Aloha!

Last week, my sister (Beth) and I were able to vacation in Hawaii...it was fabulous! This was seriously the most relaxing vacation I have ever taken. We had so much fun! While we were there, we stayed at my cousin Kellie's house...she lives near the North Shore, and really, it seemed like the perfect location.

One of my favorite things ever is the beach/ocean, and I definately made the most of being so close to one on this trip. We went to the beach almost every day while we were there, although I would say that we probably went to Sharks Cove the most. Kellie's son kept talking about how much he loves Sharks Cove, and we had heard that the ocean at this beach can be really calm, so we decided to check it out. Well, the ocean was definately NOT calm during our first visit. Beth and I were wading and trying to avoid the coral. We thought that we had found a calm spot, when suddenly, this wave comes and pushes us across the coral. We both got pretty scraped up, but luckily, our injuries weren't too severe. When we came back to Shark's Cove later in the week, the water was so calm - there were no waves, no current...nothing! It ended up being a great place to snorkel and we saw some really cool fish. One of our other favorite beach activities was when we drove around the entire island of Oahu. We would stop at whatever beach seemed interesting, swim for a while, then continue on our journey until we saw another beach. It was a very fun way to see the island and it was interesting to see how much variety there is.

Besides hanging out at the beach, we also visited Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, Pali Lookout, and a few other places, and of course, shopping. We honestly had such a great time...it was so hard to come back to the "real world".

It was also really fun to visit with my cousin and her family. The last time I saw Kellie was at my wedding - at that time, her daughter wasn't born and her husband was in Iraq. Beth and I thought that her kids were hilarious - they definately kept us laughing! Seriously, how many four year old kids do you hear saying, "Didn't you get the memo..." or one year olds having a distinct preference of sour cream and onion pringles instead of plain. Maybe you just had to be there, but her kids were definately entertaining!

While we were there, Beth and I decided that we want to make going on a girls trip a tradition. We really did have such a fantastic time. We are so thankful to Kellie for letting us stay with her and being so accomodating. You're the best!!!