Hey hey girls... Well, we've been back from Oahu since Wednesday (tragic really) - we absolutely LOVED this trip and can't wait to go back. It was seriously soo SOO hard leaving because it is a truly magical place where the rest of the world disappears in favor of relaxation, fun and ohana!
I took over 1000 pics on this trip, so I cant share them all, but I thought I would share some highlights so you can see a bit of what we did!
The flight from AZ to Oahu was just over 6 hours which was painful because we just wanted to get there already. The kids did really well for us, but were thrilled when we were on the ground in our rental car on the way to our resort - yay!
We stayed on the western side of the island at Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club. It's a timeshare resort about 25 minutes away from Waikiki, and it was absolutely everything we were looking for in an island getaway. We had tons of room, the ammenities were superb and it was GORGEOUS...
4 calm, peaceful lagoons like this one are what the Ko Olina resort area is known for.
The spectacular view from our balcony!
The view from the resort's Porte Cochere.
The Ko Olina Beach Club shares the Ko Olina Resort area with the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa (and soon a Disney Vacation Club resort will be here too). All guests staying at either property can shuttle between the two resorts to enjoy ammenites, restaurants, etc.
Soo... our first morning we got up and headed over to the JW for breakfast - it was a beautiful place to wander around...
The kids loved these lagoons with Stingrays and Hammerhead Sharks. You could get right up to the edge of the water and the animals were just a couple of feet away!
Koi ponds were everywhere in Hawaii - and they were beautiful!
After exploring for a bit, we headed back "home" and got ready to spend a day at the beach. The lagoons at Ko Olina were perfection! The water is calm and safe, it wasn't too busy and the kids spent hours playing in the sand and water while Rocky and I snoozed and read on the beach without a worry in the world.
This was really the kid's first experience at a beach because we havent traditionally been "beach people" - I think Hawaii changed us!
After spending the day in the sun, we decided to head into Waikiki for dinner...
It was a zoo! There was crazy traffic, wall to wall people, tourists were everywhere and dinner at Duke's at the Outrigger Waikiki was super mediocre. I can now say I've been to Waikiki and have no urge to go back
We pretty much stuck to our resort area and our explorations of the more remote areas of the island instead.
The next day, we got up and it was time to head to the other side of the island for our Lost Hummer Tour! The tour was so much fun and we did some serious off roading up in the mountains at Kualoa Ranch to see some spots where various movies were filmed...
Godzilla's footprints - it was super cool to see the opening clip of the movie where Matthew Broderick is standing in a hole and they pan out to show these footprints and the surrounding area! Very neat to be able to say "we've been there!"
You rememer John visiting Sayid in South America, where Sayid is on the roof doing construction on a school? That building is right behind me, but the lush landscape of this area was incredible and other-worldly!
Take away the boat and buildings and you're looking at the first view the Dharma recruits had of the island from the submarine dock! Super cool!
We saw locations from Pearl Harbor and Windtalkers. We saw where Ana Lucia kills Goodwin, Hurley's Golf Course, the hills where the blue VW is driven and rolled down and so much more - it was a really great tour!
Most of the trip we spent relaxing at the pool or beach, but we did do a little site seeing as we were driving around here and there...
The view of Kualoa from Kaneohe Bay.
Mokolii Island (aka Chinaman's Hat) from the beach at Kaneohe Bay. I guess you can swim or Kayak out to this island and have it all to yourself if you want!
We also made a stop in the Valley of the Temples to see Byodo-In Temple. It was built in the 60's to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrant workers arriving in Hawaii. It has also been featured in several episodes of Lost with Jin and Sun. It was a GORGEOUS place...
The day before our last day in Hawaii, we spent the afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was hotter than heck, but really neat to learn about the various islands throughout polynesia (Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, etc).
The kids got tattoos in Fiji...
We all looked beautiful decked out in our headgear made from the coconut palm tree in Tonga...
And we also enjoyed a luau and their polynesian show at the end of the night too! I thought the kids might be bored, but they were fascinated to see all of the presentations. It was a great day and really gave us a sense of the culture of the islands.
We spent our last day enjoying the pool...
Katie made a friend in Oregon...
Emily loved hanging like a monkey from the bars around the pool...
And Andy hammed it up for the camera as usual!
Sadly, the day came to an end and we said goodbye to Hawaii with a gorgeous sunset over Ko Olina...
I was an incredible vacation and I am a TOTAL sap so this sunset made me tear up at the thought of having to leave.
I can't say enough good things about this trip - we weren't sure if we would really enjoy it because we arent beach and sun people. We are so used to the go go go style of our previous Southern California and Disneyworld vacations so we were a little worried we might be bored "just sitting around". That absolutely wasn't the case and this was easily the hardest vacation to "let go of" when it was time to come home. We honestly can't wait to return!
