Hawaii Part 2: Oahu

 Day 5: We flew to Oahu in the morning, got new rental cars, and drove to our hotel. There was a mix-up and the 6 rooms with king beds turned into 2 bedrooms with king beds and 4 bedrooms with two double beds. I was not a happy camper about the fact that once again Matt and I got the short end of the stick. (Sharing a bathroom with another couple is never pleasant like we did on Kauai.) I was bitter and grumpy about it the rest of the day.

After getting settled into our rooms, most of us went on a hike to Monoa Falls. It was probably my favorite hike because I felt like I was in the Garden of Eden the whole time. It sprinkled on us at the start though, which wasn't fun, but fortunately it didn't last.

That night we ate at Spaghetti Factory, which was my favorite meal of the entire trip! I wasn't a big fan of the other local restaurants that everyone was choosing. I enjoyed my lasagna and garlic bread and loved eating it for lunch the next day as well. :)

Day 6: Trying to get into Hanauma Bay the next morning was a circus. We got there very early since we didn't have reservations for everyone. It was an absolute mad house trying to get in. Somehow all of us were able to do it though in different shifts. Everyone enjoyed snorkeling, and I tried it again one final time. It was fun to see a sea turtle. Matt and Clay/Kara had goPros and loved taking videos and pictures underwater.

We stopped at The Spitting Cave on the way back to the hotel, which was another favorite stop. I thought it was so awesome! (Water gets sucked into a cave and then spit out again.)

That afternoon we went to Waimea Falls to swim.

I had an acaí bowl for dinner. Not nearly as good as the amazing one I had on Kauai, but it was still yummy. 

Day 7: Matt and I started the morning at the Hawaii temple. It was so beautiful and special to be there. The visitor's center was really well done.

We went to the BYU Hawaii store to purchase some ties for our boys

We spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Culture, which was another favorite part of the trip. It was so well done and educational. I loved that it was hands-on. We "visited" several different islands and got to try a few activities that are common for each island.

Stick throwing

Matt was SO close to making the target!

This pineapple drink was phenomenal!

The pig grossed me out. I had a few bites but really couldn't stomach any of the food. I had double of the pineapple drink though!

Day 8: Our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we had time to do a hike in the morning for a little exercise before we spent 7-8 hours sitting on a plane. I ran the stairs a few times, which didn't replace the 6-7 miles I would have run at home. The hike itself was a good workout.

View from the fort at the top.

On the way to the airport, we stopped over at Pearl Harbor to look around for about an hour.

Ironically on the flight home, which was a redeye, I had trouble sleeping. Instead I watched 2 1/2 movies and read my book. Our flight landed around 8am and then we rushed over to pick up our boys. We sure missed them! Matt took a nap before church, and I took a nap after church to try to make up for the lack of sleep the night before.

Hawaii was stunning, and I enjoyed experiencing it with my family! I was so grateful for all the research and time that Clayton put into arranging our schedule and the wisdom that Jared and Kari were able to share since they have been a few times. It was fun to be adults together instead of worrying about our kids. Hawaii was the highlight of the summer! 

Hawaii Part 1: Kauai

Day 1: Doing a couples only Hawaii trip was something that my family has been talking about for several years. Covid pushed it back, but we finally made it happen! We left our kids with Matt's aunt and uncle that he's very close to, but it was still awkward all around since they don't know our kids very well and vice versa. They have a very fun backyard though with a swimming pool, pickle ball court, tennis court, ping pong table, and zip line. Inside they have a mini arcade room, and Caleb was excited to practice the piano on a grand piano all week. We are so grateful for their generosity in watching over our boys all week. It was a huge stress of finding someone to do that job. Matt's mom came out a few different nights and made dinner for everyone. Uncle Sid organized a home run derby that my boys loved. Overall, they had a great week and behaved well for them. I know it was a disruption to Sid and Marilyn's lives though.

The flight to Hawaii went well. It was the largest plane I have ever been on. Moving vehicles put me to sleep, so I napped several times, watched a movie, and finished my book. Unfortunately when we landed, we found out our luggage never made it on the plane. Fortunately we packed all our necessities in our carry-on luggage. There were a few things that we missed though as we waited for our luggage to arrive. (It took 3 days.)

