island hopping // K A U A I.

 After staying on the beautiful island of Oahu for 3 nights, we packed up and headed to our next island:

KAUAI!

We left a city that wowed us that morning, and we stepped into a lush paradise of green after lunch. We could hardly wait to start exploring, but the line for the rental car forced us to do just that: wait. Thankfully, after 2.5 hours of snail-speed movement, we were driving out of the parking lot and headed to our home for the next four nights: the Grand Hyatt Kauai.

Y'all, it was other-worldly.

We received another upgrade at checkin, and that coupled with the resort as a whole is genuinely too wonderful to describe — but I’ll do my best. Picture this: a warm welcome with fresh leis and large, stocked room, a generous balcony, an oceanfront view, bright pops of color everywhere you look, a friendly staff eager to serve, a water slide and fun floats, waves crashing into rocks on the beach, a scenic walk to see where sea turtles come to rest, a private club area to wind down and/or dine in, all four of us walking around with our eyes wide and mouths open, and more. So much more.

If it sounds like paradise, then you're almost there. We knew instantly that it would be devastating to leave this place.

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Kauai, Day One

We woke up with the sun, enjoyed another fabulous breakfast in the club, spent a few glorious hours playing in the pool & lazy river & lagoon, and then it was time to get ready for our most 1) expensive and 2) most anticipated excursion of the whole trip…

A catamaran sunset cruise along the stunning and humbling and genuinely awe-inspiring

N A P A L I  C O A S T.

Was it everything we hoped it would be? YES. Was it worth every penny and all the anticipation? YES. Do we feel incredibly grateful to have had this experience? YES.

It was magnificent. Absolutely magnificent. One of the most memorable things we have ever done.

As one could expect while spending hours on a boat, a good many people got seasick during our 4-hour cruise; even Braxton felt a little queasy at times. We took some preventative Dramamine before we boarded, and I think that spared us from what others were experiencing from the rough waters and wild wind. Bethany went back and forth between admiring and napping the whole time, and TJ & I couldn’t keep our eyes off the horizon — in awe that we were really there.

We had an incredible afternoon with Captain Andy's, which was complete with a sunset sail along the Napali Coast, all you could eat food and beverages, and genuinely fabulous service. If you are only able to do one paid excursion on a trip to Kauai, I recommend this one. It was outstanding!

In the words of Bethany, “This is the best life ever!"

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Kauai, Day Two

This day was full of beach hopping, followed by our first fancy dinner on land! The magic just kept piling up at this point. Our adventures took us to the following places on our second full day on the island of Kauai:

📍 Hanalei Bay

Drive north to a beach beneath the mountains with boats anchored mid-sea AND waterfalls off in the distance? That’s what this beach was and WOW! It was a great beach for swimming: small waves, lots of space to spread out, a good stretch of shallow water, and more. This bay wasn’t particularly good for snorkeling, but it was gorgeous and fun nonetheless! Especially with kiddos.

📍 Hanalei

This town was so cute! I’d been looking forward to trying tacos from one particular restaurant, and wouldn’t you know they’re closed on Sundays. Honestly, I didn't even know what day it was at this point, so I took full responsibility for that miss. We walked through a few shops (looking for the perfect hat for me with no success) and then enjoyed some delicious JoJo’s Shave Ice.

📍 Poipu Beach

We returned here to see the turtles and do some snorkeling before heading back to our resort. This is such a fun area!

📍 Tidepools

I booked us reservations months before our trip at this restaurant, and it was worth the hype and anticipation! Tiki huts over water with koi fish swimming all around? How fun and fancy! After enjoying steak and seafood, we were surprised with two desserts in honor of our upcoming anniversary. So very thoughtful and kind! This restaurant is at our resort, so we got to spruce up in the room and then walk a short distance to eat. What a dream!

The kids were in a dancing mood after all that, so we stopped by the hotel lobby restaurant to enjoy the live band for a few. Shirley Temples for the kids, a glass of Moscato for me, and some silly dancing later, it was time to brush teeth and go to sleep.

