Monday, March 30, 2009

For those of you who can't spend Monday in HI, maybe this will cheer you up

Breathtaking day in Paradise

There truly aren't many words to describe today. I've mostly posted pictures of the east side of the Wai'anae's. It's actually been about 10 years since I have been up the ocean side of the west coast. Erik and I rode our bikes to the end of the road. That was before children when we did strange things like that. It is a long and windy ride.
This is the east side.
East side some more with the old sugar cane fields below. See the little ball at the top of the center peak? This is a rare sight.
Normally this peak is completely covered in clouds but it was clear today. We've always wondered what it was like up top there. Not wanting to let a clear day go to waste, in a moment of spontaneity, Michelle and I loaded our kids up (by the end of the afternoon she had all of them in her car) and headed up the ocean side of the Wai'anae Mountains. Destination? The ball at the top of that peak. Why? That's where the road to the top is.
Gorgeous!
Here is Evan at the top,
these looked like tiny fiber optic lights with little sparkles at the ends-right out of a Dr. Seuss book. In the upper left corner are little plants with leaves that close up when touched,
amazing,
I love this picture because you can see the giant dragonfly-it's to the left of the trunk about half way. They were all over the place.
We did see a wild turkey-it's turkey season. He was gobbling like crazy too.
There's the ball! I can't believe we are at the top of the mountain near the ball you see from way far away in the second and third pictures above. It doesn't look so far away now.
Such beautiful blue water,
miles of mountains and beaches,
looking toward Ka'ena Point-the north eastern most tip,
we saw these shy birds quite a bit,
back down to sea level,



Home for many people here in HI.

Future home of the Disney Resort

We can't wait!

Sledding Hawaiian style

My sister-in-law woke up to snow this morning?! You can see that here. Life with the Houston's Michelle had this great idea of sledding down the hill on cardboard! We don't need snow to have us some fun!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Going to church and Sunday school

I had to laugh when we got out of the car and I saw what Erica looked like this morning.

Wyland

Wyland is rather famous for his sea life art. He has a few galleries here in HI. He also paints on the side of buildings. There are a few of those he has done here also. Wyland has also painted the entire ceiling and upper floor walls in the center of the Navy Exchange, Pearl Harbor. It is huge and I could only get just a bit of it.

Awana games

Saturday morning sun rise,
Owen doing the Sparkie Bowl,
Owen pulling the Sprakie train,
Erica taking a break between games,
Evan doing the T&T relay.

Thankful Thursday

Winter is still hanging on
It's never too cold for the kids to play outside
A husband that reminds me what I have to do each day
Over time
Awanas
My blog friends

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Boxcar Racing Wednesday

We had so much fun boxcar racing with awanas. We were out there for 4 hours. The trades were blowing so it wasn't too hot. I was pitiful and totally wiped out coming into the second to last turn too fast, tipped the car, and ended up with road rash since I didn't have pants on. Erik teased me about my driving skills the rest of the day, especially since I was the only one to crash the entire time...
Waiting to walk their cars up the ramp,
Evan, Owen, Erik and Erica ready for the go signal,
Owen driving,
looks like Evan is going to win,
oh no, what happened, Evan was winning!?

In case you were wondering what it's like to drive a box car here is a video Erik took. Owen is on the left and Erica is sitting in the car with him.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Simply Spectacular

We woke up this morning to the completely socked in Ko'olau's. Not to be deterred we headed up to the north shore then turned west. We discovered a completely magnificent 7 mile hike in the Wai'anae's. The hiked smelled amazing, we saw incredible sights, and heard the surf, wind, and birds along the way.
This is what the rest of the island looked like-rain. We had beautiful skies all day.
The first part of the hike, 19 switch backs, was covered in huge rocks,
Owen found a rock to rest on,
some really huge rocks-they just keep getting bigger,
OH-now they tell us!
We took a sling shot break. Erik put a few dents into the sign and Evan shot his own finger,
We had some extremely steep climbs but we got to see two of the endangered nene birds run by. I wasn't quick enough with my camera so no pictures,
the reward of all that climbing was a view of the Makua Valley and the ocean on the Wai'anae side,
I wanted to head off to the right up the Makua Ridge trail but Erik said we were running too low on water,
Owen provides some comic relief on the way down-he's waving the branches saying, "go Pittsburgh." These pine trees are so beautiful,
being funny some more,
a view of the north shore-we got to see whales playing and jumping!
Looking toward Hale'iwa and the Ko'olau's and clearing skies.
Coming down through the thick tropical vegetation,
I am so proud of Erica-she did this whole 7 mile hike!
P.S. Michelle, Charlie, and Hope-we missed you guys!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Our Walk Tonight

I must have a thing for orange flowers, I just love these trees.
We saw a pretty big snail on the way home.