H A W A I I

Dex, Noah and I went to Oahu in August and stayed on the west side in Koolina (which means the place of joy).  Noah has been addicted to a PBS special on Hawaii (he still watches it over and over from our DVR). He knew all about the island even before we got there!

As soon as we landed, he screamed "Diamond Head!"  He definitely impressed many of the locals with his knowledge of the Hawaiian landmarks and his pronunciation of many Hawaiian words. 

We had a wonderful time relaxing at the JW Marriott Resort and it certainly helped that we were right next to the Disney Aulani.  The 2 resorts share the same lagoon which is great for kids!
I also had a chance to catch up with family members that live in Oahu...of course, any occasion with family calls for eating lots of delicious food!  

The week went by way too fast and by the time I was finally in vacation mode, it was pretty much time for us to go home.  Dex and I are thinking of taking Noah and Cade to Kauai or Maui next year.  

Here are some of our pictures...click here for the full album

at LAX... ready to for HAWAII!

ALOHA Honolulu

View from our balcony

fish feeding

Hanging out at the Turtle Bay Resort

Shaved ice from Matsumoto's - a must!  We ordered shaved ice with ice cream and condensed milk!

our hotel room

date night with our chaperone

living the good life

view of our hotel from the beach

boogie boarding

You can't really see because of all the bamboo...but this was Dex's apt in Hawaii Kai

RAINBOW!

the black pearl ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean...it was docked near our hotel

Disney Aulani

more Aulani

Ahhh...Mickey Mouse in a Hawaiian shirt

hanging out with the cousins

dinner with our family!

another yummy and fun dinner date with more family members

back at the Marriott

I took a lei ribbon making class :), isn't this soooo cool!

waiting for the luau to start at the Polynesian Cultural Center

he slept so well every night!

until next time...