Where the FuhKaui?

“How do you find friends for your kids on the road?”

2011-02-25T11:00:00.002-06:00

As a parent we want the best for our kids. We want them to be healthy, self confident, happy, and for some of us, we want them to have a lot of friends….. And that’s where things start getting complicated. As a social butterfly myself I just naturally assume my kids are supposed to have a lot of friends, like I always had. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Living a life without school, or even a neighborhood for that matter, my kids have become each other’s best friends, but for a while (ok, and somewhat still to this day) I sought out other kids for them to play with. Only it didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t doing it for them….I was doing it for ME.

If you ask my kids, they are perfectly content with their social life. If you ask them if they’d like to have more friends, they just shrug their shoulders, ehhh. It’s not even something that crosses their minds. My kids have taught me that “friends” come in all shapes and sizes…..and species. They don’t have to be of the two legged variety for them to be considered their friends.

While we were with our friends in Colorado, Jewel woke up in a running sprint every morning to play with our friends goat and llama’s. Even the feral cats couldn’t resist her charms. While Jewel chose the stinky friends, the boys enjoyed every minute they could with our fifty-something-year-young host, Dennis. They played Battlefield Bad Company 2 on the Xbox together and just couldn’t get enough of his funny, quirky spirit. There was a mutual respect between those three, and I seriously think when they were together, there was no age difference. They were just….friends.

Still to this day if you ask Jewel who her best friend is, she’ll say, Lisa. Lisa is my forty something friend that we met in a campground about three or four years ago. We still keep in touch, and see each other whenever we can, which isn’t often, but as much as Lisa is my friend, she is also, truly, Jewel’s friend.

When the boys were younger their cousins were always great friends for them to play with, but now that they’re getting older and the age gap seems to be somehow increasing, the relationships have completely changed. Luckily though, my brother and his wife had an “oops” baby while I was pregnant with Jewel and I have now come to believe that she was put here just for Jewel. Jewel counts down the days on the calendar when we’re in town until the weekend comes, just so she can have Lillie over.

We’ve been to a couple unschooling conferences which we went to under the guise of “it’s for the kids” but none of them led to lasting friendships for them. They were too busy playing with each other.

I have learned there’s no need to try and find them friends, they do just fine on their own.

FOTR Blog Carnival

Utah to Colorado – Sept. 2010

2011-02-24T23:58:00.001-06:00

We ended up leaving Roosevelt after those two nights, but not before Joey determined I needed new tires for my car. (I sure am glad he thinks to check things like that.) While we waited for my tires Jewel spent her time in Dinosaur Country chasing Dinosaur Grasshoppers, and I got reacquainted with multi colored landscapes. Being in Hawaii all that time I forgot there were colors other than green and blue.

We decided to head to our familiar stomping grounds of Colorado and made our first pit stop before even leaving Utah. Since we were in no hurry we walked around this desolate spot along the small highway for a bit and found all sorts of neat things. One being this huge cave on the other side of a large wash:

Then there was a partially decomposed Elk

And a not so lucky Raccoon’s tail

When we crossed from the prehistoric land of northeastern Utah into Colorado it was like the landscape changed immediately. Along this two lane mountain highway Joey pulled over because he knew I would just love this view. He was right. I loved it so much I ran across the highway to snap a few pictures, only on my way back I wasn’t paying attention at all until I heard him scream at me….RUN!!….. Instead, I froze, but luckily the truck swerved, coming within inches of almost hitting me. As if I wasn’t shook up enough over that, the rest of the drive down this mountain was littered with falling rocks, and not just rocks, but large boulders. Thank goodness we didn’t have any oncoming traffic during all the times we had to swerve to avoid the boulders.

Soon enough though we were down in familiar, beautiful, Grand Junction, CO. (I still have yet to climb that mountain!)

I just keep following my Man In His Truck toward one of our favorite places in Colorado, Parachute.

We have friends that are like family that live there, so we went to visit with them while we continue our hunt for the new RV.

Vegas to Utah – Sept. 2010

2011-02-24T21:12:00.002-06:00

Before I discovered my missing camera bag, I had taken this one shot of Jonas, with my Droid, snuggled up on my cousin’s couch with her cat. After our sleepless night on the plane it took him less than five minutes to crash.

Then, after I finally uncurled myself off Amy’s couch (three days later) I got on Craigslist to find myself a new car. I was hoping to find a decent conversion van but ended up finding a cute little economical wagon instead. I bought it on the spot, in the dark, and even though they told me I had to go to the DMV in the morning and get my own plates since they were taking theirs, I said screw it and decided to take my chances driving up to Joey in Utah with no plates and nothing but bubble gum holding the Bill of Sale to the rear window.

Just getting back on the road really lightened my spirits and by the time we hit Antelope Canyon along the Arizona, Nevada, and Utah border I was pretty much recovered from my huge loss. I was happy to be back on the road again, and seeing this beautiful country. Plus, I still had the Droid to take pictures with so all was not lost. I also discovered on this trip what it was like to no longer have a gas guzzling Hummer, Dually truck, Bluebird Bus, or Excursion. What a treat! I probably paid less for this car plus the gas than I would I have paid in any one of my previous vehicles, just in gas to get across town!

I was so beat after the 523 mile trip to Roosevelt, UT that when the hotel clerk accidentally charged us for two nights instead of the one I asked for, we didn’t even make her change it. I remember the customer behind us saying, “wow, must be nice to be able to just be, ‘oh well…we’ll take two nights instead’.”

Little did he know that that was as far ahead as we had planned at that point. The next day began the search for a new RV since we were officially back on the road.

Leaving Hawaii..…and entering…..

2010-11-18T13:35:00.001-06:00

Spring 2003:

January 2005:

September 2010:

It’s that time again, time for us to say Good-Bye and fly away. Even though when we came here this time it was with the intention of staying and possibly homesteading, I always knew this time would come.

One thing always rings true: It’s much better to visit than to live

Joey left the island in August to work in Colorado and the kids and I stayed behind to see how things played out. After a couple weeks it was obvious that we’d be leaving the island for good so the job of packing up the condo and kids fell on me. I was actually looking forward to being the sole discretionary person to decide what goes and what doesn’t, and normally I’m fighting to keep more than he is, yet somehow we left Hawaii with less than we even came with! I decided if we hauled it all the way to Hawaii and never even used it, it got canned. So with less stuff I figured I could handle checking everything on to the plane with us, paying extra baggage fees but saving hundreds in shipping fees. Then three hours before the shuttle was to pick us up I was in a stressful mess…….I couldn’t even get everything into the van let alone haul through an airport!

Joey’s friend, Fish, came by to save the day and offered to take the big stuff that I didn’t need right away to the post office and ship it for me, only leaving us 5 checked bags and 7 carry-on’s. I finally breathed a little easier once we were loaded into the shuttle, just to get to the airport to have to unload everything onto a rental cart, then load it onto the conveyer belt for agriculture inspection, then back on to the cart over to ticketing. There I had to unload the heavy bags, that were on the bottom, for weighing and tagging for check-in, then back on to the cart to take it over to the check-in belt. Then unload the cart once again to finally get them out of my hands, and of course put the carry-on’s back on the cart. And the stuff that didn’t fit on the cart, I had to carry. We haven’t even gotten to security yet.

Security, of course, was a nightmare. We must have used at least a dozen of those grey boxes and held up the line at least fifteen minutes. Aside from opening the laptops, they also had to double check the x-box and controllers because, you know, they look like weapons.

When I booked the flight I didn’t think about the fact that it was a red eye, I just knew it was the cheapest. I actually figured, great! we’ll get to sleep the whole flight and be refreshed and eager to start the new day when we get to Phoenix for our connecting flight to Vegas. I’ve never been sooo wrong in my life! The kids were split up in seats in front of me and I was in a back row seat that wouldn’t lay back. It was stuck straight up and almost leaning forward! I wanted to cry…..again. But even worse the nice old couple next to me were stuck sitting straight up too and I just couldn’t handle that. So….after much debate I finally convinced the old couple to swap seats with Jake and Jewel in front of us so they could at least lean back and have a comfortable flight………. Then with Jake and Jewel beside me I was able to use them as a pillow :-) It was still a miserable flight and after what felt like twenty five hours we finally landed in Phoenix.

We only had forty five minutes to catch our connecting flight and we had to wait for everyone to un board so the stewardess could go to the cockpit and retrieve my hula hoop that I carried on the plane. THEN after making our way to the next flight I realized I had left my fanny pack (that I wore so I wouldn’t lose my most important things) in the magazine holder in front of my seat! The flight attendant wouldn’t let me back on the plane to get it so I had to wait another few minutes for them to take their sweet time to get it for me, and then she had the nerve to tell me…”well, that’s WHY you’re supposed to keep track of your stuff” REALLY?? I thought I did pretty good for not losing my kids at this point.

Somehow we made it through the huge airport to our connecting flight and finally felt everything was going to be alright. Flying over Hoover Dam and Lake Mead was awesome, so awesome that I finally pulled my camera out and snapped some pictures from the air. I text my cousin when we landed so she could head our way to get us, and we then hurried to find the baggage claim. I always try to be super efficient so tried to time my cousin getting there with the same time we’d be walking out the gate, so of course, that seems to put me in a state of stress and slight panic. The bags were taking forever, but we finally started seeing them, so Jake wisely says, “We should unload the cart so we can put the heavy bags on the bottom when they get here” Great idea! So I set my precious camera bag on one of the seats about five feet away and then unloaded the cart onto the ground right beside it. We then get all our big checked items, load them up, put the carry on’s on top, and walk out the gate just in time to see my cousin heading our way. See…my timing is impeccable. I’m so happy to see her after all these years, we hug, I cry, we get in the car and drive away.

A few hours later, at her place, I want to take pictures of everybody and we CANNOT find my camera bag anywhere. I call the airport and all I get is a recording saying they’ll call IF they find it. Amy offers to haul me all the way back to the airport, only to find it gone. GONE! My big camera, my favorite point and shoot, a panoramic camera, multiple lenses, and a laptop……all gone.

Only twenty four hours out of paradise and it felt like I landed in Hell.

Bumper Stickers – Hawaiian Style

2010-10-14T09:09:00.000-05:00

This is a popular bumper sticker we saw often on the North Shore. It’s the local’s way of saying they don’t want any more resorts, hotels, freeways, or apartment buildings built. Keep the country….Local!

This one is probably even more common, Hawaiian Kingdom.

This homemade billboard is on somebody’s fence right along the Farrington Highway, which pretty much sums up what the Hawaiian Kingdom stickers are for.

In case you can’t read it, the gist of it is: Shame on everyone who bought into the American philosophy. Anyone who accepts America as their statehood is basically working with the enemy. America has taken away their inherent sovereignty. Shame on those that celebrate Statehood and honor the thieves. Thieves that locked up their Queen. Stole their land and beat their ancestors for speaking their native tongue.

Someone asked me recently how the Hawaiians felt about America, or Americans. I hate to admit it, but once you get out of the tourist areas, the above is the general feeling we perceive. I always felt like I stood out, and wasn’t very welcome, but I just put on my rosy glasses and went about my business. I had no proof and some could say it was just my imagination but when I got on an elevator a little while ago and a woman looked at me, then gasped, and said…”wow. a blondie. we don’t see many of them around here.” I knew it wasn’t just in my imagination now. Eventually I broke down the cashiers at the local grocery store and had them laughing with me on occasion, but overall it felt like we were living in a foreign country. I can now say we know a little bit how it feels to be the minority and face discrimination. and it wasn’t very comfortable.

Who knows how many really feel that way, I know it wasn’t the majority, since the majority are mainland transplants anyway, but in the country and heavy Islander populated areas, it’s not uncommon to see Hawaiian Parking Only signs and We were born here, You flew here signs.

Of course, this was more of a silent prejudice for the most part, besides… it was much more fun to find and focus on the good, the beauty, and the funny:

*If you don’t get it, just ask.

White Plains Beach

2010-10-13T09:00:00.001-05:00

Annie had been telling us about White Plains Beach for months now, so before we left the island we had to check it out. I didn’t really have any expectations about this beach but she said it’s great for surfing, so we loaded up our two longboards, her SUP, and made our way south for the summer swells. It had been flat all summer on the west coast, so this was Jake’s first chance to surf in months. He was going to use my board but as he was carrying it down to the beach he jumped off a short cement block retaining wall (because I told him to go that way) and as he jumped down the back of the board hit the top of the wall and cracked open! I did the exact same thing my first time carrying that board down to the beach. You’d have thought I’d already learned that lesson. It was a major buzz kill, but Jake attempted Joey’s big ten footer anyway and while it was way too big for him, the boy surfed! and I didn’t get any pictures! but that’s not why he likes it anyway.

