Hawaii 2021

Sometimes I bother with creative titles for my posts and other times I feel uninspired and I just write :) Today is an uninspired title day however, I have been feeling quite inspired to write. I knew it had been a few months. I was pretty spot on! Go me. I'm feeling especially inspired because we are on a family vacation to Hawaii at the moment and having a magnificent time. It's 6:15 AM. Maxwell woke up at 5:45 and Patrick at about 6:10...pretty decent adjusting to Hawaii time...and all the adults went to bed by 9 PM. Where's the laugh/cry emoji? The boys are watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and while I'd like to take a walk to the beach and watch the sunrise, I need to keep them quiet so, I'll blog instead. We flew out to Hawaii on March 16th which means we've been here for 8 full days already and it's been delightful. Good food. Lots of sun. Beautiful beaches. Mostly good weather. Mostly well behaved children. Mostly energized parents. I can't complain. Our first order of business upon arrival was to stop by the Costco and pick up some provisions- snacks are essential! We got "home" to the condo and quickly changed for the beach. We headed over to Turtle Bay and enjoyed a late afternoon in the sun. Patrick caught a lizard in the condo just before we left so, check that box off! Now, of course, he wants to catch more. Who could blame him?! it's so fun! Max wants to catch the birds...a more difficult task. Our second full day in Hawaii we started the morning quite windy and overcast but the afternoon at Turtle Bay beach was absolute bliss. Weather was sunny and breezy and PERFECT! So sunny that we all got burned. Whoops. Particularly me and Patrick. Patrick's face and my belly. DANG IT! However, the beach was calm and it was so so so pleasant so I couldn't help but stay out in the sun all day. When Scott joined us for the second half of the day he and Patrick went out snorkling for the first time and Patch was so excited! Thursday we got rained on quite a lot. In the morning we got some beach time but in the afternoon we drove past Teds Bakery and decided to console ourselves with a pineapple macademia nut cheese cake. Scott said we all deserved it due to the weather. On Friday we played for the morning at Shark's Cove in the tide pools. The recent rain and flooding brought a lot of silt into the pools so visibility was suuuuuper bad. Patrick was NOT into it and feeling very scared of urchins and rocks. Bummer. He pulled through and went out with me but was not enamored by the experience and I don't blame him! Even I was scared of stepping down on sharp rocks and urchins. Initially I had him try to float above the rocks and hold onto my flipper while I guided us out of the water. I figured that floating above would increase visibility because we wouldn't be stirring up the silt and that he could simply follow after me. That wasn't his favoirte either. I wound up having him ride on my back while I swam over the rocks and got us to a place where we could walk the rest of the way. While on shore we may have redeemed the experience because Patch found some REALLY cool shells. Like super cool. I got lots of sunshine and time in the water. Max got lots of time to play in the big sandbox...ie. the beach so, all in all, still a success! In the afternoon we headed back to Turtle Bay Beach and Scott and Patrick explored the tide pools there and built a BIG hole in the sand. Saturday was our first full day with Scott off work! Woooohooooo! My parents had some errands to run so, Scott and I walked with the boys to Kavella Bay. The weather was bliss and it was fun to take a MAJOR shortcut across the golf course. Typically we have to walk to the road that leads to the horse stables which takes you in a giant circle but we were able to cut across due to the golf course being closed because of COVID. It makes me wonder though...why is the golf course closed? What more socially distanced sport is there? Anyway...We explored for a bit stopping by the horse stables, the surf side of Turtle Bay, and walked by the historic/ famous banyon tree. It's been in a few movies and TV shows. It's huge and hundreds of years old. Typically you can swing from the vines like Tarzan but they were doing some restoration on the tree. I guess there had been some insects infecting it so they had a sprinkler system set up around it along with some temporary fencing. As we walked along, Patrick was itching to explore the "dark woods" ie. the area with densly growing trees right next to the beach. Finally we arrived and had fun with a little hut someone had made