J & T's Wishes Wedding 5/5/12 SB/SBP/BW *Wedding & Aulani HM TR Complete!*

[CityGirlLost]

Wowza, thank you for reading!
We had Steve Dunlap, even Vita seemed mortified they had used him and kept saying "he has never done this before"... didn't make us feel any better haha

I loved Maxine!! I honestly think had we not lost her, our wedding wouldn't have had these issues. Vita was sweet but Maxine knows her stuff. Actually, we saw Maxine while we were at Aulani, we were waiting for our bus to go to a luau and she up and got out of her car. She looked right at us and then went inside, so I assumed she didn't remember or recognize us. But she is amazing, lucky you!

Yes, I had airbrush makeup! I had Alexie Fonseca, she has her own FB page too. She was super sweet and I loved my makeup They also have a deal for brides if you have I think 4 or 5 girls, they'll do the bride for $100 for both hair and makeup- mine was $120 because I had airbrush, but obviously being from up north, this was a steal! BS was completely awesome!

I think Maxine recommended a DJ named Chuck for us?

I love Maxine. I feel very fortunate that she was assigned to us. I have a feeling it's because I complained about our salesman who did our site visit here on the boards. She's been great so far.

I need to call Beaute Speciale and make our appointment/reservation. Since we're getting married on a Thursday, I'm not anticipating much competition. And your gorgeous makeup, that stayed on, has totally sold me. Unfortunately, it's just me and my stepdaughter for hair and makeup so no package deal for me!

 

[Designer Rose]

I have to ask, where did you get your welcome bags made? Also if you don't mind me asking, how much were they?
Also, where did you get those robes?

 

[tric8783]

I think Maxine recommended a DJ named Chuck for us?

I love Maxine. I feel very fortunate that she was assigned to us. I have a feeling it's because I complained about our salesman who did our site visit here on the boards. She's been great so far.

I need to call Beaute Speciale and make our appointment/reservation. Since we're getting married on a Thursday, I'm not anticipating much competition. And your gorgeous makeup, that stayed on, has totally sold me. Unfortunately, it's just me and my stepdaughter for hair and makeup so no package deal for me!

Yes, I've heard great things about Chuck! Ashley had him I believe and loved him! We tried to get him and he was already booked Maxine is definitely awesome!

BS was one of the first people I booked! (Disney and photogs were first). Thanks about my makeup! It definitely held up great and honestly, it was like 250 degrees.

I have to ask, where did you get your welcome bags made? Also if you don't mind me asking, how much were they?
Also, where did you get those robes?

I got the welcome bags from weddingchicks.com! They were $100 for 20, which I didn't think was bad for custom bags. I actually got a coupon right after I bought them and was so foiled. I would join their mailing list and wait for a coupon code They have a ton of cute stuff, shirts, bags, etc!

I got the robes from Etsy! They were $256 plus $20 shipping for 8 robes, so about $35 per robe. My girls loved them! the seller I used was 'thepalmgifts' and she was awesome. I tried to get them from another seller originally, I asked her questions about colors etc and then when I asked her to set up a listing for me she didn't respond, soo she lost out! I wanted to get them through Amanda but I couldn't find the robes for less than around $35 to send her to embroider, and the woman on etsy I got the robes, with embroidery and shipping for about $35. They were all individually packaged nicely too, even though I took them out of those since I had my own tags. I'd definitely recommend the seller!

 

[tric8783]

So the next morning, I woke up around 5AM. It was pitch black and Josh was sound asleep. I decided it would be awesome to watch the sunrise, so I got out my phone and tried to google what time the sun was supposed to rise, and it was around 6AM. I told Josh I wanted us to get up to see the sunrise. I laid in bed impatiently while he continued to sleep. Finally about 5:55, he got up to go to the bathroom, I looked outside and it was already light out. We missed it He came back in the bedroom and started getting dressed and I was back in bed, told him it was too late and huffed and puffed about it. bahahaha great way to start our honeymoon, right?!

