May 2019 & Memorial Day Weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went down to St. George to do some hiking and to see "The Little Mermaid" at Tuacahn. Grandma and Grandpa Yockey, along with Chantelle, Jocelyn, and Lynette and her granddaughter came down to watch the performance with us. We headed up to the Pioneer Park above St. George to hike. It was quite busy since it was Memorial Day, so we were unable to do the slot canyon that we wanted to do, but there was plenty to see and do.

Leading up to the end of school, we took the boys to the Lehi Fun Center. Taycen also participated in the PineWood Derby where he received the "Most Unique" award for his Minecraft inspired "Creeper" car.

Easter 2019

Easter egg hunts!

Apr 12 - 19 Spring Break in Hawaii 2019

Spring Break in Hawaii 2019 April 12 - 19

Friday April 12th

When Southwest announced that they were going to start flying to Hawaii in late 2018, we planned on a spring break trip. Joe had a lot of frequent flyer miles saved up on Southwest, so it was something that we just planned for. Everyting went according to plan and the entire vacation was easy, relaxing, and fun. Joe had attained A-List Preferred status with free companion passes, so he bought himself and the boys tickets with miles, and Natalie's ticket was free.

We flew out on Friday April 12th at 6:35 AM. We woke up at 4 AM and were on the rode by 4:45. We took at Lyft car service to the airport and it took up 30 minutes to get to the airport. Joe took the boys through TSA Pre-Check, so getting through security was a breeze. Natalie went through standard security which was easy for her as well.

The boys were so excited about flying. It was the first flight for both of them. They both had a window seat. Natalie sat next to Jair and Joe sat next to Taycen. They had their own suitcase, backpack, and belt pack stuffed full of snacks and toys. They were both so excited and fun to watch. They weren't scared, but excited about the experience. They both had a hard time with their ears during the landing, but they learned how to pop their ears and they were alright from that time forward. They enjoyed ordering hot chocolate and eating snacks on the plane.

We landed in Oakland at 7:45 AM, the same time when our flight to Honolulu started bording, so we lost our priority boarding. We got off of our flight from SLC and ran to the gate where they were loading our flight for Honolulu. We got right on and got settled in. The flight was just under 5 hours and we landed in Honolulu at 10:30 AM.

We picked up the Hertz rental car from the on-site rental pickup. We cruised to Diamond Head after briefly stopping at an ABC convenience store to pick up some water. We payed parked in the Diamond Head parking lot, used the rest rooms, then headed up the Diamond Head trail. The Diamond Head trail was steep and hot, but we all enjoyed the views from the top.

 After Diamond head, we headed down into Waikiki near the Zoo and Aquarium to walk along the beach and play near the large Banyon tree in the park next to the Zoo. When it was just after 3 PM, we went to the hotel and checked-in. The hotel that we stayed in was called the Imperial Hawaii Resort on Waikiki, on Lemer Street, across the street from the Trump Hotel and just down the block from the Hilton. Once we checked-in we headed down to the beach for a quick dip and to snorkel for a few minutes. It was very enjoyable, but we were tired, and it was going to rain, so we headed back to the hotel. After we got cleaned up, we were going to head down the block to get something to eat when it started to rain. It was a lot of rain and we didn't make it very far before we turned back to the hotel and had dinner at Denny's, which was located in the the hotel. When we finished, we headed back up to our room, on the 18th floor. Since it was raining, we through that they would cancel the fireworks, but we heard them start. We quickly ran up to the top floor on the hotel to view the fireworks as we sat next to the pool on the 27th floor.

Saturday April 13th

We woke up, but not too early, and had our left over breakfast from Denny's the night before. After breakfast, we collected the car from the valet and headed to The Pearl Harbor Memorial. The white memorial over the Arizona was closed for repairs, so instead, they had boat rides around the harbor to see the USS Missouri, and the underwater USS Arizona.

After we finished the water tour and walking museum tours at Pearl Harbor we headed to the Stadium Swap Meet, where you can buy anything that you want at non-tourist, or less inflated prices. We gave the boys $10 each to buy anything that they wanted. Taycen bought some Skylanders action figures, and slimy squeeze ball. Jair bought a little jar or slime, a slimy squeeze ball, and a multi-colored frog. We also bought Taycen a souvenir boom-a-rang and Jair a souvenir surf board.