out of the driftwood. Patrick and I played games in the sand (tic tac toe and pictionary) and Scott took Max all the way in the ocean. We also found a few sand crabs! We all went to Turtle Bay for the afternoon and there Patrick found a green coconut to bring home. I had fun watching Patrick try and figure out how to open it. He was throwing it, throwing rocks against it, scraping it, everything he could think of. Finally I showed him a video of someone at the PCC opening one and was like "whoa, we need a sharp knife and spear" and I was like...yep. We do. On Sunday we spent the morning at Wiamea Beach. We got rained on a bit at first but then BOOM sunshine. Everyone had a hard time peeling me and Patch off the beach. We were there from like 9 in the morning until 2 PM. The waves were perfect to do a little boogie boarding. The water was clear. The sun was shining. The kiddos were happy. Max discovered how fun it is to sit on the boogie board too. I would hold him tight and he'd ride the shore break with me. This made Papou quite nervous but Max was insatiable! He loved it and so did I! That afternoon we hit up Bonzai Beach. The rip current and waves were a little intense but I brought the boys in the shore break a little and there were lots more fun shells to look at there. Plus, the storms had made a really fun sand ledge to slide down and jump off of. Patrick made a little friend there and it was a good time. Monday we drove to Honalulu do Waikiki and Dukes. We stopped for gas. We stopped to pick up some new drapes. So, while we left the condo at 8:30, my body wasn't on the beach until 10:30. DANG IT! And our lunch reservation was at 11. Oh well. When we finished eating we were still on sunny Waikiki beach fun about 1:30-3:00 and we'd had SO MUCH sun the day before and so much HOT HOT sun in Waikiki that we all felt ok about leaving. Shocking, I know. On Tuesday morning we went back to Waiamea for the morning and built more stick structures. While the water was murky this time (probably from more rain) we played in it anyway and soaked up the sun. We headed out with Scott in the afternoon to Hukilau Beach and got rained on a bit but, it doesn't quite matter for that beach. It's all about playing in the waves. The water is never clear there. It's always windy. But the waves are ALWAYS fun. I convinced Patrick to come boogie board with me in the shore break. I also got Max to ride the shore break skim board style buuuut, he can't quite hold himself on and slipped off and ate some sand/ salt water and decided he was done. Poor little guy. Scott and I both got in some really fun runs on the body boards before heading home to eat our thrown together "Greek" food and go pick up cousin Katie from the airport. On our way back from the airport there was a fatal accident on Kam highway right by Wiamea and the road was shut down for 3 hours. We decided that instead of waiting, we'd go ahead and turn around and go Kaneohe way back home...which basically meant circumnavigating the island. I checked the reports and the road wound up openening at 9:50 PM which meant that while we would have waited for 2 hours, we would have still gotten home around the same time. Oh well. At least we knew that if we turned around nothing else was going to hold us up even longer. Wednesday morning I went all out and made us banana pancakes, complete with macademia nuts and coconut syrup, bacon, and eggs to celebrate Katie's arrival. We headed out to Wiamea beach because, according to my weather app, there would be sun in Wiamea. Turns out I was following Wiamea Valley in Kauai sooo, while we had lots of heat and intermittent sun...we also got dumped on for the first 20 minutes and sprinkled on here and there the rest of the time. Patrick still had a blast because there was another kiddo there around his same age who had been there on Tuesday morning too. They had met in the water but didn't really play. On Wednesday they played with a stick hut structure and collected leaves to add to the roof and reinforced the walls. Then they started playing over by where the river inlets to the ocean from the Wiamea Valley. The banks of the river had become tall walls of sand to jump from and slide down and the kids were loving it. I was loving the warmth and patches of sun. The lifeguards were announcing to everyone and warning people to not get in the water. The waves were pretty big so, while Patrick played with his friend Duke, Max and I ran around in the shore break chasing waves. It would have been a perfect day for skim boarding but, I haven't seen much of that in a while. Maybe it's a sport