Mahalo for Honeymoons: White sand beach and fireworks

Day 4 (July 4): White sand beach and fireworks

It was pretty cool to wake in Hawaii on the 4th of July because it reminds me of why I love the US so much! Hawaii is like no other place in America... and actually I can't believe it really is part of the states! It's so cool to be able to use your cell phone and pay with US dollars, but feel like you are in some exotic country!


So we headed up the coast of The Big Island to Hapuna Beach. It's pretty famous for it's white sand beach and was even ranked #1 in the US for a while! We were there early and beat all the crowds, which was nice! It was every bit as pretty as we expected! Crystal clear water and white sand! I'm not sure I would travel all the way to Hawaii for that though (the Caribbean has a lot of this to offer) but Hawaii is so much more than this! The sun is really hot here, but you don't realize it because there is very little humidity! So we baked for a few hours and then headed back to shower and get ready for fireworks!!!

We decided to go Waikola Village (where all the big resorts are) to watch the fireworks. We killed some time walking around the shops and then had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the water. This was probably the best dinner we had all week! The atmosphere was amazing and the sunset even more amazing! Oh, and the food was good too! The hotel where this restaurant is has a monorail running through the hotel! It's like Disneyland for adults! We were completely captivated and decided that we end our trip on this part of the island!

We watched the fireworks and then headed to a little Bed & Breakfast right on the beach, that we were staying in for the night!

Mahalo for Honeymoons: Finding a Place of Refuge and Golfing

Day 3 (July 3): Finding a Place of Refuge and Golfing

Once again we woke up at the crack of dawn and headed out the door. Yesterday we found a place that everyone calls "The Place of Refuge". It was about 4 miles down a one lane unpaved road. Once you got there, you realized how it got it's name!

It was gorgeous! Rows and rows of palms trees, waves crashing onto huge volcanic rock and old tiki statues that truly took you back in time!


There were hardly any people there so we just explored and found a great secluded spot on the rocks. We jumped in the water where a little pool had started to form.


I read while Jason created our initials out of coral on the volcano rock! This took a lot longer than you would imagine (it's harder than it looks).


From there we headed to the golf course!

The logo of this golf course was a peacock which until we got there seemed a little odd. We got to the second fairway and were almost attacked by a peacock!

They are really intimidating in person! These were wild ones, but didn't seemed scared of people and as it approached the cart I totally freaked out! It was hysterical! We were literally chased away by the peacock! The views from this course were amazing, the pictures really don't do it justice!

It's a locals course so it's a good find if you are ever there and want to play some golf!

We were totally exhausted at the end of the day! Sun and golf had taken it out of both of us, so we bought a frozen pizza and headed back to the bungalow to drink some wine and eat pizza!

Mahalo for Honeymoons: Exploring and Relaxing

Day 2 (July 2): Kayaking and Snorkeling with a side of Relaxation

We woke up about 5am Hawaii time! I'm not sure if it was the sun coming up, the roosters that roamed freely around the grounds of the bungalow or the time change but we were awake this early almost every day! It was great because we were able to wake up, eat breakfast, drink fresh grown Kona coffee and head out the door before most people got out of bed!

Our Bungalow was up the mountain that overlooked Kealakekua Bay so we decided to go check it out. This seemed to be a very "local" hangout which was pretty cool. There was a group of guys that had set up a kayak rental business at the edge of the bay so why not?

We hopped in a kayak and started across the bay. It looked a lot shorter from shore. Once we got to the mid way point we were somewhat regretting the decision, but off in the distance we could see the gorgeous waters on the other side and kept going. We got to other side and noticed that the shoreline was really rocky and as we tried to determine the best way to "land" we crashed into the rocks! We flipped over and lost a snorkel mask (that we'd borrowed from a friend of mine)! But the snorkeling was amazing and it was worth every minute of it!



Later in the day we went to a place that had couples hot tubs and massages. We were ready for some relaxation after our day of adventure! This place was so cool, it had huge barrels as the hot tubs and each hot tub was completely secluded and surrounded by gorgeous flowers.

