When Matt’s parents told us they were taking us all to Hawaii for their 50th wedding anniversary, we said a hearty “thank you!” Then we asked them if they cared when we flew there and home, as they were covering our plane tickets for the trip. Of course they didn’t, and the planning began!

We decided to go back to Maui first – we went there for our honeymoon (18 years ago!) and wanted to go back. We stayed in Kihei, the same little town as last time, and we sure as hell didn’t stop moving the whole time we were there.

We drove the road to Hana, hiked to waterfalls, and saw gorgeous views. We took a snorkeling catamaran sail cruise and swam with sea turtles. We got up at 2:30 am and watched the sun come up over Haleakala. We went to a ridiculous amount of beaches and watched the sun set over the ocean almost every night. By the time we flew to Oahu to meet up with Matt’s family, we were exhausted and ready for a vacation!

We were already used to the time change by the time everyone else got there, but most of the others sure were pissy the first night. What with flight issues and delays, confusion at the hotel, and figuring out where to park rental cars, that first night was kind of a bust.

Everyone rallied quickly, though, and we had a great time as a family. We went to various beaches, the Dole Plantation, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. Some people went ATV’ing (not us), and others of us went rum-tasting. We ate SO much food. And SO much ice cream. And Dole Whip. And Sno-Cones…..

At the end of the week, we had all had a fantastic time together. We were sad to see everyone go, but Matt and I still had a few more days of adventure up on the infamous North Shore of Oahu.

The drive up was pretty, cutting through the mountains for a bit then shadowing the coast line the rest of the way. Finding our condo was entertaining, but we found it eventually, dropped our stuff, and headed out exploring.

There was a beach within walking distance, but it was so rocky you couldn’t really swim. We found a beautiful spot for the sunset that night, though.

We spent our last few days in Hawaii checking out various beaches. Matt jumped off some sea cliffs. We ate some of the best shrimp I’ve ever had at a food truck. We ate more Foodland poke. We saw more gorgeous sunsets. And when all was said and done, we had the best flights we could have possibly asked for on the way home.

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