Last Chance, McAllister: Hawaii!

Haven't really blogged since I got engaged... so here we go. catch up time.

About 2 weeks after getting engaged, I drove the 11 hours down to San Diego to meet my family for our flight to Hawaii. Matt was pretty bummed that he didn't get to come, and was insistent that I would have no fun without him... but I totally did.

MAUI. It was BEAUTIFUL. Lush green landscape, azure, clear waters. It was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately it did rain a little bit every day. Once again, my organized dad created a schedule of things for us to do, making sure we were able to see everything worth seeing.

Some of the highlights:

1. Everything that had to do with Emily. She is such a sweetheart, a pain in the butt, and just the funniest person ever. I made a list of weird things she said on the airplane alone and it filled up two front and back pages. She is a crack up. One day I came back to the condo with a flower and put it behind her ear to which she replied, "I don't like flowers." I got out my camera to take a picture, cause it was cute. "Smile, Emily!" "I don't like smiling" What a weirdo. Also, she was pretty fascinated by the toilets on the airplane.
2. One time we went to a beach and it started raining. Nicole was on the beach while the rest of us were in the water. Nicole was like huddled up under a towel while it was just pouring down... which we made fun of her for. Eventually, we got her to come in, and when she came in, a huge waved knocked her off her feet, and when she came up, she was totally topless.... And didn't notice it, but we all did. We started yelling at her to pull her swimsuit up, but she didn't hear us and kept yelling, "What??" until FINALLY she heard us and squealed/screamed and quickly pulled it up.
3. Just spending time with my family. It was our last "family vacation" altogether before Rach left on her mission and I got married. It was bittersweet, but just lots of fun.
4. Road to Hanna. This is a really long road winding through Maui. It was really beautiful, and we stopped at little shacks to get fresh fruit along the way. It was kind of rough as far as carsickness goes... Emily threw up twice. We stopped at a couple different coastal stops; one was a rocky shore that was beautiful, and another was a beach completely made of small black rocks which was also gorgeous. Emily was kind of a pain, but she was bird watching/photographing with me so that was kind of cool. 
5. Snorkeling! We took a snorkeling trip and it was incredible! I've never gone before, so it was something I've never even imagined what it would be like. It was kind of like finding nemo! We just were among these coral reefs and crazy looking fish, and I saw a turtle! And I TOUCHED IT! One of the proudest moments of my life. Super nerdy, I know, but I was like super proud of myself for swimming after and touching a WILD TURTLE!! It was crazy. And the boat trip there was also really fun. There were dolphins EVERYWHERE. Jumping and freaking out and doing crazy jumps and stuff. Everyone except for me mom and dad fell asleep on the boat ride at one point, so we got a pretty funny picture of that. 
6. Macadamia Nut Ice Cream! Best thing ever. Idk if it exists out of hawaii but if it does, I will find it. SO GOOD. 
7. Bugging my family by being on the phone with Matthew all the time :)