Hawaii Baby

We had such a wonderful time on our vacation this year! Last year was a blast but we were right in the middle of a few delays on our newly released product (something we had no way of knowing when we made the reservations!) so I still spent a lot of the time at the computer working through emails and begging delivery services to rush. This time around I was more “unhooked” than I think I’ve ever been for that long! It was so fun and refreshing and good to just enjoy family and friends but by the end I was starting to really miss it! It’s such a huge blessing to be able to love your work as much as you love your play:)

I’ve had a bunch of people ask for recommendations for the Island. I’ve only been twice now but I’ve been given some amazing recommendations so I’m thrilled to pass them along to any of you who have a Hawaiian trip in your future!

We stayed on the North Shore at Turtle Bay so most of the recs are in that area.

First of all we found this amazingly fun and picturesque swing right next to the water. The kids loved it and the photos are some of my favorites ever! (It was right off the main road about 5 miles north of the PCC)

Shave Ice. It was controversial in our group which shave ice was the best. I voted The Aloha General Store & Nick was all about Matsumoto’s, both are pretty incredible!

We visited the LDS Temple and walked around the visitors center, it is so pretty. Isn’t my mom lovely?

Sunset pillbox hike. This hike made for such a beautiful view and was a really good choice for kids (we left Billy back with grandparents because he refuses to stay in the baby backpack but if your kid will for sure bring them!)

This t-shirt is one of my absolute favorites BTW. I have it in like 4 colors. It is a flattering cut, such soft fabric and (best of all!) it actually washes well! I’ve washed them a bunch of times and they haven’t faded, thinned or misshapen which is more than I can say for most of my tees. Get one here (AE) For 20 bucks.

Lanikai Beach in Kailua. The waves were pretty hardcore on the North end of the island so we went to this beach and it was perfect and so pretty.

Surfing. Here again the waves were to crazy for beginners so we went to Waikiki to surf. It was SO packed but the waves were great (so long as you didn’t run someone over!)

I had this overwhelming urge to scoot around on this baby and couldn’t convince anyone to join me until the last day!
We got them from Hele Huli, they were awesome.

It was so much fun and I obviously looked SO cool doing it:) Buuuut..my friend Jill who I totally talked into coming ended up taking a slide in the gravel with hers and got pretty beat up. I felt so awful! She’s OK but got some scrapes and bruises. I will say to ride around a bit and get comfortable with the turns and the breaks before taking on the faster roads. We definitely should have done that.

Her Ray Bans didn’t survive, we found them just like this after the crash.

Places to eat:

Kua’aina Burger – If you love fresh avocados their avocado burger CANNOT be beat and their shoestring fries are AMAZING.

Ted’s Bakery – Holy HANNAH! Best donuts of my life!

Lei Lei’s – If you wanna have a night out this place is delicious. It’s a little pricey so we just snuck away there for a date one of the nights and left the kids with the grandparents:) The pork loin is FANTASTIC.

Giovanni’s Shrimp Trucks – Full disclosure I wasn’t a huge fan, the food was good but I couldn’t handle the fishy smell. Everyone else really liked it though, so I thought I’d add it for shrimp lovers.

Waialua Bakery and Juice bar – Really good Acai bowls here and I really liked the set-up.

I’d love if any of you who have them would add their recommendations below! Since I’m just a rookie:)