Unlike the reef beaches we’d been surfing on this one has a soft sandy bottom, so I was really looking forward to surfing myself but between my cracked board, and Jonas’ foul mood, I wasn’t up for it. Instead I boogie boarded with Jewel for a while and then set off to get a few photos.

I walked over closer to this fence thinking I could try to get a shot of Diamondhead through a chainlink.
And after I get one uninspiring picture that way I look down and see these guys sleeping right in front of me!
Two Hawaiian Monk Seals. Funny how my mood instantly brightened.

There was a man there from a monk preservation society who was making sure no one molested them, and to answer any questions people may have, and to just basically educate. While most people spent a couple minutes taking pictures, and then going back to the beach, Jewel stayed there for probably forty five minutes just soaking up everything he had to say and waiting for this Dad and his Daughter to wake up. They never did, but it was still exciting to be so close to these guys in their natural habitat. The thing Jewel remembers most was the story of how the big one (Dad) got bit by a shark and was able to make himself stop bleeding. Apparently they have a way of cutting off blood flow to wounded areas. Pretty cool.

White Plains gets a two thumbs up but I would definitely recommend not going on the weekend.

I like my beaches a little less crowded.

Pearl Harbor

2010-10-12T14:59:00.001-05:00

Seeing the U.S.S. Arizona is another one of those must do things when visiting Oahu. I had already been there back in ‘02 with Joey and Jewel (then a baby) so I hadn’t really given much thought to going again, then I remembered the boys had never been. And it’s FREE. Now the boys weren’t too excited but after I told them all about the fabulous on site museum, they agreed to go. My friend Annie was supposed to join us, but she couldn’t make it last minute so we just went on ahead anyway. To tell you the truth, I actually prefer things like this without any guests anyway….more focus on the kids.

For once we made it there without getting lost, except that once for directions, only to end up in parking lot hell. Most visitors go by bus so the parking lot is small, and right off the bat I had a tourist steal my parking space I had been waiting for. I wanted to go all Kathy Bates on him but he wouldn’t have understood me anyway so I just continued circling and waiting. Then it happened again! Now it’s just comical so we’re waiting for a third time, but luckily no more thievery and we were finally able to park. We got in, got our ticket for the ferry with thirty minutes to spare to tour the museum…only the museum is closed for construction. Major bummer. We walk over to the U.S.S. Missouri Battleship and decide after the Arizona tour we’ll get tickets and climb aboard it.

First, we have to walk over to the ferry that’s going to shuttle us out to the sunken ship. It’s just a short walk, but nice views of Pearl Harbor, Ford Island Bridge, and that huge golf ball on stilts that I still haven’t figured out what the heck it is, or when it floated in.

It was a pretty hot wait for the ferry, and to amuse myself I secretly took pictures of the tourists and Jonas.

Jewel is very nervous to get on a moving boat. We visited with a cruising family, S/V Capaz, while they were in island briefly making their way from the South Pacific to Canada, and Jewel was happy to feel the relative calmness of the yacht in harbor, but she’s anxious to see what it feels like in motion.

I couldn’t tell her this ferry ride is nothing like a sailboat

I was happy to see these wheelchair clamps on the ferry, knowing that my friend Harli and all her other Angel friends get to see this piece of history up close, and unhindered, just like the rest of us.

Getting off the ferry onto the platform the Captain instructed everyone to go straight into the memorial building and not to STOP to take ANY pictures from this dock. I can’t stand to be told NOT to do something. This one is from inside the memorial building, looking toward Pearl. That’s the looong Ford Island Bridge in the background. We tried to drive on it only to be turned around at the gate with a stern “This is a military base Ma’am!” I didn’t even get to tell him we just wanted to go to the museum!

Proof I had all three kids with me. And No, I didn’t notice they were all in blue until just now. We were getting a little, umm…bored at this point. So I took a cue from Tiffani, one of my favorite photographers, and decided to punch things up a bit.

I have a picture of Jewel in front of this anchor( it was in a different location then) when she was a baby, but darnit, can’t find it right now.

It was a hot day, and by the time we got done with the Arizona tour we were no longer as interested in checking out the Missouri so decided to find some lunch instead. I ended up finding a parking garage so assumed there was a mall attached to it, with a food court, but even better was an extra long moving ramp. With no security in sight. The kids had a blast on the moving ramp and declared that the highlight of the day.

We topped off the day at this gorgeous little roadside park.

The T at the end is hollow, and inside is where Jonas can be found, while Jake supervises.

Sun. Sand. Surf……. So this is what pure bliss feels like.

Makapu’u Tidepools

2010-08-28T17:28:00.001-05:00

When it came to looking for hikes on Oahu I was first focused primarily on the most popular hikes, then I switched to hikes that ended with a waterfall. After doing a few waterfall hikes here I learned that Oahu is indeed not a great island for spectacular waterfalls. While I’ve enjoyed the hike itself much more than the waterfalls, the kids want that special treat at the end. So, I was pretty excited when I found this secret route to the Makapu’u tidepools and then when I mentioned to the kids that we would be getting up early the next morning to do it, they were all equally eager for it.

The kids and I had done the hike out to the Makapu’u lighthouse back when we were here in 2004, but I never knew about the deep tidepools down below it. The hike up to the lighthouse was easy since it was paved the whole way, but this secret hike takes you around the mountain, along it’s rocky shoreline.

Isn’t Jonas adorable in his little bonnet?

Anyway, I was so energized to start our day and had planned on leaving at seven, but expected more like eight. We didn’t leave until about nine thirty but since we were hiking to water, I wasn’t too concerned with the late start. Then I miss my very first exit to the other side of the island, but quickly get back on the right road. To then make yet another wrong turn on the other side of the island which forced me back through the mountain, via long tunnel, right back to the other side of the island. I said screw that way, let’s take the loooong way around and enjoy the southeast coast. Finally around NOON we hit the trailhead.

Instinctively the kids took off ahead and headed straight up the road. I had to call them back and tell them we’re going down, not up, this time.

While everyone else went up the road, we veered off this rocky trail and headed straight for Pele’s Chair, that rocky peak straight ahead towards the coast. Some locals stopped us and told us there was no way to get to the pools we were wanting to from this direction, that we’d have to go up to the lighthouse and then straight down the mountainside, but I knew it could be done and was determined to make it happen. Plus I knew walking along the rocky coast would be more fun and scenic anyway then going on a blacktop path.

As usual Jake took off ahead of us and by the time we got to Pele’s Chair I wasn’t even sure where he went. Then he popped around some rocks and also declared the hike along the coast IMPOSSIBLE. Not to be deterred I had to see for myself…of course.

While not, impossible….it was WAY too dangerous. After climbing over some questionable rocks that could easily break away with no warning, and then hitting this wall, along with the very large waves battering the coast, I had to agree….. and called off the rest of this hike.

Even if we safely made it past this turn there was just more waiting for us. On a calmer day we could have walked in the water but as it was we would have just been pounded into the rocks. Luckily there was a great little cove to the right of Pele’s Chair where we could at least get in the water and cool off!

We didn’t go the normal beach route though….we had to do it local style! By jumping from the rocks, of course. And as usual….Jonas was the first one to hit the water.

Jake was grumpy because he said he was finally excited about a hike and now we can’t do it, so at first he refused to even join us in the water. The temptation must have become too strong though because he did eventually join us, but he still acted like he was miserable and this place was just NO FUN!

Which the local teenagers would have to disagree wholeheartedly with.

Jumping from a telephone pole stuck into rocks ten feet above the water into a child’s innertube. Now that’s what the locals call FUN! They were also throwing soda bottles on the water and jumping on them to see how high they would rocket back up out of the water.

But there was no pleasing my boy, so we stayed only about thirty minutes. With the promise of Pizza Hut, my new teen did eventually come around to his usual cool self.

First, a quick sightseeing walk along Waimanalo Beach:

Then some fish taco’s with pineapple salsa:

It was a rough day. I enjoyed everything we did, but it’s getting stressful that the boys never seem to want to do ANYTHING anymore except play videogames. All they wanted to do was come to Hawaii, yet I have to beg and plead with them to go to the beach. THE BEACH! What kid doesn’t want to do that? Even when they do go to the beach one of the boys are usually asking to go home within an hour.

I’m being patient, though.

Diamond Head Crater

2010-08-27T06:17:00.001-05:00

Diamond Head Crater is probably THE most recognizable landmark in all of Oahu. We see it from thirty miles away as we leave the Westside and hit the South Shore, yet as noticeable and famous as it is, there was nothing really drawing me to it. It was just another tourist trap that I needed to avoid, in my mind. Then I saw a picture taken from the top. Two days later we were hiking it.

We opted to drive into the crater, through a tunnel, and pay the 5$ parking fee. Otherwise people park outside or take The Bus, and add a long walk in the heat, on hot blacktop. No thank you. Our first view of the top is just shortly after the trailhead entrance, way up there in the top right of the above photo. I’m so used to green Hawaii I sure wasn’t expecting all this brown, but apparently they don’t get much rain over here.

It starts off long, winding, dusty and hot. And did I say hot and dusty?

This was our first time using the Camelbak we bought from the Pearl City Goodwill…… four months ago. Can I get a big YeeHaw! for the Camelbak? The kids actually semi-fought over who would carry it! I’m used to carrying frozen bottles of water for everyone so this was a NICE change for me. I didn’t carry anything but my camera.

About halfway up we started seeing views of the interior that really started to define the crater, along with stunning views of all the houses creeping up the hillsides.

Just when we were panting good and hard, we hit our first set of stairs.

Which led us into a 225 foot long tunnel, to another set of even steeper and longer stairs.

Can you see how excited Jewel is about this set of stairs?

She’s actually fretting over how much she’s sweating.

And where in the world is Jake? As hard as he tried, he couldn’t go as slow as us, and after finally completing all the stairs and then a three story high spiral staircase in an old Army bunker, we finally met up with him at the top. Only it wasn’t the TOP, top.

We popped out at a bunker opening and then the boys decided to just stay there while Jewel and I went on to the very top bunker.

We also met back up with Annie, who also felt that Jonas, Jewel and I were too slow and had taken off ahead of us with Jake.

They enjoyed some much needed shade time, while overlooking Waikiki.

Jewel and I went on and faced the crowd at the top on our own.

Jewel is modeling the view directly south, and then as we make our walk back down the view is to the northeast, which includes, I believe, Cocohead Crater. (Another hike I would like to do before leaving the island).

Ahhhh…..heading down is so much easier. It’s so easy that it’s easy to get careless, and in my magnificent hiking shoes (strappy crocs), I slipped right on some loose gravel and landed right on my butt! But I was like a cat and bounced up so fast the people behind me barely had time to gasp.

I ran before I could hear them laugh.

Upon returning to the trailhead the kids always seem to have enough energy to climb trees. Hmmmm.

After resting in the shade for a while we left to grab some food and ended up finding a perfect spot, right along Ala Wai Canal in downtown Honolulu, to have a peaceful, shady picnic lunch.

Overall impressions of the Diamond Head hike:

Jake: Long and sweaty

Jonas: Ehhh…..there was hardly anything at the end…….and…….I’m not a big fan of hikes.

Jewel: Yeah! I really liked it! but it did make me tired.

Me: Better than expected! Would be even better if done very early in the morning, when it’s cooler and with less people. I loved it for the uniqueness of the stairs and the tunnels and the switchbacks, and of course the gorgeous views at the top. I also disagree about it being a tourist trap, we learned a lot about the Military’s history in this crater that we didn’t even know existed beforehand. So…..good for the body, good for the mind, good for the senses, and good for the soul. That’s what I call a Good Hike.

