We are back from our long awaited trip to Hawaii! So much planning went into this trip, so much preparation so we would be ready for Christmas when we got back, it felt like everyone was going a hundred miles an hour right up until it was time to leave for the airport. Lynsey, now a Junior, had so much school work and tests to complete as even missing two days can be a lot when you're in high school. Brian had so much work to do to get ready for being off for almost 2 weeks, and I was busy doing all the Christmas things and packing and making sure we didn't miss any details . . . whew! Thankfully we got packed and got Jasper off and got the house ready on time. When we were in the car on the way to the airport, that was when the unwinding began.
The second level of unwinding was when we were through security and sitting at the gate. We had given ourselves lots of time to get there so we had time to get a Starbucks and snack before the long flight, Brian and I were pretty nervous about how Adam would do. The NEXT level of unwinding was landing safely at the Lihue airport, and Adam had done pretty well on the flight. There were some moments, it was a 6.5 hour flight and it was pretty late, but he did sleep for the last hour or so which was helpful.
The next level of unwinding happened after we got the shuttle to the car rental and our rental was secured. It was about a 20 minute drive to our condo and it was about 11:45pm Hawaii time (so 1:45am our time) when we arrived. We successfully retrieved our keys and I was so ready for that final level of unwinding when we entered our condo and went straight to bed.
We get to our condo and the first thing we noticed was there was a big bag in the entry, didn't think a lot of it as it was late and we were very tired. I went upstairs and started getting the sofa bed ready for Lynsey. Brian is trying to get the boys' bed ready but noticed they didn't have any pillows, just the decorative ones. Strange, but at this point I'm thinking I don't know exactly how clean or comfortable these things are but sleeping on them will not kill the boys and we will deal with it in the morning (not a hotel so there was no one in the rental office at midnight). This is when Brian points out that actually our bed had absolutely no bedding on it at all - no blanket, no sheets, no pillows. Walked into the bathroom, it is not clean. It was like they started cleaning and got distracted and never came back! I am panicking because this is not something we can just deal with in the morning! I call the emergency number on the rental and no one picks up. My tired mind was racing, what will we do if we can't reach anyone?? Try and find a hotel for the night?? I tried the number again a few minutes later and by the grace of God, someone answered. The guy was very nice and understanding - he said he would figure this out and call me right back. It took about half an hour, but by about 12:30 we had been moved to another condo just one building over for the night. We walked into this condo and our first impression is that it's way nicer (and after looking it up would have cost us quite a bit more to rent), so we were happy enough with the switch. We got the kids settled as quickly as we could, but it took me a long time to fall asleep after all that. It's not much of a vacation without some drama, am I right?? Yikes! Sooo the final level of unwinding took a little bit longer than I would have liked, but I did get there eventually haha!
The next morning I went over to the rental office and they were very apologetic for the mix up. We would have been very happy to stay in this condo for the whole six nights, but unfortunately these are units that all have their own rental schedules and this one had been rented out starting the following Monday (we were checking out on Tuesday). So no matter what we did, we would have to pack up and move to the original rental condo. This condo was bigger and we thought nicer, so we lobbied to stay as long as we could in this one. They said we could stay until Sunday. We had a trip to the north coast planned for Sunday, so we decided we would take Saturday. Unfortunate to have to switch over after getting settled, but it was the best solution there was considering. They didn't offer us any kind of refund and I didn't ask for one because I felt like they were doing their best to ease the inconvenience that this had caused us.
That drama sorted, we were able to get on with our vacation and not let it ruin our time!
The first day was spent just settling in and taking it easy. I got some groceries first thing so we could eat breakfast at the condo, and that sticker shock was a cultural experience all on it's own! I am such a conscientious shopper and I know exactly how much these items cost back home, so paying sometimes triple the price for the same things I would buy back home was a bit painful! But, it was cheaper than eating out three meals a day, this I knew for sure, so I sucked it up and paid the outrageous prices. I feel bad for the locals - like yikes!