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Kauai, Day Three

And just like that, our Hawaiian adventure was halfway over. *sigh*

We had been going full speed ahead for seven days straight, and we genuinely had zero regrets about it.  But in case you are tempted to think we lived in total fantasy land even in paradise, let me clear that up: This particular was hard for all of us. I woke up with a headache that screamed all day, Teesh reached max capacity and spent the afternoon napping and regaining strength, and both kids were off the chain emotionally. We still had an amazing day, but our troubles followed us across the seas, too. We all took turns taking deep breaths from sun up to sun down, and we got to practice patience and compassion all day long.

Now, for the fun stuff. This was our final full day on Kauai, and we slept in, chased waterfalls, indulged in more shave ice, visited a nearby shopping center with major island vibes, hung out in/by the pool and lagoon, watched the waves crash on the beach we’re staying at, enjoyed our final evening desserts in the club, and sat on the balcony listening to the ocean sing its song in the night.

Our low-key itinerary was:

📍 Opaekaa Falls

This gorgeous falls was visible from an overlook. We drove in, admired for a bit, and then headed on down the road.

📍 Wailua River Overlook

We pulled over to admire stunning views of this river flowing towards the ocean. !e all got a good laugh when 50ish chickens ran to greet us as we were getting out of the car. I’ll never forget how my kiddos giggled and yelled, “They’re coming! They’re coming!”

📍 Wailua Shave Ice

This place was recommended to us a lot, so we had to try it! It definitely lived up to the hype.

📍 Wailua Falls

Okay, but forreal — this was STUNNING. There used to be a trail you could climb down to get to the base of the falls, but it’s closed because of trail conditions. I wanted to hop that fence so bad. 

📍 Shops at Kukui'ula

This was a cute outdoor shopping center nearby that we explored. TJ came home with some socks to commemorate his favorite Hawaiian island from one of the surf shops here. *insert shaka here*

📍 Shipwreck Beach

This is the beach right outside our resort, and it provided us views of huge waves and impressive surfing. We could've sat out there all day just watching the waves crash in and be pulled back out to sea.

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Kauai, Day Four

When I booked our inter-island flights, I booked the latest flight from Kauai to Maui that I could find for this day. Based on everything I read before booking, I had an inkling that this would be our favorite island. Let's just say: I am so glad I did it this way. Even though the day ended in a surprisingly chaotic way, it began and unfolded so beautifully. We were all grateful for extra hours of exploring this lush, unforgettable island! We woke up slowly in Kauai, readying our hearts to say goodbye. We ate our final club breakfast, and then headed out for one last adventure before our late afternoon flight.

This was our grand finale of the gorgeous island of Kauai:

📍 Waimea Canyon State Park

This is known as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii, and all I can say is WOW. It took all of our breath away! We got to see a glimpse of this from our catamaran tour, and it was incredible to see it on land. Wow, wow, wow. I never thought we’d see this canyon before we saw the one stateside, but that’s how it worked out and I love it did so this way. The drive back down from the canyon brought my first tears of the trip. It had been a while since a view made me feel like that — alive.

📍 Puka Dog

We stopped by Poipu Beach on our way back from Waimea Canyon so we could eat at the famous Puka Dog. Yummmm! Best hot dog I’ve ever eaten? Quite possibly. Definitely the most unique! If you've never heard of Puka Dog, google it now and prepare to be amazed.

📍 Grand Hyatt Kauai

This was our beautiful resort for the past four nights, and we spent our final two hours there playing in the pool and taking it all in and packing up to leave. It has never hurt so much to leave a hotel behind.

Kauai, if we ever get the chance to visit Hawaii again, you will be our longest stay. A whole lifetime with you couldn't have even been enough. We are so grateful we got to experience you as a family!

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 To watch a video highlighting our time in Kauai, click here! It was hard to capture everything we wanted to remember and condense it into a 3-minute video, but I believe we'll be rewatching this forever and ever. We had the most incredible time in Kauai!

Stay tuned for highlights from our time in M A U I next!

island hopping // O A H U.

