Hawaii Day 5 part 1 Haleiwa

We started out our last day by driving up the center of the island and viewing all of the Dole Plantations and farm land. Then we headed to Haliewa up on the North Shore. It is a cutesy touristy town right on the ocean. It has a lot of sale boats and a little harbor. So adorable!

But the best part of Haliewa is the Shave Ice. Matsumoto is famous for his Shave Ice. The traditional shave ice at his store has vanilla ice cream and Azuki beans (japanese red beans) in the bottom covered by the shaved ice flavored on top. You can even get it snow capped which is sweetened condensed milk drizzled on top. I don't care for the beans, but its a must to get the ice-cream when you visit Matsumotos! We had all kinds of flavor variations. Hanna likes pina colada and pineapple, Jake had rootbeer, grape, and cherry, Carter likes grape and watermelon, and I like watermelon/cherry/grape depending on my mood. I think Jared got a rainbow? Gr'ma and Gr'pa shared the original with the beans, because if you've never tried it before you just gotta when you are there! Those of you who know me, know I LOVE SHAVED ICE. Except no imitations in the form of snow cones and such!




I'm drooling just thinking about this day. It was still like 10 in the morning. Shave Ice for breakfast?....only in Hawaii!
We came back to Haliewa after the Waimea hike and ate lunch because we like the city so much. Haliewa Joes was super yummy and we had a great table right by the harbor. The food was awesome. The kids had soup, burgers, and chicken, the grown ups ate: Fish tacos, Hawaiin chicken, and pulled pork sandwiches. This was the best food we had all Week!!

Hawaii Day 5 Part 1 Waimea Valley

Waimea Valley is basically eye candy for a photographer! I love it there. You start at the front and hike through to a waterfall at the end of the paved road. All along the way is just about every plant and flower that grows all over the Hawaiian islands. It is beautiful.

The Family
The Grandparents
The Boys....minus two
The girls
These are my favorite flowers from the day, I Love Orange!



These are my other favorite flowers from the hike. I love the waxy green and the bright red contrast.
Once we got to the waterfall, we swam over to it. The water was freezing and a very murky yellowish green. Lovely. The current as you got closer to the waterfall was really strong and Jared and I could barely swim around the base to get to the rocks below it. We definitely understood why life jackets were mandatory for all kids under age 12. Which was a little bit of a blow to Carter's self esteem! The first time Jared and I visited Waimea Valley about 8 years ago, they had Cliff Divers, but due to an accident and injury to one of the divers a few years back, they no longer have Cliff Divers.

Hawaii Day 4 Pearl Harbor

It started sprinkling right when we pulled up to Pearl Harbor. Luckily it didn't last long and before we knew it there was one of those beautiful Rainbows Hawaii is famous for stretching across the harbor.


Before we could ride out to see the monument built over the USS Arizona, we had a tour of a submarine. The moral of that story is I don't care for any of my four sons joining the Navy. How clausterphobic could you get?? The sleeping arrangements alone with cots lined as high as four on tope of each other were making me anxious.
The memorial was impressive. I have been once before. I found it interesting that the survivors could also choose to have their creamated remains sunk and put inside the USS Arizona if they so chose. Divers carefully take the box down and put it safely inside the ship.

We talked with our kids a lot about WWII on this trip. I love world war II history and learning about it. We had recently watched "The Sound of Music" which has the start of the invasion of Austria by Hitler in it. So Carter and Hanna have been asking a lot of questions. It was cool to teach them about it and then to visit Pearl Harbor and show them why the United States was eventually pulled into the War and the place it all started.
The other interesting thing I found baffling was that the USS Arizona is still leaking oil. It sunk almost 70 years ago. The black dots and dark parts in the picture above are actually the oil.
After the USS Arizona Monument, we rode on buses to visit the USS Missouri or the "Mighty Mo" and have a tour. Again the moral of that story is my dear sons, please do not join the Navy. No offense to anyone who may be in the Navy, but my heart went out to them. The living conditions on these boats were not very good. It takes a very special person to be able to do this.