After getting our car rentals, we did some sight-seeing. One of the quick stops was Opaekaa waterfall. We also stopped in at Walmart to purchase breakfast and other food items. (Prices are high!)

Beautiful scenery

We stopped off at Poi'pu beach and ate puka dogs for dinner. They were quite tasty! We also saw these huge sea turtles who came out to sleep on the shore.

We stayed at a property all together on Kauai. There was a 4-bedroom house as well as a garage house with one room and a pull-out bed in the sitting room. Matt and I took the garage house with my parents. We were able to do some talking and playing games at night but not much. It was tricky to adjust to the time zone change and were all so tired at night!

Day 2: We went to church first thing in the morning. It was Father's Day and all the talks were about fathers from several different members of the congregation--children to adults. The most memorable was a boy who had his father stand up to be recognized, then proceeded to share over the pulpit about his dad's farts. There was one redeeming, amazing talk from a sister in the ward who came up with an acrostic poem for the word FATHER as she talked about the qualities of a good father. Then she related those same traits to our Heavenly Father. It was powerful. While sitting in the pews waiting for church to start, Kari got a text that one of our chickens had died--Austin's chicken that he named Batman. (My nieces were feeding our chickens while we were away.) My heart hurt for a good portion of the meeting thinking about how sad Austin would be to hear the news. We didn't tell him until we got home, and he cried the whole 20-minute drive home from Sid's house and off and on throughout the day.

After church, we went to Waimea Canyon to do some hiking. 

Chickens roam around on Kauai like squirrels run around in Houston.

This was a "leisurely" hike that Clayton looked up for us to do on a Sunday. In actuality, it was a very lengthy hike with some very tricky sections. We all got sweaty!

This was the grand finale of the hike.

Sisters

Day 3: We went on a catamaran to view the Na Pali coast. Clayton and Kara opted for a helicopter ride instead. The catamaran was a lot of fun. Smooth ride out and very bumpy and wet on the way back. Lindsey got seasick. We saw some dolphins on the way out and did some snorkeling when they dropped anchor. I really enjoyed the lunch, which was a turkey, apple, jam sandwich.

The only way to access this coast is by sea or by air. Beautiful scenery.

Day 4: My favorite part of the trip was tubing through these tunnels. I thought it was so fun! We had a fantastic tour guide as well. The water was very chilly, but fortunately you adjusted to it pretty quickly.

"Butt up!" they said. So I'm squeezing all the muscles in my lower half!

We got some shave ice after tubing. It was so yummy!

After lunch, we went to Tunnels beach to do some snorkeling. Matt took to snorkeling like he was part of the water. It gave him blessed relief from the ringing in his ears, and he loved exploring. It wasn't my favorite part of the trip. Salt water constantly seeped into my goggles no matter how tight I had them. I saw some cool fish and felt like I checked off the snorkeling box after one time out.

We stopped at Queen's Bath on the way home. It had already been a long and exhausting day in the sun, and I wasn't thrilled to be stopping for another detour instead of going home. Luckily it was a short hike. Of course it was beautiful, but I just wanted to go home, shower and get into some clean and comfortable clothing.

We all planned to do a load of laundry when we got back to the rental property. That didn't play out as there was no electricity when we got there. The garage house had power, but nothing else. Everyone took cold showers in the main house and slept with windows open and the blessed sound of roosters crowing all morning starting at 4am. We slept comfortably in the garage house with fans as white noise to block out the sound of the roosters. The owners of the property refunded one day's payment.

The next morning we flew to Oahu!

End of Summer/Start of School

The lazy days of summer had to come to an end at some point.

Dog-sitting

Carter spending "quality time" with the chickens.

Bryson and his friend loved to see how many cars they could get to honk or show their muscles as they drove by. They are standing on the sign to our section of the neighborhood.

Summer also meant many games of Wingspan.

First day of school!
(Austin 1st and Bryson 4th grade)