trip wrap up.

gosh our trip went quickly. the ride home... not so much. but we are happy we made it safely and are ready to get back into our old routine. 

enjoy some pictures of our last day in hawaii.

(wright brothers cafe for lunch) 

 (pali lookout)

(happy BEFORE the plane took off) 

h a p p y  w e e k e n d 

day 6

this morning we went on a much easier, although hotter, hike. the makapu'u hike up to the lighthouse. once again, a beautiful view was delivered and did not disappoint. we did this hike with my MIL and brooklyn. we pushed brooklyn in her stroller to the top and then the stroller was carried (along with the toddler over halfway) down. this was a hike i could definitely get used to. gosh it's gorgeous at the top!

my MIL gladly took brooklyn for the afternoon so that james and i could go to the laie temple. we had fun navigating our way there, trying to say all the hawaiian street names, and then totally and completely fell in the love with this temple. the grounds are pristine. just perfect. the feeling of peace and beauty there is overwhelming. can't wait to go back.

on our way to the temple, we passed a lot of little food places, but this one caught my eye and i told james we HAD to stop on our way back home to get shrimp. it was calling my name!

(musubi//basically: rice, egg, fried spam, and wrapped with nori sheets) 

it did not disappoint. 

it rained our whole drive back to my in-laws'. we even received flash flood warnings on our phones while were driving...right in the area where the warnings were for, right at that exact time. we were a tad nervous. but we didn't see anything and came out unscathed. 

we spent the evening relaxing and waiting for my FIL to get home so we could all go back down to get more fish tacos (from day 3) and i really wanted some more shrimp. hot dang it was good. i kind of feel like a human shrimp at this point. i'm not complaning. oh no. i enjoyed every bite. 

this trip is winding down and we're trying to cram in lots of quality time together. hawaii's a long way from utah and we won't see each other again for awhile so we're making these last moments count. we've loved our stay here in kailua. it's beautiful and tropical and we're sad to have only been here a short week. we're already making plans for our next visit. big plans. time to save the pennies!

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and i think it's safe to say brooklyn has definitely embraced the humid/hot climate and the hawaiian laid back attitude.

day 5

earlier today, i did the hardest hike of my life. koko head. like, i almost threw up hard. i'm not in shape so that's definitely part of it, but man. this hike takes you up 1200 steps in a mile and a half. it's cray. i really didn't think i'd ever make it to the top. especially when we got to this bridge part. my legs were shaking (remember, out of shape) and my balance was all outta whack. 

and gosh was it all worth it. i was a total hot mess by the time i got up there. i really wanted to just roll back down. the views were incredible. i really do highly recommend this hike. just take it nice and slow if you have to. i seriously took breaks almost every 40 steps. my quads were on fi-yah!

starting the journey down. it was way faster going down the steps. except on that bridge part. down hill on a railroad type track with nothing underneath it? ya, that took a little time.

(didn't write this, just came upon it) 

we spent the rest of the day at my all time favorite beach in the world. lanikai. oh it's beautiful. it was busy, but we found an awesome spot near the water and had plenty of sand all to ourselves. my MIL bought brooklyn this floating toy and she was in heaven. it even rocked her to sleep. when she wasn't doing that, she was playing with sand toys and wrecking her daddy's sand creations. 

oh and james and i got fried. with sunscreen. this hawaiian sun is something else.

(in front of my in-laws house)