Around our house, we start to plan our annual Big Camping Trip in the Fall, so by the time it rolls around in the summer we've been dreaming of it for about 9 months. We do a lot of research on camp grounds, our driving route, hotels if we are going to need a short stop, places to eat, and things to do. This year, the research was a little different because our destination was somewhere I have been many times. Home Sweet Home, Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The plan was pretty simple. A week in the Jamestown/Williamsburg area, two weeks in Virginia Beach, and 5 nights in the Outer Banks. This would be about a month on the road, our longest trip yet! You might be saying to yourself, how do they afford that? And who has that much time off? Well, we have two tricks up our sleeves. First, almost all of our camping would be at military campgrounds. These places are hidden gems and cost less than $40/night. Second, Rob was planning to work this trip. He left us twice while we were camping at the beach to fly trips. We were comfortable doing this because I was super familiar with the area, my family is close by in case of emergency, and military campgrounds are pretty safe, what with all the armed guards. Our first day was driving from our house to Lewisburg, West VA. We found a bargain at the state fairgrounds, I think it was $20 for an electric hookup site with water but no sewage. It was kinda hard to find, the grass was a bit overgrown, but the price was right! We left saying it was fine for the night but never wanted to see Lewisburg again (the roads were one way and not very camper friendly). By the end of the trip, we would eat those words. Day two we woke up and drove to our campsite at Cheatham Annex in Yorktown, VA. At the very end of the road? Our first campsite at Cheatham Annex in Williamsburg, Va! But that's a story for next time.
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Traveling home. Boo. This trip was such a good time and no one really wanted to leave. But alas, we had school, work, and an amazing dog to get home to. So with heavy hearts we (I) packed our bags and we headed to the airport. Since we had turned in our rental car, we took a cab from Aulani to the resort. It took about 30 minutes, and they had a line of them outside the resort. We just called down and told bell services we needed a cab and help with the bags. A kind bellman came up, grabbed our bags, and loaded them into the waiting taxi. At the airport, Rob took the jump seat on the first available flight and I stayed with the kids and took the next flight. We used some hotel points and stayed the night in LA. The next morning we were at the airport super early in the morning, like maybe 5am? Its all a blur now, but I remember we had trouble getting home to Cincinnati and ended up taking flights home through Denver of all places. By the time we made it back to CVG we were all exhausted. Final ThoughtsThe goal of this trip was to relax, show the kids the best of Hawaii, and celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We exceeded those goals for sure! Some things I think we did spot on, and some things we could have done better.
Getting to Hawaii is always an odyssey if you are coming from the east coast. We opted to press on and do it all in 1 day. Was this the best decision? I'm not sure. Would we do it that way again? Maybe. We were really tired, but we would have been really tired if we had stayed in LA and broken the trip up into 2 days. The Outrigger was definitely the right choice for a Waikiki Beach hotel. I would stay there again in a heartbeat! Our only misstep during the Waikiki Beach portion of the trip was not leaving early enough the first day we tried to climb Diamond Head. The Dole Plantation was a one time thing, but it was a great activity for kids who had a lot of energy. I do wish we had worn warmer clothes though. When it comes to Aulani, if you have kids and can swing the cost, do it! I wish I hadn't wasted so much time worrying about the size of the room, it was fine! The villa with the kitchen would have been nice, but we were fine without it. The only thing I would really do differently about this trip is the time of year we went. We love to escape the cold of Kentucky during winter, but it wasn't really warm enough for us to swim in January in Hawaii. For the amount of money you spend to travel to Hawaii, I think April is probably the best time to go. And that's it! The end of our trip to Hawaii. By the last day, I was tired of breakfast in the room, so we made a quick reservation at 'Ama 'Ama for breakfast. This is now a must do for me when we go back. The breakfast was so good and the view was just as amazing at breakfast. Plus, the kids were with us! ![]() Bellies full, we headed to the beach for another morning of sand and sun, and to achieve one of Rob's goals, stand up paddle boarding. You can rent a SUP right at the Aulani beach. The swimming lagoon is a great place for first time SUPers because the water is calm and it would be pretty hard to be washed out to sea. If you've been reading along, I'll bet you know what comes next! Lunch at the quick service place. Then it was time to hit up the splash park. Can you believe we saved this til the last day? There is too much good stuff at this resort. Actually, there are two splash parks at Aulani. There is one with gentle bubblers for the youngest guests. Then there is Menehune Bridge for kids less than 48 inches tall. When we were exhausted from swimming, I made everyone get all dressed up for a beach photoshoot. I mean, how often are you in Hawaii with your family? I wanted good pictures where we weren't wearing swimsuits. After the torture of taking photos, we grabbed pizza for dinner, then indulged in a little night swimming. When they kicked us out of the pool, it was time for bed. Our last full day in Hawaii was done. It was time to go home.
