Hawaii 2025 (Part 1)

I know... I know... This post is long overdue.

I think my only post about Hawaii was some pics and videos from learning to surf from last July. But then I kept putting off this BIG post of photos.

My folks took my family of 4 and my sister's family of 4 to Hawaii for 10 days last June. Thanks Mom and Dad! Here are some pics from the trip:

Getting ready to land in Honolulu!








The 10 of us on the bus ride to our hotel: the Hilton Hawaiian Village.




On the beach for the first time








Mom and I in the ocean!


View from our room.


An early morning run as I got used to the time change.


Running along Wakiki Beach.


Sun starting to rise on my long run.




Diamond Head volcano (we were going to hike it, but it was closed for a mudslide!).






Long run along the ocean and a volanco...


... flat along the ocean, NOT along the volcano.


Back at our hotel, along the beach with Charlie.

We headed out for a big day trip. We were going to tour Pearl Harbor: the USS Arizona and Missouri.

Ready to board!


The Arizona in the distance from the deck of the Missouri.




Listening to the history.


The spot where WWII ended.




Charlie being Charlie.










Henry with my sister's family as we waited for our ride out to the Arizona.


Snacks first.




Entering the Arizona Memorial.


Very somber.








Back on land, with the Arizona and Missouri in the background.


My fam.




Shave ice back at our hotel.




In one of our hotel's many pools.


I took everyone's order and we ate on the beach.


The boys in a more "natural pool" in our hotel complex.




An empty gym early the next morning as my body was still adjusting to the time change.


Some jellyfish marks on Charlie from the ocean.


Our hotel "complex" had a mini city within it, so here's Charlie enjoying his choice of soup...


... as I had a pretty amazing quesadilla.




Saying goodbye to our room in Honolulu...


... just to arrive in Maui a few hours later!


Drinks at "Wailea Beach Resort" Marriott in Maui,
where we would spend the majority of (and the rest of) our trip!








Made it in time for the sunset!


Supper under the stars with a pool between us and the ocean!




Evening walk along the beach.


My family. :)


Heading out of the hotel for a morning run.


I found lots of little ocean views on my very casual "exploration" run
(always a fun way to see what's around!).










A rainbow at my turn-around point!


This cutie by the pool.


The boys in the "kiddie" pool - they played in all the pools.


My folks doing the bean bag toss (AKA "cornhole" in the midwest).


There was a small free arcade too!!


Lots of old arcade games...


... and a fun skeeball with different modes.

Oh, this was also the day we drove a few miles down the beach and took surfing lessons. Check out some pics and videos from learning to surf in an older post. (The only post I actually made about Hawaii after we got back!) But here are few other surfing photos:

Getting prepped to surf!


I wasn't planning on taking the class, but the instructor kind of
wanted another responsible body in the water, so I hopped in too!


Instructions from San (also seen in this post).


Heading out!


Coming back in!

Again, more surfing pics of all of us and a video (showing our INCREDIBLE SPEED) found in this post.

We headed to some food trucks in town for lunch:

Pizza!


And ice cream!


Then back to the pool.


Another sunset in the pools.






Henry and Mama.

The next morning we got up early (3 a.m.!) to take a long drive. We were headed up Haleakala Volcano sort of in the "middle" of Maui. Here's a pic after a lot of driving up twisting and turning roads:

We were there for the sunrise!


It was a bit cloudy, but still amazing.






We didn't do any big hikes (not at this point), but took in a few views of the volcano.










Our crew at the sunrise! (Dad stayed back as he would have hated
the twisting and turning roads, and the cool wind.)


My sister's family.




Stopping at another spot on the way down.


Grandma and the grandkids!

At that point, my sister's family took my Mom and my kids back to the hotel, and my wife and I stayed behind to do a bigger hike. As I got geared up, my wife mumbled "Oh my God..." under her breath as she snapped this photo of me:

I was READY. (And sexy as hell.)


Hiking DOWN into a cloud!




There you can see the cloud we were heading down into!






On the edge of the "rim" of the volcano! With clouds rolling by.










This ridge was amazing.




The cloud felt very unique: heavier than fog, but not really "mist" either.




Heading back.




Back out of the clouds, and now we were warm!


On the drive back.


Reading pool-side


Taking Charlie and my niece and nephew down to Ulua Beach.


Swimming with a sea turtle down there!!


Loaded nachos for supper!


Shave ice from a nearby mall that Henry and I were checking out.






Another great sunset! This was the view from our room.

The next day was another big day - our biggest day of the trip. We got up early to head down the "Road to Hana" along the east side of Maui. I'll have that along with our luau in a follow up post next week. Here's my first Hawaii post from last year with pics and videos of us leaning how to surf. And here are some film pics on my Photo Blog from the trip.