Sam and I take turns planning anniversary trips each year. Sam's years are always way better than mine and this year he decided to go all out and buy tickets to Hawaii for a babymoon/early 6 year anniversary trip! So he wins again! He came up with the idea & bought the tickets but I pretty much planned the itinerary because he was super busy with work.
This trip almost didn't happen but I'm so glad it did! Long story short, on Sunday afternoon we get a notification that our flight out of SLC--> LAX the next morning might have issues due to a major storm coming in that night. It said we could risk it, cancel our flight, or reschedule. So we called the airline agency and tried to find a way to fly out of SLC earlier so we would make it to LAX the next morning for our flight to Hawaii. They said they had a direct flight SLC to Hawaii leaving in 2 hours and if we could make it to the airport ASAP. We immediately said yes and Sam proceeded to pack a bag in 5 mins (luckily I was mostly packed and just had to finish packing my toiletry bag). We were out the door in 10 mins and calling our rental car company to change our rental car pick up to a day early and we called our friends that we were staying with and told them we were arriving earlier and if it would be ok if we stayed with them an extra night. SHOUTOUT to the Blickenstaff's for being the MVPs of the trip! So anyway we made it on our flight and to Hawaii at 9pm Sunday night instead of Monday 12:30pm so we were already winning!
MONDAY
Due to the 3 hour time change we were up at 7am and started the day off with the Lanikai Pill Box Hike. The views were amazing and I'm lucky my pregnant self made up the steep mountainside.
Then we had some amazing breakfast burritos at Kono's and acai bowls from Lanikai Juice and headed to Castles Beach to meet Jacky & Jacob to go surfing. Sam surfed for 4 hours straight and got a bad sunburn (rookie mistake getting sunburnt the first day) and I loved every minute soaking up the sun on the beach-I probably would have attempted surfing if the water wasn't so choppy.
Then we drove down to Waikiki to watch the sunset and eat dinner. And on the way home stopped at Leonard's Bakery for some warm Malasadas.
TUESDAY
We woke up ready for a shady hike to keep us out of the sun due to our sunburns and ended up on the adventure of hiking Manuwilli Falls. We somehow started on the wrong trail and ended up hiking an unnecessary 2 miles and then drove to a different starting location and hiked 2 miles on the correct trail. So basically I was already pooped before we even started... (and this hike is a little intense for a pregnant lady-super muddy, tons of stairs) and by the time we made it to the waterfall I didn't want to hike back but I did it!
That night we went and watched the sky change colors at Kailua Beach and it was the most beautiful thing!
WEDNESDAY
It was raining a little bit in the morning and we drove down the coast to hike to the Makapu'u Lighthouse. Then we visited the Blowhole at Halona Beach Cove. Then we drove to the west side of the island and went to a little lagoon by the Disney Resort and relaxed at the beach for a few hours. It started pouring rain that night so we went to a movie after some shaved ice and dinner.
THURSDAY
It was pouring rain today but we made the most of it by driving through the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden and then going to visit the Byodo-In Temple. Then we spent the afternoon playing board games with Jacky and Jacob at their house and we went to the Kailua night market and had the most amazing corn empanadas. Then the girls watched the Bachelor and the boys played basketball.
FRIDAY
We said goodbye to Jacky and Jacob and spent the morning at Lanikai Beach which was so beautiful and of course got acai bowls from Lanikai Juice for breakfast. Then we drove up to the North Shore for the remainder of our trip. We spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center learning about the different islands, eating food, going to a lu'au, and watching their night performance which was amazing! We checked in our hotel as well which shared a parking lot with the PCC and the lady checking us in was so nice and upgraded our room to an ocean view (she was also pregnant so maybe that's why).
SATURDAY
We went to Sunrise Shack for acai bowls (the blue dream bowl with mac nut butter was so good!) Then we got some beach time in at Sunset Beach and then drove up the North Shore more to see Waimea Bay, Laniakea Beach, Turtle Bay, and Haleiwa.
SUNDAY
We had some yummy pancakes for breakfast at our hotel bistro and then relaxed by the pool for a few hours. Then we got ready to take some maternity pics with my friend from San Diego, Lela, who moved to Hawaii a few years ago. We took pictures at Kualoa Ranch which was beautiful and then for dinner we had some yummy fish tacos at North Shore Tacos and for dessert got some chocolate haupia pie from Ted's Bakery. And on the drive back to our hotel there was a crazy rain storm and we saw lightening strick a pole right in front of us that fell over and power lines were down everywhere! It was kind of spooky!
MONDAY
It was raining again today but it was our final day so we were ready to just chill and take it easy. We had a delicious acai bowl from Elsie's Smoothies at the Polynesian Cultural Center Marketplace for breakfast and then stopped by the temple for a quick visit. Then we started our drive down to Honolulu and made some stops along the way for more food, went to a movie, we walked around a mall in Waikiki to get some movement before the long plane ride home, went to dinner and then walked to the beach for sunset because it finally stopped raining. Then we made it to the airport for our red eye flight home.
It was a wonderful trip and my favorite part was just being with Sam 24/7 for like 9 days straight!!
