Hawaii

Aloha!

We are back from Hawaii and very tired. I just thought I would post a couple pics, but there will be more to come. My sister-in-law took some fantastic baby pics of Skyler so I'm looking forward to those ... I just have to wait for her to send them.

The first day of our trip was Sunday so we drove over to see the temple, which unfortunately is being renovated, but we hung out there for a little while and enjoyed the visitors center and took some fun pictures.



The second day we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and had a great time. Gavin played the ukelaelae (I have no idea how to spell that). We watched a great show in the evening and enjoyed a yummy luau.

The next day we headed to the beach. When we got there we saw a big sign on the beach that read "Man-of-War." We were a little weary getting in the water, but there were lots of other people in the water so we figured it couldn't be too big a deal. The kids had a great time playing in the waves and the temperature of the water was perfect! Skyler stayed in his personal pop up tent and slept. We were playing in the surf, enjoying ourselves when all of a sudden I felt a sharp stinging and stabbing pain on my leg. I looked down and saw a Man-of-War stuck to my leg. I tried to shake it off and as I did it stung my other foot and then washed down the beach and hit my niece Ellie who got scared and tried to slap it off and ended up getting stung on the foot and hand. So we went to the first aid tower and had them get the stinger out. Yes, pee does work, but we had a long car ride home and I didn't think smelling like pee all the way was appealing. Anyway ... that put a real damper on the outing so we headed back home.





On wednesday we ventured out for a hike to see a beautiful waterfall. It was about a mile in and a mile out in mud with TONS of mosquitos. Can you believe we did this hike with 8 kids and some of us in flip flops!! We had quite a group ... the youngest was Skyler at 3 weeks and oldest was Nana at 76. Wow! All along the hike people were marveling at the tiny baby I was carrying. I was very proud of myself ... three weeks postpartum and I was out hiking in the mosquito infested, 100% humidity jungles of Hawaii! The kids all did great and we had a really fun time.





Thursday we went over to the North Shore to enjoy some delicious shaved ice at a famous little place. I sat in the car nursing, but Richard and Gavin came and ate with me ... that's why we are not in the picture. We also went to a Luau to celebrate my brother Robbie's 29th birthday. The food was delicious and the show was great.





On our last day we did some beach hoping. We started at Waimia Bay (not a great speller) and then visited two other beaches where we snorkeled, body surfed and enjoyed a true Hawaii feeling. At the first beach there was an enormous rock that stuck up out of the ocean. Of course, no surprise Richard wanted to jump off it. So the first time he jumped I missed it and just got his splash. So the second time he thought he'd step it up and do a back flip off the rock! Funny enough ... my dad was up on the grass with Skyler and watching people jump. He saw a white kid do a back flip and thought it had to be Richard. We know him well! It was a great vacation and thanks so much to my Nana for taking us all!!!!