Wet, Jamming, Bitten, and Chillin

Wednesday the 22nd- Wet N' Wild...yeah for good friends to loan you their truck. The kids and I were only able to go for 2 hours because I spent the morning cleaning the house for a showing. But it was plenty of time for me...I am getting too tired of walking around, up and down stairs, and from pool to pool. Thank goodness Kai and Kezia help me out with Eli. I didn't have to go on one slide. The kids took Eli up the stairs to ride on the various slides that only the little ones can go on. Kai is also patient with the idea of not getting to go on the other bigger kid slides because he can't go alone...so he has to wait till Friday to go with Jason when we go to the Dive-In Movie Night...and some of the other slides are even closed at that time. Eli fell asleep right away of leaving the waterpark...which was sooo packed. Lots of kid day camps were there. Over 4,000 that day compared to 1/4 of the parking lot full on Monday.

We are having issues with Eli falling asleep for a late nap and not wanting to go to bed later when we are all screaming to go to bed. After waking him up from his nap for dinner (which was a chore), we went to the pool after dinner for an evening swim. So relaxing, especially when we were the only ones there.

Thursday the 23rd- Jason got to see the USS Hawaii Submarine arrive at Pearl Harbor to be its' official home. I watched the news broadcast about this huge creation and am blown away and the technologies...much of which were thought up 12 years ago.

The kids and I chilled for the day...laundry time for me and pregnancy exhaustion. We welcomed daddy home to go to Makaha Beach...but instead with not as much time as needed and some fears of the high waves going on, we went to Lagoon 3 for a relaxing evening. The kids love not having the enormous waves to get intimidated by and we didn't want to get home too late. Eli loved playing baseball with dad on the sand. Kezia loves creating Barbie's beach house. Kai had a blast learning to skim board. I loved just being able to put my feet up and watch!!! Jason has so much energy and I feel so blessed that he's so willing to play with the kids after a long and early day at work for him. We experienced an amazing sunset and got to listen to some great entertainment behind us at the Resort. I was really touched when the entertainer sung IZ's, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Please click on the link for a wonderful treat! Listening to this song and seeing the sunset was a humbling and memorable experience for me. I am going to miss this Paradise...and feel so lucky to have had this experience with my family.

Friday the 24th- no parade for us this year. It felt weird not being home to celebrate the 24th. Time in the morning was spent doing various things around the house. Mostly trying to clear some space on the laptop to get our camera's memory card empty. Over 12 GB's used in pictures and videos these past 3 months. Lots of fun memories.

The evening was spent at Wet N' Wild waterpark. This time the place was almost empty compared to Wednesday. Jason takes Kai on some of the bigger rides, while the little ones hang out with me at Water World. Thank goodness for free life jackets and that the workers allow the 2 little ones to go on the rides by themselves with the jackets on. We set up our things on a hill for the movie, "Monsters vs. Aliens" with a large curly fry, soda, and later 2 shaved ice. It was a fun evening out, even with the dumb flying ants and occasional other creatures.

Saturday the 25th--our last Saturday here! We made the best of it! We got out the door at 8 a.m. headed towards the famous North Shore. We ate breakfast at Kono's..yummy Belgian waffle with macadamia nut and banana topping, a loaded bagel, and a delicious breakfast burrito. I love that our kids are willing to try them all. It makes it so nice that we can share all three things and get a variety of eats. An early trek to 3 Tables Beach...good thing because the parking was already getting busy.

We had an amazing time. We ended up staying from 9-3 p.m. (I of course burned myself, but thank goodness the kids were fine.) I think this was my absolute most favorite day of the entire 3 months we have been here. We have done some fun things, but this day's adventures I will never forget. We set up our stuff under a few trees further from the water for the shade. But as the day went on and we didn't want to leave, we set our things up almost at the shore break. Awww...water hitting my fit while I sat in the camping chair was wonderful.

We set out with the kids with the floaties, snorkel gear, and me-a boogie board for the safety reasons to explore the reefs that lay ahead. The water at the shoreline is quite clear. About 10 feet out the water gets deeper and the rocks on the ocean floor appear. You barely have to be out very far to then stick your head under water to see fish! We saw Trigger fish (humuhumu's), parrot fish, yellow and black striped fish, and other varieties just swimming near the rocks. The kids loved it. Jason and I took turns for the day going back and forth with each of the kids and sometimes Jason would go out by himself and I would go out by myself.

