Oahu beauty

We drove up to the north shore of Oahu one day and I decided to go east from Haleiwa since I hadn't been that way before. We came upon a great sheltered beach area, I think it was Pupukea beach, that I hadn't heard about before. The beach itself was rocky, but there was a huge sheltered area in the water that had a natural breakwater. Even though it was chilly that day there were some people out snorkeling in the water. The water inside the breakwater was so shallow it was not even hip deep, so when they were done snorkeling they would just stand up. I think it will be a great place to come back to with our snorkel gear and bring the kids. They can walk out with us and maybe there will be some sea life that they can actually see. The kids decided to take a dip, even though my only request was 'please don't go in the water' since we had just stopped to enjoy the beach for a few minutes. At least I had a change of clothes in the car. They had a fabulous time...

Another day we went over to Ko Olina to watch the sunset. The lagoons are on the west side of the island and are a great place to watch a beautiful sunset. I got quite a few great shots that evening. So if you want to be really jealous, then take a look at the postcard shots below - Ok, not the one with mom in it, but the two scenery shots :)


Aloha!!

Lazy days + Adam's Birthday

We didn't go out running around the island every day, we did spend some time at home just enjoying mom's visit. We needed some downtime too. I think Mom enjoyed the thaw coming from MN in February.

Doing dot-to-dot puzzles with grandma

Some stitching & knitting time

We also had Adam's birthday during that week. He turned 5 years old, it's hard to believe I almost have a Kindergartener in the house.

Adam wanted grandma to bake the birthday cake with him. So they baked and frosted and decorated it. Adam opening presents and playing with his new birthday toys.

Hawaii Plantation Village

We went to visit the Hawaii Plantation Village last week, it is very close to the house and I had been meaning to go there for a while. It is a recreation village of various houses and structures that would have been around at the turn of the century to house migrant workers who came to work in the sugarcane fields. It was a long tour (1.5 hours) but the boys hung in there pretty well. The tour guide started out by promising to let them feed the fish in the ponds at the end, so there was a little bribery up front.

Most of the buildings at the site were recreations based on measurements of actual original structures. It was a beautiful day and an interesting tour. They have some taro fields here, taro is what they use to make poi (which I still haven't tried yet since I've been here).
The boys did get to feed the fish at the end and had a good time. This guy below apparently waits for the tours to come by and has a nice meal.

A very busy week

You'll have to bear with me while I catch up on my photos. Mom was visiting for a week and we went out and did some fun things. So I have a ton of great photos to put up and write about. I have to sift through and find the best ones now.

Mom arrived a week ago and the first thing she wanted to see was the punchbowl. It is one of the top Oahu attractions and I hadn't been there yet. It is a huge depression in the hillside which is an extinct volcano. It is a national cemetery of veterans and the setting is beautiful. The picture below looks down into the bowl from the rim. If you zoom in on the photo, you can see just how many gravesites there are there, they go as far as the manicured area you can see.
emorial at one end of the cemetery (note the two small kids burning off energy on the steps...)
When you walk to the edge of the cemetery, there is a great view over downtown Honolulu
Then we drove up the mountainside on Tantalus, a very curvy steep road. It had some great overlooks to see back across the city also. The shot below is looking back over the punchbowl cemetery.
Well, I still have tons more pictures from the week, I'll keep working on getting them posted.

Beach Weekend

It's been a little cool for the beach most days, breezy and overcast but we went a couple times this past weekend to make up for the days we didn't go! The kids had a good time and on Monday the beach was pretty crowded because of President's day holiday.

Adam and Cole are getting pretty fearless in the waves now. Adam will charge right in and plow through the waves to get out where he can swim. Cole will even walk in through the big waves if I hold his hand. Now I just want it to warm up a few degrees more so it's not quite so chilly when we get back out of the water! (I know, all you Midwest folks reading this are not having any sympathy)


Adam had such a good time playing along the waves. He ran and jumped and spun in the surf, it was fun just to watch him.
While we were digging in the sand, we found a tiny, baby crab (he's got it in his fingers studying it below). Cole had the best time playing with this poor thing. It would keep trying to run away and Cole would catch him and bring him back again.
For some reason the kids LOVE getting buried in sand. 'Dig me a hole Daddy!' is a common theme when we go to the beach. Of course they always ask daddy because he digs deeper holes than I do!

Manana Trail

There are tons of incredible hiking trails on Oahu, a lot of which are too difficult for the kids to do. Friends of ours who have young kids recommended this one, the Manana trail (whenever I hear that name I automatically start humming the Mananana na na, na na na song from the Muppets in my head!).

This trail runs along the top of a ridge so the views are panoramic and spectacular. We just kept driving up, up, and up to get to the trailhead. The trail itself was not very steep and the kids walked in for quite a ways. We could have brought the stroller, most of the areas were smooth enough for the jogging stroller.

Since I have a whole book that I got on hiking and swimming spots on Oahu, we need to try more of these trails out.


Our snack break - looked like a good spot to sit down
Cole loved this little nook, it is one of the legs for high voltage power lines that cross the trail. He kept saying he was a statue and would wedge himself in there.

New Digi

I am falling very far behind on my scrapbooking, but here is my latest