This week is Ryleigh’s first official spring break. My family and I haven’t had a real vacation in probably 5 years. Working for yourself does that to you, but that changes this week. We are in Hawaii. My first trip to Hawaii was in 2008. We celebrated my 30th birthday on the big island at an amazing restaurant in downtown Honolulu. The experience was life changing.

This week we’re returned to Hawaii with Ryleigh in town but are spending the week in Kauai. I’m looking forward to sharing some photos, but first, I thought I would share some of my own photos in this throw back Tuesday special blog post from 2008 and our time on the big island of Hawaii.

The photo above was from a nature center Greg and I visited just as soon as we landed on the island. I loved taking photos of all the beautiful landscapes, flowers and foliage.

Each time we visit a beach, we love to hop on a boat and see the island views from the water. This time was no different and during our visit we saw dolphins, whales and even did a little snorkeling.

We encountered some dolphins on our boat trip. Just look at the water. I am beside myself to get in that beautiful blue water and gaze upon it this week.

One of the most memorable parts of our trip was a hike up to the waterfall. Greg, myself, Greg’s dad and mom as well as his 80 year old grandma hiked with us several miles and in a beautiful Hawaiian rainforest soaking wet.

When travelling to a beach location, you have to walk along the ocean. This photo above along with below are taken as we watched the sun rise along Waikiki beach. It is my absolute happy place.

Another view of Waikiki before the roller bladers, tourists and hustle and bustle.

When in Hawaii you must enjoy a luah. The fire and hula dancing was beautiful. I can’t for Ryleigh to try her hand this year on stage.

This year I have my Nikon D7000 with me and I can’t wait to see the beauty I capture this week.

One of our most favorite trips while we lived permanently in California was our visit to The Vision Quest Ranch just outside of Salinas California. Our family was able to tour the property and spend several hours getting to know the elephants there. We got so up close and personal on the tour, that we were able to give one of the largest male elephants a bath.

My daughter was beside herself the entire trip. And thankfully, the elephant was patient and gentle. I’ll admit I was beyond nervous when she curled up next to the elephant. It was an adventure we will never forget.

The Vision Quest Ranch trains animals for Hollywood movies and also serves as a sanctuary for large unwanted animals. Prior to our up close and personal visit with the elephants, we toured the property and learned about jaguars, tigers, zebras and a number of other animals, but it was all about the elephants for us. Here are a few pictures below.

The cloud porn in itself is pretty amazing, but when you add into the elephants, it makes for the perfect family photo.

One of the reasons we like Vision Quest is how they treat their animals. These elephants are not caged and are allowed to roam a large part of the property. This was important when we visited the Oakland Zoo and our own Oklahoma City Zoo. Again, look at that cloud porn!

We were able to get extremely up close and personal with the elephants. Ryleigh was ecstatic that she was able to feed the elephant and even bath them. I was most blown away by the precision the elephant had with his trunk. He was able to grab our carrot almost like he had fingers and place it in his mouth.

A video posted by Jessica Miller-Merrell (@jmillermerrell) on Mar 30, 2014 at 2:22pm PDT

Above is a short instagram video I took while Greg and Ryleigh washed their elephant friend. Ry didn’t want it to end.  

  A photo posted by Jessica Miller-Merrell (@jmillermerrell) on Mar 31, 2014 at 5:35am PDT

One of the things I like most about Northern California are the roadside markets where we snagged a ton of amazing really fresh produce and at ridiculous prices like $6 for an entire flat of strawberries. The strawberries there are out of this world. The roadside markets cater to all age groups which you see above.