We decided we finally had time to relax and we were going to take advantage, I made breakfast, we ate it in bed, watched some TV and lounged until about 10 or so. Then we decided to head down to the beach! It was so weird that on our clock, it was like 4PM and we were just getting our day started (6 hrs in the future in HI).

We headed out to the beach, where they have a little hut down there. We went over to the hut and asked for an umbrella for the day!

Then they grab an umbrella and let you pick any spot you want on the beach, and dig a hole and put up your umbrella for you!

AND, they're not allowed to accept tips. Score!

Of course we headed for the water! (Not a rough view at all)

Looking back at the hotel from the beach

Did I mention they gave us these little beauties?

At this point, our family and friends were mostly back home and posting pictures from the wedding. There was free wifi all throughout Aulani and out on the beach, so I'm sure people were looking at Josh and I like we were crazy sitting on the beach with our electronics, but I was so excited to see pictures from the wedding!

Around 2:30 or so, we headed back up to the room to make some lunch, Josh couldn't wait to check out the water slides so he tried them on our way back to the room! They have two, one that is completely in the dark and enclosed, and one that you ride a tube and is partly closed and partly open. On the completely closed one, he came out too fast and slammed his knee into the concrete. Scar from the honeymoon? Check! lol

After his mishap with his knee and the pool, we went up and had lunch and lounged around some more. We were super lazy on this trip, so sorry if we're not very exciting! lol Aulani made it completely easy to relax and not have a care in the world, and after the last 8 months we were loving it!


Like I said you couldnt really see the actual sunset from Aulani, but the sky was always gorgeous around 6:30 or so

We went down and grabbed dinner from One Paddle Two Paddle (counter service) and grabbed a drink at Off the Hook
Blue Hawaii (my fave) in Hawaii? Yes please!

Oddly, they use a homemade mixer in this, and IDK what it was, but I think I was allergic to it. It made my lips and gums tingle and burn (and I'm not allergic to anything that I'm aware of), so unfortunately even though blue hawaii's are my favorite drink and we were in hawaii, i couldnt have them anymore. womp womp womp We did some more exploring around the hotel. Aulani is one "lagoon" of 4. On our lagoon was Aulani, a Marriott, and a wedding chapel! We decided to venture over and check out the Marriott and what they had going on there. Honestly, it was nothing to see It was definitely older, and next to brand new and gorgeous Aulani, they had nothing on it. They did have sharks and sting rays swimming around in a little pond in the lobby though. There wasn't much to see and not many people around, so we headed back. They have movies on the lawn at Aulani too like they have at the hotels in WDW, so that night they were showing Lion King on the lawn (I think the lawn where they filmed Live! with Kelly Ripa earlier this year).

We mostly just did a bunch of exploring and then headed back to the room. We sat on our balcony and had some drinks, underneath our balcony was the Olelo Room- it's basically a lounge that serves continental breakfast in the mornings and then at night appetizer type food (no full meals) and drinks. They have a small stage where they have performers every night (think hawaiian/tropical music, ukelele etc). So we really enjoyed sitting on our balcony being serenaded by Hawaiian love songs every night. Our body clocks were still not completely adjusted, so we watched TV in bed and passed out!

 

[tric8783]

HM Day 3, Wednesday


We lounged around again and headed down to the beach- oh, I didn't mention that they give wristbands daily that change by color like at Stormalong Bay. When we went down to the beach, we had to show our room key to get the umbrella and they advised us to get the bands first and then come down. So the next morning, we went to the stand out by the pool, showed our room key and got our bands and towels, then we headed back down to the beach and picked a spot for the day

Yesterday they had told us no drinks or drink service on the beach, but today there was a girl walking around with drinks. She came over and told us there was a convention coming in and therefore there would be beverage service on the beach, however there were only like 3 options. We decided to go with Mai Tai's

I did a little reading while on the beach too

Notice the ginormous stage contraption being built in the back of the waitress? More on this later!
Since Mother's Day was coming up and we needed to mail all the way from Hawaii, so we went and asked the valet where we could buy a mother's day card - they told us Target was a short cab ride away and there was a deal/agreed rate for $10 each way before 4pm with one of the cab companies. We decided to grab lunch first and then head to Target.
I was craving a burger so we headed to 'Off the Hook' and grabbed a quick lunch!

