Aloha, Oahu Family Vacation Recap
Aloha,
We did a family trip to Oahu in June, and it was AMAZING! There was 16 of us, yes 16, which was a lot. I was pretty nervous about such a large group going, and the fact that is was my side of the family and Carey's side made it a little interesting as well. We had been talking about doing this for a couple of years though so finally just pulled the trigger.
We decided on Oahu because there is just so much to see and do there, I wanted to make sure everyone got the vacation they were looking for so Oahu it was.
First things first, where are we going to stay with all these people? Carey and I have always seen these luxury destination homes and always talked about how fun it would be to rent out with a group of people, so finally took this opportunity to do it! We found this beautiful home on VRBO and booked it right away. There were quite a bit of homes to choose from, but this one had the main house plus four little what they call cottages on the property so everyone could have their own space, bathrooms and what not. It ended up being the perfect set up for us.
Little did I know getting the house nailed down was going to be the easy part! Trying to coordinate and organize so many people took a lot of time and energy. To make things run smoothly once we got there, I put together an itinerary and little agenda ahead of time and sent out emails getting head counts for all the different activities. So we booked everything ahead of time and went into the vacation knowing precisely what to expect.
I hadn't been to Oahu since I was a kid, so I turned to you guys and got so many great recommendations and then with some additional help from a few of you (thanks Debbie) as well as trip advisor we had a pretty legit itinerary, which I will share for those that are interested. It is a pretty full itinerary, put together for people to pick and choose what they wanted to do, those who did everything were pretty tuckered out by the end!
Tuesday June 11th:
Arrive / Check in at the house /Costco
Free time / Dinner at the house
Sunset hike: 6:00pm Makapuu Lighthouse Trail
Wednesday June 12th:
Hike: 5:30am - 7:00 am Diamond Head ($1 entry fee, $5 parking)
8:30 am Skydiving with Pacific Skydiving
2:00 - 4:00 pm Surf lessons with HookUp Surfing (The staff made this so fun!)
Dinner at house
Thursday June 13th:
Tour North Shore 7am (all day)
Friday June 14th:
7am -10am Dolphin Excursion
2:30pm Moana waterfall hike (our favorite hike!)
Dinner at house
Saturday June 15th:
Hike: Koko head 5:am -8am
FREE Day
5pm - 9pm Paradise Cove Luau
Sunday June 16th:
8:30am Zip Lining at Kualoa Ranch
FREE evening
Everything we did was pretty fun and would probably recommend all of it. The group's top picks were the sky diving, the dolphin excursion and the zip lining. The zip lining was nothing too crazy but the location and being in Kualoa Ranch was pretty cool, and the staff made it a lot of fun.
During one of our free days some of us went to the Aloha Swap Meet and it was neat! If you are wanting to do some shopping for souvenirs this is the place! Everything was about half the price you would find in stores.
Our house in Oahu
Millie’s Dedication
At the top of Diamond Head
Moana Waterfall Hike, the waterfall was not running heavy but was still our favorite
Paradise Cove Luau
The beach at our house
Much Love,
