Dave and I have left the kids overnight only twice in our 11 years of marriage. We wanted to go somewhere exciting for our 10 year anniversary in 2010, however we had a little baby at the time, so we put it off a year. The moons aligned just right for the week of November 23-30, 2011. My incredibly unselfish parents agreed to watch the kids and my saintly sister, Laurel would be in town to help out as well. Crowds are non-existent and the airfare and hotel are much cheaper during the winter in...HAWAII!! Finally, a grown up trip for just two! Heaven doesn't begin to describe our week together. We flew from Salt Lake to Seattle and then a 5-hour flight to Honolulu (airport code HNL or "Hole 'Notha Level" ...a favorite phrase in our house). It was late Wednesday evening when we arrived to our Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel room so we couldn't see our view, but I could hear the waves crashing. The next day we discovered the view from our balcony!
Our hotel provided free breakfast and a little tote bag for us to fill up. We took our breakfast down to the beach each morning. Breakfast on the beach has become one of my favorite memories of the trip.
Our room was literally the last room on our floor, so we were on the edge of the building. It gave us a view of the city, Diamond Head, and the beach. This was our view of Diamond Head from our front door.
After breakfast we took the city bus (TheBus) to hike Diamond Head. This was definitely one of my favorite activities of the week! The hike was steep, but the views were amazing!
The military once used it as a lookout.
Once to the top, it gave the best view of Waikiki down below.
I got a kick out of this garbage can. Mahalo means "thank you".
After lunch we suited up and headed to the beach. Dave bought a boogie board and tried it out while I read a book with my feet in the sand. Ahhh....Seriously, it was amazing to leave cold winter weather and enjoy highs in the mid 80s all week. Dave and I played frisbee in the water and watched the sun set. That sunset drew quite a crowd every night, with good reason, because it was gorgeous!
With it being Thanksgiving Day, we made a late reservation for a restaurant that was serving their version of a Thanksgiving dinner. It was yummy!
5 comments:
LOVE your bottom three pictures! So beautiful.
We need to do more kid swaps. Your kids and my kids had a great time together. I'm completely serious. I'll watch your kids anytime. You wanna go to Alaska?
I am so jealous that you got to go to Hawaii, we hope that we will get to do that for our 10 year also next year!!
Laurel, you can take my kids whenever you want! Michelle, I hope you do get to go to Hawaii. Definitely a place that everyone should experience at least once.
Did your room come with a personal photographer, too? So many fun pics of the two of you. Sounds like the ideal vacation - no tired kids, and no one's schedule but your own.
you are going to have to teach me how to plan a trip to hawaii now.... i HAVE TO GO!!! I love your pictures! And how nice that you two got to go alone!
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