Hawaiian Cruise!

We did not have plans to go on another cruise this year, but we found an amazing deal for a cruise to Hawaii (and those are usually sooo expensive) so we basically HAD to go. :) We wanted to bring Charlie, but the only room available for 3 people was a balcony and it would have been over 2k extra to bring him. After we said goodbye to Charlie at the airport and we were both sobbing hysterically, we were totally regretting our decision... haha

But, we had an amazing time! The first five days were days at sea, which basically mean forced relaxation. We took so many naps, ate ALL the food, and just hung out. Landon worked two of the days at sea, which was kind of weird to work while on vacation but it didn't end up being too bad for him. We also bought an internet package so we Skyped with Charlie every day (twice a day most days!) It helped a lot to see him!

Leaving rainy Vancouver. Funny story, we boarded the boat at 3:45 and all aboard was 4!!!!  Our second flight was delayed!!! FREAKY.

I got soooooo seasick the first day! The boat was ROCKING. I was about to puke in this picture as I attempted to make a flower lei... we had to leave!

The most beautiful sunrise.

Our room was specified on the map, which we thought was pretty cool haha

Our first stop was Hilo (on the big island). We had originally planned to rent a car and drive over to Kona where my sister lives and do a night scuba dive with the manta rays (which apparently is one of the coolest dives EVER). And then we were going to spend the night at my sister's house, since we wouldn't get back to the boat in time. The boat moved from Hilo to Kona that night, so we would just get back on the boat until the next night. Well apparently there's a law called the "Jones Act" that you can google if you want but basically made it so we weren't able to spend the night off the boat... We were SOOOOO bummed!!!!! I even contacted the government to see if they would make an exception for us haha.

Anyway, we decided to do something else awesome since we were missing out on our manta ray dive--a helicopter tour! Sounds awesome right?! Well, the airport was only a few miles away so we decided to just walk there. We also wanted some of our favorite Hawaiian juice so we detoured to Walmart to pick some up. I swear I have never been so hot and sweaty in my whole life! IT WAS SO HOT and we ended up walking 5 miles...

my "swoobs" situation had to be documented hahahahaha TMI but seriously I have never been so sweaty!!!!

When we finally got to the airport I almost had a heart attack because it was an OUTDOOR airport. No AC. No fans. I thought I was going to die in real life. We had about an hour to wait before we could even check in... Anyway, we finally checked in and we were waiting in a room with about 30 other people when someone walked in and called 6 names, including ours. I knew it wasn't going to be good, especially as they took us out of the room away from the rest of the group. Apparently our helicopter had mechanical issues and they had to cancel our flight.... I instantly started tearing up and Landon had to walk away because he was so mad.

Now we had missed our night dive with the manta rays AND the helicopter ride AND all we did with our first day in Hawaii was walk to Walmart?!?! It was soooo depressing. The girl at the counter was so nice and tried to call around to other companies to see if anyone else had an opening. As she was running around seeing what she could do for us, they had a cancelation so we were able to go an hour later! PHEW!

All that black sand was the lava flow from the recent volcano eruption

All the steam coming up from the sand. This used to be a new housing development. SO sad.

Hi boat!

Rainbow falls.

It was just a crazy day and in hindsight we would definitely NOT have chosen to do the helicopter! It was definitely fun and an amazing experience, but the rest of the day was just horrible! We wish we would've just rented a car and explored on our own, but we didn't have a lot of time to plan since we had originally planned on scuba diving.

Luckily,  our next stop in Kona totally made up for our crappy day. My sister Ali, brother-in-law Dan, and their kids Sahalie and Bodhi live in Kona so they were there at the dock waiting to pick us up (well Sahalie was at school but we did get to see her later). It was sooo good to see them! We went back to their house, grabbed some paddleboards, and then went to Kaelakekua Bay. I have only paddle boarded one other time, so I'm not very good but it was SO much fun.

