Hawaii!!

We said our goodbyes to my family and boarded our flight to Honolulu Monday night.

I hedged our space-a bets and booked flights from PDX to Honolulu ahead of time instead of hoping and waiting to get on a flight out of California or Alaska and needing last minute airfare.  Plus, we got a short vacation in Hawaii - not too shabby!

At the Honolulu airport, no joke, we took a limo to the resort.

Big pimpin, bitches

(Okay, it was the next in line at the taxi stand and could fit the car seats.  Whatever.  Not going to stop me from feeling like Beyonce.)

The Hale Koa is beautiful!  Because we've never stayed at one of the military resorts before, I wasn't sure what to expect.  But the grounds and beach were above what I was hoping for.

The Hale Koa lobby

Looking over Gus

Gus, the banyan tree

The beautiful flowers at Hale Koa

Dad scaring Owen after walking through the "spooky trees"

The view from our room was wonderful!  I never realized that Hawaii had such amazing mountains.  Although we could see the ocean (a blue water view, as my dad would call it) and part of the gardens, I couldn't stop looking at the clouds and the mountains just beyond the skyline.

Our view

And of course, the wonderful beach!  After all the moving and grooving in Oregon, all I wanted to do was relax and hang out by the water.  No big itineraries, no elaborate plans, just a whole lot of nothing.

Looking towards the Hilton

The Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon

Little fishies in the lagoon