Hawaii-Day 6

The next day was Sunday.  Sundays are always a little tricky on vacation.  Serena and Katie had to take Kayla to the airport early Sunday morning.  They wanted to get together with us afterwards.  The best activity that I could think of for trying to keep the sabbath day holy was to do a short, easy hike up to Manoa Falls.  We had done this hike many times in the past.  Zach had told me several times that he wanted to visit the rainforest and this was his best opportunity.  He was excited to hear that part of Jurassic Park was filmed here.  I can't even describe in words how beautiful the scenery was on this hike.  I'm sure my family was sick of hearing me constantly tell them how beautiful I thought it was there. At one point I thought of Erin and wished she was there with us to enjoy the beauty.  But I felt at peace knowing the veil is very thin and she was probably right there with us.  I also had the feeling that what we were looking at couldn't hold a candle to what she is experiencing everyday.  So that eased my mind.  But I could tell that Mario was sad throughout the hike.  He thought of Erin the entire time.  It broke my heart.  She is sure loved and missed. What comfort to know that we will be together as a family one day.

Here's a picture from the falls many years ago:

After the hike,we returned to Bellows to rest and shower up before Sacrament meeting.

We decided to attend church near Bellows and it was very different than our military ward we attended when we lived here.  I loved the spirit of that ward and they were very friendly to our family.  We left after Sacrament meeting and spent the rest of the day playing games and taking walks on the beach. It was by far the most relaxing day so far which is good since it was the sabbath.

Only one day left before we fly out the next evening. Those trees with the beach behind it was our view from our cabin.  Unbelievable!

Hawaii-Day 5

Saturday was the days Ben and Katlyn's sealing.  Mario and the boys asked if we really had to go.  Of course we did, that was the whole reason we had flown to Hawaii this exact week.  Of course, I think they were only joking.  But it was hard to pull them from Bellows.  We headed up to the temple early Saturday morning.  The sealing was at 10.  When we pulled up to the temple, we were told the power was out in all of Laei and that the temple was closed.  Fortunately, they have generators and were able to still hold the two sealings they had scheduled that day.  It was a beautiful sealing and I'm glad I was able to attend.  The temple president was the one that sealed them and I always love listening to their words of wisdom.

After the sealing, we left to go get some lunch.  One thing that is really popular in Hawaii is the food trucks.  As you drive around, you see these trucks parked on side of road that sell lunch.  We stopped and I got their speciality, shrimp. 

After lunch, we drove around until we found the "turtle" beach.  Up on the North Shore, there's a beach that sea turtles like to lay out in the sun all day.  It was exactly what I had envisioned because they are roped off and we aren't allowed to get too close.  But it was still cool to get within a couple feet of them.  They weigh over 200 pounds.

After watching the turtles nap for a few minutes, we headed out to the famous Matsumoto Shaved Ice in Haleiwa.  I don't really know why this place is famous because there are places all over Oahu that serve shaved ice.  I've been told the other places are equally as good too.  But you come to this one for the "experience."  You stand in a long line and wait while places just around the corner have no line and even offer discounts.  We were suckers and waited in line. It was delicious. It even has some ice cream at the bottom.

After shaved ice, we headed back to "the rock" as my kids call Waimea Beach with the cliff jumping.  They were anxious to try it again.  Unfortunately, the waves were a little too rough and they didn't feel safe jumping.  It is a little scary because there are signs posted everywhere that the surf is dangerous and the cliff jumping can be fatal.  The signs say not to jump but even the lifeguards just say to jump on one side so they can help if you get into trouble.  The boys didn't play much in the water because it was too dangerous that day.  But Mario and Eric had a blast playing in the surf.  It made me very nervous and I was so grateful when we left with no injuries.

We quickly showered off at the outside showers and changed into our nice clothes and left for the reception that was held at Laie point.  It was at a very nice home located right on the ocean.  We had some luau food which was great since that was the only time we had a traditional Hawaiian dinner.

It was another great day in Paradise.

