HAWAII2013: DAY 8

Day 8: 06/12/13 Aloha Oahu! Until we meet again!

And so the time has arrived... the last day of our Hawaiian wedding celebration/vacation!
and writing this dang blog series felt like it took me longer than the actual trip itself.
Uploading pics, writing fun dialogue, and yelping all takes time... time of which I don't always have.

Regardless... it was worth every second of uploading, blogging, and reviewing.

CJ and his lei from the wedding. It still looked dang good!

Stopped by this bakery for some breakfast before we headed out...

me and dads in the parking lot

Cute little box for all our sweets!

MMMM, nothing like a sugary breakfast to end your vacation in paradise!

Don't ask what they are, because I have completely forgotten.

Yelped it here (OMG, last yelp of Hawaii2013 - how bittersweet)

Of course, before we return the car and spend time at the airport we have to make one last stop to the Aloha Swap Meet.
Yes, I realize 3 times in our vacation is a little much, but it is our vacation.

We will miss you little shops full of cheap keepsakes.

Had to get a picture of this Hawaiian Christmas tree.

On our way to drop off the rental car.

We thoroughly enjoyed the keyless entry/start.

Stupid GPS told us to keep left when it really was a u-turn to the right...

Checking in at the airport... Don't know if you guys have been to the airport lately (it had been 2 years for me... but they are all technologically advanced now)

Awesome plumeria poster in the airport saying goodbye to us tourists

Inside the airport, CJ and I decided to have lunch at a restaurant.

It has been our "thing" since our Mexico trip to eat at an airport restaurant on the return trip.

The restaurant in the airport had an islandy bar feel and a nice continuation to the ending of our vacay

Cool lights and decor around

I, of course, order a burger so that I can just knock out from a food coma on the flight home.

CJ was ticked off that I kept taking pictures of him... This is my re-creation of his picture.

Finally aboard the plane...

Look who sat behind us!!! 

Thank you Nicool & Jason for coming! SO MANY good memories with you two!!

handsome and I pre-nap

The four of us before take off... We were ready to get home in our own beds.

but unenthusiastic about returning to shabby ol' California.

CJ knocked out first!

It was a great flight back into Oakland... Now we just had to wait for our shuttle to pick us up.

 

Got these great candids of my sisser getting a sweater out of her luggage for me.

love my sisser.

This is the last post of the Hawaii2013 series. 

Some of you are probably saying "Thank goodness!" or maybe you're saying "WE WANT MORE!"

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed reliving these memories with me as much as I enjoyed it...

Day 1: Click here

Day 2: Click here

Day 3: Click here

Day 5: Click here

Day 6: Click here

Day 7: Click here

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

I don't know how I'm going to get the courage to start the wedding series as it is a loong one.

Do you guys even want me to post a wedding series?

HAWAII2013: DAY 7

Day 7: 06/11/13 Waimea Rock

And as quick as it came, our last full day in Hawaii has arrived. Sadness.
I don't know about anyone else who visits Hawaii, but every time I visit the islands, I wish I were Hawaiian and lived there. With this being CJ's first time in Hawaii, he felt the same way too...
Is that the same for any of you who have visited Hawaii?

Anyway, we had no definitive plans, we just knew that we wanted to beach hop & enjoy as much Hawaiian sun, sand, and water as much as possible!

Started the morning off with Jamba... Basically came here only to try their special menu items:

Guava smoothies!!

Mango coconut bread or banana taro bread?!! 

Why couldn't we have that in the Jamba I worked at?

Quick and easy breakfast... now off to explore!

We basically decided to take a trip on the western coast of Oahu and just hit up any beach we saw...

I forget what the name of this beach/park was, but it was nice...

probably a great site for a barbecue or a picnic!

I went to use the restrooms but there was NO TP so fa-get about it!

We didn't meander too far from the entrance of the beach, but there wasn't too many people there.

A couple of snapshots here and there...

...and we were ready to move on...

Not sure if any other people liked it as much as I did, but I was in awe with the mountains in Hawaii.

There's something about how lushy green they were that I loved!

L&L drive-in, shweeeet.

Our next stop was at a lovely beach. Yet again, I forgot the name.

CJ went in and swam around while I sun bathed (totally didn't need to, btw)

Giving me a wave so I knew he was ok...

It was getting too hot to lay around in the sun so I jumped in & the water temp was PERFECT!

Lunch-time came around and we decided to make our way North to try yet another shrimp truck...

AWESOME tunnel that goes in a cool looking mountain!

We're islanders now.

I have a lot of these type of pics... I must have really been obsessed with the lush green-ness!

Enjoy our carvlog on the Jurassic Park mountains!

YAY for SHRIMP TRUCKS!!!

Macky's is another shrimp truck that was on our must-try list while in Hawaii

I liked how there were chickens/roosters all over the eating area, just chillin.

We decided to just share a plate this time so we got the regular meal

Compared to Giovanni's, Macky's definitely gives you more of a "meal" and less shrimp.

More solicitors.

CJ's garlic butta hands... ummm nom nom nom!

We both vote that Macky's is better than Giovanni's. The shrimp had a lot more flavor, I thought.

Garlic butta hands your way to Macky's yelp here.

Next on the list was checking off something that was on CJ's bucket list:

Jumping off Waimea rock

This is the sign by the rock... Stay off rock? yeah right!

I decided to sit this one out... I'm not one to jump off rocks.

So I stayed on the super soft sand and took pics/videos of my husband of 72 hours jumping off a cliff.

Not sure if you can see him, but he's in the middle of the rock with his arm up waving.

CJ is the guy standing by himself behind those groups of people.

Can't get away from home apparently. Clovis East represent!

Being bored, I can feel my skin getting darker and darker...

Awesome shot of CJ taking his first jump!

...and second...

Here is this video of CJ jumping off Waimea rock! He was having SO MUCH FUN!

Victory shot next to the "stay off rock" sign. =)

Happy boy... & a happy wife that he is still in one piece!

We then met up with Nicool, Jason, and met their friends Paris & his fiance to snorkel at Sharks Cove

I am SO sad that we did not get any pictures of this adventure... Looks like CJ & I need to invest in a waterproof camera! (or a GoPro... We've been looking into those lately)

Nicool and Paris have some wicked swimming skills, btw.

We had some time before meeting up with all our friends for dinner so where do we decide to go since we're in the Waimea area??

Matsumoto's of course!

If you need an extra push to get you there, read this...

Line out the door all day erryday!

CJ with his fave and me with my fave!

We then met up with a large group of our friends for dinner at Haleiwa Joe's.

Sat next to Thai & Grace!

I got the prime rib and that thing was ginormous!

CJ and I shared dinner, obviously, I wouldn't have been able to finish this all by myself.

Irmz and I with our RM nubs

With Thai and Grace (super happy they came to Hawaii!!)

Haleiwa Joe's yelped here.

Overall, it was such a relaxing, fun, and delicious end to our fantastic Hawaiian wedding/vacation!!
CJ and I are so thankful for all the family and friends that made it out to Hawaii.
We love you all for making our wedding absolute perfection!!

Day 1: Click here

Day 2: Click here

Day 3: Click here

Day 5: Click here

Day 6: Click here