Aloha Recap!

Greetings, friends. Ten days in Hawaii flew by and every day was crammed full of adventures. I’ll attempt a brief recap. I’m still soaking it all up while recovering from jet lag and the time change. This was the view from our rented condo.

It was a long flight over with one plane change, but we were so excited, we didn’t mind it. Coming home was a completely different story.

The first day in, we went to a nearby beach to watch the sun set, and of course to dip our toes in the Pacific ocean.

The second day was a beach hopping day which sunburned all the kiddos despite all the sunscreen, but they had a ball!

Then later that early evening, we heard sirens going off. We started getting texts from the condo rental company about an incoming tsunami and that we needed to evacuate to the Waikiola Village which was on higher ground. Needless to say, there was a brief moment of panic since none of us had ever experienced anything like that. Thankfully, the tsunami didn’t materialize and six hours later, we were allowed to return to our condo.

Because of the tsunami evacuation, the Luau we had scheduled was canceled, so we had to try to find another one, which it turned out, wasn’t hard to do. And, it was truly one of the highlights of the trip to me. I loved the fire dancer!! I can only imagine the hours of practice it took. My grandson even got on stage with the dancers! 🙂 And the food was delicious!

It’s hard to keep track of the days and what we did on what days. It all ran together. Plus there is a five-hour time difference between Hawaii and Texas. But we made a loop around the entire island visiting Rainbow Falls, Volcano State Park and black sand beach all in one day.

Rainbow Falls

This Banyan tree was unbelievable! You can tell from us in comparison to the tree how massive it was.

Visiting the Volcano National Park was another amazing adventure! We hiked down to the Kilauea volcano floor, then back up. I made the 5 miles, but was definitely struggling toward the end of the climb back up.

I loved this photo my daughter took that looks like my grandson was trying to blow out the volcano. 🙂

We also went through the lava tubes.

Then on the way back to the condo that day, we stopped at a black sand beach. It was pitch dark, but still got some good photos thanks to the flash!

One of the highlights of the trip was our venture over to Honolulu to Pearl Harbor. It’s sobering to understand the enormity of what happened that day in December. And I learned some things I did not know about what caused Japan to send the bombers. Surprisingly, it was over oil. Because of what Japan was doing in China, we had cut off our oil exports. That was the trigger. We boarded the USS Missouri for a tour, then headed over to the Arizona memorial before touring a submarine.

The kiddos got to swim with dolphins and they loved it so much!

I know there was so much more, but I’m going to stop there and leave you with this bit of information. On August 6th, Kilauea erupted. We missed by two days! This photo is from the U.S. Geological Survey site. I’m glad we missed it, although it would have been amazing to witness.

A hui hou…

I hope you enjoyed taking this journey with me. Now, it’s back to business and a new book release!!!

In case you’ve missed here are the purchase links:

A BOLD BARGAIN

CADE’S QUEST

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