Hawaii

Ryan & I just returned from a week in Hawaii and we had a blast! Ryan qualified for the trip because of his hard & excellent work in 2014. We feel so blessed with his job with State Farm. They're a wonderful compay who believes in rewarding employees that work extremely hard.

We flew out on a Monday and set off on what was supposed to be an 11-12 hour trip that would follow this route:

Columbia - Dallas - Maui

 

Instead, what we got was an almost 24 hour trip that looked like this:

Columbia - Tyler, TX - Dallas - Honolulu - Maui

 

We were originally supposed to land in Maui around 2:15p (8:15p EST), but instead we finally checked into our hotel shortly after midnight (6am EST). There were terrible stoms in Dallas that kept us from making all connecting flights to Maui, but we FINALLY made it & crashed until about 4am becuase our bodies thought it was 10am. Oh. My. Gosh. We missed a half day in Maui because of the bad weather, but soldiered on.

 

Here we are leaving Columbia, then finally arriving in Maui. Notice the undereye bags & lack of makeup!

 

Our first full day in Maui was spent exploring the resort, The Grand Wailea. One of those places we'd never stay on our own dime, you know what I mean? We caught our second wind and were able to stay awake the whole day, which was an absolute miracle! We also laid out by the pool even thought it was overcast.

Our first dinner out was at MiGrant, with chef Sheldon Simeon from "Top Chef." The food was delicious and the company was even better! We had dinner (and spent most of the week) with two other couples that you'll see below.

 

The next day we decided to take a break from the sun (we got pretty burnt the day before) & we went on a whale watching tour & meddled around the town of Lahaina. This was our favorite part of the trip! We loved spending the day together with absolutely no agenda.

We were able to see the humpback whales upclose & it was magical!

Wednesday night, State Farm put on a luau at the resort. We had delicious food & fun entertainment! I was hoping there would be a fire twirler & I wasn't disappointed. There were also baby hula dancers, then authentic hula dancers!

Thursday, Friday & part of the day Saturday were spent relaxing on the beach and at the pool with friends. I got in two books during the plane rides, something I haven't done in years!

I've metioned before that I have no "bump pictures" (turn to the side and awkwardly hold my belly) from this pregnancy, so I decided to go all out with this one. Yes, I wore a bikini. I felt a little self-conscious at first, but there were two other pregnant women there also in bikinis, so I blended in pretty well. This picture was taken one day prior to turning 25 weeks.

 

Friday night we had an incredible dinner with friends at Humuhumunukunukuapua. I'm not making that name up! This place was voted one of the best on the island & it didn't disappoint. 

 

These friends made our trip so much more fun! The couple on the left just moved to Greenville. The husband is a sales leader. The couple beside me are also in Greenville & he's an agent. The couple on the very right live in the Clover/Charlotte area & they're both agents, God bless them. They REALLY needed this trip!

 

We left a day early because we knew 5 nights away would be enough for us, so Saturday evening, we boarded a plane back home. We flew through the middle of the night & slept on and off, but we couldn't wait to get back to Miller. We had a fantastic trip and hope we get to go back to Hawaii one day!