In June we made a quick decision to go to Hawaii in August. We wanted to make sure that we made it out there while my sister and her crew were there. We couldn't think of a better way to end the summer, especially a nice vacation before the busy school year would start.
We were very nervous about Aliyah flying on the plane--we would be on a plane for a total of 7 hours with a 2 hour layover in between on the way there. She was AWESOME. She cried once for less than 5 minutes. It was my other baby that I had to worry about! Our flight to Seattle was great. We talked with the man sitting next to us and ended up giving him a Book of Mormon--such a great guy. Toward the end of that flight I started feeling woozy and then Dave did to. Ended up that we had food poisoning...by something I made! (when my little neighbor found out she asked me why I tried to poison Dave.) I didn't get it as bad as Dave. He threw up 14 times on the long flight from Seattle to Hawaii. I threw up twice. We decided that we were glad that we got it at the beginning of the trip as opposed to later. We (and mostly Dave) were pretty miserable. We hope to break this trend of being sick while on vacation soon.
Feeling mostly better the next day we knew we had to enjoy our time while we could! Our first beach: Waimea. It was beautiful! I didn't know the ocean water was so clear and blue. We enjoyed the day by snorkeling (I pretended to) and relaxing.
We visited the turtles...
and had shave ice...
The next day we went to the temple. My sister and bro-in-law watched Aliyah while we did a session then we watch their girls while they did a session. They recently remodeled the temple and it is beautiful. I loved driving up to it from the "highway."
Dave and Aliyah taking a nap, with the temple in the background.
the cousins...
And a stop at the Dole Plantation for a Dole Whip...wow, probably my favorite thing. I like it much more than the shave ice.
You can see where Aliyah gets her good looks from...
The next day we went to Waikiki beach. My sister was the best and watched Aliyah for us so a.) we could relax and b.) to keep her out of the sun--for this very good reason:
(please note the sunburn line from her binki and her famous bitter beer face...it was so bad that there were a number of Asian tourists who came up, pointed at her and laughed out loud. So sad...)
The boys went surfing while I layed out and read. It was beautiful, crowded, but beautiful.
They did a great job. Dave even got up a couple of times--not bad for his first time ever!
Saturday we went to a beach on the east side of the island. It is a military beach so a little less crowded and my favorite beach on Oahu. Seriously the sand was like powdered sugar as Annie calls it.
Here's Aliyah's cousin loving the sand...
And this is the first time that Aliyah had EVER rolled from her back to her belly. We documented it! Sure she's 7 1/2 months old, but she finally did it.
(Please note the tent we made her to keep her better guarded from the sun!)
Dave and I headed out to ride the waves...on the boogie boards
Such a fun day. Then my sister and bro-in-law watched Aliyah for us so we could have a night out in Hawaii. It was wonderful!
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Aliyah's cousins first birthday!
Monday we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had to stop by the Dole Plantation and get us another Dole Whip.
The Tongan and Samoan shows made us laugh to tears. So great.
Waiting for our Luau meal. The leis were fresh flowers and smelled heavenly.
(See the scabs on Aliyah's face. She got blisters from her sun burn and then would rub her face with her cloth when she went to sleep--thus scabs. We are terrible parents!)
Tuesday we went to Pearl Harbor. We loved it. There was great feeling of peace. Dave and I had our eyes opened to a part of WWII that we were not as familiar with. We learned a lot.
My sister and bro-in-law live about a 5 minute walk from the beach. We went down to see the sunset.
On our last day we went random sight seeing. We went to the replica of a Japanese Buddhist temple. The surrounding area was gorgeous. We love the "cliffs" of Hawaii.
Then did a little hike to Moana Falls.
We LOVED our sweet little vacation. We were well taken care of. And the girls had a good time too...as you can see:
Here's documentation of Aliyah's amazing hair. You can see how LONG her newborn baby hair has gotten. There were so many people who told me that it would fall out...it hasn't. . 
