Mahalo in Hawaiian means thanks, praise, respect, and gratitude.  The perfect word for this much needed trip to this amazing place with my family.  MAHALO!!!!! Yes, the flight was EXHAUSTING but it was worth it.  We met some amazing people along the way and collected many new family memories.

Although we didn’t complete all of the things we wanted to do on our list, we DID take in the beauty of the island and actually relaxed for a few days on the beach.  We checked out Wanauma Bay and Ko Olina.  Outside of our other adventures we parked ourselves at the local Kailua Beach Park.  Next time, we will hike Diamond Head, visit the Pearl Harbor site, see a luau, take surf lessons, go whale watching, etc.  We will try to also go kayaking, find sea turtles, and drive through the valley.  There was not enough time but we were thankful for being able to visit the great place together and spend time with one another.

Wanauma Bay was gorgeous.  We got there before noon and the drive from Kailua to Wanauma was the most beautiful drive.  We only had our towels with us ( which was fine ) and got our tickets to enter the park.  You are required to watch an informative video prior to going down to the bay for safety purposes and then off we went.  There is tram that you can pay a few bucks to take you down and back up from the bay if you don’t want to walk.  We chose to walk and it was an easy hike down.  We planted ourselves as far from the entrance as possible.  The water was more shallow there and so we thought it would be better for the kids.  There wasn’t really a sandy walk in to the water but more of dead coral so you had to be careful.  The kids got a little scraped up but I managed barely only because I knew how to hover above 5 inches of coral while snorkeling until the water got deeper. The fish were beautiful though.  We will have to come back with water shoes in a few years when they are older and better at snorkeling.

Ko Olina.  This was recommended to us by a few different people. It is more of a resort area on the other side of the island with 4 man made lagoons.  These were PERFECT for kids! They had nice sandy beaches, free parking ( just make sure you get there early otherise the lots will be full and there isn’t anywhere else to park unless you are staying at a resort ) and calm water within the lagoon.  We packed a cooler and some beach chairs and planted ourselves at Ko Olina for the better half of the day.  Beyond the man made barriers of the lagoon was a nice break where we could watch people surf some pretty big waves.  We watched the surfers for a while and snapped a few pics.

All in all Oahu was a win for the family…. Thank you, Hawaii. Mahalo!