Oh Hawaii, you beautiful beast, you. We had the most amazing Christmas holiday with the grandparents here.
Happy Wednesday, friends, and happy “I-don’t-care-what-day-it-is-or-what-comes-next” time of year!
Actually, for those keeping score, it’s New Years Eve. So three cheers to another 365 days well lived (well, most of ’em, at least) and trips traveled and friends and family made/cuddled/loved and books read and things seen.
All the things.
We arrived back from our Christmas in Hawaii early yesterday morning and spent the day fighting off the jet lag/overnight-flight-no-sleep thing. But now that I’ve had a nap, I thought I’d get this blog post in. Although we specifically said when planning for Hawaii that we wanted to literally do nothing, literally doing nothing looks a little different with three kids. We stayed at the Hilton Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, which was entertaining enough with its multiple pools, lagoon, outdoor movie nights, early morning yoga classes, hulu lessons, and more.
Throw in a few fancy dinner reservations, a Christmas luau and a whale watching tour and we had ourselves quite a busy vacay! No matter, though, because it was all incredible and exactly what we needed. The fact that Chris’ parents met us there was the cherry on top.
Here’s a bit of what we got up to!
Let’s start with the weather. Upper 70s/lower 80s and barely any rain? Yeah. I could get used to that.Hey, you know what’s festive? Hawaii during the holidays!Yup.
We arrived on Christmas Eve and had our first meal at Fresco Italian Restaurant. Their gluten-free Spaghetti Alla Pescatora was the perfect introduction to fish on the island (I think we had seafood for every single meal, often with breakfast being sushi from the ABC Store for Grace, who became obsessed) and the Mai Tai’s we ordered began our weeklong crusade to have as many as possible.
(Please see our trip to Europe this past summer for another example of ways we incorporate drinks into our travel experience. Ahem…. Aperol Spritz.)
My first Kona Coffee of the trip was from Chee Hoo Patisserie. I made it a cold brew with Macademia nut flavoring and never went back.Look at this pastry! (Also from Chee Hoo.) We certainly did not starve on this trip.Emmy had a malasada every day. She was livin’ the dream.We spent almost the entire day on Christmas at the beach/lagoon/pools! We rented … whatever these things are … and napped and snacked and sunbathed and splashed. It was pure heaven.Love my travel/beach-lovin’ girl!I mean, are we cute or what?On Christmas Night we attended the resort’s luau, which was even more than I could have asked for.The food and drinks were so good, and the entertainment and stories told were so fascinating. FIRE DANCING. ‘Nuff said.The girls were in awe!Except for Grace, who fell asleep.Then Nan & Poppa paid $60 for the images they took at the beginning of the event. So here is each. and. every. one 😉 Enjoy!Yup.Ooohhhhhh.Uh huh.And another!
The girls even ended their Christmas Day with a night swim at the resort pool. Not too shabby, if you ask me.
The next few days were beach, pool, lagoon, repeat. We bought snorkel gear and the girls saw tons of fish, too.Just the literal best in-laws anyone could ever ask for in the world ever.We did take a boat out one day to go whale watching!Sadly, this boat ride made me feel sick, which has never happened before! We did, however, see SEVERAL INCREDIBLE WHALES. So a little upset tummy was totally worth it!We saw rainbows, too <3We had a fantastic meal at the Bali Oceanfront restaurant on Friday night and had front-row seats to their Friday fireworks show!Lotte also discovered her love of Boba Tea.I discovered that there is no end to my love of poke bowl consumption.Chris & I left the kids with the grandparents one night and grabbed an early anniversary dinner out. We went to YA!! Sushi, which is this tiny, unassuming restaurant in the front of a hotel with the MOST INCREDIBLE SUSHI. We had the chef’s tasting and it was absolutely incredible. Even better than some of what we had in Japan.We also discovered our love of the ABC Stores on this trip 😉 They had sushi, shirts, sandals… everything you could possibly need for an incredible vacation!Ice cream on vacation just tastes different, doesn’t it?So friggin’ good.Dinner our last night was take-out on the beach. This also hits different than it would sitting at your kitchen counter at home.I even managed to drag myself out of bed for the 6:30 a.m. yoga session on the last morning we were there. It was hard! And I was so proud of myself.Red fruit pastries for the absolute win.Last-day paddle boarding.Of course I had a turn, as well. Well, I guess I should say I let Gracie give me a turn around the lagoon.
And that was our trip in a nutshell, friends. The perfect mixture of adventure and relaxation, and we will absolutely be back to Hawaii, that has definitively been decided. For now, though, we’re back in the mountains and we head to Winter Park this weekend for the girls to start their ski lessons, which they have every Saturday in January.
Life keeps movin’ friends, and we’re just along for the ride.
