hawaii part 1

Hawaii.. Where to even start?? The water was gorgeous, the weather was pretty much perfect, and I think everyone needs to go at least once in there life, if not more! 

We did so many things, so it'd be a extremely long post if I actually went into detail about every thing.. instead, I will share the pictures (I know everyone is DYING to see them) and throw some comments in here and there. 

Scuba diving was by far my favorite thing we did.. such an amazing experience, and I recommend it to anyone to try at least once! Mike and I talked about quitting our day jobs and becoming scuba instructors, wouldn't that be nice. Maybe one day.. 

 Check out that hair^! 

We saw white tip reef sharks up close, which was pretttty cool. But the turtles we got close and personal with was even better.

Snorkeling was not my favorite.. ^

Funny story about the first time we snorkeled- I was terrified because it had been raining that day, so the water was murky and you couldn't see where/what you were stepping on, and I didn't know what was in the water. We were told that the better snorkeling was where the water got a little deeper, so we made our way out. When we got out there, I kind of freaked out and jumped on Mikes back. He was being crushed by me, hit in the face with waves, and we were both choking down water because we were laughing instead of holding our breath.. It was so funny.. I'm sure we looked beyond ridiculous. Needless to say, I am far from a pro snorkeler. 

The second time we snorkeled was a lot better. The water was clear, there were a million and one fish, and I felt a little more comfortable. We saw a turtle that day also, but my camera died the second I saw it (I was not happy).

All these photos were taken with my small Nikon that is water proof. I am so impressed with how well it did on our scuba diving adventure, and I'm even more impressed that it made it 40 feet down, when it says its made for up to 33 feet.. I was very hesitant on bringing it, and Mike kept reassuring me that it would be OK. I'm glad I listened to him. 

first trip to the beach

Now that the wedding is all over and done with, and I no longer have to worry about getting tan lines in the wrong places, me and the Flowers family decided it was time to attempt a beach trip. There were some doubts, and we pretty much planned for anything and everything to go wrong, but in the end, it actually turned out awesome! 

The kids had a blast, the weather was perfect, and we didn't forget anything! Even the water was nice, which is rare for Galveston. 

It was Ryker's first trip to the beach, and he LOVED it! And sierra got to ride the boogie board for the first time, and was actually pretty good at it.. When I tried, I'd fall off, it was sad. 

There were quite a few attempts to build sandcastles, but as soon as we got one up, it'd get knocked down by Sierra the Giant. Besides the knocking down, Sierra and Logan were very helpful in filling up the buckets with sand. 

It wasn't until the end that things started going wrong.. The storms that we managed to avoid, moved in quick, and even though we were just about packed up to leave, we didn't quite make it out without getting rained on. We made the best of it and laughed about it, until we went to leave and one of the vehicles wouldn't start (I blame Michelle and her bad luck). We ended up having to call some of my family to come lend us some jumper cables, and help us out. In my opinion, it made the trip that much funnier. 

This trip was probably one of my all time favorites, and I can't wait to go back, hopefully soon! Of course, since everything went so well this time, next time will most likely be a disaster. Lets hope not!