Honolulu, O'ahu

Oh, Honolulu…We came and left, just like that. It was such a good week I can’t even believe it’s already over! My word!  You can fit so much stuff into a week when you don’t have kids and it’s over in a blink of an eye! It’s so insane. We kept saying all week things like “wow, we can DO this because we don’t have kids!”  And watching parents struggle with getting strollers in and out of trolleys and walkways and dealing with scheduling and all that- we just felt so much relief that our kids weren’t with us!  All those parents looked a little more tired, a little more stressed, a little more of everything….including bags and sippys and diapers and toddler toys….and we just watched them without a single pang of envy.  But that’s all beside the point. The point that I’m trying to make is we got to have a whole week without kids and it was glorious.  Obviously I missed them (especially Sully- my first time ever leaving him for more than 4 hours was killer.  I bawled my eyes out when we left Oklahoma.  Shawn was all excited to be on the plane to Hawaii and I was sitting next to him sobbing. I couldn’t help it!). I missed them a lot but thank goodness for FaceTime because we were able to see them almost everyday for a few minutes here and there. They were doing just fine with their Grammy and Paw Paw and they were happy!  That’s all I could ask for! 

Anyway, I’m just gonna lay it out; everything we did.

We flew in on Wednesday the 8th and we were in the air/airports for 22 hours.  It was nuts! I was beyond exhausted!  We landed at 9pm Honolulu time, but 2 am OK time. Obviously, we crashed very quickly.  Thursday we rented a car and went to the Honolulu Costco. Did you know that the Honolulu Costco is the busiest Costco in the WORLD?!  We kept commenting on how insanely busy it was and we got there right at opening time.  But we wanted to stock up on cheap food for the week so it was worth it. Hawaii is freakin’ EXPENSIVE!  Everything.  Parking, tipping everyone, water, snacks, just- everything.  We spent every single dollar we brought there and feel like we didn’t get to do THAT much…We didn’t get to do any big excursions like we wanted.  We wanted to go Zip-Lining SO bad, but nope.  Not enough money. And we only went out to eat at ONE fancy restaurant.  We ate cheap sushi and fast food a couple times, but didn't have enough money to spend on fine dining every night. Oh well. I’m not too upset cause it was still an awesome trip.  

Anyway: First things first!

"My sweet, sweet Nana Smidt went to elementary school here ☺️Had to make a pit-stop so I could send her these pictures. Love her." #ThomasJeffersonSurfers

After that, we drove to a mountain and hiked.  I wish I could remember the name of the mountain, dang it.....

"Today we went on the hardest hike of our lives. It was awesome. It started off being easy-peasy and I wanted a challenge. So we went off the path and pretty much just scaled a straight up and down mountain (no trails whatsoever). I'm being serious. My whole body aches from all the rock climbing we did, but it was the coolest thing! Plus, we saw blow holes, tide-pools and humpback whales! 🐋Obviously pictures don't do it justice, but it was gorgeous!!⛰"

Later that night we ate THE BEST crab I’ve ever had in my ENTIRE life! It was a place called Karai Crab and you choose what seasonings you want on your crab, and the level of spice you want.  So naturally I chose the spiciest kind, and a garlicky/lemony/jalepeno seasoning.  HEAVEN.  For real.

The next day we woke up bright and early and went to the the USS Arizona Memorial and afterwards we took a tour of Honolulu. And when I say bright and early I mean it!  Our tour bus left at 5:55am!  Thankfully our bodies were still on Oklahoma time :) 

"Pearl Harbor Tour. Taking the ferry to the USS Arizona Memorial site was probably the most sobering, moving, humbling memorial I've ever been to. Especially because my great-grandfather was part of it all."🚢

Part of the ship, and oil in the water.  "The Black tears".

I didn't think it was appropriate to take pictures inside of the actual memorial.  It was a reverent place.  I took some pictures of the water outside, and the Arizona ship, but not of the inside.  Some things are not meant to be photographed.

 We did, however, climb inside a submarine and take pictures :)

On our tour we saw the Headquarters of Hawaii 5-0, Lolani Palace, Kapiolani Maternity Hospital (the Hospital where Nana was born!), Diamond Head, some beautiful scenery and butterflies, all the old Hawaiian houses that cost millions and are seriously just shacks that are stacked up the mountains.  We saw so much beauty!  SO many fishes when we stopped at a famous coral spot.  It was pretty cool to see Honolulu that way.