At around lunch time, we headed to Costco to grab some lunch and some breakfast food. Natalie and Taycen had an experience with a homeless women that made an impressionable experience on Taycen. After Costco, we headed back to our hotel. The boys wanted to swim in the pool for a bit, then we headed back to the beach to swim and snorkel. After the beach, we headed to the Ala Moana shopping mall to walk around and to find something to eat. We ended up at the International Market in the Mall just in time for the Ala Moana Hula Show at Centerstage. They preformed both kahiko (traditional) and modern hula. We gave the boys several options for food and we ended up at Panda Express for dinner. After that we headed back to the hotel for bed.

Sunday April 14th

On Sunday morning, we gathered all of our things and we checked out of the hotel. We though that we had collected everything but we accidentally missed Taycen's supplement. We later called the hotel and they confirmed that they had them. We asked them to hold them and that we would be back on Wednesday to pick them up. Once we left the hotel, we drive to church at 219 Lunalilo Home Rd. We decided to go to that ward house because it was in the same direction as the Makapu‘u Point Lighthouse Trail. After church, which started at 11:30, we headed to the Makapu‘u Point Lighthouse Trail and hiked the trail to the lighthouse look out point. After the light house hike, we headed to the local Costco to pick up food and snacks for the rest of the week while in North Shore. We picked up a couple of Pizzas, and some Costco prepared meals, like Mac and Cheese, and Chicken Alfred. We also picked up a salad, a pineapple, coconut water and some other snacks.

The traffic up to Turtle Bay resort was light and we were able to quickly make our way to the condo that we had rented for the week. We arrived at the condo in the early afternoon, and after settling in, we walked down to the beach at the Turtle Bay Resort and played at the beach and in the water. It got dark on us, so before it was too dark, we went back to the condo and swam in the pool.

 
Monday April 15th
Monday was a beach hopping day for us. We started at Sunset beach, which the boys labeled death beach. There was a lot of rough waves on the lava rock beach and we saw pieces of fish everywhere. Most likely the remains from fishing, but it was smelly and kind of gross. After Sunset beach, we headed down to Banzai Pipeline. The waves were big and the sea was rough, so we didn't get in. Then we headed to Shark's Cove. It was great for snorkeling and we were able to see a lot of fish and get more comfortable with our snorkels. We stayed there for several hours and really enjoyed the Shark's Cove / Pupukea beaches. For lunch, we headed down to Haleʻiwa where we found our favorite Brazilian food truck. We ordered several coxinhas and pastels and enjoyed the shade under the food truck umbrella. We stopped and got shaved ice with ice-cream at Aoki's Shave Ice. We then cruised back up and stopped at Laniakea Beach where we saw a 44 year old female green sea turtle. She was beautiful. Our last beach for the day was the Waimea Bay Beach Park. We circled around a couple of times until we found parking, then we went down to the water. We got in the water, but the water was rough and it took us under a couple of times and rolled us. We went back to the condo, ate Pizza and Mac and Cheese and watched Smurfs 2 on demand, then went to bed.

Tuesday April 16th

On Tuesday, we parked at the elementary school across the street from Sunset Beach and started up the mountain on the Ehukai Pillbox Hike. It was a short but intense hike with a steep incline in some parts. The boys did well. There was plenty of shade under the tropical canopy and plenty of little water breaks. The first pill box was gratifying with its impressive views and taste if history. When we reach the pillbox, there were two Japanese girls that asked us if there were any additional pillboxes down the path. We told him that we didn't know of any but there might be more if you hike straight up the mountain. We decided to also go a little bit further up the mountain since we had done it before in a previous trip. It was enjoyable and the two Japanese girls met us on their way down. They were in search of a specific pillbox that had pudding posted on Instagram and they could not find. After looking at the pictures a little closer we determined that there was an additional pillbox on the original Trail if they just continued. They went on their way and after little bit we turned back and decided to go to that pillbox as well.

We came back to the first pillbox and continued on the trail. After a short bit, we came to a sign where the trail seemed to split. We stayed to the left and carried on the trail got thinner but came to a fork and at that point we stay to the right we hike on a little bit further in the trail did seem to disappear for a little bit but we could see where the grass have been pushed down a little bit, so we continued on, down a steep incline and before we knew it we were at the second pillbox. It was a lesser-known pillbox, but the view was unobstructed and was even better than the first. After we took some pictures and looked around, we headed back up the hill past the first pillbox and then down the path back to our car.

