If you follow me on Facebook, you might know that for the past ten days I’ve been traveling with my husband’s family, visiting the beautiful islands of Hawaii! It’s a trip I never thought we’d be able to take, but Ken’s mother treated all five of her kids and their spouses to this trip of a lifetime. It’s not easy to coordinate the work and family schedules of 10 people—including two of us who were waiting for grandbabies to be born! But it all worked out, the babies haven’t come yet, and oh, what an amazing time we had! A picture truly is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let the photos tell the highlights of our trip (with the help of a few short captions).
We flew into Honolulu and enjoyed a couple of days staying in an airbnb by the beach.
One of my favorite things about the trip was the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets we saw, especially those over the ocean. This was early in the morning our first full day there.
It was amazing to watch the kitesurfers—dozens of them!—over the water! Looks terrifying, but so pretty and colorful!
Another favorite thing was just spending time with this family I’ve been part of for over 40 years now. Couldn’t love them more, and it was so wonderful to hang out with the four from California for an extended time.
The Pearl Harbor Memorial on Oahu was beautiful and sobering.
We went to a luau the second night, and Ken’s brother Steve bought leis for all of us girls!
We hiked to the top of Diamond Head (only Ken and his brother-in-law made it to the tippy-top, but most of us got very close. It was a strenuous hike, but not difficult and SO rewarding!)
Our third morning there, we boarded a cruise ship and spent a full week cruising the islands. We stopped every day and created our own excursions (thanks to Ken’s brother, who is a great trip-planner!) This gave us so much freedom to see what we wanted to see.
We snorkeled twice. First on Maui, where Ken’s mom snorkeled for the first time at 83! I just love her adventurous spirit!
Ken and I had never snorkeled before either. It took some practice but by the end of the trip we were loving it!
My biggest problem was I kept wanting to smile underwater! The photographer reminded me snorkels and smiles don’t mix! 🙂
Our second time to snorkel was along the Kona Coast on an amazing excursion to swim with the dolphins in the open ocean!
Our crew helped us find 50-60 dolphins and then let us slide into the water and swim with them!
This was my favorite moment (not fully captured on film) of the entire trip! This is me after a dolphin twirled up and shot out of the water RIGHT in front of me. Then his pod mates swam by me, close enough to touch. (But alas, touching dolphins in the open water is a no-no.) I can’t even describe how incredible this experience was! My brother-in-law swimming beside me said he could hear me “giggling” underwater. (Actually, I was squealing with delight! UNbelievable!!)
Such beautiful scenery everywhere you look!
Waterfalls along the Road to Hana on Maui.
Beautiful flowers and trees everywhere you look!
The next few photos are scenes from the Waimea Canyon on Kauai.
This family is so much fun! And we enjoyed trying so many different kinds of food. (Diet starts tomorrow!)
There are chickens and roosters everywhere on the islands, especially Kauai. We saw pigs rooting in the muddy ditches and all kinds of birds and other creatures, including a pretty green gecko who wanted to share my shave ice!
Don’t let those serious looks fool you! There was much laughter every day…just not while taking this photo! (The photographer NEVER told us when he was taking a shot, so we were all a little deer-in-the-headlights. This was the best shot we got from all the photos. Still, the Raneys clean up pretty nice. 😉
Meals aboard the ship were delicious and were great times of sharing family memories, and especially remembering Ken’s dad who passed away over twenty years ago, but is always in our hearts.
One last longing gaze from the balcony of our stateroom.
Then back to Honolulu for our 3-leg, red-eye flight home. And even though I miss Hawaii already, it’s so good to be home, sweet home! (At least until we get the news that our newest grandbaby is here!)
“What vacation of yours will you remember for a lifetime? And why?”
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Fabulous pictures! I bet you had an amazing time together ..
Thanks, Viola. We really did have a wonderful time with family.
Beautiful. Trip of a lifetime.❤️❤️
It was! And one we never thought we would get to take!
Beautiful!
Once I want to walk by the ocean and see the sunset, too.
And… I still belive, that my best vacation will come 🙂
Now, I admire nature of Norway with fjords and aurora borealis. It´ s as a fairy tale. But in the end, almost every place on the Earth is beautiful, isn´ t it ?
You’re so right, Blanka. There are many, many beautiful places on this earth God created. I’m glad he put me on the humble Kansas prairie, which has its own special beauty. But oh, your fjords and Norway sky sound dreamy too!
Now you make me want to watch reruns of Magnum PI! I guess we had a four year vacation when we lived on Guam in the early 70’s. Hubby was in the Navy. It was similar to Hawaii but with less commercialism at the time.
We don’t take vacations very often. The one I remember was just before our oldest went off to college and before our youngest was even born. We were living in Wisconsin so we went to the EAA and to Manitowoc to the ship museum. So we got to climb through a submarine and a WWII B-27.