Brian, Nathan and I took took a walk in the afternoon to check out the area close to us. We found our way to Poipu Beach and saw some sea turtles sunning themselves on the beach. Apparently this is just their spot because they literally had cones set up around this spot so tourists knew not to get too close. I found it interesting that they would always come back to the exact same spot on the beach, same for a sleeping sea lion a little further down the beach. Creatures of habit I suppose! When we got back from our walk we got the rest of the kids and headed over to the Poipu Beach Athletic Club for their pool and hot tub. Unfortunately the pool wasn't heated and it wasn't all that warm, so it was mostly hot tub time. Still fun to get out! That night we went to Kalapaki Joe's right by the rental office for dinner, it was actually pretty tasty and they had live music. Adam was a big fan of the live music:-). Good relaxing first day!
Friday morning, Brian and I took the boys to one of the complex pools that had a hot tub. Sadly the hot tub was pretty much only heated to bath water temperature and once again the pool was too cold to really use, but at least we got some great sunshine that morning! We had a bit to eat and then it was time to head to our river tubing adventure. Brian dropped Lynsey, Nathan and I off at Backcountry Adventures and took Adam to a beach just north of Lihue (Lydgate Beach). They had a nice time at the beach and then went for a treat at McDonalds before it was time to pick us up. Our tubing adventure was a lot of fun! It was actually a bit faster in some areas than I thought it would be - Nathan loved that part lol. The weather was okay but it did sprinkle a bit right at the end - thankfully it was right when it was time to get out of the water so we could get our towels. We had a small lunch and then it was time to head back. We made the right decision not attempting it with Adam, there were a lot of dark tunnels and he would have hated it. We liked it, though! Really glad we got to do it!
That night we got take out from a pasta/pizza place close to our condo, it was okay but definitely pricey for what it was. Welcome to Hawaii! It was nice to just stay in and not have to deal with a restaurant after a long day.
One thing to mention - there were chickens and roosters roaming all over the place on this island. The roosters crowed at about 7:15am so that wasn't too bad (I was always up anyway) but it was so weird how they were everywhere! I don't remember whether this was the case on Maui, but it wasn't in Honolulu (not surprising since it's a city) and we discovered later not the case on the Big Island either. I guess they just thrived on Kauai for some reason!
Saturday we had some breakfast and started moving our things over to the other condo. In the light of day (and clean!) we were actually quite happy with it. It wasn't as big as the other one, but there were some things that were actually a bit nicer - like this little nook by the window that first picture is taken from. The lanai had a nice ocean view. While it was a bit of a hassle to move over it really wasn't that big of a deal. Funny how a little time can give you perspective on something! We just made the most of it, that's really all you can do!
We decided to have lunch at this Hawaiian hot dog place before heading to the beach that afternoon, the hot dogs were quite delicious! Nathan especially was a fan! We spent a few hours on Poipu Beach enjoying the sunshine. Lynsey discovered that she quite liked sitting on the beach and reading her book, this was a new thing and I was so happy she found a way to enjoy the beach! She didn't get into the water, except for a brief time when she was fighting Brian for "Hairy", our weird looking beach umbrella:-D. It was a very nice afternoon at the beach, capped off by some tasty shave ice/ice cream. Yum!
For dinner that night we headed over to the restaurant by the Poipu Beach Athletic Club, the food was okay but not as good as our first dinner I thought. At least it wasn't crazy expensive and it was a nice atmosphere. Another good day!
Sunday was a big day for the Kroeker family - it was the day of our first "real" family hike! We left the condo in the morning and started heading up north so we would be at Haena State Park by 12:30 (the reservation I had woken up at 2am a month ago to secure). Our plan was to just head up there slowly, stopping at a beach or two along the way and having some lunch first. I head heard good things about Anini Beach so we stopped there. It was a pretty nice beach, although quite honestly, other than the cool tree in the first few pictures, nothing all that special. I saw that there was another "Anini Beach" on Google maps just a little ways up the road, so I thought we should go check that one out (maybe that was the one everyone raved about). We got to a very narrow rough road and I was a bit unsure, but Brian thought we should keep going. I'm so glad we did! It was a really nice beach with some homes on it, clearly not as popular as the other one but I actually liked it better! We spent some time hanging out there and headed back on the road towards the state park. We stopped in Hanalei for lunch at a hot dog stand, cute little area!
