The family comes to Hawaii

Back in April, I got a call from my parents. On the call, they announced they were coming to Hawaii for Thanksgiving! I was seriously so excited when they told me. I have grown to love this island so much I was so excited to show my family all the beautiful parts of the island. Unfortunately, because of COVID-19, you have to land with a negative COVID test or quarantine for 14 days. And anytime during the 14 days the police could come by and check on you. If you aren't there you will get a $1,000 fine. So of course my family all tests negative but Grayson. So he had to stay home for 10 days all by himself. Our first stop with my family was a Mexican restaurant in town! My parents stayed for 5 days on the North Shore and a few days in Ko'olina. We got started right away doing all the fun island activities. We saw the turtles on the beach and went on some beautiful hikes. Alivia, Landrie, and Kate also flew in to visit for a few days! 

One afternoon we hung out with Gavin's family because they were also visiting from the mainland. One of Ava and I's favorite hikes is Sunset Pillbox. This hike is usually so easy and fun. Unfortunately, on this day, the trail was super muddy. We were slipping and sliding everywhere. We had a nice view at the top but wanted to head down so we could watch the Sunset from the beach. On the way down my dad was sliding like crazy. I felt bad because he could have gotten seriously hurt but in the moment it was hilarious. I was hurling over holding my stomach laughing so hard. At one point he was sliding down the mountain and Gavin grabbed him to stop him. My poor dad's clothes were stained and ruined. Gus Gavin's brother got equally as dirty. But I don't think that was an accident for him. The nice thing about muddy hikes in Hawaii is that you can just jump in the ocean to cool off. We all swam at Sunset Beach after. We caught the most amazing sunset! 

We hung out with Gavin's family at the banyan tree! This is the famous tree in the Hunger Games and Lost! We all took turns climbing different parts of the tree. Now that I am looking back at these pictures though I am not sure we were supposed to be climbing around crazy like were. 

We also celebrated Thanksgiving altogether! We ate in the preschool and feasted over lots of my mom's homemade recipes. I sure have missed her cooking. Ava and I have added Mac and Cheese to the Thanksgiving feast because one of our friends brought it to our Friendsgiving and it hit the spot! After we ate we went outside for a game. We weren't sure what the game was till Hank brought out a filled-up bucket of water balloons. So of course a full-on war broke out in the yard. We all thought the water was nice and refreshing. This is the first time I have ever had a water fight on Thanksgiving. I loved seeing the Chicken tree by the side of the house as I was running around. 

What else did we do? We walked on the reef to China Men's hat, watched the waves from Laie Point, pictures by Laie Temple, and saw the crazy coconut tree in Hauula. We also had a beach fire which ended up being really fun. We swam under the full moon before drying off by the fire.

More hiking on the East side of the island. We went to another pill box that overlooks the Mokes. We had the most beautiful watercolor that day. 

So many good times with my family. It was magical, sunny, and warm. I absolutely loved showing them around the island. We missed Grayson but then again he wouldn't have enjoyed anything that we were doing.  All great fun though!