Read about Day Six here. After spending most of the last two days at the pool, we declared this day a beach day! The beach at Aulani is exactly what you image a Hawaiian Disney beach would be like. Plenty of chairs, beautiful water, free sand toys, free boogie boards, and tropical drinks brought to you by happy cast members. We ate lunch beach side and then noticed Ryan's lips were turning blue. Reluctantly we left the beach and took a dip in the family hot tub. Then we heard a commotion in the big pool. It was time for the Shake a Shaka Pool Party with Mickey and Friends! Normally I stay far away from such "forced fun." My kids didn't inherit that gene and they headed straight for the party. There was singing and dancing with the characters followed by a few pool races. Even though I'm not a fan of these types of events, I got a little teary watching Anne and Ryan. They looooved it and participated whole heartedly, even in the cross pool kick board relay. Something about that made me realize how big they actually are. Oh man, is someone cutting an onion in here? What's wrong with my eyes? Our original plan for this evening was to walk down the road a little and attend the Paradise Cove Luau. There is a Luau at Aulani (featuring Disney characters and authentic Hawaiian dances) but for the 4 of us to attend, it would be over $400! The one at Paradise Cove was less expensive to begin with and offered a military discount. As the day went on, it was getting colder and windier and the kids were not acting like they could last until 7pm when it started. Since we were planning to buy tickets at the Luau, it was an easy decision to skip it. One thing to do next time we come to Hawaii! Instead, the kids and I decided to go on the Menehune Trail. To play this game, you borrow an iPad from the community hall and follow clues to activate special things around the resort. Those pesky Menehune sure make for a fun scavenger hunt. This activity is free for guests and worth every penny! After playing the Menehune Trail for about an hour, we were hungry and decided to eat at Off the Hook, which is a quick service place poolside. This was a bad idea because it was windy and FREEZING. Seriously, I thought Hawaii was supposed to be warm. After dinner it was time for bed! All that swimming, sun, and shivering had worn us out.
Read about Day Five here. Rainbows in Hawaii, does life get any better? We started off our day with early morning coffee and breakfast in the room. Since food in Hawaii is so expensive, we saved money by having some breakfast items in the room. It worked well, especially since I never buy PopTarts at home. When we have them on vacation they are a real luxury. After we ate, I took the kids down to Aunty's Beach House. Rob and I had an anniversary dinner planned at 'Ama 'Ama, and I wanted to register the kids for dinner in the Kids Club. Unlike on the cruise ships, the meals at Aunty's aren't included. I think it was about $12 per kid. There are also a limited number of spots available, so getting there right at opening is important. After registering the kids for dinner, there was Family Time in the club. That meant you couldn't drop them off, but families were welcome to play in the club together. I loved it! The kids showed me all the things they had been doing. During the family time, there was a hula class, which were really excited about. I knew there would be a special guest, but it was a total surprise to the kids. After the Family Time, the kids wanted to stay at Aunty's, so I let them. Rob and I had more pool time until lunch, when I dragged the kids kicking from the club and forced them to hang out with us. I'm not exaggerating to say that they would be happy to stay in the club the whole time. One attraction we were all excited to try was snorkeling at Rainbow Reef. The kids love to snorkel, and I thought doing it at the resort would be nice because we didn't have to go anywhere and there was very little risk of being stung by sea urchins, which was my fear after going to Hanaumu Bay the last time Rob and I were in Hawaii. I believe we paid $19.95 each to snorkel at Rainbow Reef, and it was a... mixed experience. The kids did fine and enjoyed seeing the fish, but the tank is FREEZING. We were in the water for about 10 minutes. Also, I had purchased a waterproof case for my phone so I could use it in the water on this trip. The case worked great at keeping the water out, but I didn't realize I wasn't pushing the button hard enough while underwater (change in pressure, ya know) so none of my photos took. Boo! $80 poorer, we left Rainbow Reef and went swimming in the pool. Well, Anne swam and Ryan pouted in a chair. The poor kid only has 3% body fat and it was just too cold for him to swim. Before we dropped the kids off for their evening at Aunty's, we stopped by the Community Hall to make leis. The Community Hall was a neat room, they do lots of classes there, some free, some for a charge. Lei making was complimentary. They also have DVDs to borrow, as well as board games. And the cast members who work here are so friendly and welcoming. Leis made, we dropped the kids off and headed for our dinner at 'Ama 'Ama. If you are ever lucky enough to go to Aulani, you must eat here! When you make your reservation, find out when the sun sets that day, and try to make your reservation so you can see it. It is breathtaking. I started to feel guilty about the kids being in the club and not with us (why do I always feel like that? they for sure were not missing me!). So we sprung them and went to the beach to finish watching the sun go down. That's a full day! Keep reading here!
