Monday, August 1, 2011

Aloha Hawaii!

We are back home -- a bit tanned; full of pineapple and yet, craving more; working to wash the sand out of all the laundry; and sorting through the more than 1,100 photos I took! (And I haven't even looked at Claire and Cate's yet!)



My little surfer girl...
Cate and I were reluctant to leave. The surf seems to call our names a bit louder than the other Shraders. But lest you think the week was completely perfect...I should probably share that:

 * We had seven people in two adjoining rooms with four stinky wonderful guys and three girls who need more than their fair share of bathroom counter space. Enough said.

*There was a complete absence of the beach wheelchairs that were in abundance at this resort when Wade and I visited it a few years ago.

* And, uh, one Mama's makeup bag knocked under the bathroom counter AT HOME so never making it to Hawaii....coupled with that same Mama not wanting to be high-maintenance so going with only mascara all week. Hmm...


Little sister "urging" big brother to get wet...


Uncle Lenny getting revenge for the "urging"...


Got her!

But family vacations are not about being perfect. Family vacations are about making memories -- good, bad, and funny!



Sisters learning to paddle surf...

Our friend, Mrs. Erika, teaching Mason to paddle surf...

Erika even let me take Benjamin for a ride on the surf board...and then I learned to paddle surf. I won't share those photos here (smile) but I have to say that I loved it! Definitely something I want to do again!!

The hotel's Luau had some amazing entertainers even if the food was a bit lacking...




Cate and a real hula girl!

Needing further hula lessons after the Luau!

The boys came to WATCH...but when Cate told Mason that if he would take hula lessons it would "make me smile." He couldn't say no...

King Kamehameha statue....


Swinging from the Banyan Tree!

Silly Daddy....

The enormity of the roots of the Banyan Tree were awe-inspiring!





And because we are who we are...we took some time to visit the still-under-construction Disney resort on Oahu -- Aulani. We desperately want to travel and show the kids so much of the world....but honestly, Disney takes such good care of us. So we wanted to see if a Disney resort in Hawaii would solve some of the struggles we had this trip...

The lobby at Aulani.

The Hawaiian style quilt in the rooms -- can you find the hidden Mickeys?!

Benjamin is fairly certain this little guy would make Hawaii even better!
 From the looks of the resort -- and the adaptations the staff assured us are already in place and even more coming soon -- I think this would be a great place for the Shraders to enjoy Hawaii next time...





So while the sun has set on this Hawaiian visit -- we'll be back. Cate and I can't resist the call of the surf for too long....and really, family vacations (even if they aren't perfect) are such a blessing to us! Such a blessing!

1 comments:

Whitney :) said...

so jealous ... we LOVE Hawaii ... would love to go back to my Hilton Hawaiian Village!!! If i think hard enough I can almost smell that airport and all the flowers! Glad y'all had a wonderful trip!