Ostlers in Oahu

You read that right!  Christmas this year was unbelievable!

About a year ago, Annie and Victor moved to Okinawa, Japan.  We quickly realized how far away that is and so we all comprised and agreed that we would meet in the middle for Christmas.  As luck would have it, Hawaii was about halfway from Japan and UT/AZ.  Rough, right?  Through a lot of planning and saving, it actually happened!

Melanie and Will flew to Arizona on the Saturday before Christmas which was so fun to have them here.  Then on Christmas Eve, we all flew out together to Honolulu for our first official Mele Kalikimaka!  It was very nice having Will & Mel with us on the long flights helping out with our well traveled toddler.  Christmas Eve we had a great dinner at the hotel with everybody except our missionary sister, Camille.  Michael and I also got to talk to his missionary brother in the Philippines.  It was great to see him happy and safe since he was serving in the hardest hit area, Tacloban.  We also had our traditional (with a twist) family night where we read the incredible accounts of the Savior's birth in the scriptures together as a family.  Laila didn't make it to this part of the night.  She practically fell asleep mid-wave at dinner due to the time difference.

We thought we would miss having a White Christmas, but I have to say, it was a pretty good trade.  We walked the two blocks to the beach Christmas day except for when we rushed to the hotel so that we could enjoy skyping with Camille in Guatemala.  She's amazing -by the way.

The rest of the week we bounced around different beaches, went to the Laie Temple, Pearl Harbor, North Shore, the Polynesian Cultural Center, "Saving Mr. Banks," church, the Pineapple Plantation, and Waimea Falls.  Melanie, Michael, and Victor went Sky Diving!  It was a fully packed week in paradise!

Most of the week we stayed in beautiful ocean view rooms at the Hilton on Waikiki Beach.  For two nights some of stayed at the JW Marriott on the other side of Honolulu next to the Disney Resort on a quiet cove.  We got upgraded to an amazingly HUGE suite with an incredible view.  It was fun to have access to some fun beach toys like a kayak and beach chairs.  Laila loved every second of beach time.  She loved burying herself in the sand and she loved jumping in waves. She was pretty dang adorable and such a trooper all week!

 ^My Aoteoroa Man.  I've got to get him to New Zealand!

 ^My cute parents going for a kayak ride

Our red eye flight home made leaving that much more awful.  Laila slept for the first few hours but when she couldn't wiggle around and stretch out, she woke up and was complacent with watching "shows" while her mom and dad slept off and on.  This is how she was most of the flight: (The diaper on top helped her fit into the headphones. ha!) 

As we were landing, Laila crashed and soon after we all slept until noon! We were exhausted!

Being in Hawaii feels like a dream now.  We loved that we were able to go and spend some much needed time with family.  We are extremely blessed to be a part of the Ostler family! So many great memories!