Much Needed Time Away

This past year and a half has been an emotional roller coaster (to say the least). With all that we have been through, Darrell and I agreed that it would be good for us to get away for awhile and enjoy some time together. Many of our family and friends suggested we take a vacation and it didn't take much convincing.

We had already talked about taking a trip to Hawaii for our ten year anniversary, so we just moved it up a couple of years. On a side note, Darrell and I have NEVER been on a big vacation together by ourselves. We didn't even go on a honeymoon because we bought our first house instead.  Needless to say, we were really looking forward to this trip!

Arriving in Honolulu

Our view from the Hotel on Waikiki Beach

Hawaii was absolutely beautiful and we've already decided that we'll probably go back for our ten year anniversary! We started our trip going to Honolulu to visit Pearl Harbor. That was such a touching and emotional morning!

Standing in front of the Arizona Memorial

Arizona Memorial

That afternoon we hopped on a tiny plane and headed to Maui for the rest of our week. Two words...LOVED it!! We did a sunrise bike tour down a dormant volcano. A bus picked us up at 2:30 in the morning and took us up the mountain. Standing in the middle of clouds we watched the sunrise. It was freezing, but I think it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. We were at a little less than 10,000 feet in elevation. From there we were taken to 6,500 feet where we rode bikes the rest of the way down. Again, beautiful views and a lot of time to pray and just think...loved it!

Right before sunrise

The sun starting to rise

After sunrise

Love this picture of the sunrise behind us!

What a view!  One of the spots on the mountain we stopped for a picture

On our bike ride down the mountain

One day we went for a drive and went to Twin Falls. We thought we would never find them, but after hiking in flip flops...yes, flip flops (we had no idea what to expect), we found them and got some great pictures!

Twin Falls (the water was freezing!)

One afternoon we visited Maui Brewing Company.  The Friday before we left Darrell found some beer at the store from the Maui Brewing Co., so he researched where it was and lucky for us it was five minutes from our hotel.  They try to use as many ingredients as possible from Maui when brewing their beer.  The entire process of the brewing and packaging of the beer is done in a tiny metal building. I was shocked at how small it was.

The five beers we got to sample

I just thought this sign was funny because of how small it is

We also enjoyed our first time zip lining. We both really enjoyed it! Darrell even did this swing thing that I was too chicken to do.

Getting ready to zip

Darrell getting ready to zip

Look at the view behind us...unbelievable!

Ziplining

Ziplining some more!

Darrell doing the swing with a girl in our group

That would be Darrell upside down on the swing

We also walked down the beach from our hotel and went to Black Rock where we were told you could see some pretty large turtles and fish.  We were about knee deep in the water getting our snorkel gear on when we hear someone shout, "Tortuga, tortuga!" I look right in front of me and there is a huge sea turtle!  I loved it!

Ready to snorkel

The sea turtle that was right by us

The night before we left we attended a luau in Lahaina that gave the history of Hawaii. We got some great pictures and enjoyed watching the hula dancers.

Before the luau started

Our dinner

One of the dances

Our hilarious waiter

With two of the dancers from the show

I think the best part of our vacation was being able to relax at the pool and the beach. Maui is so laid back and it was nice to just be with each other!

View from our room in Kaanapali

Hanging out at the pool

Sunsetting while we were at dinner

Dinner one night

Just another amazing view

Just the two of us (and yes, I'm humming that tune right now)