Makaha Valley Hiking

2010-08-03T15:03:00.002-05:00

My main computer, that holds my three thousand and two pictures I've taken over the last six months here in Hawaii, got a nasty virus (which I still need to call Dell about), which means I'm off the hook from stressing about all those blog posts I kept meaning to write. I'm worried about losing all those pictures, but it is nice being able to start fresh...in my head, at least. I would love to be able to write daily or at least every other day about our goings on's but I usually stop myself because I want to get caught up from that day at the beach two months ago or Jacob's entrance into the teen years that happened in MAY or a picture story of the first time I tried a stand up paddle board......or swimming with dolphins and sea turtles. But first....I'll do today:

Let's see......we're still in Hawaii, although we almost weren't. We aren't having any luck finding a sailboat here and we find so many great deals in California, it almost makes sense to go back to the mainland to work and find our boat there, but it seems Hawaii isn't done with us yet, so we're still here....for now. I imagine it'll still be another couple months before we find THE boat, we're still learning and figuring out what we want vs what we need. BTW....boat shopping MUCH MORE difficult than RV shopping.

I slacked off a little on my walks but yesterday convinced Jonas and Jewel to hike back into Waianae Valley with me and my friend, Annie. I was told there are ponds up in the streams and if we're lucky we can find an Icy Pond. So with the lure of these secret ponds the kids were actually pretty eager to go. All except Jake. He wrangled his rope like arms and legs around the bar stool frame and clung on for dear life, stating: "I just woke up and I don't want to go". It was already after 9 and I had wanted to be on the trail by 7 as to avoid the heat, so I stopped begging and let him be.

First we walked up to the water tower where we waited for Annie.

While waiting the kids found the only shade they could, along an ancient three foot high wall. As soon as Annie caught up to us we took off into the valley and across our first dry stream.

Where Jonas promptly slipped on loose sand and gravel and fell HARD right on his back. The picture was taken just seconds before the fall. Jonas is a tough kid and doesn't like to show weakness, but he was hurting something fierce. I had him lie down in a soft bed of leaves for a while before slowly getting him back on his feet. I figured we'd have to turn around at this point, but after about thirty minutes he was ready to go again....so on we went.

I couldn't decide if this giant rock looked more like a dinosaur footprint or an arrowhead. It does look a lot like the footprint we saw in Utah. Only much larger.

After the stream we walked along a dirt trail in the trees and scrub for a while, before coming to the largest Mango tree we've ever seen. There were literally thousands of mango seeds under it's umbrella that had been ravaged by the wild pigs. Not one edible mango to be found.

After walking another mile or so we pop out into a perfectly landscaped parking lot! It's the Kane'aki Heiau (temple) that we visited back in February. Now we could have driven to this point, but the heiau is only open certain hours, these not being them, plus we wanted the hike. We walked right past the heiau and it's two gardeners and ran smack dab into this gate:

I would have stopped here but Annie showed us how to cling to the side of the fence hovering over the stream twenty feet below and swing ourselves around. It's all her fault.

Now we're on a paved road leading up to a city of Honolulu well. I didn't know we'd be on a road. I was hoping we'd be in the rain forests by now! Luckily it's kind of overcast and breezy so the uphill hike isn't too too bad for the kids. We do stop often for breaks. We are also on the look out for fruit and coffee. We need some breakfast.

We found a Jabon tree with plenty of jabon's on them, they just weren't ripe yet. We'll definitely be going back in a couple weeks to pick us some of those monsters. Here's a link with some great pictures of the monster jabon's. We did pick one to bring home with us to examine. :-)

We also found Lilikoi!

We picked all we found, about a dozen that were on the ground, and ate a few along the trail. They were different. Sweet, but sour, and a little like pomegrants in their texture. I'll like them better mixed in fruit smoothies, rather than just by themselves. They are a type of passion fruit. Another tree we learned about on this hike were the coffee trees. I know they are abundant here but I never knew which ones they were, and now I do and now I can't wait to find some ripe beans to send to my mom.

After taking a slight detour to find the Lilikoi we found ourselves off trail and bouldering straight up the stream.

In between the boulders

Resting on the boulders

While Annie and I could climb these boulders all day, it wasn't the easiest thing for the kids, plus we were all in crocs & flip flops. I could just see one of us getting our foot jammed under moving boulders. Finally we found our way back to the road, but by this time the sun was really blaring. I asked Jo0nas if he wanted to turn around but he actually said....We've come this far, can't stop now.....wow! I was impressed with him. He hurt his back really bad, hates hiking, hates being in the sun, yet wanted to continue on in our search for some water to jump in.

We've been hiking for about three hours at this point and there isn't even a trickle in the stream, so hopes of finding a water filled pond are not looking good. We're still on a water company road and it's just getting steeper so I finally make the call to turn it around.

As we're walking back down a City of Honolulu truck is making it's way up and I try to ignore him as I walk by but he stops me anyway. He just kind of scolds me, I play stupid, and we keep on walking.

At the heiau I take some pictures of Jewel and Annie in the trees and then we look for our trail that leads us back over to the water tower. We failed. We ended back up in another creek with big, loose boulders, and by this time it is really, really hot and our feet our hurting us. Jewel may have started to whine a little bit. If it wasn't her, it would have been me. We now have to turn around, and cut through the thick brush rather than tackling anymore of the stream, and find the trail. Thankfully it didn't take too long, and another thirty minutes later and we were back at the large mango tree. The kids were never so excited to see a tree.

Getting back to our side of the valley was nice, since we knew we were on the last stretch, but it was two in the afternoon now, there wasn't a cloud in sight, and no breeze to cool our sweat. It was probably the worst part, and we just couldn't wait to get to the watertower and start heading back downhill.

Jonas even managed to hitch a ride with Annie.

We ended the hike swimming in the pool at the Towers for about an hour before we had to slip our crocs back on and walk the last half mile home. Don't think I didn't almost ask Annie to drive us back...cause I almost did. We didn't get to see any icy ponds, but we learned a lot about the foliage here in Hawaii that we didn't know. Jonas learned that he's a lot tougher than he gives himself credit for. We got to try new exotic fruit, and learn even more after coming home to research them further. We had an excellent workout, with beautiful scenery, and good company. So even though the kids will never do that hike again, it was worth every ache and mosquito bite.

I'm That Mom

2010-07-28T21:17:00.000-05:00

I'm that mom that let's her kids watch TV and play video games to their heart's content. I also do not have parental controls over the Internets. They've all been huge learning resources in our home, as much as they've been entertainment. I believe in broadening their horizons, not limiting them.

I'm also the mom that is not the least bit threatened to know that, as a homeschooling mom, I didn't teach them a thing. They learned it all for themselves.

I'm also the mom of very long haired boys. I DO believe it is up to them, and they DO have a say-so. I care how they look, but I care more about how they feel.

I'm the mom of kids that like to use cuss words. I'm happy that my kids feel safe to be themselves and express themselves however they want, and equally happy that they are choosey in who they allow to hear those words.

I'm also a short order cook. I show them how to make most of their favorite things, and put these things within their reach, but I also realize it always tastes better when Mom makes it. So, yeah....I'm THAT mom.

I'm also the mom that sat and listened and talked with a nine year old girl at the pool the other day, and within five minutes she asked me, "Can you be my mom?"

I remember many times as a kid saying, when I'm a Mom I'll never "X", or I'll do "Y". Of course then I would just hear, "What until you're a Mom! Then you'll see!"

I'm happy to say it is possible to be.... THAT mom and still have great kids.

** This post was inspired by Ronnie's spontaneous blog carnival idea inspired by Flo's post.

*** Leave it to unschoolers to start an impromptu blog Carnival

**** Cause you can't plan shizz this good

***** I'm also that mom that is last to join the party

Finding Gems

2010-07-26T01:43:00.001-05:00

There are days when we set out to spend a whole day at the beach, but more often than not, our beach outings are often on a whim. Once we get there we each have our “thing” we like to do. Jonas heads straight for the crashing shorebreak, Jewel follows with her goggles on, Jake waits until his bones are thoroughly heated enough and he finally gives in to the draw of the cool water. Me? I like to find a small pool to swim with the little fishes.

And Joey? Joey can usually be found bent over, looking for treasures………

Along with jewelry and spare parts

Six Months

2010-07-23T23:58:00.000-05:00

It's been six months since we "moved" to Hawaii. I tried so hard to let it be known that we LIVED here, dammit, and were not just tourists. Why that was important to me, I still can't exactly figure out. What makes it even worse when I think about it is the fact that the Hawaiians actually LIKE the tourists. They visit, and then go home. What they don't like are people like us that move here, and worse yet, get one of the precious, hard to come by, J.O.B.S's.

Now after living here in Hawaii all this time I've begun to question the fact if I even consider myself living here anymore. Obviously I live here and have the rent and utility bills to prove it, but I am constantly looking for a new waterfall to uncover or a new mountain to drag my family up. Even if it's just a cell phone, I always have a camera on me, and almost always come home with at least one picture.....even if it is just of the food I picked up at the 7-11. I listen with HUGE ears wide-open any and every time I speak with a local, hoping to learn a little bit more about their culture, the names of the flowers and how they really feel about the United States.

I'm still learning these things, but in the process, have learned something about myself.

I AM A TOURIST.

A BIG FAT APPRECIATIVE ONE.

Turtle Beach

2010-07-10T23:31:00.001-05:00

Tucked in between two small resorts is a beautiful, clean, and soft, sandy beach that some call Turtle Beach. We first discovered it back in ‘04 when we scored a week stay for free in the below condo. Up until then our stays had always been in either the Plantations or the Towers, up country. It was beyond our wildest dreams to actually stay right on the beach. During that week the waves were insane, too! I remember sitting on the lanai (patio) watching the huge waves, grow bigger by the day. That’s also when I learned that each size wave brings out a different group of beach goers. The large waves by the rest of the world’s standards, but small by Hawaiian standards would bring out the elementary school kids. The next day with larger waves brought out all the junior high kids. By the times the waves were so huge that they decided to just cancel school since no one was showing up anyway, brought out ALL the high school kids and twenty something’s. We’d have front row views of boogie boarders doing tricks in the extremely dangerous shorebreaks, and of the unsuspecting tourists losing their tops! It was better than T.V. We saw one girl lose her top and her boyfriend was more concerned with covering her up then getting safely out of the water so then they’d both take another pounding. It wasn’t funny, I know, but we laughed so much just from people watching from up there.

This stay was also the time I was snorkeling out about a hundred fifty feet from shore when a sea turtle popped up out of the water right next me. I yelled to Joey on shore who immediately brought Jonas, who was five at the time, out to me, making it both of our’s first time swimming with a sea turtle. I can still remember his excitement! The turtle swam with us for a while, diving below to grab algae from the rocks then coming up for air, within inches of us. I wanted to touch him but we were too chicken, besides I think it’s illegal. He didn’t seem to mind us being there at all, either. That is until he decided to dive below us and then relieve himself! We literally had to move quick to get out of his torpedo zone. For the record, turtle poop looks just like human poop ….and it floats. You’re welcome.

We’ve been back to this beach a few times this trip, with two of the times being right after hiking Maunalahilahi. Once with Jewel, and the last time after completing the hike with Joey. And then this time with the kids.

Each time we’ve floated on the water and said “I could just lay like this forever”.

It is such a relaxing place.

Jonas is snorkeling, while Jake lets the waves softly push him up the beach.

And Jewel lets the shorebreak gently tumble her over.

The only downfall is knowing that there could be people up there on their lanai’s watching ……..and waiting. And with my track record, it’s just a matter of time before I do something to embarrass myself or anyone around me, so yeah…….we don’t go here too much.

Pray 4 Something

2010-07-07T11:09:00.000-05:00

This is by far our favorite beach, and even though we call the beach barking sands, we don’t actually know the official name for this particular spot, this rocky spot that houses those bathtubs the kids love to play in.

One day we were out here when the water was not this calm and after testing out the pools for a bit decided they were just too big of a risk to enjoy. At he same time there was a young couple from Japan walking on the beach who just happened to see Joey coming out of one of the tubs. They went in them right after we got out, while the water was calm, so had no idea they’d soon get a swell washing over them. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He got pushed into her, pinning her to the side of the pool, and then the water was so strong it drug them right out of the pool, belly side down over the lava rocks, dragging him on top of her. I felt bad for her little skinny self, but hope they learned to watch the waves for a while first.

In the above photo I’m standing on the rocks, above the cave, that’s in the below photo.

The cave that Joey noticed tunneled below the rock and said that one day when the water wasn’t so rough he was going to see how far he could get in that tunnel.

Jewel beat him to it.

With the help of some little local boys, which she was so shy to talk to, they showed her the way.

We also carefully climbed that big rock in the center…….just to take in the views.

The local teenagers like to jump from this rock, something that we see more and more of everywhere now that the huge winter swells are gone.