Then we were off to Target! We walked back out to valet and told them we wanted a cab to target, they told us it would be a few minutes. A cab pulled up so we went to get in, apparently it was for someone else (oops!), but since we were basically in it already, they let us keep it. Little did we know, it wasn't the cab company that the $10 deal was with. AND the driver didn't know where Target was. We were slightly nervous, since we didn't know either. 5 minutes and $20 later, we made it to Target! This was the prettiest Target I've ever seen! haha

they also had sweet segways. haha

We grabbed our Mother's Day cards for our moms, and a few more groceries here since they were cheaper than the grocery store across from the hotel. There was also a Starbucks in the Target, and to our surprise it was Frappuccino Happy Hour (1/2 price!) We each got one and Josh googled Charley's Taxi to come get us (our iphones definitely came in handy). Thankfully they did AND we got the $10 deal on the way back. We also confirmed the $55 flat rate through them to the airport.

Aulani also has a 'Holoholo Desk' basically like a concierge for booking excursions and etc. We knew we needed to start venturing out, as much as we were enjoying being hermits at Aulani for the last few days! The desk was normally pretty busy and it was this day too, so we decided to look up excursions on our own on the ipad. Unfortunately, we should have looked earlier. We really wanted to take surfing lessons, but they were only offered a few days a week, and the offerings were full for the time we were there, totally bummed. We also tried to book a sunset cruise and it was also booked! Soo, word to the wise, research excursions you want and book them in advance. A lot of people who had been to Hawaii before had told us we could totally make plans the same day and go, so thats what we figured. This advise wasn't right . Regardless we had a great time, just a few more things we wished we could have done! Once we saw that some of things we wanted to do were booked, we decided to book what we could! We booked a luau for the next night, a helicopter tour for Friday morning and then a tour to Pearl Harbor Tuesday morning.

After looking through excursions for a bit, we took a nap and decided to lay low for the night. I decided to make some dinner in the room and I headed to the gift shop to buy a bottle of Rosa Regale I had spotted earlier and then busted into it!

putting my domestic skills to work.. lol

We got a little tipsy on the balcony, listening to our serenade below. Perfect relaxing day!
We decided to head downstairs and see what was going on. All in all, it's pretty quiet, the actual restaurants stay open late and the bars but there isn't a huge party scene or anything.
They had stargazing a few nights (they pass out a daily planner like on cruises, called the Daily 'Iwa that lists all the activities)

The pools were super pretty lit up at night

Our infamous serenaders

Looking back at Makahiki (buffet restaurant) and the lobby lit up

 

[tric8783]

HM Day 4, Thursday

Surprise, surprise, we slept in again and went to the beach! I don't need to bore you with the same pictures daily, do i?

This day I checked out the water slides and we floated around in the lazy river!

Here I am coming down the slide... lol

After the pool and river, we went back to the beach. The beach started to get crowded as the "convention" attendees started to arrive.

The massive metal structure turned into a definite stage and rumors started to spread about who was performing and when the performance was going to be!

They also set up cabana's on the beach for the convention, and they were being waited on constantly, food, drinks etc. The lagoon started getting more crowded. The hut where we got the umbrella's also rents paddleboards, kayaks, etc. All of a sudden there were tons of people out using the paddleboards and kayaks. We decided they were likely included or free for the convention go-ers, since they weren't so busy or being used before the convention started. We got some stamps in the gift shop and mailed our mortgage and Mother's Day cards and hoped they'd all make it on time!

The grounds of Aulani were so gorgeous everywhere we went

these trees were everywhere, I was in love! They also smelt amazing

On our way back to our room, we spotted a Disney bride taking pictures with M&M!

We had to get ready because we were being picked up for the luau! We were both really excited for this!



