Hawaii Day 1 and 2

Our flight left at 6:30 am, so we left our hotel in Portland at 4:00am - so of course I didn't sleep hardly at all the night before.  Amazingly, we made our flight, and made our connecting flight in San Fransisco.  I could not believe it!  I was actually going to go to Hawaii!!! I was freaking out the whole plane ride there. 

When we got to the airport we were greeted by Hans and Jodi who gave us some fun Hawaiin necklaces.  I wish I got a picture!  It was so fun to see them.  They picked us up, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the White Planes Beach where Darren was determined to learn to surf.  He and Hans rented surf boards and I layed on the beach.  It was so nice to not have to worry about a baby or toddler drowning in the ocean. 

That night Hans and Jodi treated us to dinner at a fun restaurant called Monkey Pod.  I could have sworn we got a picture of all of us- but I can't find it.

The 2nd day we got up early to go snorkeling. We went to a spot called Paradise Cove.  It looks pretty simple from the surface, but underwater there were all sorts of amazing fish! It was also pretty protected from the ocean by a bunch of rocks,  so it was nice snorkeling.

This is Hans.  He is a Jag.  Which means he is a lawyer for the military.  He really enjoys his job.  They have lived all sorts of places, South Korea, Vegas, and now Hawaii.  He and Jodi were great hosts driving us all over the place taking us to the best spots on Oahu.

Have I mentioned that snorkeling is one of my favorite things to do?  I love it. I loved this cool trumpet fish or something like that.  I saw a huge variety of fish is this tiny little area. 

This was a Sea Cucumber.  We weren't sure what it was when we picked it up- I thought it might be garbage or something, but then it squirted me and stuck to Paul's hand and he couldn't let go of it.  It was hilarious, it had microscopic suction cups all over the outside of it.  Sea creatures are fascinating!!

Here's a dead crab shell we found in the tide pools.

Paul slipped on some slippery rocks exploring the tide pools. He hit his shin really hard, like could have broken his leg hard.  It also cut it deep.  It was bleeding almost constantly the rest of the trip.  He still has  huge scab on his shin.  I was so grateful it wasn't more serious. He was brave and didn't whine or complain.



One of the tops things I wanted to do in Hawaii was snorkel with a sea turtle.  Out of all the snorkeling I've done- I've never seen a sea turtle while I was in the water!  Hans brought us to this sight where they always see Sea turtles.  We didn't see one that morning so we were packing up our stuff to leave when I saw one in the water- right by the shore! Like in water that was 2 feet deep!  I grabbed my snorkel gear, dropped everything else, and yelled to Paul and Darren.  We all got in the water and watched the turtle swim around.  That turtle had no fear of humans, and kept swimming really close to us! We would try to keep our distance, but it would come right up to us and look at us like it was checking us out.  Then it would swim right under us.  It was amazing to see such a beautiful sea turtle!

After snorkeling we headed to the stadium flea market.  It was great.  Hans and Jodi told us it would have the best prices for souvenirs.  They were right.  We found all sorts of fun things to take home to the kids.  I got almost all my souvenir shopping done in an hour!

Then we headed to the North Shore for some more snorkeling.  We stopped and had lunch at this yummy food truck.  It was probably the best shrimp I have ever had.

If you haven't heard, Hawaii has wild chickens everywhere.  I like it and think it's so fun to see them everywhere.  This is Paul and Han's daughter- either Audry or Lizzy, they look almost identical and it's hard for me to tell them apart.

After lunch we headed up to the North Shore snorkeling areas: Three tables and Sharks Cove.  The traffic was really bad.  It was stop and go for about 45 min.  We made it there and set up our stuff.  The snorkeling there was amazing!  I saw a few more sea turtles, and all sorts of beautiful fish.  This is a picture of an eel we saw eating a dead fish. We watched it for a while before it headed back out to deeper water. 

Shaved Ice is pretty big in Hawaii.  The stands are everywhere.  And we tried pretty much everyone we saw.  We had to decide which one was the best!

We stopped at this food stand that a guy from my High School opened.  I had seen it on Facebook and recognized the food truck.  We had dinner here and it was delicious!  I was quickly learning I would probably be eating fish, shrimp or fish tacos for the next week.  I didn't mind- I loved it.  I only wish I could have eaten more sushi- but was trying to be careful because of my pregnancy.

We stopped at Pipeline Beach after dinner and watched the sunset.  It was the end to an amazing day.

Camping in the Blues

Before I blog about Hawaii I have to tell you about our camping trip to the Blue Mountains.  Over Memorial Day weekend we went camping with Mark and his family.  We went for 3 nights.  We had an amazing time!! A lot of people asked if I was going camping ...pregnant(gasp)?! Yes, I went camping pregnant and loved it.
Pretty much the only thing I don't like about camping is the packing and unpacking.  During that time I always think- "This is so much work! Why am I doing this?? We should just stay home and get some projects done!!"  In fact, a couple of days before we left I started having second thoughts.  I said to Darren, "Maybe we should just stay home and work on our entertainment center."  Darren said, "Yeah, I hear you, but you don't make a lot of memories at home working on an entertainment center."  What he said really struck a cord with me.  It's true.  A lot of times the things that take the most work create the best memories.  With that said, camping can be miserable if you don't have the right gear or food.  Never sleep on air mattress or you'll really be sleeping on the ground  for most of the night.  Then you'll be miserable and hate camping.  You have to know how to do it right.   We have nice sleeping bags, and use crash pads from Costco to sleep on. I sleep just as good as I do at home.
So aside from the work of packing everything, I love every minute of it.  I love the smell of fresh air, and the beauty of nature.  I love sitting around the campfire.  I love NO electronics! I love watching my kids explore.  I love chilling.  I love playing cards with my kids at the picnic table.  I love falling asleep in the same tent as all of my kids- all together- it's like a family sleepover.  Did I mention I love no electronics?  I love the wonders of the Earth and all of God's little creations.  I love my kids discovering it all.  I love to see their brains at work.  I love nature.  I love trees and wildflowers.  I love how food tastes twice as good when your camping.  I love hot chocolate at night.  I love gooey smores.  I love being with my family with no distractions.  I love getting back to basics.  I love camping.

I did a lot of research to find the perfect spot for us to camp at.  It needed to be halfway between Mark and us.  I wanted also to be away from the Memorial Day crowds.  I wanted to be close to a stream or a lake.  I called around to all the ranger stations in the area and asked the rangers their favorite camping spots.  This is the one that won.  We ended up camping at Catherine Creek State Park.  It was perfect. We drove around a lot till we found this great spot at the end of a road.  It wasn't in a campground so no one was around.  There was a port-a-potty a little ways down the road and we had a fire ring, picnic table and stream right by us.  I'm telling you- it was perfect.

One of the fun things about being in nature- finding God's creatures.  The kids had a great time discovering these snakes.

On Saturday we went on a hike up the canyon.  It was of course beautiful.  We made it about 2 miles  before kids started having meltdowns- so we turned around and headed back to camp. 

Mark brought his 4 wheelers so the kids had a great time getting rides with Darren.

Kyle and Gabe are such good friends.  It is so cute.

One morning Mark and Darren went on a run up the trail to the meadows- which was 5 miles up- and 5 miles back.  They had a great time and Darren said it was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

Mark and Darren are training

I bought these butterfly nets at a yard sale and they were the hit of the trip!  The boys were trying to catch butterflies the whole weekend.