Top 10 Hawaii moments:

10. Hapuna Beach. This beach with soft white sand and clear waters was the first beach we went to and it quickly became our favorite. It was also the closest to where we stayed. For those of you (Cara & Amber!) who know I'm not a fan of cold ocean waters off the coast of California, be assured that this water was warm and well swimmed in!

9. Luau night! We did it because it's what you have to do, but it turned out to be pretty fun. We appreciated the Hawaiian history and culture explained and the mai tai's. We did not appreciate the poi, poke and thong-cladded men dancing as much.8. Macadamia nut crusted shrimp. This delicious appetizer showed coconut shrimp who was boss. Other mouthwatering choices on this sampler platter included crab cakes, beef sate, and crab legs. (We traded out crab legs for the poke, after getting a taste of that at the Luau.) We are definitely going to attempt to re-create that recipe at home. Found this one from Whole Foods that we will probably try first.
7. Our drive along the coast to the other side of the island ending at Akaka Falls. We appreciated the green lushness of the Hilo side, but we loved the beaches on the Kohala side were we stayed. For our drive back we trusted GPS to give us a faster inland route, and it was the scariest drive on a mostly dirt, one-way road that we have ever taken. 'nuff said.

6. Sipping sangria, watching the sunset, relaxing to live acoustic hawaiian-style music and slow dancing (even though no one else was) at this resort:

5. Watching out for 'falling coconuts' on our hike to Kiholo Bay and then spending way too long in the attempt to open it:
4. Putting the rental of 4-wheel drive to good use. This was probably Chris' favorite part of the trip. I admit I had a few freak-out moments when I just knew we'd be calling the rental company to come tow us out and I was thinking we should have spent the extra $60/day for insurance...
3. Sea turtles! I'm not even an animal-lover, but these guys were so cute and such gentle giants and we seemed to spot them at every beach. (I think it was a sign.) We ended up buying Ethan a stuffed sea turtle as his gift. Charlie got a car with a surf board on top.
2. Sunset dinner at Kamuela Provision Company on our last night. We pretty much dined by sunset every night, but this dinner was special and had the best view.

1. Our favorite excursion on our trip had to be snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay. We took a catamaran over to this protected reef and were amazed at the beauty. We were also amazed that I didn't scream once, as Chris reminded me I did many times when we attempted to snorkel on our honeymoon. I'm actually surprised he would go again with me. We enjoyed it so much, we ended up renting snorkel gear another morning at Kahalu'u Beach.