Hawaiian family vacation!

We went to Oahu, Hawaii at the end of July with my family! It was such a fun trip, filled with a lot of fun. We stayed at the Ko Olina Marriott Resort which was so nice and so family oriented. Besides my luggage getting lost on the way there, my parents getting hit in their rental car, and always being either lost or in traffic we had such a great week. We made lots of memories and it is definitely a place we will look forward to going to again! Thanks mom and dad for such an amazing vacation, we can not even begin to say how grateful we are for all you do for us!

Day 1: Travel/Beach Day

Surprisingly Lydia and Audrey did AMAZING on the 6 1/2 hr plane ride. Not a single tear was shed and Audrey even got a nap in. I was so nervous about the plane ride and once we got going I was so relieved!

Auds hanging out with daddy!

We got there and my luggage hadn't made it to Hawaii with everyone else's so they gave us the go ahead to buy a few things that they would reimburse us for. So we grabbed dinner on the property (the rest of the trip we joked about the $18.00 burger) after dinner we hit up target and costco to get the essentials (Like Peanut M&M's...ha ha ha!) Audrey was obviously LOVING the fries!

We were so excited about the place we were staying...it was BEAUTIFUL!

The view from our condo

there is a cave beneath the waterfalls...Lydia LOVED it!

There were 4 pool, several hot tubs, a water slide, and then the lagoon you can see in the background.

Day 2: Beach and Costco Day

We woke up and headed the Aloha Stadium swap meet. We all found some good cheap stuff, and the best was we weren't going to get sucked into other more expensive things as the trip went on.

After we hit McDonald's for breakfast and then it was off to Costco to get meals for the week. To say that we spent much more time and bought much more then we should would be an understatement. It was so nice having a kitchen because we were able to make meals which saved us a lot of money. Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach and pools. It was so nice to finally be able to enjoy our day.

That night Chris, Ty and I also went to the far west side of the island. It isn't touristy at all and is somewhat of a poor part of the island. There were people who were living on the beaches squatting in tents. It was so sad to see. But they had so much fun at one of the far end beaches. We also saw some seriously amazing rainbows while at the "Shanty Beach" as we ended up calling it the rest of the trip (ha ha ha!)

Chris was getting Auds down for a nap and so we decided to take a walk...Lydia had so much fun with her uncle Tyler. Luckily for us he is sort of a big kid so I think he had as much fun with her (ha ha ha!)

Me and my little buddy!

Lyds and grandpa looking at the tide pools

Such a beautiful place

We were only seconds away from the golf coarse and the Marina. I loved running around the properties because it was so beautiful.

Day 3: Hunama Bay and Sandy's Beach

We woke up what we thought was early and headed to Hunama bay. Only to find out that the parking lot was full. We ended up having to pay a guy with a van to take us in to the park and then pick us up and take us out after we were done. Then once we got to the park, even more waiting we had to wait to watch a movie about the bay. This was very different from the last time we visited and my patience isn't a virtue that us Hardman's have! Once we finally got down to the bay it was a lot of fun, we were able to see a lot of beautiful fish and once we got out past the crowds we actually had a lot of fun.

After the Bay we headed to "Sandy's Beach" a beach where 10 years ago Tyler was actually hit so hard by a wave that he blew his eardrum...it is intense. We got in the water only to hear a lifeguard of the P.A. saying get in the water only at your own risk (ha ha ha...I think they could see us coming from a mile away) We still had fun and we discovered Audrey's LOVE of sand...yes she loves it. That night we played some serious Settlers and watched episodes of Arrested development...great day!

The View from above

Waiting while the boys and nana snorkeled

Waiting for the "time is money" guy to come and pick us up and take us back to our cars.

Nana holding down the fort at Sandy's beach

Yes she LOVES sand!

Daddy burying liddy

Day 3: Beach Day

We spent the day at the beach and at the pools. It was nice to have enough time in our vacation to be able to have a few days to just relax and enjoy our time together! We did a lot of snokeling in the Lagoon and every day we were able to see and swim with sea turtles, it was so AMAZING!

Uncle Tyler building Liddy a sand castle so she could destroy it

Me and my buddy!

Day 4: Sea Life Park, Temple, Cholos and the Dole Plantation.

Day 4 Chris, Tyler, the girls and I headed to the Sea Life park. It is sort of like a mini Sea WOrld without the orca whales. It was a lot of fun and luckily we had done some research and got a "Makai" card at Foodmart so we got in for $10.00 a person vs. $30.00 (so worth it)

After the park we headed to the North Shore and met my parents at the temple to take a few pictures and they had gone to the visitor center before we got there. Then we hit up "Ted's Bakery" for a little snack and then on the Cholo's...the most amazing mexican food on the Island (in my opinion) My spinach and cheese enchilada's were the bomb.

