50th Anniversary Cruise

My Parents 50th wedding anniversary was last week. Instead of having a big party and inviting all their family and friends they decided to take the people who they love most on a cruise in Hawaii. My parents love Hawaii so I have been many times, but this was by far my favorite. It was trying to think of the last time we all were together with no missionaries or college students gone and I figured out that it was at Caleb and I's wedding 6 years ago. It has been way longer than that since all of use have been able to be together for any extended period of time. It really was the trip of a life time, and I loved being able to be with my family.

The first day we flew into Oahu got to the hotel and changed for family pictures. The photographer was great and amazingly patient trying to direct all 33 of us.

It was great to be with my brothers and sister, this is all five of us with my parents.

Here are all the grand kids. Joshua and Abigail LOVED being with their cousins, ever since we got home Joshua asks "are my cousins going to be there" every time we leave to go somewhere. It was really fun for him to get to know some of the older cousins better that he does not get to hang out with as much. By the way he says he wants all of you to come to his birthday party next year, especially that funny one David who knows magic. :)

Here is our little young family. I am sure some of the grand kids will be starting to catch up to us before too long.

Caleb and the kids...they are starting to get a little sick of pictures by this point. I think we were all pretty sick of it by the end... I kind of felt like I was constantly yelling "get out of the shot" "your making a shadow" "hurry and smile" it was pretty chaotic with all the kids running around the beach.

Daddy and Abba Gabba.

Luckily the mud does not show up that got all over these guys in between shots.

There are are a lot of young boy grand kids now, and they all love hanging out together.

After three days in Oahu at the North Shore an Waikiki we bordered our cruise ship to go to all the other islands. The First night on board was my parents anniversary. We surprised them with a little party, a slide show, movie, book with notes and pictures from every single person in the family, and a scrapbook of pictures from their whole life.

Our first stop was Maui, where we went to church on the first day. Our crowd was pretty overwhelming in their little chapel. On the second day we went Laihana and found a great local beach with snorkeling and swimming.

Abigail loved the ocean and kept wanting to buggy board like everyone else. With help she rode quite a few waves.

You can't get my mom out of the water the entire time she is in Hawaii, and we all are kind of the same way.

So this was typical the entire trip. All those people in the water are our family, we made a big impact anywhere we went!

Joshua liked catching waves and swimming too, but his favorite was digging in the sand.

Next we went to the big Island. The first day was on the Hilo side of the island. We took a walk through the rain forest to a waterfall, saw the volcano, and went swimming in an Oceanside hot spring pool. I had only been to the big island once so I did not remember it very much. After this trip it has become one of my favorite islands. On the Kona side we did not rent a car so we stayed close by and hung out at the beach all day. We found some amazing snorkeling right in the main harbor.

Next we went to Kauai, which is and has always been my favorite island. The first day we rented cars and went to Waimea canyon, and Hanalei bay. I had not been to Waimea since I was a kid and had forgotten how amazing it is. We also hiked out fromo Waimea to the Napali coast which is breathtaking. Joshua did the whole two mile hike by himself! He was pretty tired. Hanalei was gorgeous and we were on a beach all by ourselves. The next day we just hung out at the beach all day and buggy boarded, paddle boarded and played volleyball. That evening we left and the cruise took us slowly by the entire Napali coast which was so beautiful to see.

Besides all the day trips we all ate dinner together on the ship, played games and hung out.

Abigail and Levi loved the windows, but Abigail broke a wine glass and candle holder, so we had to put an end to that.

Abigail loved the spaghetti but made a huge mess!

After dinner most of us would go to the live show. Almost every night one of our group got pulled into the act. The first night Caleb even got called up on stage to do the hula... I was laughing really hard especially since he hates dancing. Despite that he did well.

It was a wonderful trip, and I am sad that it is over. Thanks Mom and Dad for putting together such an amazing vacation for all of us and giving us the opportunity to be together as a family and celebrate your anniversary together with you. I love you and your are the best.