that is out of vogue now. Regardless, we had a lovely time. In the afternoon we popped by Ted's Bakery for lunch and brought that home to enjoy. Maxwell fell asleep in the car so, I too that opportunity to stay in the van while Max slept and eat my meal while watching the latest episode of "This is Us" on my phone. The rain conditions continued to worsten. We waited a couple of hours to see if things would clear up. As we drove past Shark's Cove the conditions looked decent and sunny-ish but by the time we headed out everywhere was rainy. We hopped in the car and literally chased a small patch of clear skies all the way to residential Haleiwa and found ourselves at Aweoweo Beach. The kids were excited because there was a playground. I was excited because there were some really beautiful beach bungalow houses to look up and gawk at on Zillow (I guess this is what happens when you reach your 30's) and Kate was content to just look at the pretty views and enjoy close proximity to the ocean. I spent our time at the beach supervising the boys on the playground. They were happy to be doing something different :) On Thursday we had a hot sunny day in Waikiki. Unfortunately I could not find a spot for Scott to reliably work in Honolulu so he felt more comfortalbe continuing to work from the condo. That meant that we left him in Turtle Bay while we went to town but he insisted that he had lots of emails and reports to catch up on and that he was fine with staying. It rained basically all day on the North Shore but he was able to escape to the beach for a couple of hours and enjoy some sun. Waikiki was perfectly sunny and warm and it was glorious. We got on to the beach by about 10 AM and were there until 3. It was so delightful. We bobbed around in the waves. We ate hula pie shakes. Patrick and I even chased the larger waves down the way a bit in front of the Moana hotel. He said "those look bigger over there- lets go!" and when my brave 6 year old boy wants to try something that scared him at first, I drop everything to be there for him. Luckily my parents could hang back with Maxwell who played happily in the sand while Patrick and I rode the shore break. It was a great time and I could tell that he was totally jazzed about those waves. My parents left the beach to go grab Dukes and me and the boys ate our packed lunches and snacks. Maxwell asked me to take him "in the ocean on boogie board" and I couldn't say no to him either so, back I went to "ride" the waves with him. Oh my heavens I love these boys and I love experiencing this place with them. Friday was a FULL sunny day on Hukilau Beach. I'm talking DAY. I could not believe how sunny it was and the wind was so calm. Hukilau was probably the sunniest I've seen it. We arrived by about 9 AM and didn't leave until close to 5. We took no break from the beach and all got a little too much sun but it was SO SO SO fun. We played in the sand. We put on snorkel masks and dove around under the water. We boogie boarded. We splashed around in the shore break. Maxwell even lost a little blue beach truck toy in the water and another kid found it...miracle! We ate snacks. We met new friends. We cought sand crabs. Maxwell even took his 2 hour nap on the beach. It was an absolutely dreamy day. My parents left around lunch time to grab Scott and get themselves some food. Patrick called the shot that afternoon and decided he wanted to stay at Hukilau rather than go to a different beach and I'm not mad that was his decision. It was just heavenly. When Scott arrived we boogie boarded for a little while and were catching tons of awesome waves together. Patrick was splashing around in the shore break and throwing sand clods at us as we rode in. I was surprised at how well things were going for me in my pregnant state and while I tired more quickly of the waves, I was definitely pumped up on adrenaline. Scott and I rode in on two waves in a row and smooched as we got on shore. We'd been trying to do that "move" for years now. Success! Haha. Patrick and I got in several last waves and finally peeled off the beach close to 5:00. We all went to 7 Brothers in Kahuki (formerly the Kahuku Grill) for dinner. Katie had been craving the coconut macadamia shrimp and that was one of her "must eat" meals when coming here. That evening we came home and watched "My Octopus Teacher" on Netflix- a documentary about a man that free dove into the ocean off the coast of South Africa every day for a year and literally befriended an Octopus. Such a cool film and pretty cool to watch it after we ourselves were feeling this connection to the beach. It could