Well, I finished off my semester here in Utah and we headed off to Hawaii the next day! It was a great finish to a very long and difficult semester. Before I left Utah the nursing department gave me a great gift--I kept my 4.0! Wahoo! Pediatrics didn't kill me like I thought it would! I survived! So I was definitely ready to celebrate a hard and successful year with my two favorite men!!! We flew into Kauai first. As you can tell from the picture below that Maxxis is thrilled to be in Hawaii. This is us just getting to our room. It was 3 am to us when we got there so I'll have to give it to the little guy...he was exhausted!
We were so happy to be in Hawaii, but Max needed a good nights rest...as you can see. He was really trying hard to smile...
Here's our little Prince Keehan enjoying his good nights rest in his own king sized bed! He loved that...especially jumping on it, as you can imagine!
The next morning we met these little guys. There was a beautiful little fish pond right by our breakfast table. Maxxis couldn't get enough of the fish and the swan.
Couldn't get enough of the swan, that is, until he bit Maxxis on the hand! He was a biter...naughty little bird! You can see the evil look in his eye...
Here is the view at our morning breakfast table! It was gorgeous!!! Not only was it gorgeous but I was loving the amazing banana bread french toast with coconut syrup, fresh mangos and pineapple, and the list goes on...
We had to explore our hotel and go swimming--of course!
Maxxis lounging away and having a blast!
Here is the view of the ocean as you walk into our hotel.
Here's lil'max "whale riding" at one of the pools at the hotel. He made lots of little friends at the hotel. As we walked along little friends would call out to Max and say hi. He is our social butterfly.
Kauai is gorgeous as you can tell. Here we are at Hanalei Bay. This bay is surrounded by beautiful mountains and is shaped like a crescent. We had a blast making sand castles and enjoying the ocean! As you can tell Maxxis is our little surfer boy. He loves all types of board sports and loves watching his daddy ride (and mommy when she can fit it in) . He just needs another 2 inches to join us at the flow rider. He's watching surfing on our apple tv as I type this--pretending he is surfing away on our boards... (you may also notice that his swim shorts have skate boards on them as well...)
When we travel we like to go exploring and love having little adventures! Here's one little exploring trip we took up Waimea Canyon. Only a small percentage of the island of Kauai is accessible by driving. If you want a good look you need to take a helicopter ride.
Every Christmas while I was growing up my family would watch a movie that was filmed here on the island of Kauai. I always wanted to see Waimea Canyon and here it is! Gorgeous!
We took a small hike into Queen's Bath with Maxxis. This is by far one of his favorite adventures of the trip! When he sees these pictures he says, "Adventure at Queen's Bath!" When the tide is low you can actually sit in the pool and look out into the ocean. The waves were super high for us and that was Max's favorite part! He loved it!
Max loved cheering on the crashing waves at Queen's Bath!
Okay. So he was totally done with mommy taking pictures. Haha! This kid makes his own decisions for sure and there was no more smiling for the camera after this!
Here is a beautiful little waterfall that we encountered on our hike into Queen's Bath.
Our adventure to Wailua Falls...
When Maxxis doesn't want to do something he tells us, "not today." Sometimes we just don't want to smile for the camera in this family...
We split our vacation between Kauai and Oahu this year. Here's the view from our hotel room in Oahu looking down at Waikiki beach. Honolulu was the exact oposite of our stay in Kauai. It was all hustle, bustle and high excitement...
Waikiki Beach sunset
We took a little trip up to Sunset Beach. I absolutely loved this beach! It was secluded and had beautiful waves and sand. Max loved throwing the sand and shells and watching them land into the ocean.
Can you see the double rainbow at Sunset Beach? I absolutely love rainbows. I was one happy girl in Hawaii with multiple rainbows to see everyday!
I think this is one of my favorite pictures of the two people I can't live without!
Maxxis loves his daddy. Here he is giving his dad one of his big huggies.
I can honestly say that Honolulu wasn't my favorite part of Hawaii. I'm more into seeing nature than a shopping and city kind of vacationer. So we took little trips on Oahu and this is a stunning sunset we saw near the north shore.
We also drove up to see the Polynesian Cultural Center and stopped by to see the temple in Laie.
Here we are at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Since Zac and his family are originally from New Zealand we made sure to take Max to learn about his Maori heritage. Max loved swinging the poi balls outside where they let people try them. At the PCC they have an amazing show that showcases all the different cultures of Polynesia. We couldn't take pictures, but Maxxis was absolutely in love with all the dancing--especially the fire dancers, of course!
We also had the opportunity to take Maxxis to see the dolphins. He loved watching the dolphin and seal shows!
We also got to see the world's only Whalphin! That's right a mix of a dolphin and a whale (pictured on the right below...we thought he'd be a little bit bigger, but he obviously takes more after his mommy)
I thought the Zac was going to make me a widow again on this trip. He always likes to jump on tall and dangerous cliffs into crashing waves below. But as you can see he made it out alive and I didn't die from having a heart attack. He jumped at the Spitting Cave on Oahu. You can check out his video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-MeVGj5ExA
We had such an amazing trip, but the best part was being able to spend time together as a family. I'm the luckiest girl alive to have these two men in my life!
Looks amazing!
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