I wrote in my travel journal about the first part of our trip, and thought I would just type out the rest on here for now. We got to Laie where my parents rented a huge beach house for all of us to stay in. It was so fun and for the most part, everyone got a long really well. I had one moment of temper tantrum when I wanted something and I wasn't getting it, but I don't need to go into anymore detail then that! Jeremy was able to stay with us the rest of the week, which was sooo nice! We would've missed him so much and he would've missed out on seeing the turtles and lots of snorkeling and shaved ice! Monday we went to Shark's cove for the first part of the morning. Cristin and I ran six miles before that, too! Shark's cove was great! Lots of fish and clear water. Cool rocks and some coral. I loved having my kids for snorkel buddies, especially Cozette and Scotty. Scotty was wearing his snorkel and mask along with a colorful blow up tube that I would hold on to and pull him around. Jeremy made himself a pole to mount his go pro on so he could get a different angle and go a little deeper if he wanted. It was a great tool! He took lots of videos of us swimming around and snorkeling. I guess we are a lot more interesting then the fish! After I got out of the water and was trying to dry off, we got hit by rain and I actually got cold! It did rain every day while we were on that side of the island, but it sure was green and pretty! It felt like the true Hawaii! After we had lunch at Shark's cove, which is actually Pupukea beach in the tour books, we drove down to Turtle Beach. There it was nice and sandy, hot, there were waves and the coolest turtles ever!! There were two huge ones up on the sand and we saw several while we were out in the water. I just love how they'd swim by, check us out and then keep going! I love turtles! I'm so glad we all got to see them together. They are such peaceful, cool creatures. After turtle beach, we all caravanned to Haleiwa where they are famous for Matsumoto's shaved ice and just the local North Shore Culture. It was great. Pretty happening little town with a main drag that had Matsumoto's shaved ice with a long line out the door. We had heard that next door, Aoki's was just as good and what was better, there was no line! At least not until after we'd had our shaved ice. We wandered into an art gallery and a little souvenir store close by where Scotty got this little Hawaiian shirt and matching shorts that he wanted. Wyatt wanted a shark's tooth necklace, which of course, the latch broke even before we got home! It's fixable, though.
That night we had a nice family night with everyone, where we sang songs and Hans talked about how a kite has a string on it to help it soar. He likened the string to keeping the commandments. And that when we keep the commandments, it's not restricting us, it's actually letting us soar higher. Pretty cool analogy. Before all that, we pulled our kids into our room and just chatted with them and then read the scriptures with them. I loved that we could have some "one on one" time with them. I really wanted this trip to unify our family and for us to make memories together. Here we've been home just a couple days and already we want to go back. It was so relaxing and we really had no stress, which I'm so grateful for!
Tuesday morning, my parents gathered some supplies and we each made a family kite to go fly out on the point. They were made from clear packing tape, white garbage bags and bamboo skewers and guess what?! They totally worked! Especially when we got a long enough tail on there, lots more string to send it higher and Jeremy retied it so that it wouldn't wobble back and forth so much. It was so much fun that we even flew them again the next day! Ours was named the Wager Flyer and it was the best! We didn't even have to launch it on Wednesday when Wyatt wanted to fly it again.
Tuesday, Jeremy, Erik, Wyatt, Jonathan and me, jumped off about a twenty foot cliff on the point and snorkeled back in to shore. Wyatt didn't jump, it was a bit high, but Jeremy walked him down these rocks so we could all snorkel back. There was a bit of a swell that day and we had to go over some pretty shallow coral with waves breaking on us, so we did get a little scared. I just kept hold of Wyatt's hand and just kept trying to blow out my snorkel. It kept getting water in it! I'd have to try and find a place to stand up and pull it out of my mouth, make sure Wyatt wasn't getting tossed around by the waves and then we'd head off again. Not too many fish, but the day before Atalie, Wyatt, Hans and I saw a a small eel in a rock. Wyatt is such a trooper and LOVES the water! He was in it pretty much all the time and he loved to snorkel. He and Scotty had been practicing in Aunt Gayle's pool and the bathtub before we even left! Atalie enjoyed it, too and wasn't afraid at all. Cozette was a bit nervous, but after a couple of times, she wasn't afraid to go off without me glued to her side. I love that she felt safe with me out there. It's a good feeling as a parent to know you provide refuge for your children.
After lunch, we were going to go to Huki Lau beach, but ended up going past it to goat island where we paddle boarded, saw more turtles and some of the groups waded through the water to get to Goat Island and walk around. I didn't have any water shoes, but Wyatt and I paddle boarded most of the way out there. I was on my knees and doing a two arm paddle, which was pretty tiring withe the waves and the wind going against us. We had fun, though and enjoyed catching the waves back. He got another chance to go out there with Steffen and Emily and a few of the other kids and Erik. Meanwhile, that was the second time I got cold in Hawaii!! The sun was going in and out of clouds and starting to go down and the breeze was just enough to make me a little chilly.
Our last day was Wednesday and we decided to go to Waimea. A beautiful beach with a very steep drop off, but the boys had so much fun being tossed around by the shore break. Even Amelia was loving the water, all of a sudden and was trying to go out by herself! We snorkeled there, too, but the current was a little strong and Scotty and I got a little tired. It was nice and hot on the beach, so the water felt so good. Jeremy and some of the kids and my dad took turns using Joey and Sujin's paddle boards that they left with is. They came back up that night to have dinner one more time and pick up the boards. It was so great to spend some time with them. We were going to try and go to their beach, Kailua, but we ran out of time. So we stopped at a shrimp truck, Giovanni's and had the shrimp scampi, fresh from the shrimp farms there. It was pretty good and just something we all wanted to experience. We of course topped it off with some shaved ice!
We went back to the beach house, watched my dad, Steffen, Hans and Erik jump off the cliff again and fly kites before we headed to our beach one more time. What a treat and what a relaxing trip. Jerm and I both have post trip depression! But I can't wait to go back again in December when Else has her baby!!
The morning we left, July 4, we had to get up about 4AM to be on our plane by 8AM. Scotty threw up on the way to the airport, but luckily I listened to the prompting to hand him a plastic grocery bag and he made it all on there! Phew! And because we pulled over to clean him up a bit, we saw the most gorgeous sun rise! It was like a funnel explosion in the sky and the ocean was glass. We all made it and he didn't throw up again, so I'm not sure if he just got car sick or something. Since it was a holiday there was no traffic anywhere which made it really nice to drive home in. We had dinner with the Jenkin's. They make homemade root beer, onion rings and ice cream! Plus hamburgers and yummy salads and fruit! Nancy is from New Jersey, so she loves the Fourth! Jeremy wanted to get to bed early since he had to work the next day, do I drove him and Atalie home for a bit, went back, got the other kids, got gas, picked up Atalie and we went to watch the fire works over by Cross fit. We sang America the Beautiful as they went off and then sang it again, this time with Wyatt helping us with the words as we went to go get fresh buttermilk donuts from Rolling Pin. We had a great time. Would've been better if Jeremy was with us, but oh well. I'm grateful he works so hard for our family to be able to do fun things together. We are truly blessed. I miss my family and I realized this trip that I could be anywhere as long as my family was there. I miss Else a lot and wish I could still be with her and her family. Charlotte and Scotty played so well together and they swam and swam together, too.
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