Aulani Trip 2017 - Day 2 (Mother's Day)

I've somehow managed to schedule our beach vacations 4 years in a row to land ON Mother's Day, which I highly recommend.  Hawaii is a fantastic place to spend the day, plus Greg (at my insistence) gets away with not buying me anything but a poolside cocktail to mark the occasion!  Although Ben did give me this GEM before we left which is more than enough for me:

Our plan was to do nothing all day but have fun in the sun!  We were up early (Seattle time) so we got up, found some coffee and milk and walked around the pool areas before they were open.

 

Ben found this heart-shaped leaf and gave it to me "because he loves me so much".  Ugh, the sweetest.

 

I went for a run along the beach and past the neighboring hotels before the day got too warm and it was perfect.

 Then I met the boys at the pool for my Mother's Day Bloody Mary! :)

Later in the day when we needed a break from the pool/sun, we checked out an iPad to do the Menehune Adventure Trail - which was one of our favorite activities they had to offer at Aulani!  It's essentially a digital scavenger hunt that takes you all around the hotel and as you find each item, it comes to life in the most magical, most DISNEY way.  It was a blast! 

There are also 300+ Menehune's hidden around the resort.  The legend of the Menehune is that they are little men that come alive when everyone is asleep and get work done around the hotel.  (Something like that).  Upon check in, they gave Ben a Menehune necklace so that if he ever ran into a Menehune, they would know he was a friend.  Really cute.

 

That evening, we went across the street to Monkeypod Kitchen - a restaurant that had been recommended to us by many and we were happy to have a reservation for (because the wait was 1.5+ hours if you didn't).  The food was pretty good, but because they were seemingly out of everything we ordered, they brought us a complimentary Banana Cream Pie (their specialty), which was my favorite part of the meal!

Being a weirdo - a cute one.

That evening we went to the Fire Pit Storytelling.  It was pretty cute, but Greg got like 30+ mosquito bites and Ben fell asleep almost immediately.  I enjoyed wine in my sippy cup and had the best time of all :)