A Week in Paradise

If you follow either of our facebooks, which some of you do not thankfully, you would know that Aaron and I took off for our honeymoon last week for some much needed relaxing and some paradise! We decided on Hawaii for a few different reasons and it doesn't really matter that I have already been there because this was a whole different adventure with my handsome hubby!

We left early on Wednesday morning and had to take a little itty bitty propeller plane to Cali and I knew my mom would be terrified if she were on the plane! I started to read Mockingjay on the short flight and had a hard time getting into the book like the first two.. Once we got on to our bigger better plane to fly into O'ahu, we could already feel the paradise! I have never been on such a well organized flight before (and I have flown plenty of times and overseas as well a handful of times..). We got iteniaries and even individual Dige Players to watch movies, TV shows, and play games. Aaron watched one movie most of the time (Avatar) but there were so many to choose from that I kept switching back and forth between SATC 2, Marley and Me, and a few others. I started to get into Marley and Me but then we were getting close to the island and I had to give it back! :(

Once we landed (about 45 minutes ahead of schedule!) We got our luggarge and stepped outside and engulfed the heat, we both loved the humidity and were anxious to get going. We landed around 11:45am and had the rest of the day ahead of us. My amazing friend, Amanda, that I was close to in high school lives in Honolulu and came to pick us up so we could stay with her and her husband, Matt (he is in the Navy) and their two adorable boys, Kieran and Camden. She picked us up and we got acclimated to things and we all decided to head to the beach.

They took us to a smaller (somewhat) beach and the weather just hit us! The wind started to blow and blow, once we got to the beach it was hard to just stand up! Of course, we had to get into the water anyway.. we only stayed for about 30 minutes because of the little ones, but it was fun for our first outting. Aaron loved the sand at the beach and we wish we would have gone back while we were there...

After some yummy barbecue dinner, Aaron and I had the hardest time keeping our eyes open past 7 o'clock. With the time difference of 4 hours and all the traveling, we were beat. We went to bed and passed out around 7:30. We both woke up around 6am.. do the math and that's about 11 hours! We were rested and ready to hit the day. Amanda was up with her boys (Matt had already left for work..) and we sat and talked with coffee and Toy Story 2.

Camden and Kieran were a hoot and their new dog, Beau, was awesome! 

Don't you love Kieran's head poking out?! :)

   Thankfully, Matt and Amanda were gracious enough to take us around and we ran a few errands and they dropped us off at our hotel so we could check in. We didn't get to spend too much time with them but it was enough to help us out and for me to see my old friend again! :) We were so grateful for their generousity to take us in for a night so we could get adjusted.

Oh, by the way.. here is the view from out hotel room!

The next week was a blast.. Friday, we got on a tourbus and had a guided tour through the island. We stopped at Pearl Harbor where we got to see the Arizona Memorial,

Dole Plantation where we got to eat some of the yummiest pineapple whip ice cream! The island even has rainbow trees where the bark is actually multicolored! :)

Sunset Beach in the North Shore,

After we stopped at the beach for a bit we made a lunch stop at this mom and pop shrimp house! I wasn't sure what I thought about it but the coconut shrimp was delicious!!

and eventually we ended up at the Polynesian Center where we got to tour the different villages, eat a delicious dinner, and watch the new show Ha: Breathe of Life.

They had small demonstrations/shows for each of the 7 villages! This guy climbed this huge tree with nothing!!

Waiting for the parade...

They had a parade of dancers for each of the villages.

In a canoe that took our group around.

It was so beautiful!

Where we had our buffet dinner.. fabulous!

Waiting for the show, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the show so this was all I could get. It was so awesome, especially the flame throwers! :)

After Friday, we were ready to sit and relax and enjoy the beach to get our tans on!

Luckily, there was a Starbucks closeby!

         

We didn't just sit on our behinds at the beach, although we did do that a lot! We walked around Waikiki and even ventured out a few miles to meet an old neighbor of mine and her husband and little girl for lunch at Dave and Busters. We both have never been to one so we thought it would be fun! You eat and then get to play a bunch of games, why not?! We won quite a few tickets and I was able to pick out a new plastic orange tumbler!

On our last day we walked along Waikiki and reminisced about our trip. It was so relaxing and great end to our honeymoon. We talked about what we wanted to do next in our lives and where we were headed. We both agree about the next step(s) in our life and we have some waiting that we must do in order for things to fall into place like we hope, but we have each other and are happy with our lives until these next steps happen. We both understand what each of us expects and our hopes and dreams for the future, that is always something we discuss on a daily basis. We can't wait for what's to become of us, our future family, and our future...

Once we left Waikiki we found ourselves waiting for our plane for a few hours. No big deal, we were easily entertained! Taking the red eye plane is not something that I will plan for the future, but it wasn't the worst thing either.

I ended up collecting some magnets as well for my colelction! :)