Hawaii Trip

In-N-Out Burger incentive trips for their employees.  If you are a store manager or higher, you can earn a trip to Hawaii every three years when you hit 95% of your goals.  Corey barely hit 95% (I think it was actually 94.something) and was allowed to go.  I guess that every time they go to Hawaii, they go to someplace different.  This time, we got to go to the Big Island of Hawaii and stay in the Four Seasons near Kona. 

In-N-Out really goes all out for their store managers.  They put us up in the Four Seasons for a whole week.  We had most of our meals hosted by In-N-Out, meaning they paid for it.  They also had arranged "buy-in activities" or activities that they found for us to do on the Island--things like a helicopter tour of the island, ATVing, snorkeling, horseback riding, touring the volcano, etc.  We were given $1,000 to use for these activities.  Corey and I chose horseback riding, snorkeling, and ATVing.  Every day there was something different to do.  One of the days was all In-N-Out sponsored activities--a workshop and teambuilding activity, followed by a picnic and concert. 

Corey and I rented a car so that we could have transportation all over the island.  We are so glad we did because while we were there, we discovered to our delight that the nearest town, Kailua-Kona, is the home to a mini temple, the second temple on the Hawaiian islands. It was built in 2004.  We had no idea there was a second temple in Hawaii besides the one on Oahu.  Because it was a mini temple, the hours were very choppy and we had to make an appointment.   But we found time in our schedule and were able to do a session there. 

We flew out early in the morning on April 27th, had a layover in Phoenix, then flew to Kona.  We arrived in the afternoon and relaxed until the welcome dinner.  On Monday the 28th we had a duet massage together.  We then went to Kailua-Kona and went shopping for snack foods and lunch foods for the week.  Then we had a big fancy dinner with In-N-Out that night.  On Tuesday, we went snorkeling.  We had put on sunscreen and reapplied a few times, but got burned anyway.  We were in the sun for five hours with no shade the whole time!  It was cool, though, as we saw pilot whales, dolphins and monk seals.  Plus the view of the island from the ocean was gorgeous and the ocean itself was amazingly blue.  Wednesday was the In-N-Out teambuilding, workshop and picnic day.  On Thursday, we went horseback riding on the North side of the island.  Unfortunately it rained all day and we were soaked after riding in the rain.  That night we attended the temple.  On Friday, we participated in an In-N-Out sponsored photo safari scavenger hunt of the island.  On Saturday, we went ATVing on the north side of the island and saw some magnificent waterfalls.  On Sunday we spent the day packing and relaxing and hanging out.  Our flight back wasn't until 10 pm and then we had a layover in Phoenix Monday morning.   We didn't arrive back in SLC until after noon.

My mom and Corey's mom watched the kids.  My mom watched them from Sunday through Thursday and then Corey's mom (and sister) arrived and finished out the week.  The kids were happy to have us home and we were glad to be back.  It was a great trip!  The kids loved the Hawaiian clothes we bought them too.  I hope that Corey can meet his goals again and we can go again in three years!