Kau wela in Hawaii

Kau wela (summer)...almost everyone's favorite season and for so many reasons!
On May 21st we participated in the Hawaii industry charity walk. The hospitality industry of Hawaii participates to raise money for several charities located on Oahu. Both Mark's work and mine participated this year. The walk consisted of 17 different checkpoints, many at the different hotels in Waikiki and treated walkers with different foods, snacks, treats, music and other goodies! Along the way we were treated to fried rice, pulled kalua pork sliders on taro buns, red bull, popsicles, chocolate covered strawberries, spam musubi, cookies and so on. They say that this is the only walk that you can gain weight participating in, haha! The best part of the walk; giving back to the community all while eating tons of ono grindz.

 

 

On June 11th Mark and I walked to Waikiki for the 100th anniversary King Kamehameha floral parade. Stretching four miles, from Iolani Palace to Kapiolani Park this parade is the longest in the nation. Each island was represented by it's own princess (horse) along with it's island color
The flowers on the horses, floats, cars and in girl's hair were so abundant and beautiful that at times you forgot they were real and crafted by hand. It was beautiful learning more about Hawaiian history and enjoying the horses and the beautiful flowers.

Mark's mom, Kathy and brother Craig left last week on my birthday after visiting us for two weeks! We had a crazy whirlwind vacation with them! Here's highlighting a few...

We hiked up to the summit of Diamond Head Crater. It felt like a long walk because it was so hot, but definitely worth it when we reached the top! The view never gets old, especially with new visitors.

The first weekend they were here we spent a few nights at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore- always a bucketlist getaway for Mark and I. This resort is the backdrop for countless Hollywood movies including; forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hunger Games, and the current film, Mike and Dave need wedding dates. We all enjoyed the pool every morning and evening, especially on our first night when we found ourselves staring at a beautiful rainbow while in the pool. Craig and I especially enjoyed the waterslide over and over and over again. Our patio view overlooked the pool and ocean providing a beautiful spot to hang out together and talk! Near the hotel there's a WWII pillbox that looked easily walkable from the resort. We decided to unknowingly take the beach walk which added nearly 45 minutes and a nice sunburn to our trek, but it was worth it. I climbed ontop and inside the bunker which was awesome but really creepy.

Maui no ka oi! The weekend of the 4th of July we jetted off to the valley isle which we'll tell about in the next week- as well as my recent birthday; whoot whoot!
Aloha!

XOXO-

Mark & Jen