Some of the fun things...Jason was being followed by a purple fish, possibly a Parrotfish, and got bit twice on the feet. Kai and Kezia said they saw an eel....I had a hard time believing that, so when I went out by myself I heard a man say, "Did you see the Eel?" I quickly went over there to say, "Where?". He pointed in an area. I swam to look and watched his finger point in the water. All of a sudden he puts his head up from the water and says, "That scared the ___ out of me!" I looked down in the water again to see this huge eel come out from the rocks. I said, "Was that not the eel you were talking about?" He said, "The eel I saw just got eaten by that eel you see now." I looked down again to see that the eel came out again from his home and started to swim toward me. It's one of the creatures I freak out at when it comes to the crazy creations in the ocean. This eel was as long as my arm from shoulder to finger tip or longer. It was huge and it freaked me out after it started to swim toward me. I didn't know if it would pass electricity through me, bite me, or what have you. I swam back and around and quickly to shore.

We also saw several squid (about 10 inches or so long), a fun crab, lots of sea urchins, and Jason got to see a rather big sea turtle. The sand there is amazing...lots of small colorful pebbles. We had a great time collecting sea glass and the younger boys had a blast playing on the boogie boards.

Around 3 we headed further north for a scenic look at one last time at the North Shore. The kids fell asleep quickly. Jason bought me and him a fried banana and some fresh corn ($1 an ear) from a place off the side of the road. While the kids slept a bit more, we parked out front of the 'Growing Keiki' to shop a bit. I found a homemade burp rag...I know I could make it for cheaper, but I loved it and had to have it. We also got a board book and Jason surprised me with a beanie for the baby saying "Bruddah". We drove down the road and stopped at the surf museum and at a surfboard resurrection art display and music jam session. The Artis family (11 kids) was all inside jamming out on their instruments and then you could walk around to see many of the used surfboards painted and formed into amazing pieces of art. Click on the links to see the surfboards and family music.

While waiting to be seated for dinner, Kezia (the little artist she is) enjoyed watching a man paint just outside of a shop from where we were waiting to be seated for dinner. He was painting a beautiful ocean scenery inside a painted whale tail. We ate at Cholos Homestyle Mexican. Not the best food, but it was fun with the family. Afterwards we watched some glass blowing and purchased a small honu (sea turtle) and then headed toward the Haleiwa Bon Dance and Lantern Floating Ceremony held at the Haleiwa Jodo Mission. People gather to dance to Japanese music to welcome the ancestors' souls. There was a variety of ethnicity's there dancing to the music, but my favorite was watching the elders dance to the music performing the necessary hand movements and steps to the music. It was very touching watching them. With all of the culture experiences we have had on this trip, it makes me wish we had more traditions to pass on to our children. The Festival ends with the Toro Nagashi/Lantern Festival. Paper lanterns are illuminated and then set afloat to sea symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits' return to the world of the dead. There were at least 1,000 floating lanterns lit up floating in the dark ocean. It was an amazing site.

Sunday the 27th--I am exhausted and couldn't seem to wake up this morning. Thanks to a loving and patient husband we made it to church on time with fed, bathed, and nicely dressed children. During sacrament meeting the kids made thank you cards for their teachers. They have really had a great time in this ward. Kai emphasized how much he'll miss it, but is so excited to come home too. After church, sleep again for me (now I am up past midnight typing his because I am too awake to go to bed) while Jason made snacks and dinner for us. Yummy grilled chicken, grilled pineapple, veggies, and so yummy sticky rice. After dinner we walked in and outside of the hotel just outside of Lagoons 3 and 4. The kids were envious of the fun pools they had there. We let them play on the playground for a bit and then got another glimpse of the amazing sunset.

We headed back home on the golf cart...to then stop to see the black swans. After telling Kezia and Eli not to throw things at the swans (making the swans believe it was food they were throwing at them), Eli got bit on the hand. His shriek was so loud and full of fear. No broken skin, just tears. We watched the 2 swans head back over to meet up with the 3rd swan. Then all 3 quickly swam back over to us...almost as if the 2 swans went and told their mommy that we were teasing them because the 3rd swan jumped out of the water and approached us. It had no fear of backing off, but instead made us get scared and quickly jump onto the golf cart to leave.

While backing the golf cart into the garage, Jason went to help me back up a little more with a push which in turn threw me off and I bolted backwards in reverse almost hitting the car and kids. Luckily I found the brake in time and we didn't have an adventure at the ER tonight and trips to the auto shop for 2 vehicles...I am so lucky!

Kezia won us all in a few rounds of Uno. Dessert was Boston Creme Pie (I think...not a huge pie fan, but it was good) and Neapolitan ice cream...again thanks to an energetic and loving husband.

The week ahead and last week here...not too much planned, but hopes to make the best of it!