My family and I just returned home from a 2-week trip to the beautiful islands of Hawaii. Yes, you read that correctly. HAWAII! This trip has been a dream of mine since I was in college, and we started to actively pursue it in 2021. TJ and I had just gone on our first trip funded by points to Fort Walton Beach, FL, and we knew then that we could do incredible things with this little hobby I had begun to wade into.

I had one other bucket list trip ahead of this one, and as soon as I earned points for that hotel stay I pivoted to earning for an adventure of a lifetime: island hopping in Hawaii. I researched and studied while I earned points so I knew exactly 1) where I wanted to stay and 2) how many points I would need to get us there for at least 10 nights. With small children, I knew that staying longer than a week would be ideal so we could adjust to a new time zone and feel good while we were exploring and enjoying. We landed on the magic number of 12 nights, and I booked our hotels as soon as I had enough points to do so. Once it was booked, we had a whole year of waiting and anticipating before the time finally came!

We flew out of Atlanta, so we drove down the day before, went to bed early, and set an alarm for 3:30 AM. After a 6 AM flight, a relatively short layover in Phoenix, and nearly 11 hours of air time, we landed on the beautiful island of O A H U. We were beside ourselves with excitement, and we spent the next 3 nights pinching ourselves that we were really there.

We checked into the beautiful Hyatt Regency Waikiki, unpacked, hit the ground running, and did the following over the next few days:

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Oahu, Day One

Our first full day was full of fun from sun up to sun down! We started our morning with a gorgeous sunrise from our balcony, and then made our way down to to the club for a hearty breakfast. Then, it was off to Ocean Outfitters on the North Shore for some cage-free diving…with S H A R K S!

What. A. Thrill. I was sure I’d have a panic attack (LOL), but I was braver than I thought. Our kiddos were, too, even though a storm rolling in made from rough waters. Regardless, we swam within 10-20 feet of 7 Galapagos Sharks, and it was incredible!

The rest of the afternoon was spent snorkeling at two different beaches: Pupukea Beach Park & Shark's Cove, which was another thrilling experience. TJ swam with a sea turtle, Braxton was full-on adventure junkie, Bethany kept saying, this is the best life EVER!!!” all day long, and I learned the hard was the Chacos are no match for a slippery reef. *ouch*

Before heading back to the hotel to eat dinner in the club (again), we stopped for shave ice at Aokis Shave Ice. Yummmm! And huuuuge. We walked through a couple cute shops in Haleiwa, too.

This first day confirmed that two full days on Oahu is not nearly enough. We were told by several people that Oahu would likely be our least favorite island, but we do not share the same opinion. This island is a dream; a legitimate dream.

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Oahu, Day Two

This day was the ultimate outside adventure day! Dare I even say it was the best day ever? When I woke up the next day, I asked myself if it really even happened — it was THAT much fun.

We squeezed this day for all it was worth at the following places:

// Kualoa Ranch //

We took a guided UTV tour through 4,000 acres of beauty. This is where scenes from Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Jumaniji, 50 First Dates, and more were filmed. We switched back and forth between soul-deep awe and belly laughs the entire time. Definitely a highlight of our entire trip!

// Pearl Harbor National Memorial Site //

I really don’t have words for how it felt to stand in the same place tragedy happened so many years ago. It felt holy, and I cried because of it. I rejoiced, too, because there is so much beauty in the same place there was once so much devastation. It gave me hope.

// Manoa Falls Trail //

This gorgeous and muddy trail led us to a 160-foot waterfall down the face of a rock. Yes please! You know we were in our element here.

// Waikiki Beach //

After a quick (club) dinner, we headed down to the water and we stayed there until the sun was completely gone. Oh, how we all love the ocean. Especially this one.

We loved you, O A H U. You wowed us and gave us the best welcome party!

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 To watch a video highlighting our time in Oahu, click here! It was hard to capture everything we wanted to remember and condense it into a 3-minute video, but I believe we'll be rewatching this forever and ever. We had the most incredible time in Oahu!

Stay tuned for highlights from our time in K A U A I next!