Usually a beach trip with my family means dragging the boogie boards down from the attic, filling my Dad’s truck to max capacity for the short drive to Surfside, sneaking the dog cheeseburgers during said trip, bathroom breaks at Bucees, scraping aside seaweed for the perfect beach spot, and toying with the idea of eating at the Purple Cow. It’s a proven formula for success. However, this year we decided to try something a little more adventurous: Hawaii.

Gabby, Me, and Derek. My parents got in a day before us and surprised us with leis at the airport. The leis were beautiful and had a gorgeous [ and very strong] aroma.

For some reason we didn’t take a photo of all of us together, but thanks to the selfie stick Derek got Gabby we didn’t have to settle for that for very long.

We got there just in time for Father’s Day. It was great to spend the day actually with my Dad instead of via Skype. And even more lovely to spend it with our family in such a beautiful place.

Dad – Exploring Laie Point

Home base was an apartment we found on airbnb. We stayed on the north shore, just a few minutes from Sunset Beach. It gave us ample space for post-swim netflix, beach reads, and one cat/western themed puzzle. My mom loved exploring the yard and all the fruit trees around the house. My dad found a documentary on Eddie Aikau and educated us all on Hawaiian surfing [The owner of our house loved Eddie and has a collection of posters featuring him]. I spent most of my time there on the deck hammock reading.

Jackfruit

Mango

One of our first stops was also one of the best: Hanauma Bay. Practically everyone recommended this state park and we were not disappointed. The bay is features a gigantic reef and you can see fish almost everywhere. The perfect snorkeling spot to kick things off.

We soon discovered the necessity for prescription snorkel lenses since everyone in our family is pretty vision impaired [luckily they had these there].

My friend gave me this pouch that lets you take your phone underwater so I could play with underwater photography. I had a lot of fun with it.

Most of the colorful fish eluded my camera for some reason, but I did grab a shot of this little guy.

On the way home from Hanauma Bay we stopped at the Dole Plantation where we learned three very important things: 1. A pineapple does not ripen after you pick it. So just eat it already. 2. Anything that can be dipped, decorated like, stuffed with, or paired with Pineapple is available for purchase in the gift shop. 3. Leaving without a Dole Whip is an absolute crime. Mmmmmm.

The Dole Whip. The pineapple chunks on top are probably the best pineapple I’ve ever had.

I helped this little guy pose for the picture.

Our trip also included a visit to the LDS Laie Hawaii Temple. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

A trip to the North Shore also wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We made fish out of leaves, visited a few of the “villages,” played “Heads Up” while hiding from a brief, tiny fluster of rain, and saw the big show at the end of the night. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Teaching us how to make the fish.

A little fire! The show at the end of the night had a lot of cool fire dancing as well as amazing dancing.

He climbed up a palm tree as part of the village show.

It was also nice just walking around the PCC.

My mom decided to opt out of one of our activities: swimming with sharks. This was not as scary as it sounds. The sharks swimming by us were not aggressive and basically not interested at all. Fishing boats often come out to that area and drop bait, so the sharks come around when the boat comes over. We go from the boat to a little cage. You don’t even need to scuba dive, you snorkel.

As Tracy Jordan would say, “Live every week like it’s shark week.”

These pictures don’t do it justice, but Derek got some great photos on his GoPro.

The wonderful thing about Hawaii is everywhere you go there is beauty. Mom and I spent a lot of time just sitting at Waimea Bay.

We did not let a cloudy day stop us. We just sat there until it got sunny again, haha We noticed that even though it would rain from time to time during our trip, it never came down to hard and it didn’t seem to last too long.

Sitting by the calm water it was hard to imagine the giant waves surfers compete on during the winter. Dad and I also discovered some good snorkeling over there.

This makes the beach seem so gloomy, but really the weather was wonderful most of the time. Here’s some pictures from our Sunday walk our first full day there.

Sunset Beach – a blissful 5 minute walk from where we were staying.

Ok, FINE. I’ll live here forever.

Derek and Gabby: Pro photographers

Gabs enjoying the beach.

There is much more to cover, but I think this is a good stopping point.

To Be Continued

Currently: Recently returned from a Utah adventure: Bryce Canyon. Completely different, but also amazing. I’ll be posting some pictures from that little trip soon.