Our trip to HAWAII!

Get ready for a super long post!  I kept a journal each day and now I finally have it on our blog. (For those of you who who are visiting for the first time, I started this blog when we learned I was pregnant with Isaac in 2007 to keep our family and friends updated on my high-risk pregnancy.  It has become our family scrapbook.)  Get ready to read the word AMAZING over and over again.  That word pretty much sums up our trip.

Without further ado, Caleb's (and our family's) AMAZING Make-A-Wish trip to Hawaii!


Hawaii: Day 1
*A limousine picked us up at 5:00 AM and took us to the airport

We flew from Milwaukee to St Paul, MN.  When we got to St Paul, we had to RUN to our next terminal!  From St Paul, we flew to Salt Lake City, UT and then we were on our way to Hawaii!  The last flight was 6 hours long.  They boys both did GREAT!

 

Isaac is going through a "I-will-only-take-silly-pictures-unless-I-am-threatened" stage 

 

When we landed in Honolulu, we were greeted by a lady who gave us all leis made of Hawaiian wood.

*Our rental car was a red Ford Flex

*There is a 5 hour time difference, so even though we got to our hotel at 3:30, it felt like it was 8:30 PM!  But the boys were ready to go, go, go!

*We stayed at the Sheraton, Waikiki.  AMAZING hotel!  They gave us a huge suite on a "Preferred Guest" floor that had 2 balconies...one faced the sunrise, one faced the sunset!  They also upgraded us so we got free breakfast and dinner (if we wanted) at the Leahi Club on the 30th floor...which had a panoramic view of Honolulu!

*We checked out the beach (Waikiki) outside our hotel (The Sheraton) and didn't find any shells.  Caleb was very disappointed.

*We ordered room service for supper.

*The boys finally crashed at 9:00 (2:00 AM our time!)



Hawaii: Day 2
The boys woke up at 3:30 AM and were ready to go, go, go!  We went to the beach (and walked the other way this time), ate breakfast and went swimming all before 7:30! (Still no shells though....)

 

 

 

We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  The employees gave Caleb a T-shirt that they all signed.  The boys also got free deserts.

 

(Since Caleb is still limited in the amount of sun he can be in (one hour max with lots of sunscreen), we tried to do inside things during the hottest time of the day and the beach in the AM, and before sunset.)

The boys painted coconuts with Riva in the hotel lobby.  Isaac made a bank and painted "Daddy and me playing baseball" on it.  Caleb painted a bowl made out of coconuts and painted it "Houston Texans" colors and wrote "Texans" on it.  Ha!  She was SO nice gave us ideas of where to go and find shells/sea glass.

 

 

We went to Diamond Head beach and Kahala beach and found lots of little shells.  Caleb was so excited.  He's never been to a beach, so these tiny shells were like gold to him.

 

 

We had cookies at the cookie shop in our hotel and then we watched the fire dancer, Ray, do his fire routine.  Caleb and Isaac loved Ray...he was so sweet with them.  We saw his show 2 more times while we were there.  (Unfortunately, no pics...but super cool!)  The boys lasted until after 10:30 PM once again!



Hawaii: Day 3
We got up early and walked along the beach by our hotel.  Afterwards we had breakfast at the Leahi Club and Misato, a sweet hostess, brought Caleb a jar of shells she had found on the North Shore over the weekend.  (Caleb told her yesterday that we weren't finding too many shells, and she was so sweet to bring him some!)  The staff at the Leahi Club was amazing!

 

 

 

We went shopping at the Royal Hawaiian Center, which is attached to our hotel.  The "strip"/street that our Hotel was on was very much like Rodeo Drive in LA.  Lots of cool (and very expensive) shops!  The boy's favorite was the Apple Store, of course...they were really working us to get them the new I-pod Touches that came out that day.  :)

Joel's dad loves Jimmy Buffett, so we went into the Jimmy Buffett store and were looking for a gift to buy him.  The employee there, Victoria, asked Caleb if he liked Magic.  (One of the "requirements" from Make A Wish is that the child either wear their Make A Wish shirt, or button when out and about.)  Of course he said, "YES!" so she asked us if she could treat our family to a magic show later that night.  We had no idea what to expect, but graciously accepted her offer.