We had chosen Germaine's luau, so the bus came to pick us up at 5PM. While we were waiting for the bus, we saw Maxine!! She pulled up and got out of her car, but looked at us and then went inside. Either she didn't recognize us or was in the zone. We couldn't chase after her since we were waiting for our bus, but it was neat to see her! The bus came and we brought our confirmation, good thing because we weren't on the list. Thankfully since we had our confirmation, they let us go anyway! We got our tickets and were on our way (like a huge Mears bus full of people)

When we got to the luau, the beach was gorgeous!

We were given a shell lei and told it was open seating. We were supposed to find a seat and set our lei down to reserve our seat. Our tickets included a ticket for dinner and two drinks. So Josh and I took off to find a place to sit. I almost had a breakdown, it was so stressful!! I swear our bus was the last to get there, the entire place was full, and I swear there were hundreds of people. There was a wedding reception, a rehearsal dinner, and a platoon and their families there that night, so they had several tables already reserved. There were also tables reserved for handicapped people, and it seemed like every single table was taken. Every place we went to sit, we were told "seat's taken". I almost broke down and felt like such an outcast without any friends. NOT how I wanted to feel on my honeymoon. We were so excited for this romantic night, our first night leaving Aulani and "going out". Josh remained calm and kept looking for somewhere for us to sit. Finally we decided we were just going to sit on the sand in the front since those were the only tables left. Once we got situated, Josh went to the bar and got us some drinks.

I calmed down and got excited for the show!

Then the show started!

Unfortunately, we didn't get to pick who we sat with and we ended up sitting with crazies!! (of course!) lol
You know in "How to lose a guy in 10 days" when Andy is being "crazy Andy" to push Ben away? The girl at our table was "crazy Andy" in normal life. hahaha Once we sat down Josh and I intentionally did not share we were on our honeymoon. She told us her and her husband were, and that she was ready to get crazy! She asked if I planned to get up on stage and dance and I quickly told her no... she said, well I am, I'm on my honeymoon and I'm about to get WILD!" bahahahaha Josh is nudging me under the table and I'm trying my best not to burst out laughing in her face... uh huh.... lol

Sure enough, when the girls got called up to hula on stage, she ran right up. She did the moves completely wrong and her husband kept making comments how she "doesnt take direction well"... I guess they were our entertainment for the night! lol

While the show was going, they invited us up for the buffet, we were hungry and ready to EAT!
However, once we got up and got in line, we realized it was like summer camp We got our cardboard trays and slopped on some food:

The food wasn't terrible, but nothing to rave over. We both decided unfortunately, this wasn't the awesomely romantic and authentic luau we thought it was. As the night went on, they encouraged everyone to drink and get wasted and party it up. Josh and I are partiers, but it was just a completely different vibe than we thought it was going to be, so we left disappointed.
All in all, the dancers were really good and very talented !

Oh and at the end of the night, our table-mates got into a fight because she disappeared and went off to the gift shop and came back with I swear like 5 bags full of stuff, which sparked a fight between them. Apparently they were on a budget and her new hubby did not hold back in telling her so while she proceeded to cry in front of complete strangers... Josh and I were thinking, did we just get punk'd?? bahaha

After the show, we went back to our Mears shuttle and got dropped back off at Aulani. Off to bed since we were going on a helicopter tour in the morning!

 

[BethieTink]

Tricia,

Just got all caught up. What a fabulous honeymoon you are having!!

I have no decided that when we go out to HI that we need the sleeper pods. Wow!!!

Aulani looks amazing! I may need to move Hawaii up on our vacation schedule. Glad you and Josh had such a good time.

We were actually supposed to go and stay at the Marriott next door for our honeymoon in 2002. Had to change our plans when I lost my job due to 9/11. Glad we can now do Aulani.

Good luck with the new job!!!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Going backwards.....

Aulani looks great!! We did a walkthru of a room at the SSR DVC thing. Love it!!!

