The Leonetti vacation for 2008... (Brady style)...
We had planned on going to Hawaii over a year ago due to the fact Joe had a medical conference there and Joe and his two brother's decided it would be an awesome Family vacation for all their families and our family would go and then they would all chip in to bring there Dad (we call him Whitey) to Hawaii to see the ship he was stationed on in the war... The USS Missouri. They parked it next to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor... It was significant due to the starting and finishing of WWII. The Japanese signed the surrender on board this ship while Whitey was there in 1945... It was an awesome sight... well anyways back to my story... Mike was the first to pull out of the vacation. Due to the fact his wife was very ill with esophageal cancer...(she passed in March of 08) then Whitey(Joe's Dad opted out of the vacation for various reasons...he states he's too old to fly and his wife is too ill to leave and too ill to come) then Bill got out due to expense $$ and so every one else was out... So were we out too...
Then it was time to pick our summer vacation and Joe wanted it to be really special for Lexi going into high school trip... (we opted out for Europe... Since the dollar is so bad right now it would cost double than normal.)
So we though and thought... and finally came back to the idea of Hawaii... So what... everyone else did not want to go... we are!!! So we got tickets (a month before) and got a hotel(5days before)... and had an amazing time... beyond amazing....

This is the hotel we stayed at... It's called the Monona Surf Rider... it's a Westin hotel.

To Die For.

It's the oldest hotel on the islands, built in 1901, remodeled in 2007... it was right on the beach!
The hotel looks like it's out of a catalog for Tommy Bahama and is as Hawaiian as it gets. Very authentic... We got Lei's and Hawaiian white tea (iced) when we arrived and the service was amazing...

The tree right behind us is a banyan tree planted over 100 years ago... This is the bar out the back walls in the entrance of our hotel... no doors or windows to block the beautiful veiws of the ocean... this is going to be our Christmas card picture... (I think)
Joe was very surprised how much he really LOVED Hawaii... He was so relaxed, tan and chillin. We are definatley going back to explore all the islands...
We did all the dorky touristy stuff... we had a ball... The Dole Pineapple fields!
This in on board of the USS Missouri... we did an explorers tour and had a special private tour of the ship from top to bottom... awesome! The USS Arizona is in the back ground... That was very sombering... I remembered this the most from my high school class trip. This left the biggest impression...

The trip was everything we wanted it to be and more... They are growing up so fast and we feel the years slipping through our fingers of time...