After lunch, it was time to head to Haena State park for our hike. It was a 2 mile hike to the beach I wanted to get to, as well as a 0.3 mile walk to just get to the trailhead. I really wasn't sure if this was a good idea for us but I wanted to try it. Adam was pretty gung ho at the start. He kept skipping ahead of us and seemed really happy for the first maybe hour of the hike. It was a bit more intense than I thought it would be, which is totally my fault for not knowing since there were lots of accounts on the internet to read from. The problem is hike intensity is all relative - some people were raving about how difficult it was, but then others were doing it with their toddlers. Whose to know what it's actually like! It got pretty muddy in a lot of places and I regretted that we weren't wearing junkier shoes. All I kept thinking was how messy the clean up would be. But, we soldiered on! We finally get to the beach at the end of the trail, and there is a small river you have to cross to get to it. Great. I was really wondering what we had done at this point, there were two miles back and this river to cross to even get to the beach where we could regroup . . . regret was sinking in. Brian and Nathan walked across with their shoes, and then Brian came back to carry first Adam then Lynsey on his back over the river. I decided to just go all in and soak my shoes and walk over - who doesn't love a good wet pair of shoes to do a 2 mile hike in! We cross and get to the beach, and it's all rocks - there is no sandy area to sit on. Thankfully Brian was being really positive at this point because I was starting to despair. The waves were really strong so Brian and Nathan just walked in up until their ankles, and Adam was happy sitting on a rock with a patch of sand in front of him. We were able to rest up a bit for the journey home, and it was a beautiful spot. Brian reported that the water was actually really warm but I didn't find out for myself!
The way back wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Yes my shoes were soaked and yes, Adam was done by the 3 of 4 mile mark, but we made it! Woohoo! Adam was definitely done and ranting for that last mile, but he kept on going. He just doesn't know how to keep his true feelings inside. I'm sure the other kids were also done but they were able to keep it in, he could not. We made it back to the trail head and rinsed off a bit before heading back to the car and changing into flip flops. We had dinner at a nice resort restaurant in Princeville before heading back home. What a long day! But a good day! The views on this hike really were incredible and not something we could have experienced here, so I'm really happy we pushed through. We did something we hadn't done before and while we were indeed stretched to the limit, we didn't break and that's something;-).
We decided to give the kids a day off on Monday, and Brian and I got back in the car and drove to Waimea Canyon in the morning. I had read this was not to be missed, and I have to say whoever said that was absolutely right. It's not often that I see something that truly takes my breath away, but this canyon really is spectacular. We made the drive up and stopped at the viewpoint at the top which was just amazing, although a bit cloudy. I actually think the viewpoint just a little bit further down was even more spectacular - it was a bit clearer down there, and a little more rugged. So glad we did that drive, it was memorable for sure.
We got back just before lunch and had a bit to eat with the kids before heading back to Poipu Beach for the afternoon. We had a nice time at the beach for a few hours before heading back to the condo for some more downtime before dinner. We got the kids more takeout from that pizza/pasta place, then Brian and I went to a nice restaurant down by the water for a date night. The food was delicious - always fun to treat yourself to a date when on a family vacation! Nice ending to our time on Kauai!
On Tuesday, we had until noon to check out of our condo so we took our time getting ready to go in the morning. We had run out of breakfast stuff so we took the boys to get some breakfast at Kalapaki Joe's (Lynsey wanted to sleep, I made her some eggs and toast later). We had some time to kill in the afternoon before our flight over to Kona on the Big Island, so we made a stop at Walmart so Lynsey could get some new books and Nathan some new headphones, went to a beach for a short time (it started raining so left pretty quickly!) and then we headed over to Burger King for a late lunch. Finally it was time to head to the airport so we dropped off the car and got the shuttle to the airport. The flight over to Kona was quick and painless - less than an hour and everything was really quick! We did have to wait a bit at the car rental place, the workers there were definitely on "Island Time" - that is until this different guy came back from break and started moving through people quick. We headed into town to Target to get groceries before heading back towards our resort. I knew this would save us a ton of money and be way less hassle than having to drive a half hour the next day to do it, so we all did the shopping together. None of us felt like going to a restaurant so we got stuff to make spaghetti at the condo as well - our only dinner we cooked on this whole trip.
We drove to the condo and I have to say, our first impression of this place was soooo much better than the last one lol! It was spacious and clean and a much better layout for our family! The boys had twin beds up in the loft, and Lynsey had her own bedroom on the main floor - no one was sleeping on a sleeper sofa this time. So thankful it worked out well! We cooked our dinner and everyone turned in night. No photos on this travel day, but I will remember it nonetheless:-).
