aloha

back in May (yes, may... ya know, over 3 months ago)... 

cosmo graduated from ASU with his 2nd Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering. 

(his first bachelors degree was in business finance)

so to celebrate, we took a trip to Hawaii and stayed with my cousin tyler and his wife lauren 

we went to Oahu for half the time, and flew over to Maui for the other half.

(this is going to be picture overload... we were there for 10 days)

i was nervous about flying with Van, but he was a champ

Van was not a fan of the water.. we learned that early on in the trip.

this is his first time experiencing the ocean. 

i think he was scared of how loud it was, and i'm pretty sure he hated his hat. 

especially because we are nice parents and made fun of him in it.

i was worried about that pale skin!

belly!

he was NOT pleased with us

the Dole Plantation:

i dream about this stuff... dole whip

relaxing:

 cosmo was off playing in the water, van slept, and i enjoyed the surrounding scenery

every restaurant we ate at, van insisted on chewing on the table. 

at first i tried to stop him, but then decided it just wasnt worth it. 

this was the highlight of his trip

tyler decided he'd give it a try also

a japanese temple 

(for the life of me, i can't think of the name right now)

 the surrounding grounds were beyond beautiful 

lighting incense in the temple
you had to remove your shoes to enter 

up these stairs was a gazebo tucked away to meditate in

van and cosmo ringing the prayer gong

flying over to Maui on a little plane

downtown lahaina at night

we went on a little hike into some amazing eucalyptus trees 

and i snapped these two pictures of van and cosmo

 this picture makes me laugh every. time. 

he looks like he is plotting something evil

the road to hana

 i have a million pictures from this drive but i randomly selected one since i couldnt decide and didnt want to bore you with a gazillion of them

it was an all day drive around the island and is very remote and secluded.

 this was our hotel in maui

van loved getting fed first class on the balcony overlooking the ocean

in lahaina we ate at this amazing breakfast place called sunshine cafe

it was essentially a house on the beach that had been converted into a little cafe.

cosmo being a smart alec when i wanted to take a picture

 picture in the banyan trees

haleakala national park

this is the highest point of maui and drives you to the top of the volcano and you can look down into the crater

it was rad because you are above the clouds

it was FREEZING

ty and van
i love any excuse to put a beanie on that chubby kid

me, cosmo, van, tyler, and lauren on top of the crater

kua aina burgers on maui

i could have eaten the fries all day, every day

back on Oahu

waikiki beach

trying the water again. still not impressed

dinner at duke's on waikiki beach

tasting the table at duke's

i'm a winner!

introducing van to one of my favorite stores ever,
only located in hawaii

88tees

 malasada's at leonards

i could live here and die happy (and obese)

it was my dad's birthday while we were out there, so we took these pictures for him

this day was raining so we did a lot of driving around the island site seeing 

and eating a lot of yummy food.

van is not even in the water, but he knows its behind him lurking.. not happy.

we had a more then amazing time. 

vacations are slightly different with a baby on board, 

but van was a little world traveler and held his own

i have a million more pictures but i think i'll quit while i'm ahead..

until next time hawaii....

aloha.