Hawaii, 2011 - DAY 1

Our 2011 Hawaii trip didn't start out the way we had planned. My grandma had gotten very sick a few days prior to our trip and on the day we were leaving we found out that she had suffered 2 major strokes on both sides of her brain. We knew that she wasn't going to pull out of it. After going back and forth on whether to go on our trip or stay home, my grandpa finally told us that we were going, that my grandma wouldn't want us to cancel our trip on account of her. We decided to go, my mom decided to stay home. So finally at 10 pm on August 4, we left Cedar with my mother-in-law, Cynthia, and headed to Las Vegas to catch our flight. We got to Vegas around 11:30 pm Vegas time, parked our car and checked in. We had to go up to the 2nd floor to go through security. We got in the elevator, the doors opened to the 2nd floor and no sooner had we walked off the elevator, the power went out. I was so glad we weren't stuck on the elevator but we did have to wait in line for about 20 minutes until the power came on so we could go through security. We finally made it and only had about 10 minutes to spare until we boarded the plane. Our flight took off at 1:30 am. It only took a little over 5 hours to get to Honolulu. Cooper slept just about the whole way and the rest of us slept off and on. When we landed, it was 5:15 am in Honolulu. We had to walk clear over to another terminal to get our luggage. By that time it was about 5:35 am and we had to wait until 6 am for the rental car bus to come and get us. It was actually nice just to sit for awhile. Finally the bus came and we got our van. We decided to go to our hotel, let them hold our luggage and eat breakfast.

Brielle happy to be off the plane

Cooper and Lainey

Cooper was happy because he actually slept on the plane

After we ate breakfast, we headed out to Waikiki beach by our hotel. It was probably 8:30 am by that time. The beach wasn't real busy and we were all happy to finally be on vacation.

The kids on the beach

Getting their feel wet in the ocean or BIG SWIMMING POOL as Cooper called it

Me and the kids

Walking on the beach

We walked out on a pier. Saw lots of crabs and fish

After a while on Waikiki Beach, we decided to head around on the southeast side of the island. We went to the bell hop desk so we could get some stuff out of our luggage and then headed out. We decided to stop at Sandy Beach. The waves were huge, there were lots of body surfers enjoying them. Travis, Brielle and I were the only ones who got out of the van. Lainey, Cooper and Cynthia stayed in the van and slept.

Brielle and Travis checking out the big waves

Huge waves

Brielle loving the beach

Travis and I

We stayed at Sandy Beach for about 45 minutes and then decided to keep driving around the southeast side of the island. We had never been on that side before and it was beautiful.

The ocean

We enjoyed the ocean views we got during our drive and finally found a McDonalds to eat lunch at. After we ate, we decided to head back to our hotel to see if we could check in yet. We were able to check in and were so happy to do so. After we checked in, we headed down the Waikiki Beach in front of our hotel. We had fun playing in the water!!

Cooper on the beach

Sisters loving the ocean

Cooper really didn't like the water, do he played in the sand. Cooper enjoying wearing Travis' flip-flops

Me and the girls loving the waves

We stayed on the beach for about 2 hours and then headed back up to our room to change. We went to eat dinner but I honestly can't remember where we ate at. I was just glad to be on vacation!!

Lainey and Cooper on the balcony at our hotel room