not have been a more perfect day. Saturday we knew that the kids needed a change of pace. Patrick wasn't thrilled about going to the beach again (which is puzzling because each time we go it takes great effort to get him to leave...and I get it...it usually takes some effort to get me to leave too) but, we decided that it would also be good to let our sunburns get a rest and we headed into Haleiwa for a bit of shopping in the morning and to hit up the famous "Matsimoto's Shave Ice". We stopped there first actually...probably just after 10 AM...shave ice and icecream. No biggie. Then we walked up and down the streets and stopped in a few different shops. Scott and I picked up a frog guerro instrument and a conch shell. We like to grab home decor on our travels. We were hoping to find this well liked taco truck to eat lunch at but couldn't find it and settled on "Killer Tacos" which was severly disappointing. The taco place happened to be right next door to a ukalele store which was also closed due to the recent flooding. Katie wanted to snag a ukalele for her boyfriend Eric and we were hoping to find a store closeby/ conveniently located. No such luck. Defeated, but still clutching our souveniers, we headed back to pick up my dad who decided to lay low at home for the morning. As we passed Shark's Cove I thought it looked promising and we decided to try and head back there for the afternoon. After transferring Max to nap at the condo, we packed it up with just me, Scott, and Katie. The tide was low and therefore the beach felt especially rocky. The water clarity was absolute ribbish but, we went out anyway hopeful that we'd find some clear spots and see some fish. I brought some old pancakes to "chum" the water and bring out the fish so, after about 15 minutes in the water I dumped the back and while for a moment it clouded the water further, it did bring out many additional fish. I was lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of a small eel and drew Scott and Katie's attention to it. I kept spotting different varities of fishes and pointing them out while Scott coached Katie on snorkling/swimming. It was a fun time and nice, as always, to be in the ocean. I'm always just happy to have my body in a body of water. On Sunday we decided to give Wimanalo a try. We arrived at the beach by about 10 AM but the wind was blowing at about 14 miles an hour and I counted 10 Portugues Man of War on the shoreline. I was grumpy about the wind, lack of sunshine, and jelly fish but everyone else seemed somewhat content to wait it out since we had driven an hour to get to that beach. Close to 11:00 the sun began to shine a bit, things warmed up, and the wind calmed down. The boys found some left behind sand toys, Patrick built a fortress for our sand toys out of nuts and sticks. Max enjoyed all the snacks we brought. My dad and I walked up and down the beach. Scott enjoyed the views and Kate relaxed and searched for a ukalele shop. Close to 1:00 we decided to ditch the beach and continue driving up the east side of the island. Scott and I were thrilled because this was a totally new experience for us. We drove by "sandy beach" and the blow hole. We saw the beach that was in the film "From Here to Eternity"- a favorite of my Grandma Warren's. Scott and I only need to drive along/ explore more of the western part of the island and we will have been around the entire border...which isn't that difficult because it's not that big of an island but still...there's so much to explore! We see something new every single time we come. I suppose it's like that any place though...there's basically always somewhere new to explore even in our own city. Anywho, we arrived in Honalulu to the music shop Kate chose and helped her pick out a ukalele for Eric. It's too bad that the Pono ukalele factory was closed becuase the entire Moore family had a great time exploring their factory and show room when we were here together 5 years ago. Dang covid. Kate found one she loved at a good price point and the wood it was made from was special- a fire-y mahogany. So cool. When we got back to Turtle Bay Patrick was itching to get on the beach again (my kind of guy!) so we quickly popped over to Turtle Bay just our little family and splashed around in the waves and played on the sand. The usual. We rushed back home for "tri-tip Sunday". My parents invited some neighbors over and the kids played and played and played. It was darling. Their little girl turned 5 in November and their son is almost 9. Patrick was so eager to play with them again that he made plans for Monday where he'd "do cool