That night we went out to watch the sunset on the beach at a Luau.  It was so much fun to be fully immersed in the Hawaiian culture. 

"Watching the sunset at a Luau on the beach. Life doesn't get much better than this!"🌈☀️🌸🌊🌺

On Saturday we went out to the beach and paddleboarded!  It was my first time on a Paddle Board in the ocean.

"Paddle boarding in an ocean with waves is so much harder than it is in a lake 😂 I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. The first 20 minutes before we got the hang of it was seriously so hilarious. BUT- our goal was to be able to stand close enough to kiss each other and not fall and we did it! Ha!! 💋💋"🏄🏻

"So many people have asked us if we're on our Honeymoon! I feel so flattered!

Later that afternoon I was dumb enough to touch a Sea Urchin (insert eye-roll here).  Shawn reminded me over and over again how dumb that was because I got stung by it and it HURT!  And my whole thumb turned purplish black from the dye that it shot in me.  Shawn had to dig it’s stinger out with a safety pin and tweezers and that hurt too.  But, it was all fine in the end. 

Sunday we spent another day at the beach and rented boogie boards. It was a little bit of a letdown because we chose the calmest day on the water to rent them, and neither of us caught a SINGLE wave! Haha, what the heck!? Oh well.  It was still fun being out on that water!

"So many people have asked us if we're on our honeymoon. I feel flattered!"

Monday- Hanauma Bay! We went snorkeling! It. was. beautiful.  We took a tour bus out there and it was THE most breathtaking snorkeling place I have EVER been to.  I remembered snorkeling in Mexico and just being so amazed at all the fishies, but this….THIS was incredible.  And I touched 3 fish! HUGE fish, tiny fish, electric neon fish, crazy striped fish….Just every color and design and shape and size of fishies- we saw them.  It was so, so beautiful! These pictures of the water that I took are just with my phone! THAT'S how gorgeous it was.

"Best snorkeling spot I've ever been to. Breathtaking."🌊🐠🐡🐟☀️

Tuesday was our last day in Honolulu and the worst thing ever happened.  I woke up in the middle of the night and started throwing up.  Violently throwing up.  It was so incredibly painful.  I was stuck in the fetal position all day.  I was in so much pain and it was our LAST DAY.  I can’t get over it.  We saved our money for so long….years- to go on this trip.  And I got sick on our last day.  We were so excited to just relax on the beach and nap and rest on our last day of freedom in paradise.  But I literally couldn’t even sit up.  So Shawn went to the beach by himself for a bit and soaked up some sun for me while I cried and moped around our hotel room.  Around dinner time I was finally able to get up and move out to our beautiful balcony and watch the sunset.  And, people weren’t kidding. NOTHING beats a Hawaiian Sunset!  We never saw the "green flash," but it didn’t even matter.  Those sunsets….WOW.

Wednesday we woke up, had breakfast and packed up a bit. I was feeling much better so we went to the beach for 2 hours, even though it was morning time. After our time was up, we went back to the room to get everything together and while we waited for our shuttle to take us to the airport I sat out at the pool just to soak up as much sun as was humanly possible.  As the shuttle drove away I almost cried! Haha, I know, I am so dramatic.  BUT, it is sad to leave paradise!  I am looking forward to getting home to my babies for sure, and I am happy to go home to Oklahoma, so I’m not quite as sad as I would have been a year ago if I had to go back to New Hampshire.  Every single time I got back from a trip and pulled into our home in NH I would literally start bawling. I hated living there so much!  Sorry, I keep getting off subject.  I mainly just wanted to say that even though it is sad to leave Heaven, it is nice to go “home.”  I love Oklahoma.  

And I’m currently on the biggest airplane I have EVER been on.  It’s crazy big. Like a miniature city in the sky! And they served us dinner! For FREE! Woo Hoo! Its an 8 hour flight, so yeah, we deserve it!  And then sleep….. And then, home to my sweet lovin’ babies!

P.S. Here's a little prequel to the trip.... 

"Didn't expect to be THIS sad when I whispered goodbyes and left kisses on my babies at 4am this morning. In 20 hours we will be in Honolulu. Long day...but I am SO looking forward to a week in paradise with this hottie. But....flying an ocean away from my kids is gonna be tough!" #HawaiiHereWeCome #FirstFlightTogetherWithoutKidsIn6years