Hawaii; number 4

On our last day in Hawaii we got another amazing breakfast at Ama Ama.  Then we went swimming in the Lagoon and the pool by our hotel.  We did our best to soak in as much sun as we could before we went back to Montana.  

After our morning swim, Mitch met with Scott to go paddleboarding out on the ocean.  They had a pretty amazing, "once in a lifetime" kind of experience.  They got to see a mom and baby humpback whale.  It was so, so cool!  I could see it from the beach and thought it was amazing, I can only imagine how cool (and scary) it must have been for the boys out on the water.

 While the boys were out, I hung out at Secret beach and watch the sea turtles in the bay and the whales in the distance.  I love this beach! I am so envious of the Whitings that get to live so close to the beach.

Mitch, I think we need to seriously consider moving to Hawaii!

We got one last meal in at Monkey Pod.

I had to take a picture of this super awesome mode of transportation. 

 Group selfies with our Bffs.  I can't pick my favorite shot.

 a Hawaiian Hibiscus 

 The Whitings view to the ocean!

 We left that evening to take a red eye home.   It was pretty brutal, and took us over a week to get our sleep back on track, but it was totally worth it!

Hawaii; number three

We stayed in the JW Marriott for our last two nights.  It is a beautiful hotel and it was fun to walk around and see the shark pools.  We took these pictures for the kids. 

 We started the day with an amazing breakfast at the Ahliani Resort restaurant called Ama Ama.  It was incredible.  

A funny story; While we were eating I saw a family all dressed up trying to take family pictures of themselves on the beach.  Finally I couldn't take it anymore and left the restaurant to take pictures of this cute family.  I just didn't want them to get all dressed up for nothing!

We did go in to Honalulu for the morning to go to the swap meet.  While neither of us love shopping, it was nice to get all of our kids their souvenirs in one shopping trip.  

After the swap meet we headed up to the North Shore again to paddle board the Haleiwa River.  This was so fun.  Probably my favorite activity.  We paddled up the river then back down into the bay.  Mitch did go surfing and made it look so easy and fun.  I did catch a wave, but I also fell off a few times before I figured it out.  

 Out on the bay

 A little shaved ice after our adventure.

 After paddle boarding, we headed back south.  We changed, walked to Paradise cove right by our hotel to watch the sunset, then went to Roy's for another amazing dinner.

Sunset:
I busted out the big camera for this sunset.

Dinner:  Again, no words.  Just the best food I have ever had in my life.  We were "those people" taking pictures of our food.