And now we officially know the name of this great little spot. I had heard there was a place the locals called Pray 4 Sex but never knew where it was, and now thanks to some local vagrants not only have they revealed the location for us but they’ve solved my biggest dilemma for me (as to what to call this spot) ……………………. Only, since this is the, approximately, two feet of water they’re jumping into below, I think I’d be praying for something else!

Another time Joey and I were out here alone with only another person or two within sight, just floating in the water and then walking in the sand, when a man from Iowa walked up to us, completely puzzled, asking:

Why is there nobody out here?

We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves, but ……………we’re not complaining.

west coast, east coast

2010-07-06T22:45:00.001-05:00

We can go weeks with never leaving the west side of the island, but occasionally we feel like a cruise to one or more of the other sides. Yesterday was one of those days. We made plans to meet friends in Waimae Bay for a little paddle boarding, rock climbing, snorkeling, and rock jumping and figured the Fourth of July party goers would be long gone from the beach and back at work…….we couldn’t have been more wrong. Hawaii had Furlough Friday last week so I never expected them to also have monday off. It was quite possibly the busiest I have ever seen the island. It was crazy! Haleiwa had lines fifty people long waiting for shaved ice. SHAVED. ICE. The traffic was also at a crawl, and every parking lot along the North Shore was overflowing with three cars waiting for one parking space. We basically went from Shark’s Cove to Waiamae and back, and then repeated, and then circled again, then popped into Foodland for some fresh fruit and poke, then searched some more for a parking spot. Our friends decided to turn around and head home before they even caught up with us, but we figured we’re in this mess, we can’t give up now.

Only we did give up on the North Shore. We headed east to Kailua where we did find parking, but for what..?

A friend of ours took his kids to the beach on Father’s Day and when I commented that we didn’t go because it was so crowded that day, he called us spoiled.

**************************

West side beach:

I guess we are.

Our Own Personal Fish Monger

2010-06-20T04:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I talked about Tim, the spearfisherman that got stung by a jellyfish, but what I failed to mention was that he tried to sell us some of his fresh speared fish from his high tech set-up…..a cooler on wheels.

He succeeded.

We had no idea what we were getting or if we were getting a good deal, it was, as one wise observant woman pointed out……just because we COULD. We wanted a couple of the big ones, and then he threw in a couple more……just because. {When they do that I figure they’re overcharging to begin with, but I was happy to learn today that we indeed got a good deal (for Hawaii standards)).

We paid thirty dollars for all our fish and at the local grocery store, Tamura’s, they want thirty dollars just for the one blueish one in the center. We got three times that.

We baked the first three in a stuffing mixture that Tim recommended, only substituting it for items we actually had, and they were ehh…so, so. We saved the big one for last, eating it the next day after baking in garlic butter and it was by far the best tasting fish we have ever had. From now on we will only be buying fish from Tim, where he can be found every other day strolling Farrington Hwy in front of Makaha Beach. We all agreed he has a pretty rough life, too. Spearfishing everyday (except Sunday) and hanging out on the beach a few mornings a week. (Heineken was not for sale, that was Fish’s breakfast)

This was the one fish that scared me a little bit…look at it’s teeth……THEY’RE HUMAN!!

I’m still waiting for the day that we go to the beach and don’t learn or see something new or exciting.

Catch with a Crustacean

2010-06-19T02:07:00.001-05:00

This morning while the kids slept, the ~~adults~~ big kids, went for another early walk along the beach, and I’m happy to report no jellyfish this time. Speaking of jellyfish…..we met a lot of local folks that didn’t even know about the monthly jellyfish invasion which resulted in about a hundred people island wide getting stung. With thirty of them happening on Makaha Beach alone! We met one of them the other morning while talking story with Joey’s friend Fish, while at the beach. This local named, Tim, had been spear fishing that morning when he got stung on the only part of himself that wasn’t protected, his face. He said he had to swim over half an hour to get to the nearest house and then for whatever reason, they shooed him away! They wouldn’t help him. Luckily he had a lifeguard friend that lived nearby so he went to his place and he poured boiling hot water on his face to stop the stinging, and Tim said it helped. He also said he was really struggling to swim, as he was in such intense pain and felt like his muscles were trying to paralyze. It took him this whole week to recover, but we could still see the scar. I don’t think he’ll ever go out without a face cover again!

Anyway, this morning was much more playful. After resting our burning calves while sitting along the shore, little crabs started coming out of their holes. As soon as they’d see us they’d hurry back down, except this one. He just sat on top of his hole staring at us, so eventually I threw a little stone his way to see what he’d do, and to my surprise he chased after it like a puppy dog! He quickly got on top of that thing and hugged it as tight as he could. Thinking that was just a freak thing he did, we tried another pebble….and he immediately abandoned the first stone in favor of the new one. Then he did it again, and again, and again.

After a while we felt we teased the poor thing long enough so we continued on, only to find another brave crab farther down the beach. What are the odds to run into two crazy crabs in one day? Normally they’re gone before you can even spot them, and here we have another one just staring us down. This one was bigger and wasn’t interested in stones though, he was looking for a fight.

Joey slowly lowered his keys above him and he tried with all his might to get them. After a few failed attempts he’d run away from Joey backwards. But a crab running backwards results in him doing backwards somersaults. So he’d run, and then flip, then prance up real high on his tippy claws and run again, and flip backwards again. But he always came back to Joey for more. He could have easily ran back in his hole, but I guess he was probably having a little fun with us, too. (I just wish I would have had video on my phone, so you could see these silly crabs in action, too.)

Eventually the crab won, and Joey walked away in defeat.

**PS** No crustaceans were harmed in the making of this blog post

Sand Island – Now & Then

2010-06-18T22:50:00.001-05:00

Maunawili Falls

2010-06-17T14:09:00.002-05:00

Maunawili Falls is listed as being an easy hike, so I thought it sounded like a great hike for the whole family. A leisurely stroll out to a small waterfall with deep, cool pools. Who could resist that? Well, the boys could, but I have to remind them there are other things in life besides video games. It’s a tough sell these days.

The trail starts off walking through mostly coffee and mountain apple trees, but I honestly don’t know what’s what. Just many shades of green, in even more shapes and sizes, and when we’d finally bust through a grove we’d have these great views of the cloud topped Ko'olaus Mountains.

The path was well worn, and mostly followed the creek up towards the falls.

Then we’d have to cross the creek which is always fun, but deciding which path to take once we got to the other side was never an easy decision. The trail is mostly unmarked so we just hoped we made the right choices.

Then more thick jungle followed by another stream to cross. We’re like Frogger crossing these boulders, only instead of watching for cars we had to watch for slippery rocks.

Or in Jewel’s case, someone to guard her goggles and sticks for her.

Jewel had no choice but to swing on her first natural tree swing.

She was made for this.Joey’s Field of Dreams

Oh look!….Another creek to cross!

but then the whole trail got a little twisted

AND THEN WE MET THE STAIRMASTER

Those stairs seemed to go on forever. Just when we thought we were done, around the bend would be another set of “stairs”. But we did finally make it to the top, and Jewel took a much deserved “breather” What gorgeous views we had walking across the ridge!

The waterfall is somewhere down inside this valley, right around in the middle of the picture is my best guess

At this point Jacob had taken off ahead and left the rest of us behind, including Jonas, who was struggling. It’s also at this point that we determine that this should be a breeze for a ten year old boy so the fact that he was having a hard time is worrying Joey and I a little. A few months ago he would have kept up with Jacob. After making it all the way up, we were surprised to have to now go back down. I wasn’t even sure we were going in the right direction, and not having Jacob with us starts making me pretty nervous. Who knows which way he went?! Is he on the right trail even? Not liking that! Then at the bottom we hit yet another creek and another trail, both leading in opposite directions. We decide to stay awhile for someone else to come along and hope they knew which way to go. I wasn’t happy to see it was straight up the creek, over the boulders. A little ways in though we found a trail, and we could hear kids laughing in the distance.

Then we saw all the kids, and Jake there waiting for us. Such a relief. But THIS is the waterfall??

I wasn’t expecting to be in this closed in little valley with one hundred foot rock walls on either side of us. I also wasn’t expecting so many kids! Naturally, I wanted to jump but as you can see from this picture, it felt a little too much like Mystery Science Theatre to me. I wasn’t getting up there and having all the critics in the front row making fun, or the paparazzi snapping photos.

Here’s Jake patiently sitting and waiting his turn while the bigger kids jump off the walls from both sides. Most of the kids on the waterfall are just hanging out, or just jumping from there. You can’t see the ones that climb way up, until they’re plunging in the water. THAT was pretty cool to see.

Here’s a short little clip of Jonas from his jump off the walls, and his reaction afterwards.

We swam in the pool and watched everyone jump for about an hour then slowly started making our way backWe tried to stop and eat but the mosquitoes quickly started attacking us so we had to eat on the move

I knew to bring bug spray, but completely forgot. We all paid for that.

Going down is much easier, and it seems Jonas had caught his second wind. Or else tree branch jungle gyms are just too exciting to pass up no matter how exhausted you are.

On the way back I finally figured out it was easier to walk barefoot and simply walk through the creeks instead of trying to balance myself on the boulders with camera in one hand and Jewel’s collections in the other.

Occasionally we got a reprieve from the brown and green and saw some other colors, too

Overall, this was a great hike, one that I definitely want to do again, only the next time I will be sure to go while school is in session.

Hope You Find What You’re Looking For

2010-06-09T05:16:00.001-05:00

It was thirteen years ago when we first “hit the road in a motorhome”. We didn’t really know what we were in search of then, we just knew there had to be a better place to raise our baby, than stuck in this daily grind, in this large city of Metropolitan Phoenix. We kind of figured we’d just hit the road in search of that perfect place to settle down…..maybe. There was a lot of fear on my part going into it, we had never heard of or known anyone to do something like this before, and the internet wasn’t like it is now where you can find hundreds of families “living on the road”. Honestly, I was just going along with Joey’s crazy idea. That was until our first night in our new home on wheels, parked beside a lake… under the stars. This was an awakening….a whole new way of life for us. A world I never knew existed.

This vagabond life has worked well for us all these years. We’ve had big dreams for our family, like traveling Australia by RV for six months, backpacking Europe, and even moving to Hawaii. We can check off moving to Hawaii now. But one far off dream that we’ve always had was living on a sailboat and cruising the World. We used to talk about how great our life was going to be once all the kids could swim. That would mean to us that they’re at an age where they’re not babies anymore, and are a little more independent, and well, what the heck….if they fall off a boat their chances of surviving are are a little better.

We completely put that dream aside though, and I, yes, I admit it, I begrudgingly moved to Hawaii to live in a stick and mortar home. I did it because I knew if I had to live in a house, at least it was on an island. It was what Joey felt he needed to do for our family….. and I knew it would be a good thing, too. I remember when we first moved here someone left a comment saying “hope you find what you’re looking for” and it’s stuck with me. I’ve never felt like I was looking for something. I feel like I’ve always gone with the flow, but now I think that comment plays over in my head because we were searching. I knew it wasn’t a house we needed, it was just to be near the water. It’s to be in the sun, the sand, and the surf…….. That’s all we’ve ever needed. We just didn’t know how to go about making it happen.

Then last month we were walking around the harbor in Waikiki and a dream was reborn.

I think we’ve found our next RV park

We brought up the idea of buying a sailboat instead of land to the kids and they were one hundred percent on board. Didn’t even have to pry them away from the XBox to go boat shopping! Of course the boat they want is this huge ship they’ve dubbed The Pirate Ship. We’re looking at something a little more ~~affordable~~ practical. We came sooo close to sealing a deal on this sailboat below, but ultimately decided against it. We were initially just thinking cheap and quick, but the more we learn, and keep finding out, about sailboats and cruising, the more decisions we have to make. I’m proud of us for not jumping on this, like we normally would have.

We may not know anything about sailing, but we know a lot about living in a motorhome, and a liveaboard boat is just a motorhome on water, so we’ve already won the first challenge.

And as far as what we’re searching for……I don’t think it’s anything, yet it’s everything. We simply can’t be content with just one thing…….. when there’s a huge world out there with so much to offer. It’s just every now and then a traveller needs to stop for a minute and regroup, and I see now that’s all we were doing every time we thought we needed to settle down. Life is forever evolving, and our goals and plans should be, too…..and that’s all those breaks were about, we just didn’t know it at the time. We just needed to keep evolving ourselves, but that’s hard to do when old voices in your head tell you you’re supposed to have a house, get a job with a company with benefits and stay until you retire, and THEN you get to go live your life. If we hit a hiccup in the road, that old recorder plays over and over, but I think we mayhave finally broken that record player now! ……….So bring on our next adventure!!

