Hawiian Vacation (Caseys pictures)

 

 First time checking out the beach that was just right down from the hotel.  It was a super nice clean beach.  There was no seaweed washed up on the sand, and it didn't even smell like fish! The first morning we woke up so early (like 3am) so Casey and I went down to the beach and watched the sunrise.  It was so peaceful and beautiful, and it was whale season so you could sit on the shore and see whales breaching in the distance!

 Casey and Jeff got to take a surfing class.  Casey seemed to be a natural!  They both loved it and wished they would have done it earlier so they could have utilized their new found skills.  While they were surfing Peggy and I had a spa day at the Grand Wailia.  It was AMAZING but they have a no photo's rule so there are no pictures of the amazing facility.  Before your spa treatment they have a huge area of of different soaking pools.  There were a bunch of scented pools, a cascading waterfall that massaged you back, a few different hot tubs, and this weird shower that shot out pinpoint streams of water all along the walls (I was not a fan of the shower). 

 

 

 We had some time for games in the evening, and even though some of us weren't exercising our good sportsmanship skills (Jeff!), we had a lot of fun! 

 On the second morning we woke up early and drove up to the top of a volcano to watch the sunrise.  It was very pretty but also super cold!!!  I was not expecting such extreme temperature changes, luckily the hotel staff had suggested we take blankets, so we walked around looking ghosts. 

 I got a pretty bad sunburn right away so for the first two days Casey and Jeff (and Peggy on one of the days) scuba-dived and I sat at the pool and just lounged.  It was awesome.  At the pool they brought you little cups of frozen grapes, and cups of pineapple slices.  It was so relaxing.  They also had a little area where they could prepare food and another for drinks.  There were guys walking around so if you wanted something you could just order with them and they would bring you your order.  Talk about luxury!

 We rented kayak and went out for a while one day.  We were hoping to see whales, but we didn't.  The water was super clear though so we could look down and see the coral. 

 We got to try out lots of little ice cream shops and restaurants.  (In the below picture we are showing off our cherry stem tying skills)

 Hands down our favorite dinner was COCONUT"S fish cafe.  We couldn't get enough of those fish tacos.  They had this amazing mango salsa on top. 

 

The other favorite was U shaved ice.  It was seriously so good.  I never though I (a devout ice cream lover) would give shaved ice any type of acclaim, but this stuff was magic.  The mango was the best, it was like biting into a fresh mango. Also they have an option to put ice cream on the bottom!!!  Talk about perfection.

 

 

We went to see a waterfall and on the way there we saw banana trees.  Pretty exciting.  We were just wishing there were monkeys there also:)

 We went on a snorkel cruise.  They took us to this little moon shaped island (Molokini) and we snorkeled around there.  There were tons of fish and coral.  Then we went to a turtle cleaning station and snorkeled with the turtles.  It was pretty cool to see those big sea turtles swimming around with us.  The water was pretty cold but they had food and drinks on the boat so whenever you were finished you could sit on the boat and warm up.

 We discovered shuffle board isn't just for old people.  We all enjoyed it and Jeff was determined to be the king.  I think he won almost every game he played regardless of partner. 

At the end of the week it was time to come home and we got to Denver and realized we had been living in an alternate reality.  It was really stormy in Denver and pretty much all the flights were being canceled.  We were rerouted and did eventually make it home after about 24 hours of flying. 

 At least United hooked us up with some sweet food vouchers!