Was it a dream?

Brad, Aleah, and I got to go to Hawaii with Brad's family to celebrate our brother-in-laws birthday.  It was wonderful!  It was a dream vacation.  I think that it has taken me this long to finally blog about it because I am still wishing that it wasn't over!  I really didn't want to come home!  We got to do so many fun things and of course we got to relax a lot.  It was Aleah's first time in an airplane.  She did great!  She started doing this thing were she would stick out her tongue as far as she could and then leave it there.  It was so funny!  The first time she did it I was amazed at how long her tongue is!  On the way out to Hawaii she played a little and slept the rest of the time.  On the way home, we were on the redeye, she slept the whole time!  Brad and I were not so lucky!

When we got to Hawaii it was about 2:00 p.m.  Aleah could not stop looking at the trees.  I loved the weather.  It was sunny and warm and perfect!  We all got loaded up in the vans and went out for some delicious pizza.

That evening we were all getting tired, but Aleah could not fight it off.  The jet lag got her!  She adjusted to the time change right off and slept through the night as if nothing had changed.  Amazing!  How did she do that? 
I loved spending time at the beach and swimming in the pool.  Brad and I got to do some snorkeling while Aleah napped.  I am so glad that she is a good sleeper!  It was my first time snorkeling.  I have to admit it was a little scary at first!  It was strange to be able to breath under water.  After I caught on to the breathing thing I really enjoyed it and loved being able to see all the beautiful coral and fish!  We even found a turtle!  We went to an aquarium and it was fun to watch Aleah just look around at everything.

We went to the Polynesian Culture Center.  We got to make these cool fish out of coconut leaves.  We went to the night show which was really really fun!  Aleah watched the first half.  I mean it, she sat on Brad's lap and watched it.  Then she slept through the second half.  It was sooo loud and she just slept right through it.
We got to go to the temple and the visitors center.  We saw Elder Mark Eubank there.  It was funny because when we walked into the visitors center I thought, How do I know that guy?  Then Brad said, "That's Mark Eubank!"  We had a good visit with him.  He even told us the weather forecast for Utah... snow... we were glad to be in Hawaii.
We had to get some yummy shave ice.  They put ice cream in the bottom!  It was good.  Every time we drove past this place there was a line.
There were turtles on this beach that would just sit on the beach.  From the road they just looked like rocks, so we had to get a closer look.  We also saw some turtles swimming and riding the waves.


At the end of the day I think that we all felt like this!  Play hard, sleep hard!
Here is Aleah getting a sun tan!  Not really!  We kept her in the shade as much as possible.  I think that she looks so cute on that big chair.

At the pineapple plantation we decided to get some pineapple ice cream.  We went for the big kahuna, the pineapple sundae!  They hollowed out half of a pineapple and filled it with pineapple chunks and then they made three ice cream towers.  It was so so so good!  We couldn't quite finish it.  After that Brad couldn't eat any more pineapple the rest of the trip.  Not so for me!  I love pineapple and even had some with my breakfast the next morning!

Aleah loved spending time with family.  One morning when she saw her cousin Tawnie she got so excited and had to tell her all about something.  It was really cute!
Aleah got to experience grass for the first time.  This was not the kind of grass that we are use to around here.  It was very soft.  She didn't seam to mind it at all!

We let Aleah put her feet in the Ocean.  She was fine until a big wave came and got her little toosh all wet.  Then she let us know that she didn't like that very much.  Thanks for keeping your dress out of the way Aleah!
It was so nice to go on this vacation with Brad, Aleah, and our family!  It was a much needed break for me!  I love that I can spend so much time with family and not want to go home!