Wednesday we woke up to some clouds but a pretty calm morning, so Brian and I took the boys to the pool which was conveniently right next to our condo. The sun was shining and the pool area was beautiful! Lynsey joined us eventually but the clouds did roll in around noon so we packed up and went back to the condo for lunch. Brian, Adam, Lynsey and I went for a walk in the afternoon to check out the shopping complexes nearby. We were staying in such a nice location! I wanted to keep walking to the beach that was nearby (A beach, it had a really long name starting with an A) so Brian and Adam came with me and Lynsey walked back to the condo. It was a very serene beach - almost like a lake beach. We walked back along this very rocky trail made up of volcanic rock. It felt almost apocalyptic, so surreal! Adam was a bit done with the rocky walk after a while but thankfully it was pretty close to the end.
That night we went to a restaurant by the movie theater in the shopping complex, it was surprisingly nice and not too expensive - something we appreciated after the sticker shock of some places (did I mention the $31 spaghetti bolognese we had to buy a few times? Yikes!). We went to the Island Market after so we could get some desserts for everyone, a fun evening! Great first day on Big Island, I had a very good first impression:-D.
The weather was supposed to be better on the weekend, so we decided that Thursday would be our road trip to Volcano State Park day. We drove around the bottom of the island and stopped at a black sand beach (Punalu'u Beach). It was a really cool beach! There were some turtles chilling there and the black sand was the blackest I had ever seen (Brian did say the one we saw in St. Lucia was just as black, but I took the liberty of looking back on our pictures from then and the sand was NOT as black:-l). We ate the lunch I packed and just took some time there before moving on towards the volcano park. Unfortunately it had started raining when we got to the park, and Adam is never his best in the rain:-/. We got some guidance on how to make our way through the park off we went to the first lookout!
Adam did get out on for that first lookout, but he complained pretty loudly so we let him stay in the car for the next few. Then we decided to make the drive to Holei Sea Arch, and I'm really glad we did! The views were fabulous, and the weather was better down on the coast so we got a little reprieve from the rain. Crazy that it was in the high 50s (F) up on the mountain but back up to the high 70s on the coast.
After the sea arch, we drove back up through the park and hit the Thurston Lava Tube before heading up the Hilo for dinner. The lava tube was cool to see, glad we checked it out. We had dinner at a local place in Hilo that was really good and served authentic Hawaiian food. It didn't feel touristy at all (and wasn't priced that way either) and it felt like we were surrounded by locals. Cool experience! Drove back to the condo and crashed after a long day on the road seeing some cool sights!
On Friday, the weather was a bit nicer so we hit the pool in the morning again. We had some lunch at the condo before getting a bit of a late start to the beach. I had heard of this beach (Mauna Kea) which was supposed to be really nice but tough to get a parking spot at, so we tried to go there first. The security guard at the resort you have to drive through to get to this public parking lot wouldn't let us through to check the parking lot. He claimed he had cameras and there were no openings. I wanted to ask him to take a look myself because I know it's in the hotel's best interest to have fewer "peasants" come and spoil their "private" beach, but because there was a very nice public beach with lots of parking just a few minutes south I decided to let it go. We drove to Hapuna Beach, and were super happy with this beach! The waves were so much fun, Nathan discovered boogy boarding and loved it! The sand was so soft and walking into the water the sand continued - not rocky at all. Let those rich resort goers have their fancy beach, we will just hang out at this "peasant" beach lol!
That evening for dinner we went to a nice Italian restaurant in Waikoloa Village, so tasty! We stopped at grocery store to pick up a few things after and then headed back to the condo. One thing I haven't mentioned is how we spent our evenings at the condo. We had some movie/TV show nights, but we also spent a lot of time playing Song Quiz on Alexa - so much fun for the kids! I kind of sucked at it, but I did win Classic Country and 80's decade, go figure haha!
The weather was supposed to be really nice on Saturday as well, so we decided it would be another beach day! Brian and I went with Adam to the pool for a short time in the morning, he spent most of his time in the hot tub so we figured the pool had run it's course at this point. We didn't feel the need to chance going to a different beach that may not be as good, so we went back to Hapuna Beach in the afternoon. There was a one mile trail between Hapuna Beach and the exclusive Mauna Kea Beach, so I had no choice but to walk it and find out what the hype was all about at the snooty beach. It was a nice trail, and I have to admit when I got to the end of it that Mauna Kea was a lovely beach. Much quieter with less people (of course), but I think the waves were more fun at our beach. Oh well - at least I saw what we were missing!