We went to Sea Life Park and swam with dolphins!  The scenery on the way there was breath taking.   I have never seen water so blue/turquoise! 

 

 

 

While we were in Hawaii, there was huge warnings about the waves. Apparently, they were the biggest they have been in a long time, and there were warnings all over about staying out of the water due to the under current. The waves were awesome to watch at every beach we went to though and the boys didn't care at all about staying out of the water....they were on a mission to find shells!

 

Joel and I had to get into the water with the boys to swim with the dolphins, otherwise there would be lots of pictures!  They got to hug, kiss, feed, and dance with a dolphin named Sully. Here's a couple pics from Sea Like Park. 

 

 

 

We went back to our hotel and rested a bit before going out to eat at the Jimmy Buffett Beach Comber Restaurant (which is in the same building as the magic show.) 

 

 

 

 

We went to the Polynesian Magic Show, complements of Victoria who we met earlier.  We weren't allowed to bring camera in, but the show was AMAZING!  It was almost 2 hours long and the boys didn't move a muscle!  This was another big highlight of their trip, one that they talk about almost daily!



Hawaii: Day 4
Isaac woke up sick this morning.  Sounds like he has croup again.  After a quick call to our pediatrician in WI, Joel and Isaac were off to the pharmacy and Caleb and I went to the beach to make sand castles.  Caleb had a blast!

 

 

 

 

We ate a quick lunch and then left to catch the trolley to take us to our submarine ride! (LOVE this pic!) 

 

A shuttle boat picked us up and took us out to the ocean.

 

 Here's a couple pictures of the boys watching the surfers out the windows (the windows were very dirty, the not the best quality...)  It's hard to tell, but the waves were really big.

 

 

 

The submarine trip was pretty cool. They learned about all types of fish and were even able to see a sea turtle sleeping on a sunken ship.

 

 

After the submarine ride, we went and walked around the Royal Hawaiian Center again.  (Of course we had to stop at the Apple Store!)

After getting advice of a different beach to try, we went to Sandy Beach (which ended up being Caleb's FAVORITE!) We went this evening and Isaac was super tired and fell asleep in the car, so I stayed with him while Joel and Caleb explored the beach. I met a few "locals" while I sat there and they were so nice. I asked them where to go to find shells, and they named off a couple we should try. They also said that Hawaii "isn't a great place to find shells, unless snorkling." But, Andrew went to his truck and brought back some really cool ones he had found snorkeling a few days prior for us to give to Caleb. Again, super sweet of a complete stranger to want to help make Caleb's wish amazing!

 

 

 

After Isaac woke up, we walked the other way for a bit. We saw a sea lion sleeping on the beach! There was a woman there taking pictures of it and she said there is only 1000 of this type left in the world! This lady also gave us tips about where to find shells.

 

 

We ended our night by watching Ray do his fire show again, and I am still kicking myself for not having my camera!!

 

 

 

 

Hawaii: Day 5 



We finally slept in a bit today.  We went swimming in the hotel pools after we ate breakfast.  (I kept forgetting to bring my camera when we went to the pools...)

We went back to Sandy Beach "Sandy's" as the locals call it. (Caleb's favorite!)

 

The boys made necklaces from shell dyed shell pieces.  The girls in charge of the project loved talking about football and baseball with our little sports nuts.

 

 

 

That afternoon, we went to a Luau at Paradise Cove. It was SO cool.  We took a shuttle bus and drove past Pearl Harbor, which was neat to see from afar.  At the luau, the boys were treated like royalty.  We were greeted and given fresh flower leis, and Caleb was given a fresh flower crown.  They had all types of activities including, spear throwing, bowling with rocks and sticks, they got tattoos (Isaac chose a turtle and Caleb chose the University of Hawaii football symbol....HA!), we sat down and ate an authentic Hawaiian meal, and then saw an amazing show of dancing and Hawaiian rituals.  Their "fire guy" was MUCH better than Ray and his routine was amazing.  (Caleb still says he likes Ray better though!)