One thing I love about Disney World vacations is planning them. For me, spending time working out the best parks for the best days, deciding where we will eat, making touring plans and securing FastPass+ reservations allows me to start enjoying the vacation long before it begins. Plus, Disney World vacations aren't cheap, and the planning helps me feel like I'm doing my part to get the most bang for our Disney buck. Our time at Aulani was different. There isn't much to plan. I made 2 dining reservations, the character breakfast and an adults only dinner for our anniversary. That's all. The rest was just fly by the seat of our swimsuits. It turns out, that's a really great way to vacation. Now, it helps that we have been to Hawaii before and we stayed at Waikiki first, so our time at Aulani was not shared with the wonders of the island as a whole. I'm glad we took this approach and I would do it this way again. Our second day began bright and early, actually what's the word for earlier than even the sun? Because that's the time the Schneiders like to rise. In fact, I was at the quick service for coffee before the coffee was ready! Day 2 was the day of our character breakfast buffet, Makahiki- The Bounty of the Islands. Makahiki is also open for dinner, but at dinner the characters only visit on select nights. Since we are morning people and tend to fade as the sun goes down, I always opt for character breakfasts. Makahiki is just like character meals at WDW, except the food is better, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy are in their Hawaiian hang out wear, and Aunty visits to entertain the kids. If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you are well aware that my photography skills are lacking. And when it comes to this buffet, I made a major mistake. The food at the buffet was delicious, the best we've ever had at a Disney breakfast buffet. There was amazing variety, and the Asian influence (like fried rice!) was a real crowd pleaser at our table. And I took 1, terrible picture of all the food. Oh man. I need to do some serious work on my food photography! While we were eating, the characters were making the rounds. Up first, Goofy! ![]() After Goofy's dance party, Minnie took to the floor to lead the kids in a conga line. It was a great breakfast and I would definitely recommend it! In fact, if you ever find yourself in Hawaii, but not staying at Aulani, you can still book a meal here at Makahiki and enjoy all the festivities and character interactions. A word about our outfits. Yes, I made the shirts. In case you can't tell, they say "aloha" but the O in aloha is a mickey head with a palm tree on it. I was pretty proud of them, but they didn't photograph well. Anne's shirt was way too big, so I made it into a dress, which she loved. Anne and I are wearing Mickey ears with hibiscus flowers. These are available to purchase at Aulani for $29.95. Of course I think that is a ridiculous amount to pay, so I made these prior to our arrival. Both pairs cost me $10 in supplies and the $50 I saved bought a few poolside drinks! After breakfast the kids wanted one thing, and one thing only. KID'S CLUB!!!! The club doesn't open until 9:30, so we went and got in line. While we were waiting, some of the American Idol contestants walked by. They were going into a restaurant for sit down interviews. With the kids occupied, it was time to relax by the pool and read a book! One thing I often read in online reviews about resorts is that there are no beach or pool chairs available, and pre-trip that is something I read about Aulani. We never found that to be true. On this day, we got perfect, front row poolside chairs at 10am. If you came down at 1pm, you would not have gotten these chairs, but there were plenty of others. Yes, people put towels on chairs and then disappeared, but there were always chairs. I guess we were there in January and it might be different in July, but that was my experience. After a few hours relaxing, I started to miss the kids. So we dragged them from Aunty's Beach House and made them swim in the pool for awhile. It's a good thing we did, because a special guest came by for some antics. After a poolside lunch, it was time for some shave ice, which we ate in the shade of the snorkeling aquarium, Rainbow Reef. And no, we didn't get the cool ones with the Mickey ears that you see in all the commercials for Aulani. Why? Because they are made of ice, which melts in the hot sun. Every single kid we saw get the Mickey ears was soon crying because the ears fell off. Then we took a trip down the lazy river. Before our quick service dinner, I snagged a picture from the adult's only hot tub. And that was the end of Day Five!
