Aloha Days

Once upon a time (circa 1989-1991), Beth and I lived in Hawaii with our parents. We looked pretty much like this. 

And then...a few months later...like this! Check out my sun-bleached, permed hair!

So when our parents were deciding where we should all go for their 45th wedding anniversary in October, it was an easy consensus in our family that we return to one of (if not THE) best places we ever lived. So we all flew to the Big Island to celebrate together!!

We were greeted by a brief rainstorm...and our first rainbow!!

And a gorgeous sunset!

We knew that time in Hawaii meant doing things that we don't get to do back on the mainland, so we hit the beach! The Big Island has gorgeous black sand beaches...

But we headed to a little sliver of heaven with almost no waves and great snorkeling!!

The water was, well, perfect.

What else can we not do back home??

Board a boat...

And go snorkeling!! The fish just couldn't have been more amazing. They're all so different and the colors!!

We snorkeled in Captain Cooke Bay.

And the boat had a few perks! Like a slide into the ocean!

And a high dive!

After a long afternoon of snorkeling, we ate dinner at Huggo's...a restaurant we loved back in 2007. This was our view!!

The house we rented was absolutely perfect for us, including the pool!

It also had a hot tub with air jets that provided hours of entertainment.

Every evening, we had a delicious dinner, including homemade ones thanks to the local grocery store that had everything we needed. Then we read, watched TV and crashed (by 8 or 9 p.m.)! It was hard to adjust to the time zone!!

But then we we were up and at 'em very early! We enjoyed big cups of coffee and long walks in our neighborhood, and then headed to a new excursion. Since Sebastian can't swim, we didn't want him to miss out on the amazing fish...

And Sebastian loves the Octonauts, so we took a submarine ride!!

We spotted a couple of sharks! And a shipwreck!

Even Max tagged along!

The deeper we went, the more the colors changed. Brie's pink shirt turned blue and Sam's green shirt turned yellow.

Good bye, Atlantis!

When in Hawaii (which is nearly Japan, right?), one must enjoy sushi!! Thanks to the internet, we found a conveyor belt sushi restaurant...it was a huge hit!

The kids were so excited to try new types of sushi. It was all SO good!

Happy, happy!

We did some damage!

Sushi power!

Brie said, "Since Sebastian has flowers in both ears, he is married AND not married." Ha!

Back to the beach!!

No trip to Hawaii is complete without Shave Ice!!

I knew exactly what I wanted...the Halohalo. I just love nata de coco, sweet potato, sweetened condensed milk and azuki bean! This was made for me.

They were pretty big!!

YUMMY!!

Also native to Hawaii? Geckos!

And lei-making! Beth and I loved making leis when we were younger, so I was sure to pack a sewing kit and extra dental floss, so Brie could try it! 

She made two!

Gammy made one, too!

We smell amazing!!

We also ate our weight in local popsicles...

Posed for pictures (just the gals)...

And took long naps!

Tony and I were eager to show the kids the Petroglyph Park that we enjoyed exploring so much when we were there a few years back. It was right around the corner from where we were staying.

A Petroglyph!!

Back to chillaxin' in the pool!

It felt like the whole week was a celebration, but the big party was on our next to last evening. We celebrated this beautiful couple...

Forty-five years later!!

Beth and Dad were amazing...they ordered gorgeous Hawaiian muumuus and shirts for all of us...on the sly! They picked blue because the 45th anniversary is sapphire! Here are the ladies!

And the gentlemen!

Hawaiian sisters forever!!

A toast to the beautiful couple!

"Go fall even more in love!"

Cards and gifts for the celebrants!

Plus delicious seafood and, of course, dessert!!

Our sunset trio.

And our sunset!!

Let's come back soon!

The De Falco Five plus a beloved french fry!

One final beach day...

And then a sad and sleepy ride to the airport...

The boys were out!

We all slept on the red eye to Denver and then enjoyed an awesome French breakfast! Lucky us!

This softened the blow of having to leave behind the Aloha State and return to October in the Midwest...

We're so happy we could celebrate with Gammy, Granddaddy Rob and Auntie B. It was a perfect trip!!

P.S. In advance of our trip, Sam gave us a lot of flack for scheduling a family vacation during school (for the record, he only missed four days). As soon as we touched down in paradise, there were no more hard feelings...naturally! So glad that he figured out that time with family can trump 4th grade now and then. And how wonderful that all of the kids now know firsthand what a special place Hawaii is!!