A brother, four days, and lots of fun!

DISCLAIMER: this is very long, and has LOTS of pictures!

Around my birthday I was joking with my brother Josh that since he didn't get me anything his present should be him flying out to Hawaii to spend some time with me. He had never been, and I missed him, so I figured it was really a win, win, situation. It took him about a month to figure out his schedule and get everything in order but he made it, and it was the best four days we have ever had!

Before he got here I tried to plan out some things that would be fun for us to do, I wrote them down, made a list, and then made it again about seven more times. I was just so excited! His mini vacation went a little something like this...

Day One: Josh arrived from the airport, successful flight and very tired! He had a long day of travel and landed in Honolulu around 5:40pm. Even though he was tired we had to show him a few things! So we drove home through the north shore and tried to show him some of the cool things about this side of the island. We ended our tour in the town of Kahuku where we decided to eat dinner at Kahuku Grill. It's only like the best burger and fry place on the island.. seriously, not joking.. Josh could see why we never stop talking about the place, he loved it too! After dinner we went home and showed him the point, we walked around it a little bit and then gave him a tour of our home, which really was just opening the door and saying, this is it! Josh and I chatted for a little bit until he passed out-- I'm telling you this boy was exhausted!
 

Day Two: On the schedule for today was a hike, I just didn't know which one. I wrote down a few and told him about them all and he opted for one that Joey and I hadn't yet tried, the Maunawili Falls. We had to drive to the town of Kailua for this hike which is about 45 minutes away but it was totally worth it. The hike was beautiful, very green and muddy, but it had a stream going through it and lots of fun trees to climb. It was a beginners hike so it was very easy and not to long but it was all worth it when you got to the waterfall. Unfortunately when we got there someone had gotten hurt so we had to wait for the firefighters to clear the scene and they took her out with a helicopter. It didn't take to long and they allowed us to enter once she was gone. This waterfall was ten times better than La'ie falls, it was an actual waterfall and it had places on the side where you can jump off into the waterfall! Joey was a trooper and did it first, then Josh and I took a little longer. I mean hurling yourself off a 50 foot cliff is a little nerve racking, especially when the place your jumping from is tiny and slippery with mud.. but I did it! And it was awesome!! Joey and Josh went for round two, I opted to jump off some of the other smaller ones. We hung around in the falls for a while watching some other people jump and then hiked back out to our car. By this time we were starving so we fed our bellies with some Jack in the Box since they don't have that in Utah and Josh really wanted it! We capped off the day with a trip to Waimea Bay where we continued our jumping spree with waimea rock. We jumped off like three or four times and then swam around in the ocean before we caught some of the last rays of sun and relaxed on the beach. As we drove home for some dinner we stopped at sunset beach to see the rest of the sunset, a must see if you ask me :)

getting ready to start the Maunawili Falls hike



one of our views

Josh climbing a tree!

taking a break by the stream, we like climbing on rocks

Josh and Joey

we were warned :)

classic screen grab of a video of josh jumping of waimea rock

Day Three: Joey had to go back to work and school today so it was pretty much just me and Josh, a twin day! We decided to get some snorkeling in today and I took him to my favorite snorkeling place, Pupukea beach. We got there and got all our gear on and then we venture off into the wild blue ocean. We checked out the coral and all the rock formations and saw lots of wonderful, colorful, big and small fish. We were out for about an hour but Josh quickly observed it only felt like 20 minutes! Time flies when your in the water. We soaked up some sun rays and then headed across the street to Pupukea Grill and had a nice chat while we grubbed on our food. Once our bellies were full I took him down to the town of Haleiwa and we rented some paddle boards and took them down the river. This was a first for both of us and we quickly learned how much of a work out it really is! My arms are still sore. We were gone for about an hour and we got to go all the way down the river, where we spotted some turtles and we're proud to say we didn't fall! Although we both came close a few times! On the way back home we stopped and got some shave ice because you can't come to Hawaii and not eat any shave ice! We met Joey at the house and got ready for a fun night at the PCC. We were going to see the night show and I for one, was super excited! The show was wonderful and full of singing and dancing. I think I can speak for us all when I say the fire dancers were our favorites. I would recommend the show to anyone who comes for a visit, you gotta see it at least once!

pupukea beach, where we went snorkeling

Josh trying to catch some sun

shave ice, yumm!

the PCC night show :)

 

Day Four: Josh and I were on our own again today, and we had to take the day a little easy since he was filling a little under the weather. We chose a nice easy hike in the Waimea Valley botanical gardens. It was really a hike, more like a long scenic walk that ended at a waterfall you can swim in. This waterfall had no jumping spots though and the water was freezing!! But after our long walk I thought the water felt good, and I was definitely not going to come all this way and not get in. We ventured in, it took Josh a little longer, but he made it and we swam to the waterfall snapped a few pictures and then swam back out. We walked back out and spent the rest of our day in Kaneohe, we did a little shopping, played some games and went and saw a movie together. We ended our night by eating some dinner and hanging out with Joey. This was Josh's last night so we talked a bit then headed to sleep so we could wake bright and early, his plane left at 7:10, which meant we had to leave my house by 4:45.. YIKES!!

heading out on our path at waimea valley

this water is fffrrrreeeezing!

Josh's turn

oh, hello!

my turn!

All in all it was a wonderful birthday present and a great vacation for Josh, it was so good to see him and to show him all the fun things we have been doing out here. I may have also tried to convince him to move out here.. we'll see if it happens, fingers crossed!!

love, the williams