This trip was divided into two parts. Part one was introducing the kids to Hawaii. So we explored Waikiki, Diamond Head, and the North Shore. Part two was total relaxation at Aulani, the Disney Resort. For this second part, we were turning in the rental car and not leaving the resort. As you can imagine, we were excited for total immersion in a Disney version of Hawaii. It was about a 30 minute drive from Ford Island to Aulani. As you cross to Ko Olina, where the resort is located, you notice the vegetation changes. It was less green and lush on this side of the island. The drive was easy, traffic was light and before we knew it, we spotted the resort. Hooray! From the minute we pulled up, I knew I was going to love this place. Disney service is top notch and Aulani is no exception. First, we were greeted by a cast member with a mini iPad like device. He said, "Aloha Ohana! Can I get your name?" I answered Schneider and he pulled us up on his device. He said welcome again and out of nowhere a second man appeared to get our bags. They showed Rob where he could turn in the rental car (there is an Alamo on site) and a female cast member approached us with fruit infused water, a lei for me, a kukui nut necklace for Rob, and Menehune necklaces for Anne and Ryan. This woman was to be our assistant for the duration of our check-in. She started by explaining about the legend of the Menehune, playful spirits who live in the area and are hidden around the resort. If you are a WDW visitor, this is the Aulani version of a hidden Mickey. There are over 300 Menehune waiting for you to find them! Next, she walked us into the breathtaking lobby with its gorgeous view of the ocean. She pointed out the shops, the concierge desk, the tour desk, and bell services. She also pointed out the area where the kids could watch tv while I checked in. Brilliant! Then she stood in the check-in line with me and chatted about the resort and our vacation so far. Once there was an available cast member to check us in, she introduced me to her by name and wished us a great trip. This was such a warm and personalized way to check into a resort, and it set the stage so well. Well done, Disney! I should also tell you, this whole experience can be shortened by doing online check-in. I didn't do this because I wanted to pay the balance of our reservation with a gift card. The check-in cast member took care of that quickly and then let us know our room wasn't ready yet. She verified my cell phone number and said they would text me around 4pm with our room number. She also gave me a map of the resort and then check-in was done. In our excitement, we had forgotten to put gas in the rental car. Rob texted me that he was doing that and about 30 minutes from the time we had separated (him to do the car, me to do the check-in) he found me... in one of the stores of course! At the start of our visit, they were filming American Idol at Aulani. Did you know American Idol was still a thing? Me either. Apparently they were filming the top 40 at the resort. They had the stage set up on the beach and the crew was everywhere. We saw them filming various interviews in the resort restaurants during the day. In the evenings they taped the competition on the beach stage. you could go see it, but you had to stand in line for awhile and then you weren't allowed to leave during the filming block, which was 3 hours. Pass. Funny story. At one point I was in an elevator alone with this young man in jeans and a t-shirt. We were chatting and he asked if I was going to the taping. I was like "I didn't come to Hawaii to stand in the sun and watch people I've never heard of sing." He replied "oh" with a sad look on his face. Later, I saw him in line with the contestants waiting to go into the stage area. Oops! Back to our First Day at Aulani Tale. Reunited in the gift shop, we asked the kids what they wanted to do. Of course they said, Kids Club! So we went to check it out and check them in. First, we ran into some friends. So we dropped the kids off at the kids club, Aunty's Beach House (the home of Aunty from Lilo and Stitch). Now, if you are curious, it is very secure. The whole thing is contained and the outdoors section isn't accessible except through the main entrance, which is well guarded. The kids get magic bands that are scanned whenever they enter and leave. The first time you visit Aunty's, you have to register and they take a picture of the whole family. Then, every time you pick them up, they can tell you are who you are supposed to be. You also create a password that you have to give each time you pick the kids up. I'll tell you more about