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!