Spring Break 2013 in Hawaii

10 months ago we booked 5 tickets to Hawaii using miles on our Hawaiian Miles Visa. Complete, roundtrip. bam. Two weeks later, that awesome Mr. B suggests we take Maga as she was celebrating her 50th. (It's actually what we gave her as her present). Mr. B got the airline tickets and I was put in charge of finding us a great place to stay. Since there were six of us, we were looking at two hotel rooms. Alternatively, I decided to look at renting a house. I found the most amazing place! As we didn't pay for the flights, I figured we could splurge a little on the stay and MAN was it worth it.

Poor HeaBug was still fevered and JT was coughing like he had the plague. Our flight was in the evening out of LAX on a Monday. Since we'd booked the tickets so far in advance (for a 12pm flight) the flight times were changed (to a 5pm flight). Our first 5 tickets were placed on hold, not canceled but not confirmed seats either. Good thing Mr. B got it sorted out the few days before we left! We had the confirmed seats but they were scattered throughout the plane. Traveling with two little ones, that is just not an option for me. We asked the lady when we checked out bags and she says there is nothing she can do, flight is full. Once we got through security (Which we flew through considering, little shoutout to my bugs for being awesome travelers) I went up to the desk to work my politeness. I let the Hawaiian in my voice come out a little and took poor sick, sad Hea up on my hip. This lady was happy to help. She accommodated us to put the kids in between Mr. B and myself, Breezer was one row back to the right and Maga was right behind us. What a little Mahalo can do. AND they had leis for HeaBug and JT at the gate, with wishes of "Hope bebe feels better". LOVE!

After the 5ish hour flight, we were all feeling a little like junk. We originally rented two compact cars as it was cheaper than getting a loser cruiser  mini van. But the lady at the desk said she could hook it up with a mom-mobile van. It's all good, we could all ride comfortably together. Plus, cheaper was better!

We left Honolulu, crossing the island to get to Waialua on the North Shore which was where we were staying for the week. Putting faith in Google maps, we finally pulled into a cul-de-sac and it said we were there. Looking around, the middle of the night, it didn't feel like we were in the right place. It was dark so it was pretty hard to see. Mr. B pulls out his flashlight and we get out of the van and walk down what looks like an alley or a driveway. Thankfully it was the latter of the two. We opened the wood sliding gate and pulled the car into the space. There are two units. As we used the garage door opener in the garage, it accidentally opened the other unit's garage. We must have scared them something good! Ground level was the garage, in the front door and up a flight of stairs, we walked into an amazing living room. Even at night, we knew this place was cherry. The 2nd floor held the living room with a fold down queen sized futon situated in front of the full wall pocket doors, dining room kitchen, bar a hallway and a full bath. The 3rd floor housed a bedroom, laundry, full bath, and the master bedroom, also with full wall pocket doors and a balcony with an en suite powder room and bath.

This is what I woke up to the very next morning. Not even out of bed, just looking to the right. Happy girl.

Looking off the balcony.

And THAT sunrise. My oh my, Waialua I love you.


We knew we needed to snag some breakfast before we went to the PCC, which was our plan for the day. So we headed in to eat at Cafe Haleiwa. Yum.

Polynesian Cultural Center was lots of fun

 Fun fact... if you've visited the Samoan Village at the PCC... this is the SAME GUY!

 Ali'i lu'au. Even though she was sick, girfren got up to do the hula.

 We toured Iolani Palace in Honolulu. Even the kids listened to their own audio tours walking through time.

 We celebrated Mr. B's birthday at the Chart House. Poor sick girl was still sick. At this point I was also full on sick, JT was coughing like he had the plague and Mr. B was getting sick. (Breeze was two days behind).

 We loved playing in the "backyard".

 The Dole Plantation was good fun.

 Hiking up to and swimming in Waimea Falls was amaaazing. The water was SO cold when we first got in but we were fine after a minute.

Still a little grumpy

We ate at so many awesome places! We got to catch up with a mainland friend! Thank you Yelp, we were never at a loss for food options.