the awesome Kid's Club in another post, because they have Open House hours and I was able to go in with the kids and see all the fun! For now, all we knew is the kids were having fun and the adults were in search of a beverage. Which we found, along with a flat bread at the quick service restaurant, Ulu Cafe. Of course, Rob had to check in a beer. We relaxed at the cafe and then we found some chairs in the shade to sit and relax in. Then it was time for the room to be ready, but I never got a text. So I walked to the front desk and got our room assignment. Now is a good time for me to tell you about the rooms at Aulani. Aulani is a Disney Vacation Club Resort, Disney's version of a timeshare. Because it is DVC, there are two kinds of rooms, regular hotel rooms with two queen beds and Villas. The Villas are available in studio (one king bed and a sleeper sofa with a kitchenette) or 1, 2, and 3 bedrooms (which have proper bedrooms and a full kitchen for preparing meals). For our budget, we went with the regular hotel room, which we got with a military discount. We also went for the standard island view (you can also pay for pool view, garden view, or ocean view). From what I read online before our trip, the standard view is a view of the parking lot with sometimes a squinty view of the ocean. Also, most reviews said something like, always get a villa, never-ever-ever get the regular hotel rooms. So I was prepared for (and more than a little worried about) a tiny room with a view of concrete. When Rob and I arrived at our room, I learned that it is true, don't believe everything you read on the interwebs. And now for a tour of the bathroom. One thing the internet was right about is that the lighting in the bathroom wasn't that great. They are going for a warm amber glow, and it's not great for putting on makeup. Luckily, we were on vacation in Hawaii and who wants to stand in the bathroom putting on makeup anyway? After photographing the room and unpacking, we retrieved the kids from Aunty's Beach House and heard all about their fun. Then we went for a swim and a trip down the waterslides, which is something Ryan and I were very excited to try. Our stay at Aulani was off to a great start!
Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial are two things I have been hoping to show the kids for about a year. When we began with Classical Conversations for homeschool last year, we studied US History. And we spent a week talking about Pearl Harbor and the kids memorized a song about it. We taught the kids about WWII in an age appropriate way, and I was excited to make this come alive in their minds. If you are planning to visit this area, officially called the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, please be aware of a few things. First (and allow me to get on my soap box), the memorial is FREE. If you have a rental car, you do NOT need to book an expensive excursion or tour company to see this, it is a National Park. It bugs me that if you just do an internet search, the things that pop up are expensive tour companies. Some even have .org addresses! The best place to start your research is the National Parks website nps.gov. From there you can learn all about opening times, closures, costs, and available tours. If you want to book a time to visit the memorial, you can do so at 60 days out for $1 per ticket. Alternatively, you can show up when they open and get free tickets that they hold back for day-of visitors. The tickets are for the movie and the boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial. Second, be careful what you bring with you. If it is larger than a cell phone, you cannot bring it in. You cannot bring in a backpack. You cannot bring in a camera bag. You cannot bring in a large purse. The official size dimension is 1.5x 2.5 x 5.5 and this rule is strictly enforced. There are lockers available to rent. Beware if you choose to leave your purse in your car. Lock it in the trunk! Thieves know about the rule and purses left in cars by tourists are easy pickin's. Third, at the time of writing this (February 2019) you cannot go onto the USS Arizona memorial because the dock is unstable. According to the National Parks website, it should reopen in March of 2019. However, when we were there in January of 2019, they had not started working on it. While it is closed, you can still watch the movie and then the boat will take you around the memorial, but you will not get off the boat. It was still worth it for us. Ok, enough with my disclaimers, on to our day! Our plan for the Valor in the Pacific Memorial was to check out of the Outrigger Reef, head to the