Christmas in Paradise

After spending our Christmas holiday in Hawaii last year, we decided it should be an annual event.  Really, what better place to celebrate than in paradise, and we definitely found it in Hawaii!!

Thanks to our great friends, the Castle family, we spent the first 5 days in their guest "cottage" next to their beautiful home in Honolulu. We have missed the Castles' terribly since they moved from Shanghai almost two years ago, but we were happy when Kevin accepted his job at BYU Hawaii----what a perfect place to visit them!!  Jen, Kevin and their 5 kids were the perfect hosts to our family!  They planned  our family the funnest activity packed itinerary for each day we were staying with them.  Just a few of the many fun events included an afternoon at the beach, a hike up Diamond Head, a morning at the Honolulu temple while the boys played basketball at BYU Hawaii's gym, an evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and they even planned a wonderful evening out with just the adults at the most beautiful restaurant with other BYU Hawaii accounting professors.

Not only were they the perfect tour guides of local areas, we loved that they introduced us to local cuisine (we will never forget the famous Ted's chocolate macadamia nut pie!!),   Best of all, our fabulous hosts included us in their family traditional Christmas celebrations, and we were honored to be their guests on Christmas Eve!

To sum it up.....a stay with the Castle family is nothing less than a full time party, and we did just that!!  Early to rise (thanks to their chickens), and late to bed (thanks to board games, sugar cookie making, and non stop chit chat), made each day with them the BEST!!  Thanks Castles' for spoiling our family sooo much---we LOVE you!!

****Tyson was apparently ready to move in with the Castles' after our first day staying with them.  He was sooo unaccustomed, but a huge fan of eating extravagant breakfasts such as eggnog french toast, sausage breakfast casserole, multi-choices of sugar cereals and more, he asked if we too would be eating like that every day when we moved back to America!! (:

 
 Hiking Diamond Head Volcanic Crater.......

A View from the TOP......

Thanks to our sweet New Zealand friends the Schwenkes' who graciously gave us VIP passes to enjoy a delicious dinner at the new Ambassador restaurant at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  The Schwenkes' live in Shanghai, and are responsible for the beautiful tables here at the new restaurant that were designed and manufactured in China.  We were proud to tell our waitresses about our friends supplying their new tables, and had them take a few pics as we posed by the beautiful new decor.

Enjoying a bit of beach time, at one of the handfuls of beaches about a mile away from the Castle home on the North Shore.

Christmas Eve with the Castle family will forever be a sweet memory.  We were honored to join in on their traditional candy bar swap game, as well as their Christmas nativity program.  These pictures are the greatest reminder that there was definitely a lot of laughter, and it was impossible to leave that night without a SMILE!

Next Stop......Maui!!  Seven Days of amazing beauty, beaches, pool time, reading and relaxation, yummy restaurants, strolling through the beach walk villages, lots of junk food, golf, golf, and more golf, several movies, and a whole lot of family togetherness........

An Inflatable Gator---The BEST $20 EVER spent!  This gator provided HOURS of fun for the boys, and the greatest unforgettable laughter!!

MOVIE TIME.....one of our most favorite things to do as a family!  We packed them in, and saw as many as we could.....Chipwrecked, We Bought a Zoo, Mission Impossible 4, and Sherlock Holmes....Thumbs up for all, but Preston especially had his favorite.

This picture is Preston's request...he LOVED his dad wrestling the gator to put him in the suitcase (:

Next stop......The Big Island!  None of us had ever been there, so we were looking forward to big adventures.  However, we didn't realize our biggest adventure involving the Big Island was waiting for us at the airport!  When we showed up at the airport to check in, our luggage was weighed, and then each one of us was asked to jump on the scale with our carry on luggage.  We had never been asked to do this, and we were all a bit confused as to why the uncommon procedures........until we saw the plane that would take us there.  What a shock to find out our flight consisted of our family and 3 others on a NINE person airplane......a HUGE contrast than the airplane that brought us from Shanghai to the states!!  Truly, our jaws dropped, and none of us said a word!!  After a few jokes to release a bit of anxiety, and many questions from Parker about the safety of the small prop plane,(he is TERRIFIED of turbulence) we hopped in, buckled up, and took off in minutes.  It was fabulous, and surprisingly the smoothest airplane ride we had ever taken.

In order to take this picture, I literally had to stand in the cockpit with the pilot inches from my face....the boys thought it was HYSTERICAL!!

 Parker.......trying to put on his "brave" face (:

Upon our safe arrival to the Big Island, we were shocked to see how different this island was in comparison to Maui.  We were surrounded by lava rock, and not a lot of vegetation.  However, the more we explored, the more we realized how diverse different areas of the island really were.  One day we took a drive along the northwest section of the island and found an incredible view.  A short hike led us to an even more amazing viewpoint.....perfect for a few pics.......

Our hotel and the swimming pools definitely were again a hit for especially the youngest two boys.   They were happy to spend the entire day there while the older boys and dad went golfing.  Tyson was convinced he was not leaving the pool until his little brother learned how to dive (and do it well!).  He spent hours going over procedure and form, and was EXTREMELY patient until Preston finally got it down----I think every person at the pool had been watching the two boys, and we had quite the cheering when the perfect dive finally happened (:

We couldn't visit Hawaii and not attend a luau, so one night we headed down the beach and did just that.  We watched as the traditional pig was dug out from being roasted in the ground, had a feast, and watched a traditional hula show.  The boys insisted none of us join the hula, but couldn't stop their parents from slow dancing with the highly romantic Hawaiian wedding love songs (:

 

Our last adventure in Hawaii will definitely always be remembered, or possibly just be considered a family curse.  We have never been a fishing family, but decided to take a day and go deep sea fishing.  We had never had good luck with fishing in the past.  However, this time we had good vibes and promises from the fishing company that we could plan on catching something like this......

Our hopes were set high, and the talk started about what we would do with all the fish we caught, and possibly sending the biggest fish to the taxidermist for framing and memories!

So, with high hopes and high expectations, we waited.........

And waited some more..........and more........and more.....................

And more..........and more........

Sad to report, with fishing poles galore and fish sightings galore, not one of our poles got even ONE BITE!  Not even one NIBBLE!!!  We left empty handed, but not empty hearted!  We've definitely had a great laugh over our fishing trip woes, and have decided if this was the biggest disappointment Hawaii had for us, we'll take it!  Sooooo grateful for these memories, sooooo grateful for this family!!!  Until next year Hawaii!!