That One Time When We Spontaneously Went to Hawai'i

Here's the thing.

Sometimes life is hard, but sometimes it surprises you with the most unbelievably wonderfullthings.

So, Jayson's parents have points with this big hotel chain. It's sort of like a time share, except you don't have to go to the same place every year. They have been planning on taking all of Jayson's siblings to Hawai'i in twos. Next year was supposed to be our turn along with Jayson's brother and his wife. But, since we're waiting on adoption  his parents got to thinking that next year might not work out. They were already planning on going by themselves at the end of February/ beginning of March and so...

Let's rewind to the Saturday after Valentine's Day. Jayson's mom came over and brought us chocolate chocolate Dunford's Donuts, because it's a family tradition. So, she comes over and casually says, "So, do you guys want to go to Hawai'i with us next week?

And we were like, "Na, we'll pass. We'll just hang our here."

Ok, obviously we were like, "YEEEEESSSSS!!"

And you guys, when Hawai'i comes calling, you just have to answer, am I right?

Of course it was President's Day weekend, so I had to wait all the way until Tuesday to find out from my boss if I could get the time off of work. I did let him know over the weekend though, just as a heads up. That Monday was the first time ever that I've wanted to go to work on a day off. On Tuesday morning I got to work and I checked the calendar first thing so that I could see if anyone else had that time off. When I opened the calendar it said "Karissa PTO, Hawaii" on the calendar! My boss had just added it in without me even needing to beg, which I was totally prepared to do. And so, everything fell into place and the timing couldn't have been more perfect for us. I kept saying, "It's like Hawai'i wanted me to come!" Seriously though, it was totally meant to be.

Whenever people ask me how it was all I can ever do is say really generic words like, beautiful, warm, and "soooo nice!" But, it was so much more than that.

Here's the thing about vacations and me. I almost always fall in love with every place I go. But, never have I fallen so in love with a place. I know Hawai'i comes with all sorts of high expectations, and it did not disappoint. While we were there I kept saying weird things like, "I'm pretty sure that spiritually I'm from Hawai'i." But, you have to understand, I've always LOVED Hawai'i, or at least things of Hawai'i. When I was little I was obsessed with surfing movies. My friend Alisha and I used to pretend to surf on the trampoline by making waves with the water coming out of the hose or the sprinklers. My favorite fruit is pineapple and mangos. I've ALWAYS loved tropical flavors. The first time I had a Slurpee I got pina colada, and after that there was no going back. Tropical smells have always been my favorite. I've always said that 80 degrees is the perfect temperature, and that's what it is there all of the time. I'm intensely in love with the ocean. With the exception of dogs, all of my favorite animals are sea creatures. And so, it's like Hawai'i and I were made for each other. I can't get it out of my mind. I want to go back already! When ever we go on vacation Jayson and I like to imagine what it would be like to live there, but I don't think we've ever considered it as much as we did there. Going to Hawai'i was like I found part of my soul that was lost, except that I never knew it was lost. It just felt so very natural and so very me.

It really was paradise.

Anyway, I think you get the idea, so I'll stop with the cheesy business.

I know, I know. You want me to stop typing and show you pictures already.

But one more thing, the island we went to was Maui.

We went snorkeling, of course! You guys, I saw a Sea Turtle!!! It was amazing! And so many beautiful and colorful fish and pretty coral. 

The pictures below are of the Road to Hana, which is really popular, really long, pretty scary, and breathtakingly beautiful. 

These trees had colorful bark!

I was reading in a travel guide that in some places in Maui even the plants have plants. It's true.

It's SO green there! It was like this almost EVERYWHERE on that road. 

I love to watch the waves curl.

 And crash.

This tree is called a banyan tree. It sends of shoots and makes other trees, like so. I'll show you a picture of the biggest one later. It's crazy-amazing. 

 The bamboo forest was one of my favorites. It's so tall! It's also very lovely. It looks face because it's so smooth. Also, when the wind blows you can hear them clank together and it's one of the coolest sounds ever.

Biggest waterfall I've ever seen.

And on the road to Hana there is Homoa Beach, which had the best boogie boarding waves I ever did ride. 

You guys, these pictures don't even begin to capture the beauty of the road to Hana. It's kind of hard to take pictures of because you're driving a lot of the time, but it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and definitely the most green. 

Here are some pictures from Lahaina. I absolutely adore Lahaina. If I ever move to Maui I'd probably live here. 

Here's the biggest banyan tree. You guys, that is all ONE tree. It's crazy. They were having a bazaar under the tree with all sorts of crafts for sale and live dancing. It was wonderful!

I love me a good harbor.

We took a ferry from Lahaina over to the island of Lanai and on our way we saw whales! We actually saw whales almost every day at the beach. They were EVERYWHERE. I was never close enough to get a good picture, but it was incredible. On the ferry I actually saw a baby do a full breach. If you ever go to Hawai'i I HIGHLY recommend you go during whale season.

 Jayson's parent's friends were actually staying on Lanai that week, so we met up with them as well.

I know, I'm totally doing the shaka wrong.

This was my foot at a black sand beach. It was AWESOME. Also, we got some of our best whale watching from the beach.

One night we watched the sunset on the beach just across from our hotel in Kihei.

These are from a hike we took. I kind of felt like I was hiking through a rain forest.

 An alter of some sort?

And, this was also a road with some of the most breath taking views I've ever seen.

This is Big Beach I can't even get over how blue that water was!

Also, one of my favorite things was that Jayson and I took surfing lessons! I've always wanted to surf and I LOVED it. SO much fun! I wish we could surf here. Oh, and there was a photographer in the water taking pictures of us. I think they turned out super cool!

Since Jayson is good at everything we was amazing at surfing. Seriously, he caught on faster than anyone in the group.

 And, I look super dorky surfing, but at least I was having fun!

Ok, here is my favorite sequence of pictures..

 The one above just kills me! What am I even doing?!

He smiles even when he falls.

Winner!

So, that was Hawai'i.

Don't worry Hawai'i; one day I will be back.