Wow!  I can't even believe that it's over, but our trip to Hawaii was FABULOUS!  We took our little family, my momma, and a sitter and it was all just so much fun!

     We started off our trip by driving to Las Vegas.  I am a cheapo!  We saved about $1000 by flying out of Vegas.  I guess by the time you figure up what we spent to get there and back and stay there etc. it didn't save us THAT much- but it was still worth it, I think.  We visited with my uncle and his wife in Las Vegas and went to Sacrament Meeting with them.  They were gracious enough to feed us lunch and drive us to the airport so we wouldn't have to pay to park!  After 6 hours on the plane, we were happy to arrive ino Maui.

     We went to WalMart to get groceries- wow!  The prices on food!  Milk was $5.18 a gallon!  Yikes!  The grocery part of WalMart in Maui was a bit small and limited!  We visited a local grocery store a bit too, and found that food was about 2 times what it is here!

     Maui was fabulous!  We stayed in WorldMark by Windham condos in Kihei, right across the street from the beach.  We were there for 6 days and we spent our time going to the beach EVERY morning, playing in the pool all day, relaxing and just having fun.  We attended a luau on the beach in Kanapalli and did a snorkel tour of  Molokini and Turtle Town.  I think that snorkeling was my favorite thing we did!  It was soooo neat to see all the fish and the turtles!  I hope our photos from that will turn out well.

     There were some "beach bums" that were camped across the street from our resort that we passed each morning on the way to the beach.  They had a little black puppy (Gracie)  that we visited with each time we passed.  These guys were always drunk, always smoking, usually fighting, but always friendly with us.  The last day in Maui we took all the food we had leftover and gave it to them.  They graciously accepted and the one goofy old drunk asked us where we were from.  We told him Utah and he mentioned that he'd gone to BYU!  That kinda made us giggle, but who knows if he meant he attended or just walked in one door and out the other.  And who knows what sorta life he's had in between.  Anyway, we told him we were heading to Oahu and he told us to head straight for the North Shore.  I sorta wish I'd listened!

     Oahu was fabulous too, but it was very different from Maui!  Our hotel was in Waikiki.  Um.  There is just such a juxtaposition between Kihei and Waikiki!  Our first reaction to Maui was "let's move here!" and our first reaction to Oahu was, "I want to go home!" I was scared to death to drive in Waikiki, and we were CONSTANTLY lost.  Not only that, but everything was extremely expensive and our initial hotel was a DUMP!  We traded hotels as soon as we could and were much more comfortable after that.  Can you believe that it cost $15 a day to park at our hotel?  Actually at the first hotel it was $18.  Yikers!  It made us all want to go back to Maui!

     We took a day trip to the North Shore and saw the LDS Temple and enjoyed the Polynesian Cultural Center.    Those 2 things made Oahu worthwhile.  Oh, and didja know that pineapples do NOT grow on trees, but on the ground?  I didn't!  I'm a dork though, so that doesn't mean much! 

     If everything weren't so expensive, I'd get back on a plane right now!  All in all, the vacation was amazing.  I think we will go back one day.  After all, we JUST figured it all out!  Of course, by the time we recover financially, it will be a completely different place!  Giggling.  I guess we'll visit often through our photos.