Aloha

Aloha! I am posting about our trip to Hawaii only like 3 weeks late, but as ya'll may remember, the 5 hour time change + jet lag + Daylight Savings Time change the day we returned was a recipe for exhaustion. So after my second attempt to recap our amazing Hawaiian vacation, here it is!

 On Tuesday March 6th, Scot and I headed out bright and early to enjoy a few days of rest in paradise. As you may remember, I was a bit apprehensive about leaving the kids for that long, but I knew that it was a chance of a lifetime we couldn't refuse and it was good for Scot and I to get away and reconnect with one another. I'm so blessed to have a mom and stepdad willing to take both kids for that long too! More than anything I was just so proud of Scot for making Champions Circle and thanked God for his hand in it all, to give us this amazing trip and to reward Scot for his hard work!

 I almost decided to give up breastfeeding months before finding out if Scot would make Champions Circle or not. The thought of having to bring my breast pump along and pump in the airplane was enough to give me an anxiety attack! However, I prayed about it and it was also around this time that Brynley started doing so well nursing and I just did not want to take that gift away, and was determined to do whatever I could to continue breastfeeding her. All my fears and anxieties regarding these issues went away as soon as I got to the airport! (Silly things to worry about, I know!) The only problem I had was going through security at the Charlotte airport, the security people acted like they'd never seen a breast pump before! After giving it a wipe down and testing it for bomb residue, they gave me the green light to go on through. Amen Hallelujah!

Scot and I got a good laugh in after this, and once seated on the plane I had to get a picture of me with my pump parts haha! Luckily I didn't have to worry about actually pumping on the plane because I found it was much faster and easier to hand express. This did the trick just while we were in the air, and I was able to pump comfortably once we reached the hotel. This was all a huge relief once I found that I had been so worried for nothing!

 It's a joke between Scot and I that everytime we fly, we both enjoy drinking the canned tomato juice. I don't know what it is, but we discovered this about one another the first time we flew to New Hampshire to visit some of his family years ago when we were just dating.

 We had a layover in Arizona, and I had to take a picure as we flew over. It made me really enjoy the fact that I live in North Carolina with so many trees, flowers, and grass after seeing how barren the land was out West! I know this isn't the case everywhere, but since I've always lived here in North Carolina, I've kind of taken it for granted.

 After flying for what seemed like an eternity (7 hours I think), and two movies later (Jack & Jill and some thriller with Justin Timberlake), we finally reached our destination. MAUI! Flying over the ocean was so cool, and Scot got really excited being able to see the waves from the air!

 Upon landing, we realized how open air everything was in Hawaii which was so cool! It felt tropical the minute we felt the Hawaiian breeze! Unfortunately for us, we also realized that Maui (and the rest of the Hawaiian Islands for that matter) were having a very unusual rain storm the past few days. I think someone told us they only get about 6 inches of rainfall a year! We were just happy to be in Hawaii and were determined not to let a little rain get us down.

 Everything was set up for us and we felt like King and Queen as everyone greeted us and directed us where to go. We got our luggage and then headed off to get our rental car that we would have over the next few days. We really were living in luxury to have all expenses paid plus spending money!

 Here's Scot with our cute little car! Haha we both laughed when we got to see what our rental was, but were just happy to have a car to get around in to neture out in. Here you have "The Versa".

 Like I said, it was definitely raining and more so than we'd imagined, but we were determined not to let a little rain get us down. We couldn't wait to see the hotel and what we had in store for us! I enjoyed just taking it all in, rain or no rain.

 Welcome to Maui!

 I was so happy once we got to the hotel, greeted with fresh flower leis and a fresh squeezed pineapple Mai Tai. Drink in hand, we went outside to take pictures and take in the scenery.

 In our room we were greeted with a DVD welcoming us as well as an assortment of breads and cheeses, and a bottle of wine with two wine glasses. The best part was that we got to keep the surf board cutting board as a souveneir! It was all so surreal and we were just so happy to be in Hawaii!

 I got a few more pictures of the room before we unpacked and chugged some coffee to make sure we stayed awake in our best efforts to get on Hawaii time. For dinner we decided to do something easy and went grocery shopping to grab a few mixers for drinks during our stay, as well as some snacks and sandwiches for the next day for lunch. After shopping we settled for a simple yet yummy dinner of island food, roasted chicken and terryaki beef, with a scoop of rice and a scoop of pasta salad, a traditional Hawaiian dinner from years ago dating back to when the workers would get together for their lunches. It was so so good and so simple! Scot being the meat lover that he is, was in meat heaven! He devoured his dinner and was so happy eating his steak and chicken!

 The next morning, after tossing and turning quite a bit, we finally figured we'd better wake up for the day and get our bodies in motion by hitting the 24 hour gym. It was only 4am Hawaii time, but it was 9am our time, so it felt more like we'd slept in! I had to get a picture of Scot next to the Champions Circle sign on our walk to the fitness center!

 I was so excited to work out and get back to our routine! I was shocked after arriving and noticing that again, it was all open air, which to me was great! Perfect weather with a breeze! We both had an awesome workout and were ready to bring on the day.

 I mean really, when you have this as your view to workout, how can you not have a great start to your day and be motivated to want to workout? The view was just beautiful!

 So beautiful that Scot and I decided to go for a short walk first before heading back to our room to shower and change for breakfast. It was seriously almost to pretty to think it was real!

Our view from breakfast.. doesn't get much better than this does it? And our yummy breakfasteach morning at Spago (Wolfgang Puck's awesome restaurant). I was trying to be good at the start to our vacation, but couldn't resist a pancake with coconut syrup and pineapple rum compote. oh my to the goodness!! A girl could get used to this kind of luxury haha!

We headed back to the room to shower and get suited up for a lazy day spent at the many hotel pools and the beach. We started off at the adults only pool and then checked out the rest.

The infinity pool was probably my favorite! Of course we had to get a few pictures of us in it!

Totally relaxed!

And this is the main pool, with a waterfall and kids pool too! Of course seeing all of the kids from time to time playing here it was almost too hard to be around, making me miss my babies, so we stuck to the much quieter adult pool so I could relax and catch up on reading!

My view for pretty much the whole day at the pool and then at the beach below. It makes me want to go back already!

Scot was so happy in the hot tub!

Mama was very relaxed!

We took a break from the fun in the sun and headed back to our room for some lunch!

Then it was time for some fun in the sand and surf. No matter how often I saw this view, I couldn't get enough! It was so cool to see part of West Maui from across the water!

We had so much fun relaxing in the sun, but had to get back and cleaned up for the cocktail hour with all of the other Champions Circle winners. It was so nice out with the ocean breeze and we couldn't wait to see the amazing sunsets we had heard so much about!

A perfect way to end the night!