Last weekend Josh and I went to La’ie Point for the first time. We snapped a few pictures before it started raining on us. Hopefully we can go back another time when it’s bright and sunny.
Two weekends ago, we finally went on our first hike. It was less than 10 minutes from our house and super muddy. The view was amazing and well worth falling down (twice).
After a lovely (and mostly cold) couple of years in Chicago, Josh and I decided to move back to Hawaii in July. We were lucky enough that all of the stars aligned to make it happen — Josh got a job here, my company allowed me to keep my job working West Coast hours, we found a place to live and purchased it (site unseen..more to come on that in a later post) and coordinated a move across the ocean — all in a matter of a couple weeks.
It was an incredibly tough decision knowing we’d be leaving our families again and living so far away, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Our dream of moving back was actually becoming an reality!
Fast forward a few weeks….we moved out of our place in late June and into my mom’s house for a few weeks (temporary stop #1). Josh left in the beginning of July to start his job and I left a couple weeks later to meet him there. A few Airbnbs and hotels later, we finally closed on our place and moved in at the end of July.
After a few weeks of unpacking and getting settled, we finally feel like things are becoming “normal”. I’ve started volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club and this weekend we are planning on spending time with friends and going on a new hike. I won’t be blogging every day like I did the first time we lived here, but I’m planning on posting all of our adventures and any fun things we do so we can stay connected with our families and friends.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last several months. We couldn’t have pulled this move off without your love and support (and special shoutout to my mom and Tom who are babysitting Nola until she is done with quarantine and can fly over to meet us).
Volunteering a few weeks ago for BGCH. Started our morning with a monk seal sighting and some beautiful weather.
Tuesday was my last day with my kids at BGCH. I was so thankful I got to spend so much time with them and give back a bit!
That night, we went to dinner at Haleiwa Joe’s with Andy and Anna before they went back to the Big Island. It was pretty delicious!
On Wednesday, Josh and I got up and hiked to the Makapu’u tide pools. This was also on our list of things to do that we didn’t make it to before we moved. It was so incredible and such a beautiful day.
After our hike, we drove around the east side of the island to Kailua to grab some poke for lunch. We went to Hibachi as it had great reviews. The poke was absolutely amazing…it might be my new favorite poke place on the island! After lunch, we went to Lanikai beach for a bit to relax. On the way home we stopped at Yogurt Mama for some froyo!
We went back and showered and changed and then met my friends Tia and Mark from BGCH at Goma Tei for some ramen! A great way to end our day!
After a couple days of volunteering, it was the weekend and time for some hiking! Our goal was to do some of the hikes that we didn’t get to do while we lived there. The first one we started with was the South trail to Kaena Point. We had taken the North trail a few times but hadn’t ever explored the South side. Our drive there was stunning. It was our first time to that side of the island and neither of us realized how pretty it was!
After a pretty awesome trip to Kaena Point, we were both starving and went straight to get some poke at our favorite – Ono Seafood.
Poke!
We went back to the apartment and showered before deciding what to do for the evening. We decided on eating at House Without a Key at the Halekulani hotel in Waikiki. We sat outside and enjoyed the amazing weather and a really great meal to end our day!
The next day, we got up and hiked Kuli’ou’ou Ridge. This is one of our favorite hikes on the island and we were really excited to get to hike it again. The view of the Windward coast at the top of a hike never gets old!
After the hike, we got lunch near Diamond Head at Bogarts and then had my favorite açai bowl from Diamond Head Cove Health Bar.
So delicious!
After a shower, I met some friends from BGCH for dinner at Side Street Inn while Josh did homework. We tried tons of different food as it was family style. So fun!
On Monday, we had a laundry day and then met Andy and Anna at Bellows beach to hang out. I sadly didn’t take any pictures at the beach…too much fun catching up! A great way to end our long weekend!
365 Days Of Hawaii 