You missed a little detail about your cabana day.... and I so eloquently am going to add it--because had it been my cabana day--I would have been mad, lol. You may have actually been eating lunch during this, but they shut down the pool for a while for an "unscheduled cleaning" AKA kid-didn't-have-swim-diaper-on-and-went-potty-in-the-pool. We happened to be in the pool at the moment and had to leave. It was crazy at the quiet pool so we gave up. I did love how they had balloons all over your cabana. I secretly wanted to crash your party, lol.

Love all your pictures!!

 

[belle2211]

~I am soooo jealous you got to go to Jellyrolls in your dress! Kory and I LOVE Jellyrolls (its where we met the very first time) and I always wanted to go in my dress after the wedding. But since we planned in such a short amount of time and they only had a 7:30 wedding left, it was too late to go. Boo!
~oooh! I LOVE the cabana! I wish I had an excuse to get one!
~And WOW! That fruit platter looks AMAZING!
~I love your Mrs shirt!
~Oh those poor puppies
~I love your seat that fold down! We contemplated getting them for our flights to and from Asia but they were waaaaay too expensive for us. ($5,000 more per person!) Jealous again!
~ Oh they still do ice cream sundaes in first class!!! When I was little, that was all we flew and that's what I remember about flying "first grade" as I called it. It's been over 20 years so I always wondered if they still did that. Yum!
~Your view from your room in Hawaii is gorgeous!
~That man made snorkeling area is my type of area--I won't go in the ocean and won't go in the shark one at Typhoon. Were there any sharks in that one?
~I want one of those Married buttons! So cool!
~Can't wait to read more!

 

[mebbradley]

I'm in love with your photos and those buttons!!

HI looks amazing!

 

[tric8783]

Tricia,

Just got all caught up. What a fabulous honeymoon you are having!!

I have no decided that when we go out to HI that we need the sleeper pods. Wow!!!

Aulani looks amazing! I may need to move Hawaii up on our vacation schedule. Glad you and Josh had such a good time.

We were actually supposed to go and stay at the Marriott next door for our honeymoon in 2002. Had to change our plans when I lost my job due to 9/11. Glad we can now do Aulani.

Good luck with the new job!!!

Thanks Bethie!
Aulani was definitely amazing!
I bet that Marriott was in its prime in 2002! Unfortauntely, now it's totally outshined by Aulani. haha

Going backwards.....

Aulani looks great!! We did a walkthru of a room at the SSR DVC thing. Love it!!!

You missed a little detail about your cabana day.... and I so eloquently am going to add it--because had it been my cabana day--I would have been mad, lol. You may have actually been eating lunch during this, but they shut down the pool for a while for an "unscheduled cleaning" AKA kid-didn't-have-swim-diaper-on-and-went-potty-in-the-pool. We happened to be in the pool at the moment and had to leave. It was crazy at the quiet pool so we gave up. I did love how they had balloons all over your cabana. I secretly wanted to crash your party, lol.

Love all your pictures!!

bahahaha, NO i didn't know that happened at the poly?! We must have been getting lunch because I think we would've noticed the entire pool being evacuated?! lol And you stinker, I do wish you'd come over so I couldve met you!!!

Thank you! Here come some more!

~I am soooo jealous you got to go to Jellyrolls in your dress! Kory and I LOVE Jellyrolls (its where we met the very first time) and I always wanted to go in my dress after the wedding. But since we planned in such a short amount of time and they only had a 7:30 wedding left, it was too late to go. Boo!
~oooh! I LOVE the cabana! I wish I had an excuse to get one!
~And WOW! That fruit platter looks AMAZING!
~I love your Mrs shirt!
~Oh those poor puppies
~I love your seat that fold down! We contemplated getting them for our flights to and from Asia but they were waaaaay too expensive for us. ($5,000 more per person!) Jealous again!
~ Oh they still do ice cream sundaes in first class!!! When I was little, that was all we flew and that's what I remember about flying "first grade" as I called it. It's been over 20 years so I always wondered if they still did that. Yum!
~Your view from your room in Hawaii is gorgeous!
~That man made snorkeling area is my type of area--I won't go in the ocean and won't go in the shark one at Typhoon. Were there any sharks in that one?
~I want one of those Married buttons! So cool!
~Can't wait to read more!

