We are finally planning a trip to Hawaii.

One of my most favorite moments is when we can put a big checkmark on an item we have on our travel bucket list.  Its a long list full of amazing adventures.  We would love to just tackle all of them right away.  There are bills to pay, jobs to go to, schooling for the kiddlets and lots of daily life we juggle to make our dreams happen.  Today we are going to talk about checking off another one of those bucket list items.  Drumroll...  Hawaii!  Hawaii is booked and we are so excited to go there.  

This is a first for our little family of four but its not a first for our family.  We do most of our travels in groups and we love it that way.  Both sets of our parents have been here before but not like we are going to tackle it this trip.  This is a land and see adventure.

We will spend our first three to four days in Oahu.  This is where the bulk of our bucket list was so we wanted to spend more time here.  The Polynesian Cultural Center will give us a taste of life in the Pacific Islands.  Its like a tropical lifestyle theme park.  While the rest of our group has been there out little group of four will be first timers.  We are planning to see every bit of this and scheduling a whole day.  

Our second whole day activity is to explore Pearl Harbor.  We love all things historical.  We hope that we can inspire this love of history for others to enjoy too.  This is a big deal for us.  We've been talking about this for years but to stand where the story was made is where the magic happens for us.  We will be learning in depth the stories and battles that led to and happened during this historical battle.  

We will still have a day and a half on Oahu that we haven't planned out.  Turtle Bay is on our list of places we'd like to see.  North Shore would be really cool too.  The beautiful LDS Laie Temple and its gardens will be visited as well. There is a ranch where Jurassic Park was filmed.  Of course there is to sample the local food and eat from a truck too.  We are also looking for hikes, other sites and seeking wild animals too.  I've heard the wild chickens would be right up my alley.  Oh and the ABC stores...  It must be one of those things we will understand when we get there.  

After our stay on Oahu we will be boarding NCL's Pride of America for 7 days of Hawaii island hopping.  We will visit Kahului Maui, Hilo Hawaii, Kona Hawaii, Nawiliwili Kauai and return back to Hololulu Oahu to finish our big circle.  For sure the most exciting thing here is going to be when the boat takes us up close to see the Volcano pour off into the ocean.  I imagine it like when we took our Alaskan Cruise and they took us to see the glaciers breaking off into the ocean but opposite.  I feel like there might be a new camera lens in Brandans future.  

     

We know a lot of you have been to these heavenly islands.  We would love to learn from you.  What should we do?  What should we avoid? Eek!  We are so excited!

♥ Misty