 We were finally well enough to breathe through the snorkels so we visited beautiful Hanauma Bay.

Hawaii was amazing. We were all sad to leave. The kids and Mr. B are convinced we need to buy a place so we can come back whenever we want. The property we stayed on was so beautiful, it felt like a little slice of heaven on earth. Best Spring Break.

11 years as Mrs. B

Hubs and I took advantage of a promotional offer from the Wynn and headed to Vegas for our anniversary. 11 years. Being his wife. It's the good stuff.

Word to the wise. ALWAYS be nice to the front desk. ALWAYS tell them if you're celebrating something special. We scored an upgraded suite on the 58th floor. Out of 59 floors. Seriously, my ears popped in the elevator.   When we reached State Line, I made a reservation at the Chart House (one of our favorite special occasion restaurants) in the Golden Nugget. We'd only been to the ones in So Cal so we were excited. Again, I made a little note in the reservation that it was our anniversary and here were our special menus. AND they put us in a little booth in a corner. You know for all the making out we do in restaurants.

So we checked into this fabulous strip hotel but we rarely EVER gamble on the strip and since we don't drink anymore, the $1 beers at Casino Royale aren't enough to keep us on this side of town. lol. We left our swanky spot and headed right downtown. To the Cal. Hotel California. It's comfortable, it's fun, it's got low table minimums and lots of Hawaiian people and food and everything. I like it so much I disregard how much my hair smells like yucky smoke when we leave. Roulette is my game. It's easy and with a $5 table minimum, I stay occupied for at least 45 minutes on $50. I occasionally venture over to a black jack table but I get anxiety and all of a sudden, can't add. haha. We had a lot of fun. Fremont street is a trip. People watching is so much better when you're with someone, not worried about impressing anyone and you're wearing significantly more that everyone else lol.Part of Wynn offer included tickets to Le Rêve. We love seeing Cirque shows and we've seen Le Rêve before but free is free and I'm not complaining about that! The show was amazing. Nuff said. 

Saturday morning, we ventured to the new buffet at the Caesars called Bacchanal. We lazily made our way over around noon, making sure we were super hungry (I'm not one to go in to a buffet only iffy kinda hungry). Stood in line for 45 minutes! I spent the whole time questioning if it was worth it but with not a dang thing to do, we enjoyed being commitment free and lazied in line. Mr. B's assurances were right on the money. The buffet was amazing. The freshness and quality of the food... the amazing variety. Holy yum. Though I had high expectations of myself, I only managed two food plates and dessert (which ended up  being a tasting of each thing since we were bursting at the seams!).

We rolled ourselves outta there and took a walk through the forum shops. At work, we regularly change out the store windows for West Coast Burberry stores so we wanted to swing by and take a look at the Vegas location. The walk was good.

 
We headed back downtown as we had an afternoon free of plans. That was the best. Thank you anniversary date, JT's bday, Hea Bug's bday for the winning, winning, winning!

We had dinner reservations at the Steakhouse Botero, in the Wynn at 7 but by 6 we knew for a fact we were still not hungry in the slightest. We decided to skip them. The other part of the Wynn offer included a $75 dining credit to that restaurant. So while we were bummed to miss out on it, I couldn't even think of eating anything.

The show plans for the night were to see Penn and Teller which was mind boggling in the coolest way. It was such an entertaining show! I love seeing stuff like that and I NEVER try to figure things out. I just like to enjoy the magic.

Sunday morning meant heading home. We took off early enough in hopes of avoiding traffic and trying to catch a movie in LB before going home. While the drive out and most of the weekend had been cloudy and rainy, the wind the night before cleared the sky so before we left, we were treated to this amazing view.

We ate a breakfast in the hotel before leaving. This is just a shout out that it was the first meal since the Bacchanal Buffet. 22 hours later. And we only ate because we knew we should. That's a no joke buffet.

It was a happy anniversary indeed. Time out with my BFF, my main squeeze, my fella, my baby daddy, my guy, my hubs, my eternal partner and companion. Love this man.

For extra mushiness, read a little about our love story here.