Hawaii Here We Come!

Hawaii Here We Come!


As many of you know my mom in law, Anita, invited Griffin and I to join her on her USBank company trip to HAWAII!!!!! Griffin was too swamped with his school load to take a 5 day vacation....so ended up being the lucky one to go. :) This is not just any business trip either...it is won only by the top performers in the US specifically during their 4th quarter campaign. Mom Anita ended up being able to go because her team placed 2nd in the entire USA for small business loans. Way to go Mom!We left on Sunday May 22nd and flew home Thursday May 26th. This is my first real vision of hawaii...from Hawaiin Airlines plane window overlooking the Honolulu Airport. Not too different from every other airport I've been to. I guess I was just expecting trees and green and beautiful beaches everywhere...but still so exciting!
Okay the inside of the Honolulu airport was BEAUTIFUL!! Just look at this outdoor atrium area. wow!
We had a layover in the Honolulu Airport before we headed to the Lihue Airport. Somehow this bird got in and saved me from utter boredom haha.
Kauai was the island we were privileged to stay on...known to be the least populated and therefore most private and seclusive vacation spot. I didn't learn til I arrived that it is also known as "The Garden Island".
From the Lihue Airport, we took a charter bus for about 30 minutes to our luxurious hotel. On the way our tourguide pointed out the darker waters (which she said to stay away from because that is where sharks and other flesh eating fish hang out).
Aren't these trees amazing?
Our tourguide also mentioned how many scenes from Jurassic park, including waterfalls and large fields were filmed in Kauai.
I LOVED seeing all the different and unique trees. It helped it sink in that I was actually IN HAWAII!!!! These trees decorated the entrance to our hotel--the St. Regis Hotel!
Aaah! This seriously has always been a dream of mine to make it to Hawaii someday and because of Mom Anita...it came true! Thank you Mom for working as hard as you do every day in and out and then sharing the benefits with me! You're so wonderful!
We were immediately brought to check in at the Hospitality Suite where complimentary beverages and snacks are provided during afternoons daily. They gave us these gorgeous magenta leis too! This is just a sneak peak of the magestic view we enjoyed. Below is MY bed. Yeah...you heard me right...not our bed...but MY bed. Mom and I each got our own KING. And believe me they were heavenly! I never wanted to get out of bed in the mornings haha.
Okay this might be hard to see what I'm talking about but here is just a little taste of the kind of accommodations the St. Regis provided. I had never seen this before but this is a view from inside our bathroom...looking out into the rest of the room. The bright light in the background is our giant window overlooking the ocean, the beach, the mountains and the outside pool area. But notice how in one pic you can see the rest of the room while the other pic you can only see a white screen?........Well, with the push of one button....called the privacy button we could shower and get ready without being seen. But if we wanted to be able to keep contact with each other and not have a huge barrier between us while putting make up on etc...just take off the privacy button. Quite original, hey?

Our first night we were welcomed by a buffet dinner out on the lawn. I unfortunately only got a picture after the sunset and when everyone scattered from their tables because it started to RAIN! lol If you look closely you can see people huddled under the trees waiting for the rain spurt to pass...which it did about 10 minutes later. :)
This is Mom and me waiting under a tree... :)
What a wonderful first day we had!