Brian and Nathan had a lot of fun boogie boarding together, and Brian even convinced Adam to try boogie boarding! He enjoyed it, although he never likes to do these kinds of things too often and then he is done. I'm so happy he tried something new! Sadly Brian lost his sunglasses in a big wave, such is life. There were some pretty intense waves but we felt very safe there, not any risk of currents sweeping us away. Just have to hang on to your sunglasses!
That evening, we got Dominos pizza for the kids and Brian and I got a date night at Halani, a restaurant inside a pretty nice resort. It was a beautiful place, and the food was fantastic - probably the best meal I had on this whole trip. The sunset was beautiful. We are pretty sure we were sitting next to Roseanne Barr, it was so funny to speculate all dinner long on whether or not it was her! The voice was just like her, it looked like her, and then her dinner companions starting talking about woke culture and it just sealed it for us haha. We talked about how much more money we would have to spend to be able to stay in a resort like that with the kids (keeping in mind we were already spending a lot of money to do this vacation!) and estimated it would probably cost another $6-7K. Hawaii is just such an expensive place to vacation, I know it always has been but I think it's gotten exponentially worse. Totally understand why some people don't think it's worth it and just go to an all inclusive in Mexico! Having said that, we had a lovely evening at this resort and do understand the appeal - just don't want to spend the money!
Christmas Eve - our last day of vacation! The weather was supposed to be the best yet on this day, so we got to the beach by about 11:30 and had beautiful sunshine for the 2.5 - 3 hours we were there. Nathan wasn't as interested in boogie boarding this time but spent a lot of time in the water still. He actually went out with Adam a few times which was helpful. The boys enjoyed the water one last time, Lynsey and I enjoyed the sun one last time, and Brian got to swim out further on his own which he had been wanting to do.
I decided to take my phone into the water (with my waterproof case) to get some pictures of the boys out there, and almost as soon as I was out there, the biggest wave we had seen yet came and I could not get away from it. It washed over and and THANKFULLY I kept a hold of my phone (even accidentally took a picture which I included on the blog for effect lol!) but I did lose MY sunglasses, too! Not my prescription ones thankfully, but still annoying. Nathan also lost his goggles in that wave, it was a doozy! Oh well, live and learn! We were ready to go just as the clouds rolled in, perfect timing. We went back to the condo and got cleaned up, then headed to the shops to get some gelato (well, we wanted shave ice but they were closed because of Christmas Eve so settled for delicious gelato instead). We did a bit of souvenir shopping and headed back to the condo for a bit before it was time for dinner. It started raining and didn't stop right away, not great as I wanted to get some nice Christmas Eve family pictures on the beach. We went to the restaurant (Lava Lava Beach Club) and put our name on the wait list, and went back to a sheltered spot at our condo complex to get our photo. Adam wasn't too happy at this point because he did NOT want to leave the restaurant, he would have rather waited there for an hour instead of going back to the condo so we could wait there and relax in comfort instead. It was tough getting him to cooperate for those pictures, but we ended up getting a few good ones:-). After the pictures we drove back to our condo and just as we were backing into the garage with a complaining Adam in the backseat, I got the text that our table was ready! Saved by the bell!
We had a lovely dinner on the beach (covered thankfully, Adam would not have stood to have dinner in the rain!) and the rain did slow down as the evening went on. We were able to walk on the beach one last time after dinner which was nice. It was a great last night of vacation! We got back to the condo and I gave the kids their Christmas jammies - one tradition we could do even on vacation!
We had a great time in Hawaii, but we were all ready to go home the next day. We got packed up and everything went smoothly with getting the car dropped off and getting to the airport. Our flight was quick, I guess we had a tail wind and it only took 5 hours! A whole hour less than scheduled, hurray! Adam did great on the flight and we were very happy we had hired Eastside Towncar to pick us up. We got home, made some mac n cheese for dinner and picked up our very happy dog from Sofia's house. No pics on our travel day (I usually take some but for some reason it slipped my mind this time!) so we will just have to remember that we made it home and all was well!
What a fabulous trip! Until next time Hawaii!
