Just a teaser...

I promise we really did go to Hawaii! I have just been insanely busy playing catch-up since we got home. I haven't exactly had the time to sit down and spend the crazy amount of time that it takes to upload all these pictures and videos!!!

Aaaaaand- I still don't have the time. But I will take a moment to share some things I learned during my visit to Waikiki:

*Lots of thick brown hair does not prevent one's scalp from getting seriously sunburned (and subsequently filling said thick brown hair with giant flakes of peeling skin....yum).

*No matter how much I hate my body right now, there are way worse ones tromping across the beach in string bikinis.

*Everything in the world should be flavored with fresh pineapple. Seriously. I put it in my coke, on my foods, in my water, in my mouth. I love it.

*Even though my kids drain my of every ounce of emotional and physical energy, I reaaaally miss them when I'm away from them.

*Convertibles are so fun...until you have to brush your hair for 30 minutes afterward. Plus I almost fell asleep twice while driving- I guess the breeze relaxes me a little too much.

*I like to hold my husband's hand.

*Even if you pay lots of money to stay in a super nice resort, you ultimately have no control over the water temperature in your shower.

*Hawaii is the ideal place to be a bum. This was the "cloaked marauder" that we passed several times throughout the week. I considered paying her to let me take her picture- she was SUPER creepy...in an awesome way- but I settled for capturing her while she napped @ the bus stop.

*When you wander around in a swimsuit all day, there is some inevitable chafing. Come on...I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced this.

*There's a reason I've never had room service. That reason is an additional $12 'room service charge' and an added 17% gratuity to the already outrageous price of $8 for a bowl of oatmeal. I don't know if my math is right, but I'm pretty sure that comes out to like $75 for breakfast mush.

*When you go to a vacation spot like Hawaii, there are people from all over the world and they are all on different time zones....which means you can plan to hear those heavy, metal, fire-safe doors slamming at all hours of the night..and day.

*I don't hate the beach as much as I thought I did....especially when I'm not dragging sandy, whiny kids along.



I think the Polynesian Cultural Center was the coolest part of our trip- I LOVED the show at the end of the night. It just felt like such an "authentic" Hawaiian experience. I wanted to record every moment of it, but this was definitely my favorite part. I just loved that there was this beautiful singing accented by an occasional screech. And the men are dancing with big, joyous movements while the women are smooth and controlled and beautiful. I even get chills watching this crappy recording of it! I'll try to get more pictures up soon!!!!