This is what happens when you let Jackson dress himself.

fun with grandmas....

While we were in Hawaii, my mom kept the boys from the Sat before we left til the following Saturday.  On the Sunday we left, my mom took the boys to my grandma's house about an hour away to pick up my grandma to bring her to our house for an extra set of hands to help out.  While they were there, my mom let Jackson and his little cousin Mason play around for a little while,. Mason and Jackson are 2 mos apart.  Mason is all country and Jackson is much more city - so I figure as they get older, they will have plenty to teach each other.  

 My mom also sent me this picture in the middle of the week.  Both of the boys had nasty runny noses while we were gone, so they were a little lazy all week.  On Saturday, Ryan's mom and Aunt Corky drove down from Milwaukee and kept the boys on Sunday/Monday and Tuesday morning til we got home.  Then they hung out til Thursday morning, so we enjoyed getting to visit with them too!   A lot of preparation and planning went into making this trip happen.  I'm really thankful all the pieces fell into place and everything went so smoothly.  What a blessing for Ryan and I!!

Hawaii - Misc Pictures

Feet over ocean.

 

 Ryan looking at a map after driving the Road To Hana for about 5 hours.

 Breathtaking Maui Clouds over Mountains.

 I tried a Mai-Tai from about every place we went.... They were all so different and yummy but you have to drink them fast or they get watered down... :)

Pizza from Hula Grill

 Flower from the hotel / Old Lahaina Luau

 Shots with new friends!

 Hair gone wild.  :)

 Rocky Beach

 We had visitors to our balcony!

 This sweet elderly couple stood here holding each other watching the sunset for about 30 minutes.  It was a really sweet thing to watch - they were completely unfazed by anything else around them.. really made me smile.

Ryan's outrageous meal in the Big Island.

Maui, I miss you already.

Hawaiian Adventure - Last 2 days....

On Sunday, we had another lazy day planned - after a giant brunch, we rented cabanas again and just relaxed listening to the waves and reminiscing about our fun trip.  We opted for a light lunch by the ocean and that night, we drove out to Mama's Fish House in Paia for our last dinner in Maui.  Before dinner, we found a gorgeous lookout spot where the waves were huge and surfers were everywhere!

Monday morning, we woke up, packed and played a long game of coconut checkers - something they had set up at the hotel (we won't talk about how I lost) - and then we took off to see the north shore of Maui.  We decided it would be fun to be able to say we drove all the way around the entire island - what if there was something awesome up there that we needed to see!?  So we took off driving north.  Our flight didn't leave til 500p - so we had plenty of time.  We made one more stop at Ohana Tacos for lunch (Ryan claims they are the best fish tacos he's ever had).  The northern shore near Kapalua is just insanely beautiful - just like all of Maui, but I decided that this is where I want a vacation home... :)  Ryan was on a mission to see this blowhole that our helicopter pilot flew us by... Then we drove around these crazy windy one-lane roads - which made the Road To Hana look like a piece of cake - fortunately I didn't get carsick!  When we got back to the airport, we stopped at our last "must do" and Ryan had a cup of Hawaiian shaved ice at Maui's "#1 Restaurant" - Ulanini's - which is just a booth outside a strip mall but WOW!!!!!!  I only took 2 bites but boy, it was good!  Then, we set off home...

This was a trip of a lifetime.  We went big... really big on this trip.  We wanted to go on a really special trip that we had a chance to do anything we wanted without worrying about how much it cost - We saved up for 2 years to do just that. Ryan sold his camaro to help pay for it and I can honestly say, it was worth every penny.   We couldn't have done it without the help of my mom and Ryan's mom - who took vacation time from their jobs to watch our boys.  Ryan's mom and aunt drove all the way down from Milwaukee... I just can't thank them all enough. I'm so glad Ryan and I got to be together, just the two of us - just like we did 10 years ago when we came for our Honeymoon.  I do think, however, next time we'll fly the boys in w/ us and bring a sitter.  :-)  I really missed my boys!  Guess we better start saving again.... :-)

Hawaiian Adventure, Saturday, April 14

Ryan and I went to Hawaii 10 years ago for our Honeymoon.  We spent 3 nights in Maui and 5 nights in Kauai and we did a day trip to Oahu (Honolulu).  So The Big Island was the only island we hadn't been to (not counting the tiny islands of Lanai and Molokai).  So we decided to take a day trip to the Big Island.  We took a 6-seater-charter plane and the pilot was nice enough to fly really low over Maui so we basically got another helicopter-type tour!  It was incredible!!  It took about 35 min to get there and when we landed, I immediately saw the difference between the Big Island and Maui.... wow!  We flew into Kona- which is mostly lava plains and dry - very few trees - definitely not tropical.  We were on a mission to see the volcano and the Black Sand Beach, so we took off driving.  We flew in around 930am and we were flying out around 700pm.  We ended up seeing the smoke rising up from the volcano and we walked through a lava tube... we took pictures of the lava plains and the craters.  We ate at Hawaii's most southern bar (Ryan got some crazy food) and we tried local beers.  Lastly, we stopped at the insanely beautiful Black Sand Beach where several sea turtles were resting on the sand...

Regarding the Big Island, I feel like I feel about Oahu - I'm so glad we went but won't need to return... :-)