Memorial, then check into Aulani in the afternoon for the rest of our stay. Check out was easy and there was minimal traffic on our way to Pearl Harbor. I had secured us 11am tickets for the movie and boat, and we were parking the car at 9am. Perfect! There is a lot more to do at the Valor in the Pacific Memorial than just the USS Arizona Memorial. There is a museum, you can tour the Bowfin submarine, you can tour the USS Missouri battleship, and you can go to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. The Mighty Mo' and the Aviation Museum are both located on Ford Island, an active military installation, so if you decide to tour them, a motor coach to the island is included in your ticket price. Unless you are active duty military, then you are able to go on base yourself. Rob and I previously toured the Missouri and the Aviation Museum, so this visit we focused on the USS Arizona Memorial and the Bowfin. Since we arrived early, we were thinking of touring the Bowfin and then seeing the movie/memorial. When I went to pick up our tickets, they had 9:30 tour tickets available and switched us! We had a short wait and then we saw the film. The film was very well done, including actual historical footage, a history of the battle and the war in the Pacific, and information about the building of the memorial. The kids learned a lot, and it was appropriate, even for 6 year olds. After the film, they explained the rules of the boat ride to the memorial. They explained that we would not be docking and that we were to remain seated at all times, then we boarded the transport boat. The boats are actually US Navy boats and are crewed by Naval officers. In their starched white uniforms, they take this duty seriously! The boat ride out and around the memorial was about 20 minutes. Twice they stopped the boat so we could take pictures and pay our respects (from a seated position). My pictures, surprisingly, are terrible. Rob and I spent most of the time narrating to the kids what they were seeing and picture taking was not a priority. I could share hundreds of tidbits we learned about the attack, but I won't. Please indulge me one fact. The USS Arizona, over which the memorial was built, is still leaking fuel. Because it was scheduled to head out the next day, the ship was full of fuel. Despite the fires from the attack, experts estimate 500,000 gallons of fuel sank with the ship. About 9 quarts of oil leak out each day. People refer to these drop of oil as "black tears." Our next stop was the USS Bowfin Submarine. If you've ever wondered what life is like in a submarine, this is a must visit. The USS Bowfin served 9 war patrols from 1943 to 1945, each patrol lasting about 2 months. During her service she sank 39 Japanese merchant ships and 4 Japanese war ships. She now sits in Pearl Harbor and is part of the Valor in the Pacific Memorial. Lucky for you, I took lots of photos. One thing I have neglected to tell you, it was freezing on this day and windy. Ok, so it was about 70 degrees and windy, but when you are expecting a tropical vacation, that's cold! After touring the USS Bowfin, we had a quick lunch at the outdoor cafe (this place could seriously use some improvement in the food department) and then went through the submarine museum. We learned a lot about subs and the role they played in WWII. Another place I recommend visiting if you can. Then we went to Ford Island, which is such a cool place to visit. First, it's living history because you can see actual buildings that were hit during the attack. You can see where the runway once was. You can visit the Battleship Missouri and you can tour the Aviation Museum. Second, it is an active Naval base. There are families stationed there! Can you imagine living on Ford Island? Amazing. And the base housing is really nice. As I said before, we were not touring the Mighty Mo' or the Aviation Museum this trip. We did, however, show the kids some of the building with bullet holes from the attack. And we visited the USS Utah, another battleship resting in Pearl Harbor. The USS Utah is actually more interesting to see because it rests half out of the water, half in the water and it sits very close to the shore. I guess Rob and I both had the same idea to take a picture of the other one looking at the ship with the kids. Great minds! That was the end of our time at Pearl Harbor. Just for reference, we were on Ford Island, looking at the USS Utah at about 12:30. So the USS Arizona, the USS Bowfin, lunch, the Submarine Museum, and driving around Ford Island took about 3 hours. At this point, the kids were reaching the end of their patience with looking