Very romantic! After the hot tub you could rinse off in a natural rock stone shower.

Then we headed to the massage tables that were outside!

This is one of my favorites parts of the trip!


We ended the day with dinner at Huggos. The food wasn't all that great, but the atmosphere and sunset made it worth it!

Mahalo for Honeymoons: Traveling to The Big Island

So the wedding is officially over... but we ended the amazing experience with the best trip of our lives! It helps that A) it was our honeymoon and B)that we were in Hawaii for almost 2 weeks. We went to The Big Island, which from what I understand is one of the least traveled islands in Hawaii and let's keep it that way!

It's like discovering a private island! So much to see and so much to do! We could have spent 2 months! I kept a little journal of what did each day, so I could remember everything and hey, you might want to go sometime!
So here we go! I'm going to do a post for each day to keep 'em shorter!

Day 1 (July 1): Traveling to The Big Island

Our flight left at 10am from Atlanta and we connected through LAX. Of course I had to use my "Just Married" luggage tag that my mother-in-law gave me! It was kind of crazy to pass 10am in other time zones as we flew over then! I'll never really used to the whole time change thing. Anyways, the flight to LAX was awesome, a huge plane so I was totally cool!

Then the flight from LAX to Kona was a smaller plane, but a really smooth and surprising short 5 hour flight. I say short because it really went fast! I'm pretty sure that's because I was more excited than a 2 year old on Christmas Day!
As we approached the island you could see the top of Mauna Kea! It's summit is over 14,000 feet above sea level and way above the clouds!

So we landed in paradise at 4ish there time. This is what their airport looks like! It's all outside! That is when you know you're in paradise... check in and baggage claim, even the gates were all outside!

We picked up our jeep (which will later become a bad decision) but at the time we were pumped!

We headed to the grocery store to get food for the few days we'd be at the bungalow and then headed about 30 minutes south to the "Banana Bungalow"!

It was about a 5 minute off-road, bumpy ride up to the bungalow! It was literally in the middle of nowhere! Kind of creeped me out... but a very cool welcome to Hawaii!


That was the end of day 1! After the long day of travel, we totally crashed!

We belong in the zoo!

I took my nieces to the zoo this past weekend and it reminded me of three things: 1)how super cool the zoo is and how cool it is that it's so close 2)how awesome it is to be a kid and 3) much I adore spending time with them!

Isabella loved the lion statues and the real tigers!


This tiger was just chilln' in the water and Isabella wanted to "wait until he was finished" to leave the area! Very cool to see a tiger so close up!


Bridgette bear and me having some lunch! She is getting so big... can't believe it!


Isabella not loving the "photo op" as much as Aunt Beck!


So much fun spending the day with my girls and at the zoo! Go to the zoo and save the pandas!!

Captured Moments

(One of my MOST favorite pictures from the wedding!)

So I wanted to post a few more pictures from the wedding! I now have a few of the professional photographer's photos as well as the other professional photographer that was attending the event, April Carretta!








(maybe might second favorite picture!)

Just FYI, you missed your calling April! Your pictures were amazing! Thank you so much for capturing the day in such a beautiful way! I can't thank you enough!

Getting Hitched in Mo'Bay!

It's official!!!! I'm officially a McKinley! Finally! We had the most amazing week leading up to the wedding in Montego Bay and then had great weather for the actual wedding day on June 6th! It was so awesome to have all of our closest friends and family there! We kept having to pinch ourselves because it was just too great! I have so much to post and I'll do more later, but wanted to add pictures from the week and wedding!

Champagne waiting for us at the hotel lobby!


April and I lounging by the pool on Thursday!


This is my idea of a wedding weekend!


My sister and I at The White Witch golf course for diner on Thursday night


Jason and I before our catamaran ride on Friday! Crystal clear waters!!



Laura and I before the rehearsal dinner on Friday!


Jason and I dancing to David Gray "Be Mine"


My best friends ready to celebrate!


More to come!