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.