As a child we visited my father’s parents in Pennsylvania for two weeks every summer. Mother always arranged historical day trips to places like Philadelphia, Gettysburg and D.C. fond memories.
I thought the same thing about the TV show Hawaii 5-0. 🙂 And like you, we rarely go on vacations. We do get to travel for work, and to visit our kids, but those are “working” vacations. I did do a little work one day in Hawaii, but it was a treat to do so from the balcony of a cruise ship!
What a wonderful trip! I’m so happy for you and your family were able to enjoy all the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. We lived on Oahu for eight years early in our marriage, and our three older children were born there. We vacationed on the other islands while we lived there, so it was fun to see those photos and remember so many of those wonderful sights! Welcome home!
What a great experience to live there for a few years, Carrie. Glad our photos brought back memories for you. (And yes, it’s SO good to be home again!)
Hawaii is on my bucket list, but my favorite vacation was a trip my husband and I made to Cape Cod for our 25th anniversary, 15 years ago. We had not been away without our kids since our honeymoon, so we really enjoyed our freedom, and Cape Cod is just beautiful!
Oooh! That’s on my bucket list too!I think we appreciate vacations more when they don’t happen very often.
We went to Kauai many years ago (we’ve had several favorite trips, but Hawaii is waiting for us to return) and discovered snorkeling the LAST day we were there! So exciting and sad! We dream of returning for more snorkeling. Looks like your trip was fabulous! Special memories. 🙂
Oh, I really hope you get to go back soon, Angie! You would love snorkeling with the dolphins!
HI, thank you so much for the beautiful pictures of Paradise (a.k.a. Hawaii). I’m so glad you got to take such a detailed trip, too. That’s great. I wonder, though, if they moved Hana (and therefore “the road to Hana) from Maui to The Big Island? I’ve been on both islands, but I’m pretty sure when we drove to Hana we were on Maui. Anyway, thank you again for the pictures. It’s a treat to see them, and look back at my own wonderful memories!
Oh! You are so right, Hilda! I edited that to show that Hana is, indeed, on Maui, not the big island. Thanks for setting me straight! We were so many different places in the 10 days that we sometimes didn’t know WHERE we were!
LOL, as long as it was all wonderful — and I know it was!
Beautiful pictures! What a great trip!
A trip of a lifetime for me was celebrating our 50th anniversary in Cabo San Lucas with our family. We swam with the dolphins, but in an enclosed area.
We lived on the island of Cyprus for two years where I learned to snorkel in the Mediterranean.
What a privilege to live on Cyprus! And I’ve heard how beautiful Cabo San Lucas is. That would be a glorious place to spend a 50th anniversary! Only 6.5 years till we celebrate that milestone, so maybe I’ll put Cabo San Lucas on my bucket list! 🙂
Deb, this looks like such a delightful time, especially with loving family members. I’m glad the grandbabies waited for your return before arriving; and love the photos you posted. They brought back lots of memories for me. Aloha, and blessings!
Glad the photos brought back memories. Anyone who’s ever been in Hawaii is blessed, indeed! What a gorgeous place!
Thank you for showing us your amazing vacation.
Thanks for your comment, Mary. Memories to last a lifetime, for sure!
Wow! Deb. Those pictures are worth a thousand words. 🙂 We visited Maui last summer. The Hawaiian islands are FULL of stunning natural beauty!
I think Maui was my favorite island of them all, Becky. Although Kauai was a close second. So beautiful…even on the few rainy days we had.
Love your photos, it brought back memories and those chickens! It was like oh there goes lunch.
Hawaii was one of my memorable holidays. I also went to the 4 islands. I was based on the main Island but did day trips to the other 3 Islands. I loved Kauai.
I just loved the place, weather, slower pace.
People talked about the “spirit of aloha” and I get it now. The slow pace, the easy-going friendliness. It’s a lovely place!
I love your photos! What a marvelous family trip!
My husband and I have taken some fabulous trips together, and I think the ones where we went with family members and not just by ourselves will be remembered with special fondness. There’s not just one favorite; they are all my favorites!
There IS something about making memories together that just makes a trip with extended family all the more memorable!
What an incredible blessing! Your photos are amazing! My grandmother took my Mom, brother and myself to Hawaii in 1981.
In May, I’m going to Israel for 12 days.
Israel is big-time on my husband’s bucket list! I hope you’ll post lots of photos, Caryl!
Beautiful pictures! Glad you had a great trip. Do you think your adventures will inspire a book set in Hawaii? 🙂
It definitely crossed my mind! 🙂 Of course, I’d have to go back and research some more! 😉
Shortly after Roger and I got married we went to Australia to visit some friends of his from previous mission trips. And we knew of some particular needs there so in addition to visiting and sight seeing we did prayer walking on many days! 🙂
That’s an awesome way to minister and be missionaries even on vacation!