Ka Wa'a Luau at Aulani

The Ka Wa'a Luau at Aulani is not to be missed.  We were lucky enough to have a view of it from our balcony nightly and couldn't wait to get down there ourselves.  When you enter there are several activities for the kids to participate in from tattoos to lei making, and Gabriel took a brief ukulele lesson.  Greetings and a bit of a dance followed, then dinner during which our host walked around and met the kids (she loved Lorelai's name).  After dinner they kids are invited up to learn a hula, and the host saw Lorelai and mentioned her by name from the stage.  After the kids hula the show begins and during the middle there was a bit where children were invited up to help play instruments.  Lorelai was invited to, but declined, but Gabriel was on board with it and went up on a little stage to play!  It was a lovely and fun filled evening full of great entertainment and yummy food.

Aulani

After a couple of days in Maui we flew to Oahu to stay at Disney's Aulani Resort.  This resort was at the top of my must do list.  It was the only way I was going to pack everyone up for a long haul to Hawaii and it did not disappoint!  The hotel is stunning...beautiful inside and out...just as you would expect of a Disney Resort.  We stayed in a Vacation Club suite...so we had access to laundry AND a kitchen!  (Angels sang I think when we gained access to those amenities.)  We were upgraded, free of charge, to an ocean view room.  This wasn't quite as exciting of a view as the Hyatt in Maui, but yes, we could see the ocean some but we got to watch the Luau every night (and if we were in the room during the afternoon we could hear them warm up too)!  We attended the character breakfast, met characters around the hotel, attended the fire pit story telling (don't miss out on this!), and did a fancy shmancy telescope star gazing "class."  (They even have photography classes which I would have LOVED to have taken but I didn't have time for.)  The lagoon was fantastic...NO rocks!!!  NO sea urchins!!!  You could rent the beach/water toys rather than buy!  The pool, lazy river, slides...stupendous!  We didn't even venture into the Rainbow Reef...ran out of time for it unfortunately.  But, you could seriously spend your entire trip just at Aulani, never leave, and have an amazing time.

iPhone Maui

So...dumb me...while on a different part of our vacation I accidentally deleted a days worth of pictures from the beginning of our vacation.  WHOOPS!!!!  I keep telling myself it happens to the best of us.  And mostly it's fine...because the big "family" photo loss was of our time on the submarine which Lorelai and I mostly captured with my iPhone.  But...I took an epic picture of this fancy tree in Lahaina and it's gone for.ev.er!!!!  Seriously...no tourists around...epic tree...beautiful giant starburst from the sun backlighting sad tree...dangling root systems glowing with the warm sunlight.  Epic. tree. picture.  Gone!  I'll just go cry in a corner.  But, it could have been worse and I'm mostly over it now.  Sort of.  Kind of.  (Not really.)  So...here are some crummy iPhone shots to make up for it.  Oh, and the video down below I took with my Fuji...I really need to read up more on doing video with it...there's real potential there.

Hyatt - Maui

Maui Beach

Spring Break - Harn Homestead

Spring Break - Zoo

New York City - September 2017

Months ago when Brian suggested I buy Hamilton tickets I was over the moon...but when he suggested I take my mom I just knew this trip was going to be the BEST!  I can easily say my mom is my favorite travel companion.  We have most of the same likes and dislikes and everything is just so easy.  We make each other laugh, we both like to take in all of the history, we love the hustle and bustle of a city...and it doesn't take much to get us to break out into a Broadway show tune together.  We had a grand time eating amazing food (including a fun lunch with my cousins Brad and Johanna), touring the New York Public Library (they give free tours, and apparently I really enjoy photographing the lions out front!), seeing the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals, visiting the Tenement Museum (we recommend the Sweatshop Workers tour), shopping at Mood Fabrics, walking around the MET, and of course seeing some shows.  We enjoyed Avenue Q, laughed until our faces hurt at The Play That Goes Wrong, and were BLOWN AWAY by Hamilton (and just to brag...Row M - Orchestra Center seats are AMAZING!!!)!!!!!  This was certainly a trip for the books, and I think it's safe to say were both bummed to come back home so soon.  Wait...did I mention we saw HAMILTON?!  Oh...I did?  Well, it's worth mentioning again!  #YAYHAMLET

Notes:  Unfortunately Stephen Colbert is a bit busy with his Emmy hosting gig so we didn't get to see him this trip.  But, our hotel was right next door to the Ed Sullivan Theatre so I had a good chuckle every time we passed by the building and I read the sign.  We were also stalked by Alexander Hamilton throughout the trip...he was a Benefactor of the New York Public Library, we of course saw the play, and his portrait was at the MET.

Told you I was obsessed with photographing the lions outside of the NY Public Library - Schwarzman Building.  Aside from the amazing Children's Library downstairs the Schwarzman building is a Research Library, but also a bit of a museum so I highly recommend popping in and touring it for free.  

Oh. My. God.  #hamilnight #bitofaday  I will NEVER be able to describe accurately how epic-ly amazing this experience was.  And, yes...it's more than a show...it truly is an experience!

We had never walked through Central Park so we decided to do that on our way up to the MET.

Hamilton and Washington.  Also...it's difficult to avoid busting out into song when you see one of their portraits.

Louis Comfort Tiffany dragonfly haircomb.

Water Balloons!

Water balloons...a great boredom buster on a hot summer day.