****************************************************

Gypsy ………..defined as "persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showmen, or persons engaged in travelling circuses, travelling together as such."

Just your everyday walk on the beach

2010-06-06T19:46:00.002-05:00

Instead of our usual morning walk up to the water tower this morning, we chose to drive down the hill to Makaha Beach and walk in the sand instead. What an adventure that turned out to be….. with some new knowledge, to boot. (insert plug for unschooling here)

Those are not our footprints in the sand.

They were dozens……if not hundreds….of potentially deadly, Hawaiian box jellyfish. And we almost stepped on the!…….repeatedly…… They left a trail along the high tide line almost half the shoreline long.

Then the next quarter of the shoreline was dotted with large holes with large piles next to them. Some of the holes were almost as big as my foot! Normally , during the day, we see only the small crab holes… so I guess you have to get up pretty early to see the big boys.

Continuing south the sand is almost completely washed away, exposing rock that had been covered all winter.

You can see where the sand level was along the right side ridge

It also exposed some tide pools

Back to the north end of the beach, and back to the jellyfish.

I noticed that the milkier ones would occasionally bubble up, like it was gasping for air, but the clear ones never moved. These two had the tentacles entwined. Like two lovers that couldn’t bear to separate.

When we got back home we told the kids about them, and first, Jewel was sad we went without her, but then we were all interested to figure out why this happened. (enter unschooling activity plug here). With a quick search of the amazing, ingenious World Wide Web, we quickly learned, of all things…….the spawning habits of box jellyfish. Apparently this is a monthly thing, just most common on the windward and southern shores. About nine to ten days after a full moon thousands of jellyfish come near the shoreline to spawn, and it usually lasts three to four days. I checked the spawning calendar on 808jellyfish.com and sure enough, we are smack dab in the middle of their egg laying.

It made me sad to see all these helpless jellyfish just laying there, but then we watched crabs start to come out of their holes and check out the jelly’s. We hoped they would eat them, so it was nice to learn later that the jellyfish did not die in vain, and will in fact be scavenged up by the sand crabs.

And we thought we were just going for a walk.

Name that Succulent

2010-06-05T23:02:00.001-05:00

We noticed this odd looking cactus along our trail in the morning about six weeks ago, almost hidden in the tall grass. If I had to guess I’d say they were about nine inches tall, and just stood out as an odd beautiful thing in the middle of the dry grass. Especially being the only plant of it’s kind anywhere, that I could see.

To add to it’s interestingness was this lone huge bulb.

And what an awesome surprise to walk by this plant that hadn’t changed a bit for almost two months, and see this gorgeous flower.

As it opened up it released seeds that looked exactly like the seed from the Tree of Life from the movie Avatar. (a few can be seen in the first photo, and one in the bottom left of the last photo…(*Droid photos)).

***The 3,245th thing that makes me happy to be in Hawaii***

Po’Kai Bay

2010-06-03T00:09:00.001-05:00

Po’Kai Bay is a small bay on the Waianae Coast, smack dab in the center of town, and is a popular spot for the locals to bring their keiki’s (children) to play in the water. Even on the ocean’s roughest day, the bay will usually be a safe place for them to play. It’s also very popular for paddleboarding, kayaking, and outrigger canoeing.

I took this shot from the far north side of the bay in what the locals call, Rest Camp, and where we like to surf, but lately we haven’t gone without Jewel so I stay behind on the beach with her while Joey surfs solo, and that leaves us hours to explore the entire bay.

I used to be intimidated to walk down the large rock jetty’s afraid that we’d be yelled at to get off or something, but I’ve come to learn pretty much no place is off limits in Hawaii. Even if there’s a danger sign warning people to stay out….it’s just that, a warning.

When we walk out on these rocks, or any rocks near the ocean, we see handfuls of crabs scurrying away.

One day I remembered there was a geocache hidden on the southern tip of the bay so Jewel and I grabbed my Droid, armed with the C:Geo App and built in camera, and went in search of our second cache in Hawaii. (still haven’t found the first one I tried) Below is the view from the southern tip looking into the bay and up Waianae Valley (which also has some hidden geocaches we plan on hunting soon).

Below is the view from the southern tip of the bay to northern tip

We searched for the Ku’ilioloa Heiau Geocache for what felt like forever. It was also the first time I’d ever tried to use a GPS and I quickly learned I HAD NO CLUE HOW TO USE IT. We searched all over, gave up, circled back, and tried again to figure out the GPS. I did eventually figure out I was within 6 feet of the stupid thing so there was no way I was leaving without finding it. I already have a few failed caches under my belt and I don’t really want the World’s Worst Geocacher title, so we searched on.

And after an exhaustive search, in these boulders….we finally found our cache!

Once I stopped, looked around and thought like someone who would be looking for a good spot to hide something themselves, it was obvious. Since we didn’t plan on geocaching we didn’t have anything to leave ourselves so we just looked at the goodies inside, logged our visit, sealed it back up and re-hid it.

That was our first found cache here and since then have failed to find the one on our Maunalahilahi hike and completely intentionally passed up three more on our hike out to Kaena Point. I’ve realized now it’s not the treasure or the find I’m after, it’s all about the hike for me. I’ll continue to use geocaching.com for the trail information and the taking me to places I’d never go otherwise, but I doubt I’ll get too obsessive over finding the cache anymore.

Walking back out from the point we encounter one of those WARNING SIGNS

I think we’ll be obeying the sign on this one!!

Beal’s Pond

2010-06-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

This is the popular surfing side of Makaha Beach, which ends at the block wall that begins the condo building. Beyond that rock wall are private residences and difficult to traverse, reef. Our friends told us there were pools over there in the reef though, so one morning Joey and I had to see these “pools” for ourselves.

Now THIS is a POOL!

We expected some small tidepools, but was happily surprised with the depth and width of this pool!

Like most places in Hawaii…there is a plaque: DEDICATED TO LOVERS, MAMAS AND BABIES

This is by far the best dedication I’ve seen.

As nice as it is to enjoy the peace and tranquility of this place by ourselves……it is best shared with friends!

Jewel would have to wear her shoes to get across the rock so she could jump over and over again into the pond, and crocs turned out to be perfect reef-jumping shoes. She’d throw them into the water before she jumped and then they would just float on top. Then after jumping in she’d gather up her shoes and rest them on the spiky rock ledge to wait for her to repeat the cycle. Needless to say, Jewel loves this place!

They almost look like they’re hanging in mid air, don’t they?

Beal’s Pond: Just another reason to love Hawaii

Ka’ena Point

2010-05-31T18:42:00.001-05:00

Ka’ena Point is the westernmost tip on the island, and the only way to get there is to hoof it. So hoof it, we did….and we drug Jewel along for the journey.

You can barely see the point in this picture, but it’s the very last point you see jutting out in the center of the photo. It’s about three miles down a hot and dirty trail……just how we like ‘em.

Most of the trail is pretty easy going, and Joey and I just follow Jewel as she skips along.

Until we come to the point where the road disappears. We could go straight and balance across a six inch plank or take the “easier” route and go up the side of the mountain…. Umm..yeah, we chose the easy route.

We got a late start so we knew we’d be in the heat of the day, but at the start of our hike we were under cloud cover and even had a few sprinkles so thought we had it made in the shade for the rest of the hike. Then we busted past that grey cloud and it was nothing but sun the rest of the day, and we were HOT. Not a coincidence now that I find out Ka'ena means “the heat”! Not a coincidence either that not many people were on this hike while we were. It felt great, though! There was a spot that we considered hiking down to the water to cool off but it was so early on we figured we’d have another chance, but we never did.

The guidebooks all recommend taking the northern approach to the point, because it’s a nice flat path out the dunes, as you can see in the below photo.

Personally, I didn’t know what to think of these dunes. They were beautiful and unexpected, even though I’ve been here before (just forgot about them), but they were also a lot like the razor on top of barbed wire. THE LAST THING I WANTED TO TREDGE THROUGH AFTER DRIPPING WITH SWEAT AND WANTING NOTHING MORE THAN TO JUMP IN THE OCEAN.

Kaʻena Point is a spear-shaped protrusion into the Pacific Ocean. Some ancient Hawaiian folklore states that Kaʻena Point is the "jumping-off" point for souls leaving this world.

We fell into the biggest pool of that spear-shaped protusion and savored every super salty second of it………. And Jewel proclaimed: At the end of every trail there’s a treasure!!

After finally cooling off we started exploring the beach and noticed that the beach here is nothing but wave tumbled coral pieces, large pieces…..not something we’d seen before, but is now in my car to add to her collection. While they beach combed I jumped back in the water on the west side and just as Jewel came in the largish waves to join me I was quickly pushing her against the current back out. There was a Hawaiian Monk Seal about twenty feet away heading straight for us, and I wasn’t so sure we were welcome in his cove!

I grabbed the Droid as fast as I could to snap a picture of him, but this was the best I could do. Ha! I did take this picture but it was off an informational sign out there explaining that the area is a protected natural habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal and to basically ……..stay away. The one I saw sure didn’t look this cute He looked like he was on a mission to get me out of his water…..quick! Man…..What a rush that was. Can I have an encore? (Jewel had me to take this picture so that I could show you all what it looked like)..aww

Next to the light tower is this knocked over bunker, or something. For us it was shade. Much needed shade.

Then of course, we had to climb that cement block.

We had some great views from up there!

Why do boys always have to scare girls? He thinks it’s funny to do push ups over an eight foot hole. Jewel and I, do not.

After getting fully rested up, and still having plenty of ice cold water left, we begrudgingly made our way back towards civilization. But before we could even leave the dunes we walk smack dab into an albatross nest.

I used that photo to show how large this chick is.

I didn’t want to get too close to him, and I wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t try to come after me, but he remained perfectly calm. There was a large albatross circling overhead, I’m sure freaking out over us, but no dive bombs to our heads. We also were lucky enough to see some Nene birds, which are almost extinct!

The sun wasn’t near as intense on our trek back, and with it behind us instead of glaring in our faces, we got to enjoy the views much more. It was less a hike now and more like a stroll in the park. So naturally Joey had to turn it up a notch and take the less easy route back.

He’s taking the old road that washed away, while we take the new trail over the washed out mountainside.

There’s that six inch wide plank he has to lower himself down to in order to walk across.

That’s him with his metal road and screws in his leg…..doing it!

This was as close as I dared to get to it.

and whattya know?? there’s another cave. Caves are EVERYWHERE over here, it seems.

Back on the trail………….

What trail???????? Back on the boulders that you better cling to the walls so you don’t slide down them, trail.

If I ever find myself with the opportunity to climb across an arch, I’m going to take it.

I even got a group shot out of it!! (For the record: Most of the time I was walking with them, but occasionally I would run ahead or behind with my Moto Droid to capture the scene.)

After about mile four and a half Jewel did ask her Dad if he would carry her. Also at this point she says she’s never hiking this again. I asked, “What if there are monk seals at the end?”

She say’s…”I’m going!!”

Having her Dad carry her did not last long once she saw coconuts down by the water. You see……we’ve been collecting coconuts so we can try something out that we saw on Survivor that involves coconuts and blowholes. That’s all the info I can release at this time, but stay tuned for more details.

She went all the way down there to get her coconuts and then threw them up the hill as she hiked back up, until eventually she could pawn them off on her dad to carry.

Which of course means now I’m HOLDING EVERYTHING ELSE. But ahhhh…….I really could care less.

As we got closer to the end of the trail and towards the beach we came across a local fisherman who told us he had refreshments in the cooler in his truck and to please help ourselves. We thanked him, but walked right past his truck once we got to it to just have his friend that was sitting in the truck run after us bringing us two ice cold bottles of water! Amazing! Those two old timers are what the Aloha Spirit is all about and it felt great to be on their receiving end. What a perfect ending to an already awesome day. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again….Nature Has The Best Playgrounds!!

May 18th

2010-05-20T04:06:00.001-05:00

Or I could title this post, Three Days in One, or Sun Up to Sun Down, or This is Why We Live Here or better yet… Why I Drag Them Away from XBox Live.

