The Larsen Family Vacation to Hawaii!

My family came to visit me during December.  I was so happy to have them come and see where I live and work and play. 

Here's a synopsis of our vacation:

Day 1: Saturday, the family arrived and they came to pick me up from work.  I got to see my brother for the first time in over two years!  Then we checked into the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club.  It was a two bedroom with a full kitchen that was bigger than our apartment (and way nicer.)  

Day 2: Sunday, they all came to my ward for church.  Then we decided to take the scenic route to get Blake from work since there was a marathon going on that closed the highway between church and the bay.  We stopped at the Halona Blowhole and then visited the chickens at Hanauma Bay.  After that we went back to the hotel and enjoyed sunset on the beach.

 

Day 3: Monday, was our early Christmas!  We decided to have a Christmas together in Hawaii instead of waiting until December 25th.  As always, my mom got us awesome gifts.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hotel, snorkeling at the lagoon, and participating in the craft classes the hotel offers.  We finished off the day with dinner at the nice Italian restaurant Assaggios with our boss Ryan. 

Day 4: Tuesday, we visited the shark pools at a nearby hotel before heading up to the north shore.  We stopped at the Dole Plantation on our way.  Peeps got a pearl out of a clam there, and we saw teeny baby pineapples.  Our first stop on the north shore was Matsumoto's for some shave ice.  Matsumoto's is the best!  We stopped at a beach where you can see the sea turtles riding the waves, which was pretty awesome, then waded at the Pupukea Tide Pools (very cool.) After that we stopped by to see the temple grounds in Laie.  On our way back we stopped at the Maunawili Falls trail and I hiked it in flipflops.  It wasn't the best idea, but not too bad.  After that it was dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants on the island (good ones are very hard to come by) and back to the hotel.

Day 5: Wednesday, we snorkeled at Hanauma Bay and visited Sea Life Park.  We saw sea turtles in the bay.  Sea Life Park is always lots of fun.

Day 6: Thursday, we spent the day relaxing at the hotel.  We went snorkeling and found more sea turtles.  There was a lei-making class and other craft classes.  I spent a long time reading at the beach and enjoying the beauty there.

Day 7: Friday, we did some more snorkeling at Ko Olina.  The visibility was really bad that day so we didn't see much.  We spent some time together at the hotel and then went out to a movie. 

Day 8: Saturday, was their last day here.  We spent a bit of time at the beach early in the morning and then checked out of the hotel by 10.  Then we went and got Blake from work and stopped at a nearby lookout.  We explored Kokohead Crater and brought home some malasadas.  Our last event together was watching a classic episode of Hawaii Five-o and then they drove off to the airport.

I am so glad my family came to visit me!  It was amazing having that much time to do whatever we wanted together.  And as a big bonus we got to keep Aaron with us instead of sending him back to Utah.  I can't wait until I can see the rest of the family again! 

Our 3rd Anniversary

We had our third anniversary this October, and it was definitely the best one yet!  Blake really went above and beyond to give us the most incredible day.

It started out with a lovely breakfast in bed with my favorite kind of breakfast: fancy cheese.

Then he showed me the present he made for me.  We had a lovely mirror in our room that had fallen over and broken recently, and so he took the frame and turned it into a jewelry organizer for me.  He even made it artistic by lining the hooks up on an angle.

Then we got in the car and headed east.  Blake was keeping our activites for the day a secret, so he kept telling me we were going somewhere but then saying he was just kidding after we drove past it.  Then finally he turned at the entrance to Sea Life Park and I knew that I was going to have the best day ever.  Blake had signed me up for a dolphin encounter!  After I got a life jacket on they led those of us participating to a large pool.  They gave us dive masks and had us swim out into the water and watch the dolphins do tricks under water.  Then we stood on a platform in the water and got to kiss the dolphins!  It was so incredible.  The one I kissed was named Adella.  We also got to pet the dolphin and watch it do tricks.  The trainer had a few of us put our hands above the dolphin's blowhole to 'feel it breathe' but then had it spurt water up at us.  Silly dolphin.  The funnest part of all was the belly ride, which is when the dolphin turns on it's back and you hold onto it's flippers and it swims really fast with you hanging on.  It was so fun!  I really have a soft spot for dolphins and being able to play with one like that made me so happy I couldn't stop smiling all day.  After that we went to a couple of the shows they have at the park.  I got a season pass with my dolphin encounter and Blake bought one too, so now we can go there any time we want. Blake took a video of me with the dolphins, but until he gets around to editing it these pictures of the back of the camera will have to do.  Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate them the right way (they're the right way on my computer...)

The next thing we did was go check into a hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort.  It was really nice.  They had a free ti-leaf lei making class that we were able to do.

For dinner we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory.  It was delicious.  I wish I had some of it right now.

I really don't know if that day can be topped.  I mean, I kissed a dolphin for goodness sakes.  I am so grateful to have a husband who would do something so incredible for me!