Hawaii with the fam!!!

This year our family trip was so much fun. We decided in January to take the kids to Hawaii with us this time. We didn't know how they would be on a 5 1/2 hr airplane ride or a 4hr time difference but it was worth trying. I mean who doesn't want to go to Hawaii. We found a deal that we couldn't pass up so we booked it and away we went. The airplane was a breeze. Tucker was fantastic and the girls read a book, colored, laughed and slept. Once we landed in Maui, we were greeted with fresh flower lei's and received our rental car. AWAY WE WENT........

This is a picture of our first sunset. The girls wouldn't come out of the water. It was almost dark, i was freezing just watching them, but they were having too much fun to think about how cold it was once the sun went down.

I think this picture is so funny. My kids half naked and I have a sweatshirt on! haha

The weather was a bit wishy-washy so we decided to go to the Maui Ocean Center. An aquarium the the kids can get really close to all the fish in the sea. They loved walking through the all glass tunnel and seeing sharks so close.

When you are in Hawaii.......a Luau is a MUST. I love music...(like you didn't know that one!) and listening to the Hawaiian culture and history put to music and dance is outstanding. The dancers are so amazing. The costumes...unreal. The food......ok. haha. Jenna, Madee and Tucker were in ahhh. Tucker thought the fire dancing was the coolest. He would grunt after they did. I got it on video. SO CUTE.

We also took them on the Atlantic Submarine tour. We boarded a boat that took us out to sea a bit and then boarded a real submarine.

On our way to the submarine. Not a real clear day. It rained! :(

Brandon with the kids inside the submarine.

Some of the pods of fish we saw. We also got to see a baby shark.


Tucker and Dad looking through a port hole

On our way back. Tucker fell asleep on Dad right away. The time difference was so hard on him.


One of mine and Brandon's favorite places on Maui is Lahaina. This is a very old tree that has hundreds of roots that grow from a branch down. It is so neat. The kids took pictures all throughout the roots, but I am a horrible photographer and they all came out blurry!! duh.


Another day we decided to do a road trip. Are kids are getting pretty good at these. We decided to go see the Northern Coast. (Brandon and I didn't dare take the kids on the road to Hana. I called it the road to Hell! ) So we packed up and away we went. Along this ONE WAY road with cliffs....we found the BEST BANANA BREAD on the PLANET! That is actually the name of the little hut too. It was so good and the candied coconut. YUM. that alone makes me want to go back. This is just a random picture of a cliff. The weather again was not too good. I think it ended up raining all day this day.

On our road trip we went through Iao Valley. It is a state park that has some hiking trails, waterfalls, and beautiful scenery. We got the kids out of the car for some photo ops.

It truly is a sight to see. The natural beauty of Hawaii is breathtaking. I really could live there!!

One of the many waterfalls in Iao Valley



Our beautiful sunsets.

We took the kids whale watching which I think was Jenna's favorite. The whales were SO close to the boat. We saw so many that day. It was really fun

At the end of out trip....our kids begged us to stay longer. We made some amazing memories and realized that traveling with kids isn't all that bad. We actually really enjoyed sharing this with them. BUT........I do also love sharing some memories with just us sometimes. Every couple needs COUPLE time!. We will take them again sometime.