Hawaii: Day 1-2

Hawaii was wonderful! I highly recommend it. :) 

It was a fabulous way to celebrate Greg's 40th birthday and our 17th Anniversary.

The flight from New York to Oahu was extremely long, but I didn't mind at all. (I would never take the kids- especially Jackson- on that long of a flight though!) I got to watch 3 movies and a couple of TV shows and get in a good sleep. I know, sleeping on a plane is not very comfortable, but when you were as tired as me, you can sleep anywhere! We left home before the kids even got up for school.  By the time we got to Honolulu we had to hurry and call the kids and say goodnight. (10:00 pm New York time, 4:00 pm Hawaii time.)

We arrived at the JW Marriott Ihilani, checked out the room and the view,

took a walk around the grounds and down the beach.   Sting rays, sharks, and other tropical sea life were in ponds around the property.  Saw lots of these interesting trees too.  

The beaches along the Marriott property are these little man made lagoons that have sandy beaches, but the actual shoreline is volcanic rock. It was all very beautiful.

And don't you love this? 

So refreshing.  Ice cold water with lemon, lime and orange slices.  I stopped for a drink every time we went by one!  These were in the lobby and at the pool.  (Made me think of you Angie M.)

We ate a delicious sunset dinner at the hotel and headed back to the room. I think we passed out  7pm - which meant we were wide awake at 4am the next day! I am not a morning person at all. I've never been on a vacation where I'm waiting for the restaurant to open to go have breakfast! By the way, the breakfast buffet was awesome! Every breakfast food you could possibly want and tons of fruit and a juicer with recipes for juice combinations. We enjoyed pineapple juice every day YUM! After we ate we just sat by the empty pool waiting for the gift shop to open so we could buy some sunscreen. 

So foreign to me to be wide awake and ready to go for the day so early with nothing to do.  So I took more pictures...

This is a top secret sneak peek for Beth.  It is the location of the new Disney Ko Olina Resort which is going in right next door to the Marriott Ihilani.  Thought you might want to be on the cutting edge.   Make your reservations now! ;~)

We ended up spending the entire day on the Ihilani's beach.  Greg wisely sunscreened up.  Me, not so much.  That stuff really does work.  I just barely finished peeling from my various burns. But how relaxing it was to lay in the sun, totally uninterrupted.  

I found the sand to really different than I am used to.  It didn't feel like the Lake Michigan sand I'm used to, it felt more like finely ground oatmeal.  Strange.

(sorry about all the feet pictures!)

 I did get out in the water for a little while, just floating on my back.  After a while I started feeling nauseous.    Are you kidding me?  Seasick from just laying in the water?  What's up with my body?!

We spent the late afternoon in the room since the Lakers were playing of course. Dinner and sound asleep again around 7 or 8 pm!!   That time difference is brutal. :)  More adventures to follow...