Mele Kalikimaka

That’s right. Have I died and gone to heaven? For about a week I did.

Hawaii for Christmas?? = Dream come true.

And I think my whole family is a believer now. We are kind of liking the idea of going somewhere wonderful for Christmas and not really worrying about the fuss of presents for each other. Let’s just lay on the beach instead! Yessss!

But first things first. We decorated our adorable little tiny tree :)

  

And ate at BWW. Brad’s favorite. Blakely’s new obsession. It’s our favorite! 

Brad Finished finals! Yay! And I have to brag for just a second – he got an A- in OChem! Rockstar :)

 

Then these cute kids came to town! yay!!!!! Long drive for the Broadbents, but man were we glad to see them! Brad is a way fun uncle, and boy do we love those kids! Real life is WAY better than FaceTime.

 

While they were here we went to check out the lights!

I wish so bad we lived closer so we could do this more often! PS- Emily doesn’t even look it but, she is in fact pregnant with another little boy due in Feb!

Now- Alooohhhaaa! We stayed on the Big Island in Kona. We stayed in Waikoloa Village and it was 82 degrees every day. Gorgeous weather. Brad was on a road trip so he joined us on Thrusday.

 

Robbie: “I’m out of school, I’m in Shorts and Flip Flops – it is Summer! Not Christmas!”

I must admit – it was pretty weird to see Christmas Trees and hear Let it Snow while you are in Hawaii. It just doesn’t feel right!

We went to check out Akaka Falls over on the Hilo Side of the Island. It was plush and gorgeous over there!

 

 

Waipio Lookout.

Kua Beach. This was our favorite beach! The sand is perfect.

 

And I was in heaven.

Kailua-Kona is the home of the famous IronMan race. I think it is AWESOME!!!

The sunsets – OH the sunsets. One of the main reasons I am in love with Hawaii. My poor family would have to stop anything they were doing and wait for about 30 mins while I Oooed and Ahhed and took 200 pictures of the sunsets every night. LOVED all of them. This one was particularly beautiful.

Brad FINALLY made it over. I was missing him :)

Luau time! Besides the extravagant Luau food, we actually cooked at home a lot! Our condo’s kitchen was well equipped – with a rice cooker even! We made Mac-nut encrusted Mahi Mahi, Asian Salmon, Mahi-Mahi Tacos, and more. Oh and did I mention we drank 48 cans of POG in a week? Haha. Gotta love it. PassionFruit-Orange-Guava you complete us.

The next day the waves at Kua Bay just about tripled! These pictures do not do this justice to how big they were. Brad and Rob attempted to boogie board. They may have gotten rocked a few times haha. But it was pretty awesome and fun to watch!

Baywatch? Why hello there :)

 

Rob made a new friend on the trip!

 

We made my dad a sand throne! 

The next day was my Dad’s highlight – Marlin Fishing! Wahoo! He went fishing with Marlin (yes, that is his real, given name) on this same boat 20 years ago! And my Grandpa went with Marlin’s dad a few times as well. Schaap-Parker tradition.

Oh and did I mention that every day leading up to fishing we HAD to go to the Harbor to watch the boats come in. It was pretty cool to watch them bring this Ahi in and weigh it.

I like sunrises too :)

Unfortunately it is not Marlin season, so we broke tradition and didn’t catch one. But we had fun catching little Ahi and taking a few boat naps :)

Kona is extremely famous for Macadamia nuts. Yum. We tried pretty much every type of macadamia nut known to man. Yes, even SPAM flavored.

Perfection.

 

We took some family pictures on our last night there. More to come on that, but here is a preview.

I REALLY didn’t want to leave. We were getting reports we had a foot of snow on our driveway….. Um from laying on a beach to shoveling snow? Don’t make me go!!!

  

What a fabulous week with my family and a wonderful time to relax and rejuvenate. We all needed a break. Besides the sunsets, the beach, the yummy fish, and all other thing Hawaii, the best thing about the islands is the pace of life. Nothing is rushed, and everything is done with a smile. I loved this trip and want to make this a tradition…. :)

Mele Kalikimaka!