Ahhhh...Hawaii

A few months ago, my wonderful friend Kya invited me to go to Maui with her and her husband and her husband's family. Since Kya would be spending a week in paradise with her in-laws, she wanted back up. So, I got to be the "bring-a-friend." It was AWESOME!! We planned the trip LONG before those pesky snow days, so I actually missed the last 2 days of school. I actually called my students on the last day of school and talked to them on speaker phone, and they LOVED it!

Here Kya and I are at the airport after just arriving. Note our lame pre-Hawaii tanning booth tans :) Also, note the straight hair. That's the last you will see of that for awhile!

Now, I spent the first 10 years of my life living in Californina, and it is pretty safe to say that I am a beach girl 100%! I absolutely LOVE the ocean and my favorite place in the whole wide world is the beach. So this trip to Hawaii was right up my alley! I also LOVE palm trees and it makes me SO happy when I see them! I am pretty sure I probably said the line "I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE IN HAWAII" in my sing-song voice at least 1 million times during my vacation. Kya loved it!

The best part about vacationing with Kya is that we are totally on the same page when it comes to how to spend our days. Here was our basic itinerary each day: wake up, (I chose to get up early and run 5K every day!), get ready for the beach, stop at Starbucks, lay out at the beach all morning reading our books, play in the water a little, eat lunch, lay out and play in the water some more, go home and get ready, eat dinner out, and do a little shopping. It was glorious!

This is a sign that was at a couple of the beaches we went to. We thought it was hilarious that it warns of the conditions during "winter months, Kona winds, and normal days." So Hawaii! Here are pictures of a few of the beaches we went to:

And no Hawaii re-cap would be complete without a beautiful sunset picture!

On our last day, we took a trip to the aquarium. It was an insanely windy day, as you can see. I had decided that it would have be a great idea to wear my cute mini-skirt, but thanks to the wind, I am pretty sure I flashed at least 10 people while at the aquarium! Oh well...it's Hawaii! Hang loose right!?!

Playing in the touching pool. I did NOT like when I touched things and they moved!

Kya and I goofing around with the submarine :)

Finally, here I am with Carl (Kya's husband) and Kya. These two are some of my best friends, and I had a BLAST with them on vacation! Thanks for the invite guys and we should TOTALLY do it again...minus the in-laws :) And can I just point out how freakin' TAN I look compared to Carl!?! Thanks for staying white buddy ;)