Mele Kalikimaka

This just might be my favorite Christmas Break of all time.  To start with, it was kicked off a week earlier than most for the fam to head to Hawaii!  I've never been more excited to whip up some sub plans and pack a suitcase.  Matt's basketball team had a tournament that took us to Paradise (thank you, Pioneers) where we basked in the sun, ate Sno Cones on the beach--special shout out to the hotel deli run by cute Asian ladies, ate great food, and shopped. 

I could definitely see why people would move to Hawaii...weather was a steady 75-80 degrees and the scenery was beautiful!  We became quite the sport and leisure people which is sometimes a tad outside the Sauder norm (the sport part...we've got the leisure down).  Remember the jean shorts and penny loafers at basketball tryouts, Jana?  Anyway, we got to snorkel, parasail, and hike up Diamond Head, which was much more "sport" than I expected.  Seriously, I was thinking easy stroll as I saw little kids strapped to dads' backs, and old women wearing flip flops making their way down, but I really question how they did that.  It was much more strenuous than I expected and at one point I looked up to see what had to have been 1,000 stairs straight up.  So those thinking of going...be warned.  Maybe leave bread crumbs and wear a camelbac.   

The view at the top was well worth the sweat!

I'll save you the long documentary and just let you enjoy the pics. 





The Kid, naturally, became my photo buddy :)



We also enjoyed Pearl Harbor and a Luau

The roughest part was definitely getting on a plane in summer clothes and landing with snow on the ground.  Home sweet home.  T-minus three days to reality.