People were definitely turning to look at me in my dress at Jellyrolls!! lol but then once they did, they were over it. Or maybe they were too wasted to care.. hahaha (which was fine by me!)
You should have just gotten a cabana for your anniversary! I'm totally finding a reason to get one again. Maybe for our one year anniversary! I haven't seen them at the BC or BW, only at the CR, Poly and Michelle got one at the GF I think. They should totally add them to other places! (Unless theyre at the quiet BW pool by the cottages I'm not sure since we always go to the clown that Faith hates... lol) and the fruit platter was amazing!!

eek 5k MORE, that is crazy!! Our one way seats first class there were just under 1K each, but when we were looking coach was 800+, so we went for it! I was so excited for the ice cream! haha

You're funny, yes the rainbow reef was all sunshine, smiles and rainbows, no sharks. Just some coral and pretty fish. I took more pictures of the fish, I'll post more!

I'm in love with your photos and those buttons!!

HI looks amazing!

Thanks! I miss it already!

 

[CityGirlLost]

Your honeymoon at Aulani looks AMAZING. Sorry the luau wasn't all you hoped it would be and you got stuck sitting with a weird couple.


Can't wait to read about the helicopter tour!

 

[tric8783]

HM Day 5, Friday

This day we booked a helicopter tour! I am slightly afraid of heights, and when I mentioned potentially doing a helicopter tour, Josh looked at me like I had two heads. BUT I figured, we're in Hawaii, if I'm going to do a helicopter tour, this is the time to do it! I kept trying to tell myself how cool it would be so I wouldnt psych myself out and get scared!

We woke up and I got out the ipad to research it a little more. I checked out the company we were going with, how many people fit inside, etc etc. Reviews said how smooth the driver is, and how seamless take-off and landing was. The helicopter seats 7 including the driver, and they advise you to wear dark colors so that your clothes don't reflect off the windows/doors and affect your views. I told Josh to choose something black to wear and off we went!

We were headed to the Ko Olina Marina. Remember I said Aulani is within this resort area "Ko Olina"? So there is a resort shuttle that goes between the hotels and marina for your convenience. We grabbed the shuttle

The shuttle stops at the Marriott on our lagoon, then at another Marriott Beach Club time share on another lagoon, as well as a golf club resort across the way and then over to the Marina. We got there about a half hour early and hung out in the little park at the marina while we waited for the helicopter to arrive. The park itself was really pretty and totally what we would picture when we think of "Hawaii" just lush green grass, tall palm trees and awesome views.

Our photographer had told Josh how awesome the camera on the ipad was when I had them bring it to him the morning of the wedding, so he brought it everywhere and loved taking pictures with it.

The last of the 4 lagoons at the other end of the park (opposite the marina)

We ventured out to the rocks even though there were signs telling us not to (but we walked along a set path- they tell you not to becasue the ground isnt solid and you could fall through but we went where there was a path so hopefully it was slightly safer)

It was about 5 minutes til our flight so we headed back to wait for our ride to arrive!

And then it did!

Remember how we weren't on the list for the luau the night before? Yep, we weren't on it for the helicopter either, ugh!
We thankfully brought our confirmation again and told them we booked it through Aulani, the pilot made a call and allowed us to go for a ride, whoo hoo! They hadn't planned to have a full copter, but with Josh and I, it was. The other people were super nice and all Aulani guests too!

Here we go!

We were given all the info for a water landing, emergency evacuation, etc etc. Where the fire extinguishers were, we were all strapped in and had our headphones on and we were off! It was so weird that the (propeller?) just started up and we started going up. No runway, no take off. Immediately in my mind I was freaking out and trying to stay calm, eek!

I let Josh sit at the door/window, because he was so excited to take pictures and a movie with the ipad

(I love seeing him excited and happy, it just makes me smile and my heart happy)

Apparently Aulani is on the dry part of the island, so initially we had to fly out to the other side of the island, toward Honolulu and Waikiki. There wasn't much to look at and I wanted to get out immediately. We were having a 30 minute flight, it was only about 3 minutes in and I wanted out! Thankfully, we started getting closer to Honolulu and there was a lot to look at which distracted me!

