HAWAI'I

Much to my surprise back in August my husband got the notion to use up some of his vacation days by flying the family to Hawaii. While I'm never one to turn down a vacation to a tropical paradise, the fact that MY husband was suggesting this was so out of the ordinary. So with a little planning and calling to figure out flights we headed up the coast, taking the scenic route to San Francisco. I'm completely in love with the West Coast-line. Beautiful sandy beaches, steep rock cliffs, sunsets and even the fog rolling in. I admire it so much that I'm trying to instill some of that in my children and teach them to appreciate God's creation.
We made stops along the way in Solvang, (a little German village) and at Hearst castle, which after living in England my kids didn't understand why they would call it a castle. We drove along the PCH up through Monterey and then on to the airport. Flying a military flight requires flexibility and patience since you can't really plan on an irregular flight. You show up and wait and it's nothing like going to a normal airport. But now my kids can say they've flown on a C-5 (a very large cargo plane). What an experience! Our seats were in the top of the plane and we could look down over the cargo area.
We spent one lovely week in paradise. Our hotel had direct beach access and a pool so we spent lots of time in the water. We also drove around the island, visited Peral Harbor and climbed Diamond Head. No visit there is complete without some fresh Dole Whip from the Dole plantation, which we did...twice. We returned home exhausted but had a fabulous time. I'm trying to convince Devin to put Hawaii on his wishlist for his next assignment. We'll see! :)

Beach Baby

Our Hotel

At the Luau

Before the hike

At the pool

Austin took this picture

Waimea Falls

On a Submarine