Greg Ali Bella & Zoie: California and Hawaii!

We made it back from our super fun trip to California for Mike's Homecoming and Hawaii for a relaxing vacation! We had a great time at both places.
On our way down we broke down on the 55 in Orange, I could not believe it! Our transmission went out on manual. I guess the casing got a hole in it so all the fluids leaked out and dirt got in the gears. Luckily our car was still under warranty by 500 miles!

That night we have a fun time eating dinner down at the beach. We made some of the best s'mores ever! Greg thoroughly enjoyed his.

The next day we woke up early and went to the swamp meet. Shortly after we went home to get ready to pick up Mike from the airport, we were all very excited to see him. We sat waiting at the airport for about 45min- 1 hour and finally we see him. At first we weren’t sure if it was Mike, but it was. The moment when a missionary comes home is always surreal; no one really knows what to do. On our way home we drove to In-N-Out for Lunch…anyone surprised? We made it home and we had a couple of hours to relax before we were going to the Newport Beach Temple. We went to the temple that evening; it was such a wonderful experience. On Sunday we got to hear Greg’s Dad and Mike speak, they both did such a wonderful job!

Later that day we had to leave the Ellsworth festivities to catch our flight to Oahu. On Monday on Oahu we got to drive down to North Shore and get breakfast in Haleiwa, which was delicious by they way. We stopped at Matsumotos, great shave ice…Lilikoi is my favorite flavor. Then by the afternoon we went to the PCC to learn more about the Polynesian culture. The Samoa show and Tonga show were our favorites, they were so funny! We got to attend a yummy luau that evening followed by a awesome night show will some really good fire dancers. We had a fun time.

PipeLine

Where we ate Breakfast in Haleiwa

Sharks Cove..This is the first place I went Scuba Diving!

On Tuesday we woke up early and ate breakfast at the Hukilau Café. My chocolate chip pancakes were HUGE and really good. We then went to Pearl Harbor where we went aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. We got to stand where the document was signed that ended WWII. We saw a great video on the U.S.S. Arizona and were able to go to the memorial sight. I felt so honored and grateful for those brave men who sacrificed their lives for our country and for the freedoms we have today.

U.S.S. Missouri

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

We had to race from Pearl Harbor over to the airport to Maui…so we thought. It is a long story but we sat on the plane 1 ½ hours waited for 1 ½ hours after we deplaned and finally took off. It was miserable and the rest of the day was gone!

In Maui the first day we went to the Iao Needle, which was spectacular and so beautiful. After that we sat on the beach everyday (Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Mon)…seriously. I LOVED it!!! We went out to dinner a couple of times to some of our favorites over there but other than that we just hung out. It was very relaxing, enjoyable, I got a great tan and I was able to do absolutely nothing. We had a great 4^th of July and a yummy BBQ. We watched fire works on Front St. in Lahaina next to the Hard Rock Café which was cool cause they played fun music during the whole show.

Front St. in Lahaina

The day before we left, we visited the Blow Hole on north Maui…where Scott almost dies 10 years ago…seriously. He almost got sucked down the hole when a huge wave came crashing over him but Ricky and my Dad saved his life.

This is where Scott almost died

A GORGEOUS Sunset the night before we left

Last day on the beach!

Monday, was our last day…it was a sad day cause we had to leave! We stopped at Costco and Kmart to pick up tons of Chocolate Macadamias and Milk Chocolate Toffee Macadamias (the best ones).

Tuesday we arrived at 5:30am and got to Greg’s parents home to get some sleep before we left on our long drive back to Utah. Right before we left we had some great Mexican food at the place Javier’s off El Toro. Then we drove back so I could work on Wednesday.

Me and Coco sleeping