Jewel and I were both up at the crack of dawn, before SIX A.M. and since we had some time to kill before the rest of the house woke up she suggested we go walk down to the beach. It’s a little over three miles down there and back up, and I knew she could handle it, so after consulting with Facebook it was determined we should most definitely go.

You may recognize this scene, minus the horny peacock, from Tsunami Day. We took this road all the way down to the beach. Where we enjoyed being the absolute only people on the entire beach. I did some yoga stretches and then buried Jewel in the sand. And we still have yet to see the sun. After a while we made our way back up the hill but not before Jewel was wishing that someone could drive her up. By the time we made it back home she said she won’t be doing it again, but was glad she did. I kind of remember feeling the same way my first time too, but it’s actually a pretty easy walk ……….and you can’t beat the scenery.

After getting home Jewel made herself a necklace, while I ate some health food.

And I figured that would be it for our day, but then as much as I just wanted to watch Arrested Development on NetFlix ALL DAY long, I decided we needed to get out of the house together and to introduce the boys to Mr. Sun. I told them we WERE going outside and they could pick the place. Jake said Kailua, and then they were all ready and waiting on ME. It took us about an hour to get there, one long tunnel, and one rainforest.

Jake was hoping for the large waves that flow into the stream, but instead it was almost no waves and a sandbar separating the ocean from the stream.

The stream was green too, and smelly, so there was no playing in it today.

But no worries…. the ocean here is always turquoise blue and the sand is almost as fine as powder.

After a couple hours we went in search of food and then the boys said they were “ready to get back to Xbox Live”. They actually said those exact words. Ugh! I knew if we headed back at this point we would be stuck in traffic so they agreed it’d be better to hang on a beach for another hour or so, then to just sit in traffic. That’s when I remembered this little cove that I’ve always wanted to go to and I’ve already learned the best time to be on the beach here is between 5 and 7pm, while everyone else is eating supper, and before it gets dark, so I just knew we would love this spot, right at this moment.

It was BEYOND all expectations! It’s called Halona Beach Cove and is just around the rocks from the famous Halona Blowhole, and the filming site for the love scene in From Here to Eternity. For us, it was wicked cool fun! There’s only a small sandy area to play in the water and there were some teenagers in it when we got there so the kids climbed around the rocks first and explored as far as they dared, a cave.

The cave appeared to be about two hundred feet long, and even though we could see light at the end of the tunnel, we were not brave enough to follow it to the other side without a flashlight, so we definitely have to make another trip back.

Soon enough we were in the water and body surfing the waves in, managing to avoid all reef and rocks. I’m not afraid to admit, I played in the water more than anybody! The water temperature was perfect, the waves were perfect, and we even had great visibility for some snorkeling. The cove was full of rocks so it was also full of fish, and at least one sea turtle. While I was in the water swimming and the kids were climbing the rocks, Jake noticed a sea turtle right next me. He was eating seaweed off the side walls right up on the surface, and before I knew it Jake had my new crappy cell phone (not Droid) out and snapping pictures.

This wall is also where we were jumping into the water from.

I swear I felt like a kid yesterday. We’d body surf for a while, then climb up and over and around the rocks so we could jump in again. The best was Jonas and I holding hands and jumping in together.

Before long the local teenagers left and we had the cove all to ourselves. Occasionally some tourists would make the trek down into the cove and you could hear all the “this place is amazing” and “Wow!”s, and one even got in the water, but mostly they’d take their pictures and then go on to their next gorgeous sight. We were lucky enough to not have a thing to do or a place to go and we got to spend hours down in the cove.

We’re also in a lot of people’s vacation photos and videos, as both sides of the cove had scenic viewing areas directly overhead. wow….That’s a little uncomfortable to think about.

The right side of the cove is where we spent ninety percent of our time. We jumped from that large rock into the water and also climbed it all the way around and out of the cove. At one point I had to rescue Jewel because she got herself scared stuck.

Jonas had my heart racing when he climbed out on the point. As wet as it was, was proof that waves could and would, crash over these rocks But all was good. It was hard tearing ourselves away from this cove but the fact that it would be pitch dark any minute got us going, so we shut the place the down.

A great day was had by all.

Mauna Lahilahi

2010-05-17T02:56:00.001-05:00

Mauna Lahilahi translates to “Thin Mountain”, and according to the locals this is the World’s smallest mountain. A couple months back I said I wanted to hike that mountain and ever since then every time we drive by it Jewel says, “Man, I really want to hike that mountain”. Now I don’t know if she’s saying that because she heard me say it or because it’s just screaming to be climbed, but today we decided was the day.

I did a brisk walk this morning up to the water tower and back, then figured we’d spend the afternoon at the beach. But then we remembered it was Sunday and since Jake only wants to go if he can surf, we figured we’d just wait until tomorrow after everyone goes back to school and work. (At least that sounded better then we were just plain lazy.) Then by about five Jewel was having a breakdown because she spelled a word wrong and Jake corrected her. I determined she was having saltwater withdrawals, so her and I took off for the beach, but brought hiking shoes just in case.

We headed straight for the mountain, and after walking almost all the way around it I had to ask a local on the beach how to get to the trail to go to the top. There’s a few paths but nothing that looked like an official hiking trail. Basically it was just find your own way up the mountain.

About half way up we were treated to gorgeous views of Maunalahihi Beach Park and Waianae Valley

We trudged along pretty good, really enjoying the easy challenge of the rocks

And then we hit a vertical wall and thought we were done, but we weren’t ready to give up yet and after a lot of debate we made the decision to tackle it.

I was very scared to climb it for a few reasons. One: Not a soul except the homeless man on the beach knew where we were. Two: My daughter is only eight years old. Three: We’re in bathing suits

Carry on.

We made it up the wall and then our adrenaline was through the roof! Jewel was thanking me for bringing her on this hike, saying she wanted to remember this moment forever, and that this was a GREAT day. I’m thinking the same things, but I’m also thinking: Holy crap…where did I bring my baby? What if she slips? Hawaiian rocks are infamous for giving way and killing hikers. What if I fall? What if it gets dark?

l’m literally shaking at this point and she’s all “Look…sailboats!”

Looking inland offered perfect views of our valley. Top left are The Towers which is near our condo.

We walk a little more and then get to another vertical rock wall that I’m frankly too ill prepared too conquer. I had planned on looking for the geocache hidden at the summit, but considering our situation and my inexperience with this mountain we decided to turn back. I want to try it again when I have some pants on and maybe with someone that’s done it before, or at least without my baby. I could never live with myself if something happened to her and I already felt like we accomplished what we wanted to do. It was MUCH harder and scarier than I thought it would be, and am actually extremely proud of what us girls accomplished today.

One thing I didn’t expect on our way down though, was to get lost.

Can you see the trail in this picture? Yeah…neither could we.

We ended up going down the wrong rocks and having to climb back up and around. At this point Jewel’s starting to get a little worried, and it’s funny….her fears kicked me into power mode. I had to let my fears go and assure her we would get down safely, and before dark.

Then because we didn’t take the same route down we passed our water bottle I set down to free up my hands, so Jewel happily climbed back up to retrieve our water.

After our hike we walked down to Turtle Beach

Where we enjoyed a sunset swim and snorkel

Hawaii. Never a bad day.

Manoa Falls

2010-05-15T04:39:00.001-05:00

I don’t think it’s any secret that I love to go on hikes. According to my family though, that is all I EVER want to do. Joey says that they’d probably go if I quit asking them all the time. But I know if I stopped asking them they would never be like, Hey, Mom….Wanna go on a hike? …So I devised a plan. I asked Joey one night if he wanted to see a waterfall the next day. I assured him it can’t be that hard of a hike since I once did it with the kids when they were little, while carrying Jewel in a backpack. In the shape I’m in today, for me to be able to do that, would mean it was a super EASY, SHORT hike. So with that in mind, he agreed and the next morning I told the kids we were going out to see a waterfall, and with their Dad behind me, they were totally up for it.

There aren’t many waterfalls on Oahu, and Manoa Falls is definitely the most popular and easiest hike. To fully be present with the family, and because It’s heavy, I chose to leave my camera at home (but know full well I have my cell phone with me). I have to at least be able to capture the moment! (I got seventy four of them.) We passed eucalyptus trees before entering a lush rainforest, then quickly headed straight up the mountain. The kids realize at this point that we’re on a hike, not just going to see a waterfall. My plan worked…… They are on a hike and now loving it.

My only problem now was they were moving too fast! Not only was it a climb UP, but it was very muddy. Not even half way up I was getting the look from Joey. The look of, “what did you get me into this time?!” I loved it. I love hiking over tree roots and heaving myself over large boulders, but could have done without the slippery mud. Our normal pattern is to steadily hike to the location, and then take our time meandering, exploring, and picture taking on the way back down. After this hike I now see the problem with that…..it would have been a lot easier and a lot less guilt inducing on me if we had slowly made our way up hill with lots of breaks, and then quickly gone down the hill. Ehhhh…….the leg burn felt great.

And in only a mile we were at Manoa Falls. All one hundred and fifty feet of her. She lands into a small pool that’s filled with boulders and is prone to landslides and rockfalls so it is forbidden to go in.

Except for her, apparently. We came up on this woman as she was getting out of the pool, and claims to do it often, but said it was very scary that day and didn’t stay in long. Something about the boulders and visibility.

April 2010

February 2003

That’s the boys on the rocks and me holding my baby Jewel over seven years ago. Not only have we changed but the waterfall sure looks a lot different, too!

Jewel washed the mud off her feet and shoes every chance she got. Some things don’t change, she still hates getting dirty. Going down was a lot easier, but it still wasn’t a stroll in the park

This is the trail in the center of the picture. The plants on the left are actually on a near vertical wall starting right where you see them. One slip on this muddy trail and you’re dropping straight down.

Jake, not remembering our tradition of taking it slow on the way down, took off ahead of us and missed bath

and jungle gym time

Instead he waited in front of this large tree and then had to sit through a Japanese tour guide giving a fifteen minute spiel to his group, right in front of him, with him feeling like a tourist attraction at the Zoo.

You know the saying, It’s not about the destination, it’s the journey getting there? Manoa Falls definitely backs that up. It wouldn’t even have to have the falls at the end, I’d do that hike over and over, just for the scenery along the way. Just typing this post Jewel is asking me if we can go back here………. Our own Land of the Lost

Things that happen on our Lanai

2010-05-14T15:08:00.001-05:00

Sometimes we don’t even have to leave our couch to see wildlife in action here. At the same time I heard a loud thud against our lanai windows I saw this little bird falling to the ground .

He looked stoned. He just sat there in a daze with his little feet looking all crinkled and broken. Jewel immediately went into little mama mode. I immediately went into wanna be photographer mode.

Jewel didn’t like that one because it didn’t show the bird good.Much better, she says.

She then set him on the railing, but he wasn’t looking too strong at first.

Not too much longer, though and he started to gain his wits about him again

and boy were we relieved! Uh hmmm……..and so was he.

(For the record, Joey said “you are not putting that pic on the web?!”

"Oh Yes I did!

He’s alert and trying to pick up his feet at this point, but still not going anywhere

“Are you my Mama?”

He sat there for so long the sun started setting and the porch lights clicked on.so Jewel took it upon herself to get the little guy a drink after only a few sips he flew right to my arm, freaking me the F out, throwing my arms up in the air and forcing him to fly to the trees. And that was it. Our job was done.

***************************************************

A few days later Joey calls me to the lanai to look at the carnage in our backyard.

Before I completely freaked out, he let me know that were all just catching some rays.

**************************************************

never a dull moment

water tower hike

2010-05-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

When we stayed at The Makaha Towers in 2003 the kids and I used to hike up to the water tower behind the condos all the time. I remember I couldn’t even go on a walk or hike without them right behind me, rearing to go, racing me to the elevator. I never knew that would change, and always expected to never get a moment to myself…… My, how that HAS changed.

I guess they’ve changed a little, too.

I’ve continued my walks up to the water tower, and after only one walk alone, Joey has joined me on every one since. Not only is he joining me, but he’s now the one initiating it.

During our morning walks we can hear the mountain goats crying so loudly and fiercely I want to run up into those mountains and rescue them! Then we get soothed by birdsongs and remember that’s just their language, they’re ok.

