We had so many fun family adventures and memories. Lots of surfing, being buried in the sand and endless amounts of shaved ice! I'm writing about this 10 months after we have moved (so behind.....) and talking about Hawaii makes me want to cry. I miss 75 degree weather all day and all year long! It is seriously such an amazing place, and to top it off the people are pretty incredible too. The locals in our ward were so down to earth and had such a love for everyone, even the transient military families who come and go. 

I loved the way the people live. It's a very simple life. There aren't a ton of stores over there and online shipping takes so long and costs so much, so people just get by with what they have. I loved watching dads carry their kids on their shoulders (shoeless of course) walking on the road with a fish they had just caught and taking it back to their home to eat. People just lived off what the island provided!
 I love the laid back life there. I loved that people gave a "shaka" when you let them in to your lane on the road, or how they greeted you with aloha and a kiss when you went to church. It really is a special place there!

Among all the amazing people, the beautiful blue water, fine sand and the mountains was not hard to fall in love with either and we miss all the adventures we had during those three years. It's been a hard adjustment trying to find what we love to do in Maryland as a family. Hawaii just made it is so easy! You could go to 15 different beaches in 20min or hike 15 different routes a few minutes from our house. It was such a great time for our family and we feel so lucky that we got to experience it all for three years! The last few weeks before we moved we crammed as much beach and pool time with our friends.