Warm weather?

We laughed as we loaded the plane for Hawaii because we flew out of Utah just hours before the biggest snow storm of the season blew in.
We weren't laughing when we landed in Hawaii and saw the amount of rain coming down.

Every day we saw anywhere from a little to a lot of rain.  We were thankful for the days with a little rain.

The first day we had a beautiful morning.  We really lucked out because we had signed the boys up for a zip line tour.  

 Avram and Briggs have never done anything like this before and since it was so expensive we decided to just let them do it together.  Dad and I chucked as we watched everyone in the boys group fly down the line for their practice jump.  Avram and Briggs kept stepping back until everyone had gone.  When it finally came their time to jump we could see the boys hesitantly get hooked up.  Briggs called down to us, "Is this the same zip line that David Adams did?"  We yelled, "yes, and he loved it!"
I think had David Adams not gone on the zip line just two weeks previously the boys would have chickened out.  It only took one jump and they realized they were going to have a blast!

On Tuesday the kids were introduced to the different Polynesian cultures at the PCC.

 Adam performed on stage at the Togan show.  With a little darker skin you would have thought Adam was Tongan.

Adam and I have been to Oahu once so we decided to jump on an inexpensive fight and head over to Maui for two days.  We arrived in Maui at 9 am Wednesday Morning.
After a quick breakfast we took off on the road to Hana.  Because we had such a late start and very short attention spans we decided to just hit some of the top spots along the way.

 I studied out the stops and I also bought and App that performed as a tour guide through out our journey.

 Banana Bread stop

 Black Sand Beaches

 I think this little cave was Ilas favorite part simply because our app told us about a Queen that hid in this cave to escape her horrible husband.  He hunted her down and killed her in this cave.

 We decided to take a hike near the end of the road to Hana.  We hiked a 5 mile round trip to see Waimoku Falls, a 400 foot waterfall.  We hiked through a huge rain storm and a lot of mud but we made it.

 Ila led the way on the hike.  She had her bamboo walking stick and we could hardly keep up with her.

The boys weren't too happy about the hike.

We arrived at the hotel after 10 pm but we had made it around the entire island.  

Thursday morning we found an open spot on a boat for whale watching.  

 Since it is the Whale season we were able to see many whales and some dolphins.

We found a fantastic little restaurant for dinner.  We headed back to Oahu late that night.  

I think the other side of the Island had more sun than the North Side where we were staying.  Friday morning we went to Hanama Bay and enjoyed the beautiful sun shine.  

We saved our trip to the PCC night show for Friday night.  We were hoping to be a little better adjusted to the time so we could stay awake.  

The kids loved the show.

Saturday we went straight to the Dole plantation so we could get some Dole whip before the lines started.  Yum!!!

 We let the kids spend their money at the swap meet and then went to Pearl Harbor.

Sunday morning the fun continued with a visit to the north point of the island.

 Church, Temple, Visitor Center.

 I also took advantage of the opportunity to be in such a beautiful place and I took pictures of Ila for her soon to be 8 year old pictures.

Somehow Monday crept up on us.  We went to a popular Banyon tree where many films have been made.

 Finally we spent our time left in Hawaii on the beach, in the wind and rain.

We would have loved to have had another day or two with some Sunshine.  

It was hard to return to Utah and the cold.  

 Ila made friends with Mom and Dads land lords daughter, Melia.  Melia adored Ila and has already called to talk to her because she misses her.

Im so thankful we were able to go to Hawaii as a family.  It was so fun to see Mom and Dad.  It was a wonderful vacation.