Hawaii the rest.....

After one day on the North Shore time became a blur. I think we entered into a perfect groove of vacation. Beach, lots of cookies (I think we went through on package or elf made cookies per day)- again on vacation it seems anything goes! We did eat 6 lbs of apples over the week. We drove a bit a couple of days as that is fun for Robert and it was a great way to see the island. 

 This is the "Chinaman's Hat" behind Emily - it is featured on lots of shows (Magnum PI, Jurassic Park)

 We searched on the island for classic cars and really didn't find much. We did see this cute bug

 Endless play opportunities at the beach

 Relaxation 

 another sunset

 This was a great beach to explore marine life, and was at the North point, we watched surfers here at dusk

 We found this turtle at our favorite hidden beach we went to several times. he was quite big, bigger than our 90lb dog. Like the Monk seal, I think he was just ashore for a little rest time, he didn't seem to mind us staring at him. He would blink occasionally at us but we didn't see him move.

 Emily worked on perfecting her selfies on the balcony of our condo

Hawaii North Shore Day 4

We checked out of Aulani and went back to Walmart! We were headed to the North Shore which is less populated and touristy and we wanted to get more food for the rest of the trip. 

I had reserved a condo/town home place at Turtle Bay on the North Shore. Turtle Bay has a hotel and a golf course designed by some famous golfer.  Our place had air conditioning, kitchen, two baths and showers, a bedroom on the main level and the open loft had a queen and twin bed. It also came with beach towels, boogie boards, beach chairs, umbrella and pretty much anything  else we desired. 

 Robert relaxing. I am so proud of him, he worked the first day while we were at Pearl Harbor and he was mad at the problem he was fixing. He fixed it and really checked out and went on vacation. We actually travel a lot, it's great to pick up and road trip with him on a work trip. But I'd guess this was the first trip we have taken in 5 years that he didn't visit a client, or work. It was truly great.

 At night after our sunset watch we all vegged out. It really was an electronic free for all!

 This is a picture of our place. The silver Nissan facing out was our car parked in front of our condo. The condo area had three different pools for swimming and it was a 5 minute walk to the beach on Turtle Bay property. We went to this beach a couple times, it was protected a bit by a natural cove but had no barrier so the waves were a bit big for our comfort. We did watch surfers at night. The North Shore beaches are known for its great surf waves in the Winter.

 The beach nearest our condo had a Hawaian Monk Seal taking a siesta. They are endogenous to HI and protected. I gather when one comes ashore to rest the HI version of the DNR comes off to rope the seal off. I googled Monk seals and they can come ashore to rest for 2-4 days. We saw two different Monk seals at this beach during the four days we were staying.

 Bed head curls

 On our drive around the island to the North Shore we stopped to get a big diet coke for Robert at the gas station, and I picked up a Asian snack. It wasn't the best.

 Oahu has wind farms too! Energy is expensive on the island, but there were lots of signs of protest about these windmills obstructing the beauty.

The stairs to our condo, and Robert!

Hawaii Day 2-4 at Aulani Disney Resort

 Robert made me put my lei back on for a birthday picture (Dallas, Robert and I enjoyed extra curl hair)

 We dropped the kids off at Aunty's Beachhouse (daycare) to enjoy a birthday lunch

 When Disney knows it is your birthday, dessert compliments of the chef!

 We tried to take a selfie every time we hit the elevator.  

 Lots of beach and pool time. The resort had 7 pools, lazy river, 4 hot tubs a pool that you could swim/snorkel with sea creatures and then the beach. They also had activities like this pool party we participated in. Goofy and friends would come out and hold a dance party and other fun competitions. 

 Pictures with Minnie

 Hawaiian shave ice Micky style. Noelle choose a really gross flavor combination, lime, root beer and some native Hawaiian flavor that was essentially plum. No-one want to help finish hers!!!

 Beach, we love sand + water

 Watching another sunset. It was often cloudy, but it was still amazing. 

 Elevator selfie

 On one of the resort decks

 Bed hair in paradise

 More swimming. We swam, ate, sunned, beached and repeated!

 More sunset goodness

Hawaii Day 2 - Aulani

Next stop on our day 2 Oahu tour was a quick stop at Walmart to get some groceries for our resort stay at Aulani. We had a suite and had planned to each out about one meal a day. We picked up some breakfast items, snacks, 3 lbs of apples, chips and pb & j fixings. 

Upon arrival at the Aulani, woman recieve a lei, and men get this necklace that looks like it is made of buckeyes (it really is plastic and Hawaiian's don't know what buckeyes are!) I learned that the white flowers on a lei make is smell wonderful, the purple flowers are to make it look good. The kids each got a necklace with the Hawaiian Goddess Hina as a pendent.  

 One thing I would have done differently is kept one bag out with our swimsuits. You can check in as early as you want on arrival day to start using the resort. But valet (you have to valet) had taken our car and put our bags in a staging area to wait for our room to be ready.  So again we find ourselves in the ocean with clothes on! At this point we didn't care, because vacation!

 The resort shared a beach with the nearby hotel, they had created a pretty natural looking protective barrier that allowed you to play in the surf safely.

 Aulani is a Disney Resort, so it had all the awesomeness of Disneyland or World only in HI

We registered the kids at Aunty's Beachhouse, an amazing perk of the resort, babysitting. You had to sign your life away and the kids had to wear a bracelet that tracked their every move. We only used the service once. The kids liked it. Noelle hung out in the craft room, Dallas played video games and Emily played in the iPad room. They had events and rooms for all ages and they would even feed your kid for $10 if it was mealtime.