 

 

"Cousin Bev" who was so sweet to Caleb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Tasting" some food in front of everyone at the luau :)  The actual meal consisted of roasted pig, chicken, fish, salads, rice, breads, fruit, pudding, coconut dishes, and lots of desserts

 

 

The show included lots of different dances, from different time periods of Hawaiian history, with different costumes for each one.

 

Isaac got a bit bored during the show (not sure how as it was extremely entertaining!)  Here's one of his 100 pictures he took of himself...I won't post the 50 he took of the man's head who sat in front of us. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawaii: Day 6
Today we were up early to eat breakfast and go back to Sandy Beach to have family pictures taken.  I am so glad that we decided to have them taken.  I LOVE them and will have a very hard time choosing which ones will be on the walls of our new house.  I am using a few of them on our Christmas card, but here's a couple:

 

We spent a long time at Sandy Beach, looking for shells.  We went a bit farther today and let the boys explore the tide pools in between big rocks.  They were super excited to find hermit crabs.  The boys were disappointed that we wouldn't let them keep them...little did we know that some of the best shells we found that day were the homes of some very LARGE crabs that decided to make their appearance when I was rinsing the shells that night.  I may or may not have let out a huge scream when I saw claws coming out at me while holding it!  (We let them go back in the ocean in the morning.)

 

 

Little hermit crab :)

 

We then drove up to the "North Shore" to find shells and see the huge waves.  The drive took us a lot longer than anticipated due to road construction, but the scenery was beautiful along the way. 

 

 

 

 

Caleb took a nap, and Isaac kept himself entertained by taking pictures.  (Here's 3 of 46)

 

 

 

We sort of ignored Caleb's "limited sun" rule this day.  We lathered him up good in sun screen and he didn't seem to get any sunburn.  We had the best time on the North Shore beaches called Kawela and Sunset.  The waves were HUGE!  Three different lifeguards stopped us making sure we weren't going into the water.  There were lots of people surfing though, which made me nervous for them!

 

 

 

 

Our "loot" from the North Shore! 

 

We continued our drive around the island and drove past the Dole Plantation, lots of coffee fields, and Pearl Harbor.

 

After resting for a while at the hotel, we went out for dinner at the Yard House and then did some shopping.

 

 

We ended our evening eating Baskin Robins ice cream, while rsitting on rockers by the koi pond outside our hotel....so relaxing!  Another incredible day. 

 

 

 

 

Hawaii: Day 7
Our last day :(  We went swimming one last time and then shopping at the International Market Place for some last minute souvenirs.  The boys were excited to hold real live parrots.

 

 

 

 

They also wanted their picture taken in front of the Apple Store.

 

 

Then it was time to say goodbye to Hawaii.  We got to the airport just in time!  Our flight was overnight and we flew all the way to Atlanta.  Once again, the boys were really good on the plane even though they didn't feel the need to sleep.

 

 

 

 

Hawaii: The Sheraton



I already mentioned how wonderful the Sheraton was.  For memory's sake I took a bunch of pictures.  I wish I would have then the ones of our room PRIOR to us messing it up.  But like I said, these is for our memories more than anything else.

In the front of the hotel by the turtle.  They had little dancers there one morning.

 

 

Our balcony that faced the sunrise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The smaller balcony, off of the bedroom, that faced the sunset 

 

 

 

 

 Inside our room

 

 

 

Sign outside our room :)

 

This is outside our door...all of those "doors" are actually elevators

 

 

I wish I would have taken picture of the lobby.  There was all kinds of shops and restaurants.  This is a picture I took as we were waiting for one of our trips.  It's where their employees enter.  It's hard to see, but the signs say, "Through these doors walk the best employees in the world."  LOVE IT.  Everyone at the Sheraton went above and beyond to make our stay in Hawaii special.

 

As you can see, it was an AMAZING, AMAZING trip! If anyone would like to contribute to a wonderful organization, I would encourage you to consider Make-A-Wish. Our trip was above and beyond our wildest dreams. We cannot thank them enough.