Thanks sooo much for checking out my pics and reading all of this! Hope you enjoyed it
R
I took over 1000 pics on this trip, so I cant share them all, but I thought I would share some highlights so you can see a bit of what we did!
The flight from AZ to Oahu was just over 6 hours which was painful because we just wanted to get there already. The kids did really well for us, but were thrilled when we were on the ground in our rental car on the way to our resort - yay!
We stayed on the western side of the island at Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club. It's a timeshare resort about 25 minutes away from Waikiki, and it was absolutely everything we were looking for in an island getaway. We had tons of room, the ammenities were superb and it was GORGEOUS...
4 calm, peaceful lagoons like this one are what the Ko Olina resort area is known for.
The spectacular view from our balcony!
The view from the resort's Porte Cochere.
The Ko Olina Beach Club shares the Ko Olina Resort area with the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa (and soon a Disney Vacation Club resort will be here too). All guests staying at either property can shuttle between the two resorts to enjoy ammenites, restaurants, etc.
Soo... our first morning we got up and headed over to the JW for breakfast - it was a beautiful place to wander around...
The kids loved these lagoons with Stingrays and Hammerhead Sharks. You could get right up to the edge of the water and the animals were just a couple of feet away!
Koi ponds were everywhere in Hawaii - and they were beautiful!
After exploring for a bit, we headed back "home" and got ready to spend a day at the beach. The lagoons at Ko Olina were perfection! The water is calm and safe, it wasn't too busy and the kids spent hours playing in the sand and water while Rocky and I snoozed and read on the beach without a worry in the world.
This was really the kid's first experience at a beach because we havent traditionally been "beach people" - I think Hawaii changed us!
After spending the day in the sun, we decided to head into Waikiki for dinner...
It was a zoo! There was crazy traffic, wall to wall people, tourists were everywhere and dinner at Duke's at the Outrigger Waikiki was super mediocre. I can now say I've been to Waikiki and have no urge to go back
We pretty much stuck to our resort area and our explorations of the more remote areas of the island instead.The next day, we got up and it was time to head to the other side of the island for our Lost Hummer Tour! The tour was so much fun and we did some serious off roading up in the mountains at Kualoa Ranch to see some spots where various movies were filmed...
Godzilla's footprints - it was super cool to see the opening clip of the movie where Matthew Broderick is standing in a hole and they pan out to show these footprints and the surrounding area! Very neat to be able to say "we've been there!"
You rememer John visiting Sayid in South America, where Sayid is on the roof doing construction on a school? That building is right behind me, but the lush landscape of this area was incredible and other-worldly!
Take away the boat and buildings and you're looking at the first view the Dharma recruits had of the island from the submarine dock! Super cool!
We saw locations from Pearl Harbor and Windtalkers. We saw where Ana Lucia kills Goodwin, Hurley's Golf Course, the hills where the blue VW is driven and rolled down and so much more - it was a really great tour!
Most of the trip we spent relaxing at the pool or beach, but we did do a little site seeing as we were driving around here and there...
The view of Kualoa from Kaneohe Bay.
Mokolii Island (aka Chinaman's Hat) from the beach at Kaneohe Bay. I guess you can swim or Kayak out to this island and have it all to yourself if you want!
We also made a stop in the Valley of the Temples to see Byodo-In Temple. It was built in the 60's to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrant workers arriving in Hawaii. It has also been featured in several episodes of Lost with Jin and Sun. It was a GORGEOUS place...
The day before our last day in Hawaii, we spent the afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was hotter than heck, but really neat to learn about the various islands throughout polynesia (Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, etc).
The kids got tattoos in Fiji...
We all looked beautiful decked out in our headgear made from the coconut palm tree in Tonga...
And we also enjoyed a luau and their polynesian show at the end of the night too! I thought the kids might be bored, but they were fascinated to see all of the presentations. It was a great day and really gave us a sense of the culture of the islands.
We spent our last day enjoying the pool...
Katie made a friend in Oregon...
Emily loved hanging like a monkey from the bars around the pool...
And Andy hammed it up for the camera as usual!
Sadly, the day came to an end and we said goodbye to Hawaii with a gorgeous sunset over Ko Olina...
I was an incredible vacation and I am a TOTAL sap so this sunset made me tear up at the thought of having to leave.
I can't say enough good things about this trip - we weren't sure if we would really enjoy it because we arent beach and sun people. We are so used to the go go go style of our previous Southern California and Disneyworld vacations so we were a little worried we might be bored "just sitting around". That absolutely wasn't the case and this was easily the hardest vacation to "let go of" when it was time to come home. We honestly can't wait to return!
Thanks sooo much for checking out my pics and reading all of this! Hope you enjoyed it
R
