Aloha!

Some of you may know that Aki and I took a (surprise!) last-minute trip to Hawaii in early September. He and Marcus got a great deal on tickets and planned the whole thing. We went on a real budget, but had a fantastic time. Hawaii is a beautiful, magical place...what a wonderful vacation. Of course, we missed the kids (staying with Aki's folks at our house), but coming back to a life of work and responsibility took some adjusting!

Here are photos from the trip:

One of my favorite things we did was hiking.  There are many hikes, some to waterfalls. Here we are starting out to the trailhead.

Aki was an awesome tour guide, pointing out all the plants he was familiar with and telling us how the native Polynesians use them (think Noni and many others). In this photo he had just pulled up a ginger root and was letting us smell/taste it.

One of the views during our hike. Of course, the photo hardly does it justice.

The La'ie Hawaii Temple

Visiting the temple grounds (it is currently closed for remodeling)

We went and visited little Grandma Nau. She was so excited to see her beloved "Fa'aki" again and even remembered me. She makes me cry...what a sweet, sweet lady.

The beaches were amazing! On the North Shore, away from Waikiki, they were deserted for the most part, and I absolutely loved spending time there daily.

I never got brave enough to try my hand at surfing or bodyboarding or paddleboarding....too chicken.

Get ready for the picture, boys.  1....2....

....3!

Aki's little brother "Junior" got us free tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the day and to the luau dinner and performance that night. What a fun and entertaining learning experience. The night show was so impressive--the best part was Junior's drumming and dancing, of course! Here are Marcus and Cortney in one of the stores with their make-and-take woven headbands.

In the Tongan village, Aki was pulled from the audience to resume his former duties of drumming (that had been his job when he worked there as a student 10 years ago). They wanted to see if he still knew his stuff, which I'm glad to say he did! It was fun to watch him.

They pulled Marcus from the audience to learn the drums, and he gave us a good laugh. Oh my, Marcus got so into it and was yelling and hooting (he was actually really good!), he had us all laughing. I think Cortney was the most surprised to see that side of him!

Aki and I just before the luau dinner was starting. It had been a long, hot, day...we appreciated the good food and shade!

While the Bells went on a kayaking adventure, Aki and I chose the free option of visiting the Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona memorial. No photos were allowed there, so this ferry boat headed there was the closest we got. The memorial is a touching experience if any of you get to visit there.

To say thank you to Junior, the Bells took him and us to a nice restaurant on Waikiki the next night. The tables are outdoors, so were were literally on the beach, hearing the waves, feeling the breeze, and watching the sunset while we ate.

We hit up the North Shore's famous "Giovanni's Shrimp Truck" and got their garlic shrimp...you could smell the garlic for a mile, I'm not kidding. I'm just sad I didn't get a picture of the North Shore's famous shave ice. It was so good!

While we were waiting for our shrimp, a busload of Japanese tourists pulled up and unloaded. All the Japanese girls wanted to pose with Aki and get their picture taken. He was a good sport and put on a big cheesy smile. Marcus kept teasing them, asking why they didn't want their picture taken with him. Pretty funny.

Cousin Julie Goodman and her girls were there our last day. Kanisha is attending BYU-Hawaii, so her family came on vacation to help her get set up. We had fun spending the day with them.

Hanging out at Hukilau Beach (sorry for the blur)

What beautiful, bright girls these two are!

Cute Kanisha and Imani

The best breakfast on all of Oahu (deemed by Marcus), also the cheapest, was at Papa Ole's. Banana pancakes were the fave!

At the end of our stay we were sunburned, totally rested, and full to the brim with ono food. What a great time we had--I'm so glad we did it and would highly recommend it (if you need a tour guide, Aki is available as long as his wife gets to go with).