This quote by Douglass MacArthur in 1945 at the end of the war, really made me think. I pray we are living up to his Hope as a nation. And that we never have to relive similar horrific war times.

The group!
This is one of the trees we found so fascinating in hawaii. Its like the branches completely grow sideways. There are a lot of really cool trees and root systems there.

Hawaii Day 4 part 2 Boogie Boarding

We headed back to our cabin at Bellows AFS after Pearl Harbor. We wanted to get in some good time on the Boogie Boards we had rented on the base. Our plans were almost spoiled upon learning there was a shark warning and everyone had been pulled out of the water. Say no more when people say SHARK, I have no problem listening. After about 45 minutes they said we could get back in. I'm not sure who decides these things.....really is the water safe???? It was a little nerve wracking and I found myself combing the waters for signs of a Shark more than once. Luckily we found none!
Jakey made a castle fort on the beach. It was strong against any attacks he told me. When I asked him who the attacks were from he said "the water or bad guys, you know, mom like the Germans!" I guess he was listening to all of our earlier conversations about WWII.
Happy feet in Hawaii!
Once we got Boogie Boarding we had so much fun! Hanna had gotten knocked over by a huge wave the day before, but luckily she was still willing to try. Carter once again proved to be an animal!
I loved it and rode a lot of waves, but no one snapped a picture of me darn it!

Once again, I was determined to give my mom the "Full Hawaii experience". When I told her she needed to give Boogie Boarding a try, I was sure she would say no because she is not a great swimmer. To my surprise the next thing I knew she was out there on a board riding a wave! Nothing stops this sixty something year old! She mostly liked it until her board got banked on the sand and as she was trying to get up the waves kept knocking her over. Her and I were laughing and I was taking pictures, and not helping ...and we had a little mishap. Her HAIR got wet. This is a bummer for my mom she does not like when here perfectly styled hair gets wet! ....she was a good sport about it however! Hang Loose Gr'ma!
Carter spent a lot of time on these rocks where there were a lot of little itty bitty crabs. His goal was to catch one, but they were hard to find and he never quite got one.

Day 3 Hanauma Bay

Snorkeling kids! Carter was an animal out there. He was totally able to do it himself and cruised everywhere without needing assistance. Jake and Hanna were a little more tenative. Hanna didn't want mom to help her because Daddy's more stronger!! They were excited because they saw a Haunaupaupa or whatever that crazy Hawaiian State Fish is called!

We didn't let Gr'ma hang with Gr'pa all day. We drug her (and I mean literally!) on each side Jared and I holding her arms out into the bay. My mom is not a great swimmer and so water scares her a lot. Especially when it is in the form of waves and threatening to knock her over. So after a quick lesson on how to breathe in a snorkel....in through the mouth out through the mouth.....don't use your nose, we each took an arm and pulled her out to where you could see some fish. Then we had her put her face in and check out the scenery. She didn't last long, but she was amazed! She said "Wow, thanks for MAKING me do that"! I will always remember that fun memory!

All tuckered and snorkeled out
The big kids!
At the top of Hanauma Bay....the fish weren't quite as good as they have been in years past. Seeing as the bay and coral are trampled on day after day, I'm not surprised. On Friday our last day we stopped at Shark's Cove for more Snorkeling and it was Awesome!

We ate out at the Crouching Lion restaraunt for dinner. I love the view from the outdoor dining tables. It was a neat atmosphere. The menu was a little bit funny. Right when you open it up it has a big picture and subtitle reading "PU-PU Platter". This was just too much for an 11 year old boy not to notice or laugh about. He kept gettting the giggles over it. When the waitress came to take our order, as she was leaving my dad flagged her down to get an appetizer plate of a variety of things. She said sure, we have something like what you just described, its called the "PU-PU Platter!" Carter and I busted up laughing and got some dirty looks from her or maybe they were just confused looks....at any rate we all spent the next two hours giggling about the "PU-PU platter" incident!