Traveling with a toddler is hard. I asked everyone, “Do you take your 13 month old to Hawaii, or wait until he’s older?” I am so glad that we decided to take him with us. Yeah, he may not remember everything we did with him there, but we will remember it and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
We wanted to make sure that no matter what it was we were doing in Hawaii, we wanted to do it together as a family. Since this was my wife and son’s first time going, I wanted to make sure that we did as much as we could together. I wanted to show everyone that it doesn’t matter how old your kids are, if you want to do things as a family you can.
I am a major history buff. By that I mean, I love reading true stories about those who have gone before us and hearing what all they have been through. That being said, we had to hit up Pearl Harbor. There is something amazing about this place and the lives that were lost there. How grateful I am for the opportunity to see places like this and be reminded about what happened.
You can’t go to Oahu without doing some hiking. After all the working out that we have been doing we wanted to continue exercising. The hike that has always stuck out when it comes to Oahu is hiking Diamond Head. I had never done it before, but heard all about it.
I had heard that the stairs were a beast, and they weren’t joking.
176 straight up! Of course I hadn’t done the stair climber before this trip, but they weren’t really that hard.
These one’s on the other hand were harder. Did I mention that the whole time I was carrying my son? That didn’t make it easy, but it helped me realize that the weight I had lost I was carrying again. I’ve lost more weight than my son weighs and so this was making me think, I could have been carrying more weight than this.
The best part of a hike though is always the reward at the top. And this view couldn’t have been better.
After hiking we had to get some more touristy stuff in, so that meant that we were going to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). If you haven’t been, you have to go. It felt like Disneyland, but without rides. It was magical!
Everyone was so nice, the lands were all so interesting, and the food was fantastic! Yeah, we dieted like crazy to be in great shape for this trip, and we weren’t about to blow all that hard work, but we also weren’t going to hold back. We ate what we wanted when we were out, but when we had the opportunity to eat healthy we took full advantage.
Of course, we couldn’t leave the island without seeing one of the most gorgeous sites on the island: the LDS temple. Not only is is absolutely gorgeous on the outside, but what goes on inside is even more gorgeous. And the greatest part about seeing the temple is that you completely feel the spirit of the Lord there even on the grounds and you feel the beauty of the island as the sun sets into the beautiful ocean.
Sunsets in Hawaii are gorgeous, but a sunrise is even more gorgeous. Oahu did us well and we absolutely loved seeing the sites there, but our real love came when we went to Kauai. Stay tuned for the rest of the trip and how this trip taught me so much about life, family, and what really makes me happy.