For lunch, we stopped at the Brazilian truck which we didn't see the first time parked near Sunset Beach. After lunch, we were a little bit tired, and sun shy due to the sunburns that we had all received the day before, so we decided to go back to the condo and relax a little bit. We watched a movie and then went swimming in the pool. After the heat of the day had passed, we got in the car and headed to the temple in Laie. After some pictures at the temple, we headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center for some shaved ice. As soon as we ordered our shaved ice, it start to rain sweetheart ice in the shops and wherever we can find dry areas as we slowly made it back to the car. We headed back to the condo after that for dinner and we watched a little show together and then swim in the pool and headed to bed.

Wednesday April 17th
In the morning, we went back to the swap meet for an hour where the boys shared a fresh coconut. Then we headed back down into Honolulu to pick up Taycen's supplements from the hotel. Once we were done with out down town errands, we headed up Pali Drive to the Judd trail. We tried to hike the Judd Trail Loops, but it was too muddy, so we moved up the road a little to hike to the The Kaniakapupu Ruins, which are the ruins of the former summer palace of King Kamehameha III and Queen Kalama. After a fun day in the sun and hiking, we headed back up to the North Shore and enjoyed a shaved ice with ice-cream at Wili Wili's Plantation Cafe. The cafe was on the sight of a big sugar cane processing plant that was closed in the 1970's. We finished the night by swimming in the pool and watching "The kid who would be king" that we rented from Redbox.

Thursday April 18th
We started the day at Pupukei / Shark's Cove for several hours. It was so much fun. We saw a lot of fish including needle fish, that were two week long, Moorish Idols, which are black white and yellow angel fish, a puffer, tangs and many other beautiful fish that we don't know the names of. After snorkeling, the boys wanted to swim in the pool. They really wanted to swim in the pool because they were diving for their toys and the pool had a nice 3 foot depth area that they could play in without getting too deep. After swimming, lunch, and waiting out the heat of the day, we hiked around the lower half of the Turtle Bay Resort. We walked past the stables and started down the beach path to the lower pill box. After the fill box, we walked down the path by the actual Turtle Bay. It was a perfect evening and the water was so calm and clear. There were a lot of snorkelers. Were were above the bay and it was a very enjoyable walk. We walked down to the very old, large, and historic Banyon tree. At that point, we headed back up the beach taking it all in. We ended back up at the Turtle Bay Report where we sat and watched the surfers for a few minutes before we headed back to the condo.

Friday April 19th 
On Friday morning, we cleaned, packed, and left the condo. We decided to go back to the Turtle Bay Resort to hike the upper paths before heading back into Honolulu. We watch the tour helicopter take off from its pad, then we walked by some of the golf course to take in some of the beautiful sights. We left the report and went to the Turtle Bay and swam and sat on the beach for the rest of the morning. For lunch, we headed to the Brazilian food truck one last time before we headed to Wili Wili's for our last shaved ice. Once we finished with lunch and shaved ice, we headed back into Honolulu to our Best Western hotel near the airport. Once we checked in, we learned that the pool closed at 7, so we went down to the pool immediately. We stayed in the pool for about an hour and left just before 7. Jair was jumping up and down in the pool near the wall and cracked his nose on the tile overhang. It was painful for him and very sad to see. After that, we went upstairs and showered and packed for the morning. We watched a little TV, then we went to bed.

Saturday April 20th
We got up at 6 AM and had breakfast at the hotel buffet. After breakfast, we grabbed our luggage and checked out. We hopped in the car and went around the corner to top it off with gas, then we took it back to the Hertz rental car return at the airport. Our plane took off at 9:35 and took us to Oakland, CA. Once we arrived in Oakland, we waited around for about an hour before we boarded our flight to Salt Lake City. We arrived in Salt Lake at 10:15. Lisa picked us up. She had also hid Easter eggs and candy all around for the house for the boys for Easter morning. The boys saw it immediately upon arriving home, but we asked them to leave it in its place and wait for monring, which they did.
All in all, it was an amazing and very relazing vacation. When asked at church about their trip, Taycen said that one of his favorite things was peeing in the ocean. :)