Saturday, December 26, 2009

Mele Kalikimaka

We had the UH-MAZ-ING opportunity to cruise the islands of Hawaii with my parents and my sister Janette and her husband Brian from Dec 12-19. Here are a few highlights!! I have to say that cruising is the absolute BEST way to see all the islands..basically a floating hotel with food and entertainment. Each day we spent on one of the beautiful islands seeing the sights.

Steve had a slight cold.....actually this picture is taken on the Big Island at Akaka Falls:)

Here we are on Kauai..we had just kayaked 2 miles up the Wailua river and then hiked a mile through the jungle to get to these beautiful falls, named Ulu Vea, meaning life giving. We swam in this pool and renewed our "bowl of light" before hiking/kayaking back.

On Maui we saw this ship on our way to church and had to stop and take a pic for Mamo and Poppa who so graciously watched our kids while we were away. We love you guys!! Thank you!


Here we are at Iao state park on the island of Maui. You can see some of the beautiful scenery we were able to enjoy behind us. We learned lots of Hawaiian history to.



We spent a day on Maui snorkeling at the Molokini crater. We were lucky enough to see 1/2 a dozen whales including a mom and her baby while cruising to our destination. We also ended the trip with a visit to turtle bay....lots of beautiful sea turtles..this was quite a memorable time. Mom even won the raffle on the Four Winds excursion that day!!



On the Big Island we spent a day touring the Kilahuea Volcano national park. We walked through the lava tubes, saw the steam vents and craters and drove down to the ocean to see where the most recent lava flow closed the road.





This picture is on Kauai where we rented a paddle board and did some body surfing. You can see our ship in the background...The Pride of America.
Too many pictures to share all of our happenings...suffice it to say that it was a trip we will remember FOREVER! It was like an early Christmas present/anniversary present combined. Thanks to both our parents for making this trip possible.
Mele Kalikimaka!!






5 comments:

Brian and Janette said...

Oh boy, was that fun! Thanks for being such good friends and making everything so much more enjoyable. Love you guys!

Kyle and Lacey said...

Wow, that looks way fun! And that picture of the waterfall runny nose ... only Steve! :-)

Jamie Sue said...

LOVE that pic of Steve! Looks like you guys had fun! I'm jealous!

Anonymous said...

Wow, it looks like you guys had a fantastic time! What a way to see Hawaii...

kristy76 said...

AWESOME!! Great photos, looks like it was a lot of fun:) That one of Steve seems to be a favorite among all who see it~lol! When we are ready to go, we'll have to consider the cruise option, I've heard a lot of people say that was the way to go. Did you sleep on board each evening and eat most or all of your meals there, too?