Aloha y’all!

After about sixteen months of planning, it was finally here…our family vacation to the beautiful and lovely Hawaii! As the countdown dwindled from months, soon into weeks, and finally into days-I was beyond excited to leave for Hawaii! The nine of us {my mom’s side of the family} packed up our things, jet-setted off across the country, and landed in Honolulu. ALOHA!

Luckily, after spending a couple of days in lovely Waikiki, we made our way onto a Norwegian Cruise ship and traveled to all of the Hawaiian Islands, one right after another. It was a wonderful way to see ALL of the islands, and such a fun and memorable experience! One that I’ll surely never ever forget!

What was the celebration, you ask?! Well, a little over two years ago my grandparents surprised our entire family with this trip in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary! {Holy Moly! 50 years! Can you believe that?!}  Yes…it was a surprise!! All planned out by my wonderful grandparents!  A couple years ago they took this trip with some of their friends and thought it was too beautiful for us not to see, so they blessed us with this amazing trip! Originally they were supposed to come along too! However, they decided to let us have all the fun and they would stay behind, head to the beach in South Carolina, and take care of my almost-three-year-old niece, Savannah! {I know, they’re crazy aren’t they?} I know they had a blast though with little “Savvy J”! They ADORE her y’all. Absolutely adore her! So it was a win/win for them!

 I wanted to share with y’all all of my memories from traveling! I think I may have found a new passion of mine-traveling! I loved going to new and exciting places, going on adventures, and taking pictures along the way! Hope you enjoy some of these and if you ever get a chance to head out to Hawaii, it’s a MUST! Absolutely breathtaking/beautiful/amazing/gorgeous/fun/exciting/and so much more!

Enjoy! Mahalo!

This is at Pearl Harbor, where we went on our first day in Hawaii. The oil shown above is from the USS Arizona, a battleship still buried in the ocean. I literally wasn’t prepared for this. To see all of the names of the young men who had died, the ship, the oil…it was quite surreal. I’ll never forget how I felt looking down at that ship and knowing that innocent men died, and are still down there with their ship. Mast from the USS ArizonaA lai at the memorial at Pearl HarborAll of the men’s names. The average age of the men aboard was 19. My first steps into the Pacific Ocean…well, let’s cross that off my “Bucket List”!This was probably one of the sketchiest places to eat from…but man ol’ man…if I could only have a bite of that shrimp again…
{located in the North Shore of Oahu} I will highly consider this as my last meal.
Armadillo Urchins apparently. Lunch at Fred’s on Maui. If you ever go there, get the Mahi Mahi Tacos. Delish! Seeing the sunrise on the rim of a dormant volcano, at an elevation of 10,000 feet is truly life changing. I will never forget this day…ever. Looking into the dormant volcano’s crater. Looks like it doesn’t belong on Earth, it looks more like Mars or another planet! Best. Bakery. Ever.
Watch out Krispy Kreme. There’s a new donut stick in town. Jamey getting a box of donut sticks. They were that good!After a 5 mile hike up a mountain {that we WEREN’T prepared for, of course!}, we made it to the top of Iao Valley and saw this…the Iao Needle. It wasn’t much, but after that long hike…it was worth it!
Iao ValleyBlack sand beach. Our entire group! I love my Ohana {family}!A Hobie for dad.