Paradise, Pure Paradise

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The days are starting to blur together with fabulousness. I try not to think of how many days we have left and just embrace the moments of fabulous.

Today we travel to Lanikai Beach. Hector has graciously offered to take us. Seeing the island thru the eyes of a local is such a great experience.

As we leave the Hyatt Regency we are grateful for our stay. It’s a beautiful hotel, with a beautiful view and it’s been a wonderful experience for us. We cram our suitcases full and wonder how we got all of this stuff in them in the first place. We drop it off at our next hotel, The Hyatt Centric which is just as fabulous as The Regency. The manager Dan is so nice and accommodating, he upgrades us to a suite. We are welcomed with shell leis, drop our luggage in our room and are on our merry way.

As we drive out of Waikiki the air seems to change and we are greeted by pine trees amongst palm trees and low clouds that hover over the craters in the distance. Everything is very green. There is so much depth to what is in front of me.

Hector takes us to Pali lookout which is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. This may sound silly but it made me so emotional, I think I almost cried. The depth again, right in front of me. Layers of clouds and islands and blue waters - it would be my wish for everyone to experience such beauty. Skylar ran to the top and I could see all of this embedded in her, beauty touching us from every angle.

Hector explained the islands out in front of us - many of the dive spots he has explored.

I suddenly wished I was an artist because the view I was witnessing would be a painters dream. Again, the layers.

This experience, it fills me with so much gratitude for this life.

We journey on to Lanikai Beach which Lois had previously described as the most beautiful beach she’s ever seen. She was right. The sand felt like butter and the water was a crazy blue green color. The pine trees and palm trees seemed to marry at the shore.

Hector helped the girls blow up the inner tubes they bought and they floated out in the beautiful turquoise waters. We all seemed to pause and just breathe in the beauty. There was calm in the air. And then as Lois, Hector and I took a walk there was rain, strong windy rain. And everyone on the beach was running for cover. We talked of how silly it was that everyone was running from it, when minutes before they were immersing themselves in the tranquil waters of Lanikai. The girls held down the fort and we were all soaked by the time we made it back to the truck.

As we traveled back to Waikiki in the torrential rain I was so thankful. I was thankful that this Hali girl wasn’t driving the rental car we had intended to rent, before Hector offered to take us.

It was still all so beautiful in the pouring rain. You could see pockets of sunshine in the background, Waikiki off in the distance.

We were dropped off at The Pink Hotel as we refer to it. I think it’s named The Royal Hawaiian. The four of us - Skye, Lois, Rio and myself lay on the beach listening to music. Songs like Hotel California playing on Rios speaker and we were as content as one could be. The island brings us each such a sense of peace...

A little white later Lois and I went back to the hotel and stumbled upon happy hour. It doesn’t take us much to stumble and every hour is happy! We ordered Lychee martinis and trios of fries.. Impressed with our new hotel, we enjoyed the ambiance of the fire pit, the amazing lounge chairs, the cute little waiters and the pink hotel off in the distance.

Once the girls returned we came back to our room and Lois and I decided we would stay in for the night. The girls opted for shopping.

We stayed in did some long overdue yoga, ordered a $60 bottle of wine and talked for hours and hours. We had the music playing, the diffuser diffusing and it was a perfect night catching up on the depths of our lives over the past 16 yrs. The girls came home and then went back out to get late night Cheesecake Factory yumminess.

Our hearts are full and filled with island vibes!

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