at cool historical stuff, so we loaded into the car to head off to Ko Olina and Disney's Aulani Resort. After striking out with Diamond Head the day before, we made sure to be up and out of the hotel at 6:30. That was the perfect time because the parking lot was mostly empty and the hiking trail to the top wasn't too crowded. But let me take a step back, in case you aren't familiar with Diamond Head. Also known as Lē'ahi State Monument, Diamond Head is an extinct volcano and is one of the most recognizable geographical features of Oahu. You can either walk into the park for $1 per person, or park your car in their tiny lot for $5 per car. Get their early, or late, to get a spot! The Diamond Head Summit Trail is 1.6 miles round trip. We did the whole thing in about an hour and fifteen minutes. The day we were there, we didn't see many other kids and we got a few comments about them being "brave." Honestly, parts of the trail are steep and there are a lot of stairs at the top, but the kids and their low centers of gravity were better able to handle the trail than I was! Plus they have all that kid energy. So go, take your kids, don't miss the views! Having summited Diamond Head, we had a brunch to get to! I booked the Hale Koa brunch about a week before our trip and I was so glad I did. The brunch is only held on Sundays but is open to all military, not just those staying at the hotel. And let me tell you, the price is right. Adult are $39.95 and kids under 11 are $12.95! For Hawaii, that's a bargain. The adult price also includes a mimosa. The food was delicious. Sushi, fruit, carving stations, peel and eat shrimp, pancakes, omelet station, all the brunch staples. I was so busy eating I didn't take any pictures. Sorry! For our final afternoon in Waikiki, we decided to rent beach loungers and let the kids run free. They spent their time frolicking and collecting invertebrates. It was Ryan's best day so far. Since we were leaving the next day to go to Aulani, I took about an hour and went up to our room to pack. I also took the opportunity to take photos of our room at the Outrigger Reef. I was really pleased with the room size at this hotel. We were never squished or felt like we were on top of each other. There was lots of storage. We could have spent a week in this room, no problem. For our final meal in Waikiki, we headed down the beach to Duke's. This is an awesome restaurant and is famous for it's drinks and views of the sunset. Oh, and the Hula Pie is amazing, but I skipped it this time. We actually went at the worst possible time and had to wait about 45 minutes for a table. Dinner was worth it, though. That was the end of our time at the Outrigger Reef and Waikiki Beach. I will admit, I was a little nervous. The kids looooved Waikiki and were not happy to leave. Would the magic of Disney's Aulani be enough to wipe away their tears? Day two started out like day one, watching the sun rise over Diamond Head. Then we had breakfast at The Reef Bar and Grill at the hotel. This used to be The Shorebird, but is now operated by the hotel. It has to be some of the best restaurant real estate in Waikiki. After breakfast we thought we would hike up Diamond Head. But we arrived at 9am and there was no parking anywhere. Since we didn't want to walk 2 miles to the trail before hiking up, we decided to go with Plan B and head to the North Shore. The drive was about 45 minutes, but it was worth it! The North Shore in the winter has some of the biggest waves I've ever seen. When you think about people surfing in a pipeline wave, that the North Shore in the winter. We saw a few pipeline waves but there was no one out surfing where we were. For lunch there is only one choice in the North Shore area, Giovani's Shrimp Truck! Bellies full, it was time for dessert. Time to stop at the Dole Plantation for the world famous, Dole Whip! We also took the train tour of the plantation and ran through the World's Largest Maze (which is, of course, shaped like a pineapple. One thing I found interesting is that Mr. Dole wasn't the first, or biggest pineapple grower. But he was the first to can his pineapple, making it easier to sell in the mainland US, and that's why when you think pineapple, you think Dole. All this touristing, and we were still back at the hotel by 3:30! You can get a lot in when you start before the sun rises. The kids were full of energy (how?) so we spent the evening at the Outrigger Reef pool. For dinner we ordered some appetizers from the pool bar and let the kids swim and eat as their leisure. Actually, it was pretty windy and we all wanted to go up to bed around 7pm. And that was Day 2! |