The Manning Family: Hawaii - August 11-18 2010

Here are some pictures from our Hawaii trip. I didn't blog earlier because I've been so busy. We stayed a week in Oahu to vacation and for Drew's brother's wedding. It was such a great vacation. Going to the most beautiful beaches, hiking Diamondhead, going to the PCC, and hanging out with family. I won't go into much detail of what we did because I honestly don't remember anymore, but Drew wanted to write a little about our trip:

I tend to have the better memory so I'll write some detail about our trip since it was such an awesome vacation. So, luckily, I have a childhood friend that lives out in Honolulu that let us stay with him during our trip, which was a huge blessing. They were so nice and generous for letting us stay there. The trip over there went well and Kalea did great on the plane, sleeping for most of it and quietly playing. Also I think we both watched 3 movies on the way there, which made the flight go faster. When we got there we met up with our friends at this huge outdoor mall in downtown Honolulu and ate dinner. We were obviously exhausted that night and just unpacked and got settled in and got some rest. The next day was all about the beach. We went to two different beaches that day. We went to Lanikai beach, which was amazing and then down to a state park beach. We ate fish tacos for lunch and walked around. Kalea, loved the ocean and wasn't afraid of the water at all. She was afraid of the sand for some reason. Maybe it's because it was blowing in her face all day because of the windy conditions at Lanikai beach.

The next day we planned on going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Our friends, Jarrett and Tiffany totally hooked us up and got us free parking and we only had to pay $25/pp for the day pass, night show, and all you can eat luau. We had an amazing time visiting the islands of Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, etc. The best one was Tonga where they had people from the crowd come up and bang on the drums with the professional guys and they had to imitate them. The guy from D.C. and Japan were the funniest. Everyone was cracking up so hard. My brother, Darrell, and his family were with us so Kalea got to play with her cousins from Virginia for the first time. We then went to the luau and had amazing food like, Kailua pig, coconut rice, sushi, crab legs, poke, mahi mahi, etc. It was awesome and of course we stuffed our faces. The best part of the day, was probably the night show. Lynn said it was her favorite part of the trip. It was an awesome show and totally worth it. Even Kalea liked it so much that she woke up from a deep sleep to watch it. She was clapping and pointing and saying, "oooooh, ahhhhh".

The next day I had to fly to Kona with my brother Darrell for Damon's bachelor party that night. Lynn stayed behind and hung out with my sister, Elaine, and Natasha. They went to the beach and had a slumber party that night.....boring...haha jk. Darrell and I were picked up by our other brothers, Erik and Theron, and we met up with all of us at Magic Sands beach in Kona. It was a good time playing at the beach with 1,2,3,4,5,6 Manning brothers. Afterward, we went back to our beach condo and had a bbq with some chicken, ribs, and steak out by the pool as the sun was setting. We all had a blast. The next morning we all got ready for Damon's wedding ceremony and laughed as Damon got dressed in his all white tuxedo. All he needed was a top hat and cane and he would be a white version of Notorious BIG. The ceremony was awesome and probably one of the best I've been to. It was good to see him and Lahela married for time and all eternity. We all had to fly back to Honolulu that afternoon to make it back in time for their reception. It was kinda tiring flying back and forth from island to island in such short amount of time. Their reception was held at a beautiful hotel called, Elks lodge, which was right on the beach and had amazing views. The reception took place right as the sun was going down, which made for great wedding pics. The food there was good and we were all entertained as Damon "sang" to his new wife. The next few days that we had left were filled with the beach, beach and more beach...oh and good food as well. We both decided that we will be moving there shortly....as soon as we can afford it!!!

We celebrated my mom's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory. This is a picture there with Jodeci, Kalea's cousin.