Friday, May 18, 2012

Across the island in a day

This is our second attempt at planning our day. We get out of the house early and what happens they close down hanauma bay on Tuesdays. Last time it was Diamond Head crater just for the weekend. What! Come on Hawaii. We choose that day because we thought that it would be the least crowded but Hawaii thought "Oh, this is our least crowded day lets close it down." Anyways the day became an early morning, impromptu adventure to Pele's chair. Thank you Joshua for the suggestion. Great little hike to a lagoon, Eliza and I jumped in the water while the kids waded in a rock enclosed pool with little fish. Obviously, Eliza and I took turns watching the kids. We are not that "free" with them (*Ahem* Hylan, Rita, Hahnna, Carolina).


...then up to the north shore for some hawaiian ice and fish plate lunches
Zion eyeing the prize. 
Strawberry/Coconut/Pina Colada


...then over to Waimea Beach Park for the sunset

Zion building his "super hole", and Noah trying to destroy it.
At first Zion was soooo upset but then we turned it into a game and he loved the challenge.

Noah and the sand becoming one

My Family!!!


Beautiful conclusion to the unexpected day.



Around Waikiki Town

 Eliza took a trolley ride with Zion and Liam. They went to Ala Moana mall to make a return and buy some diapers and so they took the free, open air trolley. Zion thought it was so cool, but got reprimanded over the loud speaker to keep his head inside the trolley. The Japanese couples love Liam. Three times today someone took him from me to cuddle and "take photo". We like it. :) 

Noah's first ice cream cone
(non-dairy pineapple yogurt from the International Market place across the street).



The Hilton lagoon


Zions first sandcastle attempt
(Noah was distracted for a couple of moments,
otherwise Zion would have never gotten past two ridges)

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Fun times...and a little sting

One day Natanel went to work and I took the boys to Quarters, a nearby arcade. The boys had a blast with just a couple of quarters. They won a few of tickets and bought little whale erasers, a prized possession for the next couple of hours.

Another day we went to the aquarium. We scrambled to get there the hour before it closed and the boys were pleased with all the fish tanks filled with sharks, an octopus, lobster, many types of colorful, unique fish, seahorses, eels and jelly fish, to name a few favorites.

....and speaking of jellyfish...Zion and I got stung really badly while playing in the pristine, gentle waters of Lanikai. Zion FREAKED out. I have never seen him react that intensely to something (and I would generally describe him as an intense person). But Jamba Juice seemed to appease the pain soon enough.

2 hours post sting




Rewind a few hours. We started the adventure out with hiking up to the military pillboxes on the hillside above Lanikai. Fun and challenging getting up but a feat getting down with one baby on Natanel's back and one on Eliza's front and the bigger one slipping and sliding down the hill. The views were AMAZING!! 

Zion is a great hiker, he can go anywhere we can, with just a little encouragement.
(notice Zion is hardcore with sandals and we have shoes or Keans)









What a place to nurse!

Inside the Pillbox
Crazy Desert Flower


Finding the Lanikai beach post hike was "funny". We were trying to find beach access and figured the beach near the end would be the least populated. Well, every alley we walked down turned out to be just a loading dock, or boat drop in or something of the sort. The first one we tried, we walked with a nice local military couple who were about to move on to Rhode Island. We turned back after seeing an itty bitty patch of sand, got in the the car and looked for another spot. We passed one, so then made a loop around to park properly on the one way street. Turns out we somehow got out and walked
down the same one we had just been at! Attempt number 3 landed us at another one with no beach. "First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. Third time...this is getting ridiculous" We eventually got it right on the fourth try.


What happens when mama leaves.

He loves playing in the sand

Beautiful Moments
(just before jellyfish happened upon us)










Friday, May 11, 2012

Fire

We were at Ala Moana Beach Park when we saw these people practicing for a competition happening the following day. Amazing!


Thursday, May 10, 2012

My best day yet

I have always been one to enjoy sneaking into places. Like places I don't have tickets for, or have not payed to enter, especially something exclusive. Here in Hawaii, all the beaches are accessible to the public. So I get to pretend like I am staying at fancy hotels and galavant around resorts. Yesterday we went to Ko Olina which has a series of four almost identical lagoons. We made ourselves comfortable at lagoon number 2. It was the cleanest water I have ever swam in! Soft, white sand, gentle breeze thru the palm trees. Truly paradise.


Natanel had to go do some work at a nearby Starbucks, so after setting up the tent and getting settled, he took off. Shortly after, a beach patrol drove up and told me I had to take the tent down (should have known. It did feel a little ghetto like that around all the hotels) so with three tired little guys (it was nap time) I braved the beach and tried to get little Naphtali to sleep. 

Success!

So after Natanel returned, I left him to snorkle and play with the boys while I walked to the end of all the lagoons.


And then! Noah finally overcame his sentiments towards the beach and joined in on the fun!


And even ventured into the water (well, I sort of made him, but turns out he liked it)





When we were sufficiently hungry, we ventured over to the Disney Aulani Resort for dinner and exploration.



We almost went to the nice restaurant, but since any of the children could have lost it at any given moment, we opted for a take away "One paddle, Two paddle" and ate poolside overlooking the ocean.




This was an amazing splash area for the little ones where you wade ankle deep in water or climb around and go down a small water slide. So cool.

Everyone was extremely nice! So friendly. The aloha spirit in conjunction with the disney spirit is a good combo. =) We even got waved thru the parking lot even though our free, validated parking was expired. They knew us as the "box with all the writing on it" aka the Scion.

The Biosphere Tree Dwelling

Dreams do come true!!!
Our family had the privilege of meeting the owner of this amazing property. He was hospitable and the most welcoming to our surprise visit. The property is complete with vine hand-railings, a suspension bridge, a spiral stair case through the branches and a soon to be completed living bamboo bridge.

We journeyed into the trees, leaving the stability of the ground for the whims of nature. It was great!


We were also introduced to the Surinam cherries, tangy but quite good. -N

Top of the three levels

The netting, good for a mid air nap.