One morning in the middle of our path was this large centipede

When he was still there on our way back down we gently scooted him out of the path and into the grass.

and continued our people-light, nature-heavy, walk back down

Where we do some stretches in the same spot Jonas once had a conversation with a peacock

Before going commando on him and nabbing himself a feather

Even though their thirteen, ten and eight year old bodies aren’t with us on these walks anymore

I always see these little guys while I walk that path full of the memories they once created for me.

never know what we’ll see

2010-05-13T04:37:00.001-05:00

Pet goat named Makaha, but answers to Honey

Sunbathing sea turtle

Nosey peacock at the mailbox

Recon ducks that made it past security and followed me until I became paparazzi

All unexpected little things, and all reasons why Jewel says I am not allowed to leave home without her anymore…….apparently, I have animal magnetism

The Westside

2010-05-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

Farrington Highway, or the 93, runs along the entire west coast, aka. Westside, Waianae Coast, Leeward Coast, and is the only way to get to the Westside, which for this post begins just after the Ko Olina Resort, which for most tourists, is about as far as they go.

The coasts seem to broken up by “points” on the island, with the west coast starting south at Kahe Point and ending north at Kaena Point. Below is from Kahe Point, looking north.

Still at Kahe Point with a view of Hawaiian Electric Plant, which directly in front is home to a popular surfing spot, and an even more popular dive spot. There’s warm water released into the ocean through underwater pipes from the electric plant, which makes it’s a nice cozy spot spot for sea turtles, dolphins and many reef fish and coral. We’re waiting for the winter waves and visitors to calm down before we experience it ourselves, but I AM really looking forward to it.

We drive along this rocky coast for few miles before we hit the towns of Nanakuli, Maili and then finally Makaha. There are beaches along the way, but not really any great sandy beaches, mostly rocky and up until recently they were infested with homeless people. Only they don’t call them homeless, they’re referred to as “living on the beach”, “living in the bushes” or “living under the trees”. When we got here we couldn’t even go to the beaches in Maili because they had been completely taken over by tents and junk cars and old couches but since the clean up last month it’s nice to be able to see the ocean again, instead of just junk.

They let the homeless stay around the smelly water treatment plant, but other than that there’s no more living out of cars until we get past Makaha, then it’s like small tent cities again.

This is the best one, the homeless resort. Five years ago it was a simple pull out, without a tree in sight.

Now it’s lush, with cemented in borders around the trees and plants, and there’s even a picnic table with a patio cover. There is always someone there (someone is living in that van) but I wonder what would happen if we pulled up and attempted to sit at the picnic table! I won’t be trying it, but I’d love to witness the person that does……….. then again, I probably wouldn’t want to see it.

The many people living on the beaches, along with the old worn down towns along the highway, is what detracts most people from coming down this way. The people are known to be very territorial, too, but we haven’t had any real problems ourselves, and we will gladly take a little bit of the ugly to experience the incomparable beauty and wide open spaces of the beaches on the Westside: From Pokai Bay, to Makaha, to Makua, to Kaena Point……… and all the hidden pools in between.

When we first got here though it seemed like everyone we met wanted to deter us. We were told we may want to move off the Westside once our kids hit high school age because they’ll most likely get beat up every day. One woman told me about her kid always getting jumped, another told me about the little old lady that was jumped for her prescription pills, who eventually died from the crowbar beating. Numerous people told us how the cops turn their backs on a lot of things, or try to arrest the wrong person. One friend’s kids bikes were stolen and the cop told him, “oh well…they needed them. You can afford to buy new ones.”….I could go on and on, and at first after hearing all these stories we did get a little discouraged, but now we’ve all but forgotten about them. Personally, we have had good experiences.

The lifeguard at Makaha Beach rides his four wheeler over to us every time he sees us, just to chat and say hello. Joey never fails to chat it up with the lifeguard at Rest Camp over the day’s surf. The cashier’s are starting to say hello to me, and everyone seems to be getting used to seeing us. I still would never put my kid in school here, but at least I feel safe again.

photowalk

2010-05-03T23:51:00.001-05:00

Across the street from our complex is a botanical garden…of sorts. It’s actually empty land that two retired guys decided to garden, but it is a pretty garden, none the less. I finally decided one morning to go out specifically to get pictures of the flowers. I took my 50mm lens and was hoping for great things. I did not get anything great. It’s been a month since then, as are all the pictures I’m posting today, and was the beginning of me making a real effort to learn how to use my camera. I get the shutter speed and focal point, although it still takes me a few minutes to get them adjusted good. I mostly remember to set my ISO and almost never forget the white balance. My main focus right now is my area of focus. My lens seems to fall right below of where the focus should be, AND I cannot stand still to save my life. I hate tripods but if I want to get any better I’m going to have to start using one.

A couple days later Jewel joined me for another photo walk, this time in the late afternoon, though, so we had a much different light, and as far as I was concerned….I had a much better model. I hadn’t intended to take pictures of Jewel but when she’d pick up sweet smelling plumeria flowers and put them in her beautiful blond hair, how could I resist?

While Jewel took this picture of a yellow flower, I’d take pictures of her taking picture of said flower.

If she captured the spikes on one plant, I’d capture her…..well, she did get a little sick of it.

But most of the time she’s a good sport about having me take her picture. She’s even starting to actually try to model now. She thinks about her smile and her stance, and always looks to put herself in the best light. Much like she tries to line up her own shots. After seeing the above bright yellow picture on the computer I remarked about how bright it was, much brighter than from my camera, and she said…”Yeah, that’s because the sun was at a really good angle.” …………..She’s eight!

We finished off the photowalk inside the complex surrounded by dozens of peacocks but among the hundred pictures between the two of us, we just can’t seem to capture a good enough one of them. I think I just need to stick with what I do best………….. my people

Kailua Beach Park & Lanikai

2010-05-01T04:18:00.001-05:00

This morning after loading our boards and checking out Makaha and Rest Camp we decided to forget surfing today and instead spend it sight-seeing, people-watching, road-tripping with some kid-playing. Jewel came along for the ride, and continued the vibe of having “an only” child. I used to be sad for her since the boys almost always team up, leaving her the odd man out. But now, In my selfishness, it’s been a blessing. If she had someone to always play with her, she wouldn’t need me as much.

Normally we’d stop 3.5 times before finding the right spot but today we hit it first park.

This fine white sandy beach is in Kailua Beach park, and it is pure turquoise heaven.

The stream coming from the ocean makes a natural lazy river, that Jewel and I floated down to this bridge.

Under the bridge were hundreds of fish and dozens of pigeons, each sitting on their respective nests.

After thoroughly enjoying ourselves on the lazy river and body surfing in the ocean we packed it up and went down a mile or two to Lanikai Beach. Here is no big beach park. Here you have to park in front of people’s houses, nice houses, houses that contain the rich and famous, and walk down a small public right of way pathway.

(Doesn’t showing you the picture make you almost feel you’re here with me?)

Travel Channel named Lanikai One of Hawaii’s Top Ten Beaches, but today…it was just okay. It was very choppy and we had a dark grey cloud over us the whole time, plus the sand was very coarse. I instantly felt like we should have stayed in Kailua. Normally the crowds there would have turned us off, but we were so busy having fun in our own little world that we hardly noticed the dozens of kayakers, boogie boards and small kids. Here in Lanikai it’s quiet, and quite frankly….a bore. The highlight was the jewel of a shell she found.

Today also involved a millipede, jungles, tunnels, low clouds, dark clouds, Cajun food from a van by a man that was once hit on by Bob Marley’s widow, Salvation Army and wild roosters on the side of the freeway. We couldn’t have planned a better day if we tried.

SurferDude

2010-04-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

Ever since Joey was a kid growing up on a ranch in Texas, watching Hawaii 5-0, he dreamt of someday going to Hawaii, and soon got his wish as a young eighteen year old U.S. Marine. That trip was short lived and he didn’t get off base much, but he had already been bit my Hawaii. He never forgot that trip and still remembered every detail, but never made it back. Twenty years later he got an offer to work a gas plant shutdown for a month in Hawaii, including condo, plane ticket and a rental car. He was all over it…. and before that job was over he’d already set his sights on living there fulltime.

Flash forward seven years and Joey found himself laying in that hole in the mountains in Colorado, unaware if he’d ever walk again. It was at that moment that he told himself he was moving to Hawaii……and if he is able to walk again……….he was going to surf.

We could have rented boards and taken surf lessons the day we got here but after thinking we didn’t need to, and then having my surfer girl guru also say we don’t need lessons, we decided to do it the way we do everything……in a slow, organic way. Joey spent the first month tracking down used boards (amongst all the other household stuff we had to accumulate to create a home for our family). We also watched the waves….a lot. Joey talked to surfing friends, lifeguards and locals. He absorbed everything like a sponge. Then he had to get to work.

He spent the next month working the same shutdown that first brought him over here back in 2002. He chooses the night shift so we can still hang out and go to the beach during the day but after working 14 hour days, seven days a week, our beach trips became scarce. Then he had an allergic reaction on his arms from fiberglass from work, so that, combined with the sheer exhaustion of working a shutdown, surfing was put on hold.

We now have five surfboards, 10 ft. and 9 ft. longboards, and 7.5, 6.5 & 6 ft. short boards. We had to buy leashes for most of them and every single one of them had to be repaired for dings. We could have spent $40 a board to let a professional do it or Joey could watch instructional YouTube videos and send me to the store to buy resin and fiberglass and only spend $30 total. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to add up the math on that one. Note, the folks at City Mill in Waianae were awesome, they took the time to help me find everything I needed and were extremely nice to me.

Joey never did let those boards go to waste, though, during their down time. He had to leave his weights behind so he used the boards in place of his dumbbells. That’s Joey ………. always thinking, always creative.

Now, the boards are ready, the arms are healed, once broken leg is strong and only slightly in pain, but the surf in Makaha is way too much for a newbie. It’s not just too much because of the big waves, though, it’s also pretty busy, and the surfers are pretty territorial……not that he’d ever invade their turf anyway, but at the advice of friends and lifeguards the place for him to learn is at a beach the locals call Rest Camp or, the beach behind the Army Recreation Base. You have to go through a guard gate to get there, and that must keep a lot of the unwanted’s out, because we’ve experienced nothing but the friendly’s. The water’s a little scary, though. First paddle out we noticed how close the reef is below us! I fell off my board and scraped foot on the bottom ,and I was way out there! It’s a solid rock floor about four feet under the water, so when you fall you have to make sure to fall sideways. Fun stuff. This is my biggest problem, though: Good wave day = lots of surfers. Little to no surfers = paddle like a dog to catch maybe one wave. Joey doesn’t care either way, so I take pictures while he learns to surf without me. Turn around Joey! Turn around!!

Because Joey doesn’t care that the waves aren’t that great he was the absolute only one in the water this day. It was flat and as calm as could be when out of nowhere this set rolled in. Patience is a virtue in surfing. You can see the rock under the water in this picture, and somehow Joey has avoided crashing into it.

Recently in Makaha beach our 13 yr old friend tried boogie boarding only to get jacked by the locals there not letting him catch a wave. They actually did something to his board to make it flip back and smack him hard in the face with it. Here at Rest Camp we have experienced men going out of their way to help Joey out. This surfer, kayak surfing for the day, watched Joey and gave him some tips on when to stand up and where to stand, and then Joey caught THE VERY NEXT ONE! And the one after that! Once that kind “soul surfer” helped him out, it all clicked, and now Joey says it’s like riding a bike. He actually even said to me before we made it home that day, “I can’t wait for my first competition!” That man! I’m still trying to stand up and he’s ready to compete!

Jake has caught the bug too, and whenever he can pry himself from videogames, he joins us. Jonas got hit in the knee with the tip of his board first day out where the pain lasted a week, so has no more interest in surfing at this point.

Joey’s proof it’s never too late to teach an old dog, new tricks. A fine specimen of a 43 year young man, if I do say so myself. Love ya, babe!

The Power of The Shore Break

2010-04-30T02:02:00.001-05:00

Winter in Hawaii is something amazing, and it’s not the warm weather either, it’s the power of Mother Nature and the sheer force of her waves. Even when the water looks relatively flat, the shore break can be so dangerous that they have to flag the beaches warning everyone of the dangers, with their motto:

If in doubt, stay out.

The strong tug pulling the water back into the ocean to create the large shore break wave is impossible to run from. The local, insane teenagers relish this ferocious wave while the rest of us run for the hills.

Getting hit by this wave is equivalent to being inside a cement mixer.

The waves don’t just affect the water, they also make a huge impact on the beach. Most days there’s more sand on the beach than ever a need for, and on the weekends large gatherings stretch from north to south.