Hawaii-Day 4

By Friday, I was getting really sad.  My time in Hawaii was going way too fast.  I started getting up each morning early and running out to the beach to watch the sunrise.  Most days, the clouds blocked the sunrise, but how can I complain.  The days were filled with sunshine and beautiful skies.

We had a plan to meet the Shumway family up on the North Shore to go snorkeling.  It was Eric's chance to see Ben Shumway before he got married.  They were good friends our first year here in Papillion.  As an added bonus, we got to see his other friends, Serena Moore, Katy McGuffin, and Kayla Cordon.  Apparently Nathan has never snorkeling because his excitement over seeing those first few fish underwater was so adorable.  The spot is called Shark's Cove.  Of course Nate wanted a lot of reassurance that we wouldn't see any sharks.  I am so grateful that I got Mario that underwater camera in Spain.  Although I'm horrible at taking pictures, I love the pictures underwater, especially of the kids.  

When we were at Kobe the night before, a couple told us about a great place to go cliff jumping up on the North Shore.  He said it was safe and all the locals do it.  Zach begged to go.  We talked all the girls from snorkeling into going with us, especially because Serena is from Hawaii and had done it before.  We headed to Waimea Beach just a short walk away. Mario and I were way behind them when the boys climbed to the top of the cliff (huge rock.)  I was shocked to see Nathan follow all the kids up.  

Zach and Eric jumped pretty quickly from the tallest part.  Nate and I went the spot that was about 20-24 feet up and just stared down at the water for a LONG time.  Everyone had already jumped at least once and were begging us to jump down and join them in the water.  We finally jumped when we saw a large sea turtle swimming down below us and we wanted to get a closer look.  Besides, it looked more dangerous to climb down than to jump.  It was awesome but so scary!  I only did it once, but Nate did it twice and loved it.

I think the cliff jumping was the boys' very favorite thing we did that week.  After cliff jumping, we rushed to get back to Bellows to return our snorkeling gear before we incurred another day's charge.  But we made a short detour on the way home at the Dole Plantation to get some Dole Whip.  We had never stopped before but everyone said we had to try it.  Good thing we didn't discover that stuff 12 years ago.  We would have wanted it everyday.  It is a pineapple flavored soft-serve frozen dessert that is only sold at Disney and in Hawaii.

The rest of the day was spent at Bellows and again, we had BBQ.  I wish we could BBQ every night on the beach for the rest of my life.  I'd be one happy camper.

Hawaii-My Birthday

Day 3 was my birthday so it was my pass to do whatever I wanted with no complaints from anyone.  I had thought about spending the entire day at Bellows but quickly changed my mind.  I wanted to do another hike.  This one I had done many times before.  Erin practically ran up and down this when she was 3 and 4.  I had pushed the boys up the trail in a stroller countless times.  I even remember taking Buzz several times.    We'd often see whales when it was the right season.  Unfortunately we didn't see any this time but it was still fun.  This hike is called the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail.

After our hike, we stopped at the tide pools and beach that Eric learned to surf. Then we headed back to Bellows with the plan to bbq for lunch and dinner and just play at the beach the rest of the day.

We did go back and bbq for lunch but then I decided I wanted to go down to Waikiki to watch the sun go down.  Mario decided that we should go to dinner at Kobe Steakhouse for my birthday especially since kids haven't been and it is right next to the Hale Koa military hotel that I had planned to swim and watch sunset.  The boys were very excited about Kobe and it didn't disappoint.  It's amazing how they ate food that they normally wouldn't eat because it as so cool to watch.  Nate loved his chopsticks.  Someone needs to teach Zach how to smile for pictures though.

On the way to the Hale Koa, we stopped to get a picture by the Hilton hotel that we lived in for a couple weeks when we first moved to Hawaii.  It was a cool hotel with penguins.  We wanted to get pictures of the penguins to prove that they really do exist but unfortunately were told that they all recently died.

The following are pictures at the Hale Koa by the pool.

It was a wonderful birthday.  I don't know how Mario and the kids can ever top that one.