We flew over the Waikiki strip and coastline, by Diamond Head, over Honolulu the city, and by a gorgeous waterfall. We turned and started heading back and flew over Pearl Harbor. Josh is really into history and etc so he couldn't wait to see Pearl Harbor up close. He got so excited when we flew over like a little kid, I loved it!

On our way back we could see Aulani from the air and it looked so awesome! All of a sudden, we felt a tiny bump and that was it, we were "parked". So weird but cool. Josh and I both decided we were getting slightly claustrophobic and glad we only did the 30 minute tour (they have them for 60 minutes too)

 

[tric8783]

I exceeded pictures on that post, oops!
We grabbed the little shuttle back to Aulani and chatted it up with our helicopter friends. They told us they had heard the stage on the beach was going to be a big country performer that night. They had rented a car and were heading out to venture around the north shore for the day and we said maybe we'd see them later for the show! We went back to our room and changed to get down to the beach! (It was around noon or so I think)

We got outside and i spotted Goofy in the character spot (he's my fave!), so I said I wanted a picture with him! Josh rolled his eyes at me (he is not a character person to keep the story short.. lol), and let me indulge. As we were about an arm's distance away, he started walking away His time was up, BUT Mickey & Minnie were on their way out, so I went in for a picture with them instead.

They have Photopass at Aulani too, so Minnie started to come for Josh (this picture cracks me up because she's coming straight for him as he takes her pic) and then we got pictures of the 4 of us. I just ordered the photopass CD so once I get it I'll add the picture of the 4 of us back!

The beach was suuuuuuper crowded today
and the stage was definitely UP!

As you can see, they also had sectioned off a ton of the beach. Annoying! So, we got our chairs for the day and they told us they had to take the umbrella's back at 2PM to get ready for the event that night. Since we weren't convention go-ers and weren't going to get to see the show, this was really irritating to me. I get that the convention paid a lot to be there, but so did we!
Another shot from the beach looking at the sectioned off beach

We spent some time on the beach and the water but were slightly annoyed with so much going on, so we went up to the pool and lounged in the lazy river instead! They have a "late checkout lounge" next to the DVC community hall, assuming they realize most flights out of HI are later in the day, they have a whole locker room with full showers and toiletries, as well as a "family room" with couches, tv, etc etc. Inside the locker room are of course, lockers. So we would go put our bags in a locker (mostly for the ipad, otherwise wed leave out bag at the chairs and I didn't anticipate anyone taking our stuff).

We also got some shave ice

Josh got pineapple I believe, and I got root beer.
While the girls were making our treats, we tried to fish for info on the concert. They told us they heard it was a country singer last name Degraw... so Gavin Degraw isn't really country to me, but Tim McGraw is?! We weren't really sure but at least we knew it was one of them!

after the river, we went back to the room to lounge around and take a nap
mid-day view from our room

After a little nappy, we decided to venture down and see what this concert was all about!
(their cabana's on the beach)

basically all the convention people were inside the gates on the beach with wristbands, it looked like they had open bar and a buffet set up for them. Nothing going on on the stage at this point

When not much was going on, we decided to head to Off the Hook and get a drink ourselves

I got an amazing cucumber lychee something

I asked the bartender for something authentic that you wouldnt have back on the "mainland" and that didn't include their homemade mix since the blue hawaii mix didnt work well for me. He suggested this cucumber lychee drink, which wasn't on the menu yet but he said they were about to add within a week or two. It was amazinggggg and I totally want the recipe. And I want to buy myself my own lychee syrup to make them at home!

It started to get dark and we heard Gavin Degraw be introduced! We headed down to see if we could see much. We stood along the walkway between the crossed off beach and the walls of Aulani and swayed for a song or two

we noticed this woman found an awesome use for her child's stroller... HA!