At one point, Landon and I were trying to be on the same paddle board, when we flipped off and in the process knocked the go pro off my wrist! Landon tried to swim down and get it, but it was going down way too fast. The water was so clear, so we could see it even though it was 30-40 feet down. Luckily, Dan saved the day and was able to swim down and get it his first try!!!

I just loved hanging out on that bay laughing and hanging out with family. It was THE BEST!

Little did I know that our day was about to get even better. We had more time before we had to get back to the boat so we went to a beach called "Two Step Beach" because there are sea urchins that are poisonous so you cannot touch the ground in the water and you have to dive off a rock to get in. When we pulled up to the beach, we could see dolphins pretty far out but we were dying to get in the water just in case they came closer...

Well, they did! It was seriously one of the top 5 best moments of MY LIFE. It was completely magical. I can't even describe it. There were at least 40 dolphins (P.S. they were mating haha) and they would come close enough to touch us! It was unreal. You could hear them clicking and watch them swim up to the surface and then do a little jump.... it was amazing!!!!!!

That's Landon with his "dol-friends"

We were soooo sad to leave Kona and hope we can go back again to visit them for a week or longer!!!

The next stop was Maui for two days (the boat stayed overnight). Our first day we took a bus an hour across the island to pick up our rental car and then we drove the road to Hana. Apparently I only took videos of the beautiful drive... so, no pictures to show!

But it was absolutely GORGEOUS! We stopped by this chocolate plantation (of course) and got the most delicious chocolate ever. It was a super fun and chill day!

The next day was our scuba diving day. I always get so nervous, but I felt pretty calm this time. We dove the Molokini Crater and Turtle Town. Molokini crater was beautiful!

The water was soooo clear and it was like swimming in an aquarium. The first thing we saw when we went down was a SHARK! We also saw a lot of cool different eels and just a million fish. It was awesome.

Our second dive was Turtle Town. We saw two turtles nestled back into the rock formations and one swimming around. It was really cool swimming through the rock cave thingies and we also got to hold really weird looking star fish.

After our dive we did some souvenir shopping and then went back to the boat for our last night. We LOVED the people who sat next to us at dinner and we also loved our waiters. It was sad to say goodbye!

Our last stop was Honolulu where we got off the boat and jumped in a rental car to hit up our favorite spots from our Babymoon. Our first stop was Electric Beach, where I couldn't swim last time because of my huge belly. Unfortunately, I couldn't swim this time either hahaha! I guess I'm a terrible swimmer because I could NOT swim against the current and it was really freaky. I was swimming with all of my might and not making any progress. I was exhausted and started panicking and told Landon I had to go back. I told him he didn't need to go with me, which was funny because I couldn't swim back to shore... ha! So he had to swim-me back to shore, as I held onto his shoulders. How could he swim against the current CARRYING someone and I couldn't make any progress?! Anyway, that was freaky!

After that fun adventure, Landon's finger was completely shut in the car door. The door clicked and everything!!! It was TERRIBLE. He was in so much pain... So that kind of put a damper on the day...

But we continued with our adventure and hit up Matsumotos (of course) for our favorite shave ice, Waimea Beach, Sunset Beach, and Hukilau Beach. Hukilau is probably my favorite beach in the world. I just love it! The sand is so soft and we had fun playing in the waves.

After that we drove down to eat at Teddy's Bigger Burgers before heading to the airport. Poor Landon's finger was throbbing this whole time... I felt so bad! Then we took the red-eye flight home and we were FINALLY reunited with our baby. We missed him SOOOO much!

HUGE shout out to Nini and Papa for taking such good care of our boy while we were gone. He had soooo much fun and didn't even miss us. We are sooo grateful for you!!! 

He went on a lot of bike rides with Nini! So fun!!!

pizza party!

We love Hawaii and seriously talk about moving there on a regular basis. I guess we'll just need to go back again soon, and this time we'll bring our baby! :) 

And if that post didn't explain our trip enough, here's a video!