Beautiful Hawaii

One week ago today we came home from our amazing vacation in Hawaii.  We went to Oahu and had so so SO much fun.  I was actually surprised at how non-stressful it was to bring Jax.  He was so good the whole trip.  The only things he prevented us from doing really was dining at fancy restaurants late at night and falling asleep laying out on the beach, but let's be honest, laying on sand while pregnant is not that comfy anyways.  He was great on the 6-hour plane ride there, took naps in the car when we drove around the island, and he slept really well every night.  He did wake up pretty early (6:30am) every time the sun came up, but with the time change that's really 10:30am Utah time, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

I wish I would have brought my nice camera to capture some awesome pics of how pretty it was there, but I only took my phone and small camera.  They still turned out pretty well.  So, get ready for a picture overload of our trip in Oahu!

Our home for the week: The Hawaiian Princess in Makaha (West side).  Our condo was pretty good, our beach was breathtaking and super private, but the city we were in was pretty ghetto with a lot of homeless people. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

 The view off our balcony to the left and right.  I loved waking up to this every morning!

Robie was very excited to rent a Jeep for the week.  It was a lot of fun to drive around in, and we got a lot of use out of it since we drove about an hour every day to different places around the island.

 

We decided to take the top off the Jeep and cruise around.  It was so fun and free...for Robie and I.  Obviously Jax hated every minute of it. His reactions were pretty funny.

Hanging out at North Shore.  Jaxon liked the water a lot better than he did on our San Diego trip but he didn't like touching the sand with his hands.  One step at a time with that kid.

Robie and I found this really pretty spot, so we parked to watch the sun go down together.  We stood together by the hood of the car, and kept hearing laughing noises from Jax.  He thought he was so funny spying on us.  It was cute seeing his little-giant head peaking at us, so I had to get a pic.  He cracks me up sometimes.

One of my favorite things on the trip was when we stopped at this little pineapple stand on the side of the road.  Robie got me a coconut to drink, and then got a fresh pineapple for us to eat.  The best part was watching the man who cut the pineapple up for us with a machete in about 20 seconds.  He was a ninja!  That pineapple was one of the best things I've ever eaten.  The coconut...not so much.

We heard about this place called Leonard's Bakery and had to try it.  They are known for their malasadas, which are basically giant balls of dough deep fried and covered with sugar.  They were SOOOO good, which is a bad thing because I now crave them and can't get them.  Robie found the recipe for me online, so maybe I'll have to test it out soon.

I'm not a big history buff, so stopping at Pearl Harbor wasn't really on my to-do list on our trip.  We decided to at least drive by, and then walk around, and then we ended up staying there for a while.  I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, and I learned a lot about the history there.

I don't know if I can ever wear this dress again after seeing the picture below.  I promise I am not carrying triplets, although I DID have a few different people on the island tell me I looked like "I was going to pop any second".  One lady even patted my back and said, "You poor thing.  It's okay, you're almost there."  When I told her I'm only 30 weeks, she was shocked.  I just wanted to cry.

I am jealous that he can nap on his stomach.

Someone surprised me with a flower when I got in the Jeep one morning.  Robie swore it wasn't him.

About 15 minutes from our resort is the Disney, Marriot, and a few other hotels.  It's so pretty there, and they have man made coves on their beaches.  We got a few pics while the sun was setting.  The next two are my favorite.  I wish the man in front of them was not in the pic, but maybe I can photoshop it out sometime. I love my boys.

Robie spent a whole morning golfing 18 holes at the Coral Creek Golf Course

 We heard amazing things about Matsumoto's shave ice, so we figured we would check it out since we love snow cones.  We were pretty disappointed.  The snow cone was nothing compared to a place in Provo we always go to.  The ice was pretty chunky and the syrup was gross and artificial tasting.  Sorry Matsumoto's, but Hokulia Shaved Ice Shack in Provo has you beat.

 

We visited the Laie Temple and Visitor's Center.  The sister missionaries there were so nice and Jax loved giving them knuckles the whole time we were there.

Right next to the Temple is BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center. We spent the afternoon there, and it was pretty fun.  Robie and Jax got warrior tattoos, and I got a princess one.  Jax was a little hesitant to talk to one of the islanders, but he liked the dances and music.  We ate at the buffet there for dinner and stayed to watch the night show.  It was kind of long so I worried how Jax would do, but he actually loved every minute of it and gave us knuckles every time they performed.  This old lady next to us was so impressed at how well he did and said he deserved a round of applause for being such an amazing little boy.

 

I can't get enough of his eyelashes.

 

 Robie taught Jax how to pick the statue's nose.

 

During the end of our trip, we drove to North Shore again.  I was sad the first time we went, because I really wanted to see some sea turtles, but there were not any on the beach.  When we were driving there the second time, I saw a group of people gathered on the beach and told Robie to stop.  Sure enough, there were about 4 sea turtles hanging out on the shore.  I have always loved sea turtles, so I was pretty giddy to get to see them up close.

Another one of my favorite things we did was visit Waimea Valley.  It's like this hidden little garden conservation place that has the most beautiful scenery everywhere you look.  If you hike about a mile up, there is a waterfall that you can swim in.  The thought of hiking even a mile literally made my uterus hurt, so we opted to take a golf cart tram to the waterfall.  Best decision ever.  

Swimming in a waterfall has always been on my Hawaiian bucket list.  Robie and I took turns swimming out to the waterfall (Robie didn't get a pic, but I promise I swam to the actual waterfall).  Being there in that moment was definitely a memory I will never forget.  The trees and everything were so beautiful.  The pictures don't even do it all justice.

There were only about 6 other people there, and oddly enough there was another pregnant girl there wearing my exact same swim suit.  What are the odds?  We both laughed and thought it was pretty funny.

 

I am always amazed at the things Jaxon finds to entertain himself.  He loved playing with random leaves and especially loved the new truck we got him.

On our last day in Hawaii, we went back to the cove at the Disney and Marriot resorts to relax.  I love looking at the ocean, but I hate swimming in it because of the waves.  The cove was perfect, because the water is shallow and there are not any big waves.  Even Jaxon loved it.  I could have stayed there all day long.

We saw so many rainbows while we were there, but this one was so pretty as we were driving to the airport to go home.

 

I saw this in the airport as we were leaving.  For real?  Why would anyone think that was a good idea?

Robie ran around the airport with Jaxon before our flight left to try and get his energy out.  It worked like a charm, and he slept the whole way home.  I wish I could say the same for us though.  Our flight left at 9pm and we arrived in Utah at 7am, so Robie and I pretty much lost a whole night of sleep.

This is really random, but the people sitting in front of us were SUPER OCD germaphobes.  They wore latex gloves and had to disinfect everything before they sat down, and they had everything in plastic air tight bags.  They couldn't touch anything the whole flight, and they put these seat covers on their seats that kept covering up our screens. It got really annoying when we were trying to watch movies.  There was also a sick baby behind us that kept coughing up a lung every five minutes, which made the anti-germ people really freaked out.  I wonder if they ended up getting sick, because Jaxon sure did (not cool coughing baby...not cool).

What happens when you are pregnant and you sit in a tiny seat for 6 hours with a toddler sleeping on you  (Jax wouldn't fall asleep on Robie.  Lucky me.) and your flight attendant sucks and does not re-fill your water?  Cankles.  Giant, swollen, marshmallows for feet.  I promise there is an ankle bone in there somewhere.  I seriously almost could not walk it hurt so bad. 

 It was sad to leave beautiful Hawaii, but it was nice coming home to our own bed.  Hopefully someday we will get to visit again without children and pregnancy free.