A L O H A !

We got to take our family vacation early this year, thanks to PJ being a newbie in the airline industry and not having "choice" vacation days available to him yet. So what does one do with a vacation period in January? Hawaii sounds good!

Ah yes, the perks of having a pilot for a husband- flying any where in the U.S. for a vacation.

The drawback to said perk, we fly standby. Interpreted: We fly if there are any seats available after all paying passengers get on and all standby passengers with more tenure get on. So, we planned flights that had plenty of empty seats and took our chances. Long story short, we made the first flight out to L.A., but not the flight to Honolulu. There were 70 seats available, but, there were 120 people on standby. Yeah.

So, my hubby goes to plan B. (You have to have a plan B for these situations, and a plan C, D, E....) We tried for a flight straight to Lihue, Kauai- our actual final destination. We got lucky- just barely. We were, however, ALL 8, spread out throughout the plane. We had to do some frantic switching around just to get Jack-Jack by one of us. I spent a lot of time in the isles checking on everyone during that 5 hr. flight. But we made it. And it was worth it!!!

THIS is the open air airport. You are greeted by delicious Hawaii air from the moment you step off of the plane.

Here is the view from PJ's parents condo, where we stayed. Yeah, WoW.

(If you want to stay there, we could hook you up! They rent it when not using it.)

Fresh, ripe, and unique fruits from the farmer's market. I have never indulged in such a variety of fruit like this before. The flesh of these was like the sweetest grapes.

This beach had awesome 6 ft. waves. Too dangerous to go in the water- but way cool.

This is the beach where we played and snorkeled. It was protected by a coral reef which you can see in the distance.

It was just wonderful! Maybe you could come with next time???

(P.S. The 1st photo was taken by BaNaNa. The rest were taken by Red Pepper. Not bad, eh?)