stuff with him and princess stuff with her". So cute. My little charmer. In the evening after they left we stayed up chatting (and by stayed up I mean we talked until 10 PM...I tire especially early in Hawaii. It feels lame but, that's just how it is!). Monday was our second to last day and Scott's last full day off. We knew he would be working on Tuesday so we wanted to maximize the day and squeeze in as much fun as possible. Katie decided to go zip lining so, after dropping her off for that adventure we headed back to the condo to get ready for our 9 AM beach date with the neighbors. My parents have befriended several of the families that live in Turtle Bay and attend their same branch. They're mostly families with young kids so it has been fun to meet them as my parents have grown closer to them. Our new friends showed us Queen's Bath (different from the one in Kauai). It was a quiet little cove just next to the hotel and off a bike path that winds through the trees. The sun was shining bright that morning and there were especially interesting shells to be found on that beach. After lotioning up wiht sunblock, a ritual that takes me a solid hour to do me and the boys, we were able to finally relax and splash around in the shallow pool. The coral protected the little pool from the waves and made for excellent exploring for Patrick and Isla (she just turned 5 in November). I could swear those two were about to run off in the sunset hand in hand. They kept pace with eachother quite well and had fun exploring the reef. Maxwell must have noticed the shallow pool and deemed it safe so, he slowly made his way down the beach all by himself and simply walked into the water until he was waist deep. I was so proud! He did lose his balance for a moment and fell forward. Water got him up to the nose and mouth but, he caught himself with his hands, stood up, and walked out of the water. Again, so proud! At about 11:00 we got a call from Katie that her zip lining had finished so, Scott scampered off to go get her. We managed to get the kids off the beach and headed back to the cars by about 12:30. Max and Patch were taking their time. The kids were playing games and picking flowers. It took us a while to get back. After lunch Patrick decided to stay with his new friend a bit longer, Max took a nap, and Katie and Scott and I went off to Electric Beach to snorkel. It was fun to have a little bit more time as just adults :) The weather was a bit drizzley but we got into the water anyway and the visibility was the best we had seen on the island. We swam out to the opening in the water tunnel and had to work pretty hard. I forgot how long of a swim that was from shore and to top it all off, I'm pregnant so, I struggled keeping up with Kate and Scott. Once we found the opening, Scott hung back with Kate and I explored a bit more. I saw some free divers riding the current and before I knew it, even at the surface of the water, I was being pushed out by the current too...quite a ways away! Finally I made it back to the openening and found the biggest sea turtle I've ever seen. He was absolutely massive. I got Scott and Kate's attention and even told the free divers. They told us I should go diving on the west side of the island with the dolphins as apparently they love pregnant women. Anywho, it was a great snorkling trip. Shortly after the turtle sighting, we headed back to shore and home for the evening. Tuesday was our last day in Hawaii. We spent the morning at Turtle Bay and the afternoon, a most perfect afternoon, at my favorite beach- Sunset Beach. The sun was out. Scott was done with work and able to join us. The waves were rolling. The kids were content. Max decided it would be fun to log roll down/ around in the sand. I wish he'd discovered this particular activity sooner. It was so funny to watch. What a goof ball. Patch enjoyed some more boogie boarding. We managed to convince Kate to get in the water and swim out in the waves. That evening we popped over to the food trucks across the way from Shark's Cove (Patrick peeled off to home with Yia yia and Papou) and enjoyed one final meal "out". We watched the sunset and closed another beautiful chapter of family vacationing. On Wednesday we all had separate flight plans. We dropped off my parents, then we dropped off Kate (but not before one last little jaunt along one of the beach parks in Honalulu), and finally we took off. The boys travelled shockingly well. We made it home close to midnight and boom, back to "real" life. Man it was exhausting and I needed a vacation from my vacation but, it was also absolute bliss.