August Part I - Hawaii (Maui and Oahu)

August was so full of vacation pictures.  It will have to be broken up to fit.  Our adventure across the Pacific Ocean was intense.  I think luggage was a big factor of it but I think the thoughts of moving makes it even more so.  We were nervous coming into it but honestly more and more we've met so many Americans living here, some have lived here for years and it's been so fun talking to them and hearing of their experiences.  It has been really eye opening to have seen things along the way.  Our kids have experiences no one else in our families have ever had.  They can now say where they like living the best since they now have comparisons.  Dan said he is a bit jealous of all their experiences.  They can actually compare and talk about their adventures beyond reading from a book or watching a movie.  The world is a beautiful place.

Hawaii was fun for us.  It was the perfect pit stop.  The kids adjusted well to the time and everyone did amazingly well on the flights and minor adjustments.  We started the vacation in Maui.  We played at the resort most of the time on the first 2 days.  Then we got a car and drove to the northern part of the island.  Next time we need to go back and do the southern part and road to Hana.  So much to see and not enough time to see it all but that makes it nice for the next return.

My goal when arriving in Maui is to rest up!  I know going across the Pacific is a long flight and packing in a lot to do was NOT part of the plan.  Old habits still win though and we did a lot, however relaxing at the resort was what we did a lot of.  I sat by the pool for 2 hours one day and burnt my back pretty good and the kids all got really dark and Dan put on a few more freckles, but it was all very enjoyable. I wish we had more time for the southern parts of Maui where the greens are luscious and such, but we are heading to tropical Vietnam where that is plentiful so we just visited neighborhoods and see how people lived and what kinds of homes they have and such

We took the kiddos to the Maui Ocean Center.  This was recommended by many places and it was a good way to expose the younger ones to the native sea creatures.  It was fascinating to even the older kids

My favorite part of Maui was driving up to Lahaina and eating at Ululani shave ice.  OMG the macademia coconut ice cream with their very fine shave ice was my dinner that day.  We were so thirsty and stopped by McD to grab some drinks and saved our stomach for Ululani.  Amazing.  I'm drooling thinking about it now.

If there's one thing about my kids that I admire that is they sincerely love one another

We had all of Sunday afternoon to explore the northern part of the Island of Maui.  I made a friend.  Summer Mosman.  The Mosmans were so kind to hold our luggage so we could travel up north without hauling our luggage around.  We were in their home for a bit that afternoon and then went North

We went to the famous Mamma's Fish house for dinner and while waiting for our dinner we spotted a few turtles coming to the edge of the water.  Reena and her daddy spotted some while they were snorkeling but they didn't bring the camera.

So picturesque and breathtaking!

Reena was pretty happy to see a macaw

Inside Mamma's Fish house restaurant.  Everything was so expensive but so tasty and as always these restaurants are all about the taste and not portion size

ALOHA OAHU

And Oahu at last with all 4 kids still healthy and alive!  I considered that success.  

We didn't get a resort stay in Oahu.  We did a hotel with a nice view and kitchenette.  We got in late and woke up to a pretty view of the city

 We explored downtown by foot

 And did the touristy things

 The trees are magnificent here

 And tried new food.  I checked off Poke with one bite and gave the rest to Dan.  He was surprised I didn't like it.  I classified it to be with the sushi and sashimi group that I just do not touch.  Just give me a California roll and I'm good.  No raw meat for me!

 We had fun swimming and practicing our snorkeling skills again in the pool.  We have silly kids.  They are happy and that's all that matters.  They get to do so much and I'm hoping they are grateful for all that.

 These trees were every where!

  Hilton village

 Polynesian Cultural Center
This was the highlight for our family.  We spent a lot of money here and spent a whole day there.  We rented a car and drove up in the morning.  We had a great time here and I think the pictures show.  This place is a place of hands on learning.

 The girls feel like Moana walking around the villages.  Yeah we sung songs from Moana

 River canoe inside the Polynesian cultural center was probably Ronin's favorite

The food was fabulous

And so was the settling.  A Buffet.  Found out later from this picture that my friend Nancy Figuerres and her family happened to sit right behind us a table over.  We saw her as we were leaving.

After dinner we hopped on a tour bus and saw the LDS Hawaai Temple

 And came back to a magnificent show called the Breath of Life.  Very impressive fire show.  Best I've yet seen, even compared to the ones I saw at BYU years ago

And the last day we took the kids to the Honolulu Zoo.  Trust me I'd rather go somewhere different but when you're with kids you lose the vote 1 to 4.  The plants were pretty cool though and the animals came out to say hi.  That's what mattered.  We also went to Waikiki beach (just to check it off the list), which is not comparable to some of the Maui beaches we went to but still fun.  We both prefer smaller private beaches

Hawaai was much needed and was a perfect half way point.  If I had to redo it all, I would've brought less luggage.  It's hard knowing what to pack and what to leave behind.  Turns out that Vietnam does carry a lot of American products.