Hawaii 2021

The Ball family went to Hawaii!  Hooray!  My boys are absolutely sick of hearing me remind them how lucky they are to have the Hawaiian experience at such a young age because Randy and I had to wait over forty years!  They just roll their eyes at me. 

The major snow storm hit over a 3-day weekend which put a major kink in Covid testing.  It even made the news.  This was a BIG deal and a HUGE stress getting a family of seven vaccinated within the strict guidelines, not to mention that Randy works 24-7 and Marcus is in UT.  The boys and I ended up going to this walk-up clinic in Seattle that supposedly had no availability and I made back-up appointments at another clinic closer to our house in case it didn’t work out.  But it did work out and we were the only ones there. 

I got a Covid test the week before to make sure the site was actually Hawaii-approved which it was, and to confirm I didn’t have Covid since I’m pretty sure I got it from traveling to AZ with Marcus. Test came back negative. 

Getting to Hawaii was no small feat. We had to rebook flights  to accommodate Marcus living in Utah and the stress of getting everyone the required Covid test within 72 hours of departure was stressing me out to a new level of stress I didn’t know existed. At the end of the day, none of us had Covid (although I haven’t been able to smell or taste for a month now) and April saved the day getting Marcus’s test by telling not quite the whole truth, and Randy miraculously had a lunch break just long enough to get his test. And once we landed we all had to get tested again at the airport. Hawaii doesn’t mess around. 

Reunited and it feels so good!

Parker helped me make a paper chain countdown to when we would see Marcus and fly to Hawaii. We were equal parts excited for both. Marcus’s flight landed first and we all ran through the airport to meet up with him. 

Everyone getting their Covid tests together. They were all sneezing with eyes watering while I watched and laughed.

We stayed at the Hilton resort and it was incredible!  We were right by the clubhouse with a small pool that had a couple water slides.  The boys started and ended every day at this pool.  About a half mile down the road with the big resort with a bay, dolphins, white sandy beaches, and several huge swimming pools with slides and waterfalls.  You could easily never leave the resort and have a great Hawaiian experience.

All the boys together


This is the club pool and that blue slide was Henry’s absolute favorite.  He must have gone down it hundreds of times.  




I looked down and saw this hear and fell in love with Hawaii, and wearing my sandals in February and was extra thankful I got a pedicure. 



This was the grand entrance to the big resort. The size of it was just stunning!


This was the bay filled with natural ocean water. The water wasn’t very clear but there was plenty of ocean life to see including a sea turtle. 


The hotel has 6 dolphins and we loved watching them every time we passed through on our way to the beach or the pool. I thought about paying to swim with the dolphins but it would’ve cost $1800 so we decided watching them was good enough and it was. 

Like all toddlers, Henry loved the sand and throwing it at his brothers

Best part of the first day was the whale sightings. We were so excited and I’m sure everyone laughed at our enthusiasm but it was incredible seeing such huge creatures leaping and splashing, especially since some were really far away but their size made them easy to spot. 

The weather was cloudy but still warm. I was worried for nothing though because we had sunshine every day after (until we went to the rainy side of the island that is)

These inner tubes were a hit in Mexico and Hawaii. Landon and Parker played so well together and thrived not having to spend their days in front of their laptops.