Afterwards we headed to the Dole plantation and got our pineapple sorbet fix for the trip. We had such a great day and were able to see so much of the island in just a day. Such a beautiful island.

People were constantly stopping us to tell us how stinking cute Audrey is...I have to agree (ha ha ha!)

When you first get to the park you see a little pool which looks like next to nothing but as you walk down you realize it is a huge aquarium. It was incredible.

We got there right when it opened and were able to get a few pictures with the dolphins before they started shows and a million people got there.

They had some really cool shows.

The Lihue Temple...so Beautiful!

The Hardman's minus Derek and Shelby the 3rd of course.

SO SO SO Yummy!

Enjoying some yummy sopapia's

Day 5: Peal Harbor and Beach Day

We got up a little bit more on Hawaii time and headed to Pearl Harbor. To say that we were lost 90% of the time would be an understatement. Even with Chris and Tyler's navigation systems on their phone we were still constantly lost. And going to pearl harbor was no different.

When we finally were on the right track and within sight of the Harbor Chris looking in his rear view window says "your parents just got hit" They had infact been hit by a "little girl" as she became referred to in a big truck. It ended up taking about 45 minutes with waiting for the police to come and all the fun stuff. So by the time we got to the Harbor our kids were tired and we were going to have to wait for 2hrs to ride to the Arizona. We compromised since our family had been before years before, Chris did the audio tour and he was able to still learn a lot about it without having to wait SO long.

Afterwards we played again at the beach and pools. By now Lydia had honestly started to grow gills, we couldn't get that little girl out of the pool.

Such a stud!

You can't help but feel such a feeling of gratitude for the men and women that lost their lives on that day.

All the people who lost their lives.

This anchor was found something like 2 football fields away from the Arizona ship it was on...which can only make you see how huge the blast had to have been.

Day 6: Scuba Day

My parents were so sweet and paid for Chris, Ty and I to go on a scuba day while they watched the girls. It was so much fun, and just made me realize even more that I want to get certified. This was my second time and Chris' like 8th (he was lucky to go in Bonaire with our good friends who are all certified)

We were able to go on two dives and we saw quite a bit. We were able to see frog fish, eels, parrot fish, crabs, lobsters and shrimp. The highlight though for me atleast was after we were done with our dives. We came up and there were about 20 dolphins swimming and jumping just feet from our boat. I guess they come in every day to socialize with the boats. I tried to upload the video I took but of course blogger stinks and won't let me do it for some reason. It was pretty cool though.

Once we got back we had another beach and pool day (yes we did a lot of that!)

Thanks Mom and Dad that was such an amazing experience and one I will always remember.

Our gear!

We actually scuba dived just out from the resort

Aaawww!

Chris and Tyler...dorks!

After our first dive...it was seriously so thrilling!

The dolphins

Tyler with Rachel our cute Scuba instructor. If you are in Hawaii look up Hawaiian Nautical they were so awesome!

The real Black Pearl.

Day 7:

This was the day we went home. We had to get all packed up and then we were able to do the "Linger Longer" where they give you a key and you still have access to all of the ameneties as well as a locker room with showers, steam room, and sauna. This was actually Chris favorite day.

We hit up the Aloha Stadium again to get some luggage so we would have room to take home all of our new finds and then we were out to the beach and pools. Even though we didn't have a room it was so much fun because we new we could really just enjoy our time. Lydia was so excited because they had a "mermaid" reading stories and swimming with the kids. She was SO excited and kept wanting to touch her fins (ha ha ha!) Audrey did great and even took a nap in her stroller (yes she is a total champ.)

After the beach we headed to the Airport for the trip home. The flight was surprisingly great. Lydia cried the first 15 minutes of us trying to put her down and then she was out the rest of the trip. Lydia was great too and she slept on the floor and slept the whole time as well. Chris and I didn't sleep at all, we were both so afraid Audrey would roll off and land on Lydia.

Once we got home I thought great we are going to be dead. Both girls went back down and we all slept until 2:30 p.m. it was such a shock for me.

Packing up...the girls playing!

The mermaid

Liddy getting in all the fun she can before we have to leave!

Chris and Ty snorkeling

My little beach baby...trying to keep her from the sand (yet again!)

Good-bye Hawaii...what a dream!

Maxing and relaxing!!!

Such a great trip, so lucky to have had such an amazing vacation spent with family! I will say I love that my kids are still sort of on Hawaii time which means they sleep til 9:30...that will all change when Lydia start pre-school Tuesday though (boo!):)