Life Lesson #20

#1 Go on a road-trip - DISNEYLAND!

While my friends road-tripped their way to Disneyland in California, I had to work :[ But when the weekend came I took a flight to Long Beach and joined them at the Happiest Place on Earth! Best weekend of my life? I do believe so.

There is no other place I love more than Disneyland, call me a freak, but it's true. My parents first took me when I was 4 years old and I have been in love with the place ever since.

The first day we were there, we had a Magic Morning, which means you got to go into the park an hour before everyone else. We tore that place up! Here we are waiting in line for my all time favorite ride... Indiana Jones!

We went on all the most popular rides, then headed over to California Adventure to get our Fast-Passes for World of Color. While we were waiting in line, Minnie just so happened to stop by!

Minnie and myself.

Did you know Minnie's real name is Minerva?

While waiting in line for Toy Story Mania...

That night we had ice cream for dinner and saved our spots for the World of Color... aka the best freaking thing I've ever seen! Here is a video I took... it's kind of long, so if you want to watch the best part skip to about 2:23 and watch the very ending. 

Later that night, after the World of Color, Rach and I had a dance party in the front of California Adventure and then everyone watching joined in and we had a full out party! We didn't get back to the house we were staying at until midnight that night.

The next morning we didn't get to Disneyland until noon because we were so beat from the day before. We had a blast! We stayed in Disneyland the whole day and rode almost every ride.

All of us with Tinkerbell.

Space Mountain fun!

Splash Mountain!

That night we watched both shows at Disneyland, Fantasmic, which is on the Rivers of America, and then Magical, which is at Cinderella's Castle.

Having to come home to reality after a weekend in a place where you can leave all your cares and worries behind was definitely hard, but I'm planning on going back again real soon :]

#21 Go to Hawaii

Then we went to a Luau which was the yummiest feast I've ever had! I even tried poke, which is raw fish! Hawaiian dancers did the hula the whole time and we even got our own lei's!

Okay, so I know I already made a list of 20 things I want to do this year, but I have a feeling some might fall through and I thought it would be fun to list other fun things I'm doing this year, just to make up for it. So here goes number 21! Hawaii!!

Sunset on Waikiki

This was the best trip I've ever been on! I loved every moment of it and DID NOT want to come home. Here's some of the things we did...

 Me and Haylee

The first night we arrived, we made a beeline down the street for Kuhio Beach!

Daddy and I at Pearl Harbor

The next day we went to Pearl Harbor which was an amazing experience. We took a tour of a submarine, took a boat to the USS Arizona memorial where 1177 men died and are still entombed in the ship, and then took another tour of the USS Missouri which was the very last American battleship. It was the same boat where WWII officially ended and also where my grandpa served for a while. It was really neat to walk throughout the ship's hallways and to think that my grandpa walked through those same passageways long ago.

Me at Hukilau Beach on our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center

The Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie was my favorite part of the whole vacation... can you guess why? Yeah... it was probably the hunky boys scaling palm trees... or this guy...

Mom and myself at the luau drinking a smoothie out of a pineapple!

Mom, Haylee and I

We went on a hike threw the rainforest up to Manoa Falls...

Hanauma Bay

We went to one of the best snorkeling beaches in the world! We were there for nearly 10 hours because it was so much fun!

One of the many colorful fish swimming around in the coral.

Me, Mom and Haylee at the Dole Pineapple Plantation! They picked us a fresh pineapple and we ate the whole thing right there! It was the best fruit I've ever eaten!

Coming home was so hard! I could have stayed there forever! The water is crystal blue, the air feels so good, the mountains where breathtaking... I just absolutely loved every single moment! I can't wait until I can go back someday!

Aloha! Mahalo Cousins!