After Gavin, Lifehouse came out! Now, maybe lifehouse is cool now, I'm not really sure. To me, lifehouse screams my high school experience (am I dating myself? I hope not.. lol) Regardless, Josh and I went back up and got another drink and came back to sway some more

There were a lot of people and Josh hates crowds, so we headed back to our room. We could see pretty good from our balcony and it was so loud we could definitely hear from our balcony. We stopped off at the gift shop and got an ice cream (they had the mickey bars there which are my fav) and headed up. Once we got to our room, we heard LMFAO! I wanted to go back down but Josh was over it, and then once that song was over I think they played a Britney song etc, so clearly it wasn't really LMFAO, it was someone DJ'ing after the main events. Made me feel a little better I didnt miss it

Then once all the music stopped, there was an amazing fireworks show!

 

[tric8783]

HM Day 6, Saturday

I woke up this morning and slightly freaked out, it was already Saturday! I couldn't believe how quickly our vacay was going! We decided we were going to do a little more exploring today!

We got our umbrella and set our stuff down on our chairs and decided to take a walk. We ventured over to the other lagoons to check them out!

Looking back at our lagoon

The other lagoons are all connected by a walking path,
coming up on the second lagoon

They had this sign at the lagoons advising what to be careful of

On the 2nd lagoon was a wedding chapel! (there was one on ours too)

Josh mocked me for completely taking a stalker pic of this random couple:

Then we reached the 3rd lagoon, which has a beach club marriott vacation club hotel on it:

I took a picture of this phonebooth, because honestly, where else do you see payphones anymore? And it was pretty!

Not too exciting really but something nice to do taking a walk with my hubby

We made our way back to Aulani

and spotted another bride and groom on our lagoon!
(Every day and several times per day, Japanese (I assume they were Japanese, clearly I didnt ask them so I'm not sure but) couples would get married at this chapel and then come out to the beach and take pictures. Small weddings, no big wedding parties, usually them and what looked like their parents. All of the girls had big poofy dresses, and all of the grooms wore silver long-tail suits. Every single time, every single day. And every day I kept looking

The chapel on our lagoon:

 

[tric8783]

We were hungry, so we decided to go back to the room and have lunch. On our way back, the characters were out having a pool party

There was this cute Stitch outside of "Aunty's Beach House" (kids programs)

We grabbed a quick lunch in the room and decided to venture some more. We headed over to check out the spa, which was amazing! We decided to book a couples massage for ourselves. They recommended we make one for night-time, since the spa would be pretty empty and we'd have the outdoor hydrotherapy garden to ourselves. Sign us up! Outside of the spa area, there is an adults-only pool

and a pool bar! We grabbed some pina coladas

then headed back down to the beach (our chairs and umbrellas were still waiting for us)
(walking across the lawn where the filmed Live with Kelly (they totally made it seem big on TV but it really was a small area maybe the size of the croquet lawn?)

My pictures are starting to get out of order, soo I'm going to try my best but I don't remember what we did for dinner that night, sorry! haha One night I made us pasta in the room, so I think that might have been this night maybe? Honestly I'm not too sure!

 

[yourgypsy]

I'm all caught up! (I've been terrible at replying. And doing my own TR. And pretty much doing anything online lately, despite being in front of the computer so often.

Oh, man, Aulani and Hawaii are SO beautiful. I can't wait to go there. (Though maybe paired with a CA trip, so as to break up the flying time. It's only four hours from San Francisco!)

I don't know about that helicopter ride... pretty views, but eh... I'm okay in planes, but I'm not a fan of heights at all.

A hydrotherapy garden? I need one of those in my life!

 

[2dogmom]

What beautiful pictures! I want to go there. I took a Las Vegas helicopter tour into the Grand Canyon once and loved it. So much fun.

 

[ladyemz]

Wow what an amazing hm you are both having, very pretty

Your cabana at the poly looks like a great day to spend the day after the wedding to relax, do you know if they have any at GF and if so how do I book please? Look forward to reading more!

 

[CinderALLIE]

That sucks that the luau wasn't the romantic meal you were expecting.

Pretty pics from helicopter ride even if you were a little scared.

Looking forward to more.