't be able to join us because it was the week of finals.  But at the last minute, he was able to arrange his finals and go with us.  I'm so grateful it worked out for him or else I would have felt really guilty going without him. He had to come a day late to take one final but that worked out fine.

We left Monday, April 25 and after some delays, we made it to Hawaii around 7 pm.  We grabbed our luggage, hopped into a rental car, and headed to our favorite beach.  We had reserved a cabin at Bellow's Beach for the week.  Unfortunately it was dark by the time our plane arrived into Honolulu, so we couldn't really enjoy the beauty as we drove to our cabin.  We were exhausted because of the time difference (5 hours) so we went straight to bed.  There's nothing like sleeping in a cabin on the beach with all the windows open and hearing the waves roll in.  We slept so well.

The next morning, we woke up early and drove up to Laie to do baptisms with the boys.  It was about an hour drive.  I wish I had pictures and videos of the boys' wide eyes as we drove up along the two lane road squished between beautiful green mountains on one side and an amazing ocean on the other.  Th boys now knew why I called Hawaii, their birthplace, Paradise.

The Laie Temple is beautiful.  I still remember President Hinckley coming to Hawaii to dedicate the new entry into the temple.  After the very long prayer, Erin who was only 3 or 4, said very loudly, "Wow, that was a long prayer."  I'm sure even the Prophet heard her.  The boys weren't excited about starting their vacation off in a car for an hour long car ride to the Temple.  But it was important to me to show Heavenly Father my gratitude for allowing us to come back after so many years.  I thought it was the perfect way to begin our vacation.  I hope they agree with me.

After the baptisms, we headed to our favorite breakfast spot, the BYU Hawaii cafeteria.  Mario and I would trade off with the kids while the other went to the temple when we lived there.  One would take the kids to eat and the other would take the kids to the beach while we waited on each other.  The boys loved their giant pancakes with strawberries and whip cream.  Mario loved his local breakfast that included rice, a meat patty, egg, and gravy.  

After breakfast, we headed down to Waikiki for Mario and Zach to take a chartered fishing trip.  Nate decided at the last minute to join them.  I had to pick up groceries and get Eric from the airport, so I didn't go.  They said the fishing wasn't great, but they did see a whale so I would call it a success (even if they look slightly grumpy in that last picture.)

With a trunk full of groceries and Eric with us now, we headed back to Bellows for a BBQ and evening at the beach.  Mario and the boys were in heaven and would have been fine not leaving that beach until time to fly back home.  But they have me for a mother (and wife) and I had a plan to see everything.