Hawaii, April 19, 2008

Today was the best day ever! First we took some pictures with the coconut palms so the boys could see just how tall they are. :-)

Clouds and more clouds...

Then we went down to a beach to do some snorkeling. I didn't think I would be able to put my face in the water and breath like that. Too claustrophobic for this girl. And, indeed the first time I put my face in the water I came flying back up after about one second. But I tried again. After a couple of steadying breaths I spotted a fish...and I was off :-) I chased fish all around that pool (we were in a rocked in kiddie area) and had a blast. Nate got a huge kick out of watching me too.

When we got tired of the area we were in we drove a little way and tried another beach. Truthfully I was rather panicky about stepping on something that would hurt as we made our way. Ok, a lot panicky. Call me a chicken, if you have too. I also got a little freaked out when we got out far enough (it was flat and calm for a fair way) to feel the waves. I am not a strong swimmer. It was fun seeing the fish (of course I can't remember their names at the moment) that had dug holes in the sand, like burrows. They would be hanging out near them and go darting in whenever we go too close.

Chickens :-)

We drove up north looking for a particular town and did not come across it. Apparently we missed a turn somewhere. We found a neat little resort kind of thing overlooking the most gorgeous bay. We decided to pull in and have lunch before heading back (we had to be at the airport at 4pm I think). We had a wonderful lunch. I think the view really added to the flavor. I swear I got several pictures but I didn't see them, so ???

We visited a little coffee shop/art gallery and found the inspiration for our little tenth anniversary/trip to Hawaii "memento" That is a story in itself which I am not going to post here. Partly because the only pics I have are of me and Nate wouldn't get his fair share of publicity. :-)



After our little detour we stopped at Hanalei valley lookout and took in the view for a while.

These are taro fields. We got the kids a book called Old Makana Had a Taro Farm. It's a song to the tune of Old McDonald and is full of Hawaiian names for animals and the planting and pulling of taro.

We had such a lovely relaxing day. I have firmly vowed if we ever get to make a trip like this again that we are not doing any shopping. Nobodies getting presents next time y'all. It took up way too much of our time. Next time I'm loungin' on the beach from sunup to sundown...:-)

We loaded up our stuff and dashed of to the airport in Lihue. There we proceeded to wait for hours and go through security umpteen times ect...We had a 'red eye' flight and got home Sunday morning. Here's my handsome honey in the (San Francisco???) airport after breakfast Sunday morning. (Oh, my memory is so terrible these days!! I'm not even old yet. I blame pregnancy for this problem...)

I was unbelievably happy to see my kiddos. I'm pretty sure they were even happier to see me. Playing with grandma nonstop for five days has it's ups but there's nothing like mama :-) :-) :-)

All in all it was a lovely trip. I'm glad we went. I hope we get to take the critters before too long.

Where to next? I'm still rooting for Liberia next spring...