But on big wave days some of the beaches area aren’t even accessible.

The picture below is from the rocks right below where the above photo was taken, on a day that we were exploring tide pools. Notice the abundance of fluffy, soft, sand?

Here is the same area about a month later after the waves have washed all the sand away exposing more rocks below. The tidepools we were on are in the far left of the picture, and straight below was all the soft, fuzzy, sand.

This is just common nature around here, but it is still something that amazes me. The sheer amount that places can change around here. Sometimes the beach is ten feet wide, other days it could be a hundred. I still want to think the weather will predict the waves, too. Like if it’s calm and sunny out, I expect the same for the waves and then am shocked when we get down to the beach to see the oh so familiar, orange warning flags and waves fifteen feet high. Hawaii in the winter is truly something powerful. I’m looking forward to seeing it in the summer too, though, when it’s much calmer.

Also on these rocks pictured above, while on one of our morning cruises up the coast, Joey and I saw something that we don’t get to see very often at all……….can you spot it?

In the middle, then down about an inch….it’s a monk seal! He blended in so good with the rocks I have no idea how I spotted him, and I only had my cell phone with me so this is the best I could do, but what a treat!

Hawaii never gets old.

Yokohama Pool

2010-04-28T15:17:00.001-05:00

The stretch of coastline from the center of Waianae to the north end of Kaena Point is about ten miles, and Joey and I usually take a cruise up this stretch almost daily, just to enjoy the views, the weather, the waves, and maybe get inspired for the day. Often we go alone, but lately Jewel has been going with us more, and when she does, she always wants to take a dip in the pool. The pool is a large tidepool at the end of the sandy beach before it turns completely to lava rock.

The pool is in the center of this picture, and has a man and two small children in it.

The reef breaks the waves from crashing in, so instead they gently roll over the rocks and make small waterfalls into the pool.The best part of this pool is the safety from the waves but also the abundant amounts of fish & sea life, and lack of spiky urchin. Here’s Jewel swimming in the pool on a big wave day:

And here’s Jewel in the pool on a small wave day:

And here’s Jewel as a baby on our first ever trip to Hawaii, and her first taste of sea water:

Some things we just never outgrow.

The Black Pearl

2010-04-24T02:26:00.001-05:00

My friend, Kimberly, wrote me on Facebook saying she heard the pirate ship from the Pirates of Caribbean, The Black pearl, was here in Oahu. I quickly wrote her back and told her …No ma’am .since I saw on TV that it

was at Disney Island. A couple weeks later and we were around friends that seem to know everything happening on the island so I asked them, just for the heck of it, if The Black Pearl was indeed on this island, and not only did they know it was on this island, they knew it was in Kalaeloa. That is the closest and absolute best place for us, for it to be. It’s just at the bottom of the Westside, so nowhere near Honolulu.I read a blog on Joosten808.com that described where it was so Jake, Jewel and I headed off to see if it’s still there and if we can get pictures of it. I followed the GPS coordinates from that blog post and the navigation got me into a construction site cul-de-sac …….and this was all we got to see. I said…. oh well guys, this is it. sorry.

Then Jake took control of the GPS and he found another road on the other side of the ship. After my failed attempt to get us around, I finally listened to Jake’s directions and he led us straight to it. I love a smart kid.

The pirate ship is on dry dock getting a makeover for filming of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie this summer. From the looks of it they’re building a whole new rear on it.

After taking a few minutes to get our shots, and ooh and ahh over the size of the beast, we decided to check out the harbor a bit. It’s really industrial-ly but I saw beach beyond all the concrete and steel, and wanted a closer look. Jewel caught me in action!

It wasn’t until I got home that I thought I probably could have walked down this beach a ways and have a whole new view of the pirate ship. I’ll definitely have to do that next time as I plan on coming back often to see the changes.

Jewel has been picking her camera up more and more lately and naturally, I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m going to help her learn to post her pictures to facebook so she can share them with her friends and family. This is one of her pictures from today, completely unedited……… inside the harbor, where even the ugliest steel tankers look gorgeous in this water.

It was a fun day, even when Joey and Jonas didn’t go with us, saying they could just see the pictures when we got home. Normally, I may not have gone either, but I didn’t let that hold me back today and I’m a little proud of myself for that.

For full set of photos, including updated transformation pics check out my Flickr page here.

Barking Sands A.K.A. Ma'kua

2010-04-18T18:40:00.001-05:00

Normally when we go to Barking Sands it’s to get thrashed around in the shorebreak, and spend the day soaking up some vitamin D. Going near the rocks and the reef is something we normally like to avoid during those activities, but since the gates to the beach are locked during the week we decided to park on the south end of the beach, forcing us on the rocks. I don’t know how we’ve missed this spot before, but as soon as we came down from the rocks we saw this cute little cove.

But until you we got right up on it, we had no idea know how amazing this cute cove really was.

At first it appeared just like the normal reef along the westside, but it had these wonderful little deep pools in them that were the perfect size for our kids…AND no noticeable spiky urchin.*

The view of Makua Valley from them wasn’t bad either. Now I think I know what all the SAVE MAKUA bumper stickers are all about. And if THIS isn’t IT, it should be.

For the record, this probably isn’t the safest place to be playing, either. Every once in a while a really big wave would come in and the first instinct is to get out fast and run, only it’s faster than us. Jewel would try to get out and that would just cause the wave to rush over her harder, pinning her to the side of the pool, scratching her leg, but eventually she figured out how to ride out the big sets.

Where’d she go?

There she is!

I now know why we’ve never seen this spot before………..because there is usually someone in it, and out here it’s just plain rude to crash a spot like that when another family is enjoying it. I almost feel guilty even blogging about this spot………it’s that special.

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These next two pictures were taken with my Moto Droid phone and had to be included because they’re two of my favorite pictures from that day.

I don’t know how long this current adventure is going to last, but I am definitely not ready for it to end yet.

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* My toe………. had NO PROBLEM finding the spiky urchin

Ko Olina Lagoons

2010-03-30T23:27:00.001-05:00

We are firm believers in Nature Has The Greatest Playgrounds but we have to give it to the Ko Olina Resort for creating a fantastic playground of it’s own. The resort is the last big resort before the Waianae Coast officially begins, and is almost an entire city all it’s own. It has a harbor with yacht club, townhouses, golf courses and highrise resort suites. It’s best feature though are the four lagoons they built along the coast by breaking away some of the volcanic rock walls. (stock photo)

We tried to go to the lagoons last month but were turned around at the gate because the parking lots were full, and then tried again the other day just to to make it past the gate but unable to find a parking spot. Luckily we did manage to sneak in sometime between those two.

Lagoon 4 is the farthest one south, and is one of the smaller ones, but has the biggest parking lot and a large grassy area to go with a largish beach. Jonas, Jewel and I really enjoyed the snorkeling here, even with the strong currents. I think I was most surprised because I don’t remember enjoying the snorkeling here before, but then again I was mostly busy keeping an eye on little miss Jewel.

She loves the lagoons now and always wants to go back to them, but back when she was three she could have cared less. What she did like was the grass so she didn’t even have to step foot on the sand.

While I liked the snorkeling at Lagoon 4 I didn’t really like the sand. It was course and full of broken shells, so we decided to check out another lagoon, and found parking at Lagoon 2. Ahhhhh! This was more like it, soft sand, thatched beach umbrellas and plenty of space to spread our schtuff.

The snorkeling here wasn’t as good since the currents were even stronger, but also there was less reef. The rocks were just screaming to be climbed though, and the kids were happy to oblige.

There may have been a Keep Off Rocks Sign, but I can’t swear to actually seeing it.

Ko Olina is definitely a great place to just relax and hang with the kids.

Including the one that’s too cool for lazy lagoons.

Island-Tripping

2010-03-29T01:33:00.001-05:00

Sometimes we do leave The Westside, not often, but….we do. It’s funny, while we were in Waikiki when we first got here, I was actually thinking that I could live there, amongst the hustle and bustle. Then I woke up on the westside, or leeward side, with it’s more laid back lifestyle. This side is considered the dry side, and I’m sure in the summer it is drier, but for now it’s still bright green and lush, and even greener than it was on the windward side the other day. The windward side is known as the rainy side, and it most definitely is…...and windy. Almost every single time we head to the east or north, we get rained on. We’ve been to Hanauma Bay twice….got rained on both times.

Hanauma Bay is a reef and fish sanctuary formed from an old volcanic crater, as captured from my cell phone. (I haven’t been using the camera much for fear of it getting wet, sandy, or stolen). It’s a long walk down into the crater, or for a couple bucks you can hop a ride on a bus, and you have to watch a video in a small theatre with a group of other tourists, and then once you get to the beach with your fifty two beach bags, you get to hunt for a space in the sand, which could mean even more walking through sinking hot sand. Snorkeling in the bay is okay. Mostly it seems you’re just inches above the corral and spiky urchins, making it hard to enjoy yourself when you’re worried about getting cut, or it’s not very good visibility. Once you get pass the surf break, it’s much better, but can also be dangerous……the waves could easily smash you into the reef. Jonas went out with me while we followed an underwater pipe as a guide, otherwise we would have lost our tunnel to get back in. We saw some cool fish, but between the weather and the crowds, overall, I wouldn’t call it great. This day I also forgot to take the underwater camera into the water with me and I got attacked by corral, and Jake had a stomach ache. Enough said.

The windward coast is a beautiful one, though, as well is the drive getting there. (Once we’re out of The City, Honolulu, that is.)

We get to drive through mountains and jungles………. then miles of rocky coastline with loud crashing waves.

Once we get up to the northern coast it’s shallow turquoise water for what seems like half a mile out, then large rolling waves, perfect for surfing. We often drive along this coast dreaming that we lived in one of those houses right on the water, and saying untrue things like, we’d surf that everyday!

We rarely get out and enjoy the beaches for too long on this side, though. We stopped in gorgeous Lanakai the other day and made a mental note to come back after spring break and not on the weekend. After driving and stopping, and driving and looking, one day we did finally find a spot we all liked. It was tucked behind private property (no beach in Hawaii is allowed to be private so there always has to be public beach access openings). Coincidentally, this beach is along the other side of Kaena Point which is where our most commonly used beaches are. We basically are just around the point and down a few miles.

Past the friendly horses.

To a big empty sandy beach.

This beach is right near a small airport so not only did we have the ocean to entertain us, we had dozens of skydivers jumping from planes with the setting sun as their backdrop.

Sometimes I complain that we could waste all the daylight looking for a spot for the day, but in the end we always find something new and unique…..and exactly where we’re supposed to be.

Houseguests

2010-03-12T17:54:00.001-06:00

Walking up our outside stairwell in the evenings all we have to do is look towards our porch door lights to see handfuls of these, creepy, almost see-thru lizards. When they’re climbing the off white walls, they are off white, but in Jewel’s hand they start to get some color in them. The first time I saw a five inch lizard run across the floor I immediately thought it was a mouse, but just shrugged my shoulders as soon as I realized it was just a lizard. Why mice are worse, I don’t know…but I don’t mind living with these creatures.

Jewel hunts for them. She often finds babies along the edge of the carpet and I’ve even found one on the kitchen counter.

The best place so far was the one that was hanging in Jewel’s hair, and would not let go.

This is what they mean when they say he’s hanging on by the skin of his teeth.

Kaneana Cave (Makua Cave)

2010-03-10T14:01:00.000-06:00

Along Farrington Highway, the only road on the westside, is a very large hole in the mountain. We’ve gone in this cave several times, but never knew what it is, or was. This simple, yet pretty, stone marker sits in a dirt parking lot overlooking Barking Sands beach, across from the cave entrance, but there’s nothing informing visitors about the cave.

Turns out this hole was once a giant lava tube that eventually eroded into the sea, leaving behind a hundred foot high, four hundred and fifty foot deep cave.

Hawaiian legend has it that mankind was born here, “emerging from the womb of the earth goddess. They called the cave Kaneana, after the god of creation, Kane.”

This is a sacred place, man.

The legend goes on to say that Shark-man Nanaue, aka Kaneana, reigned from this cave.

“Born from a Shark father and a human mother, it was only when Nanaue first experienced the taste of meat that his carnivorous heritage led to incontrollable bloodlust. He would assume human form to trick his prey, then drag them back to the cave for dinner. Fortunately, he was eventually chopped up by the Hawaiian people. The cave was also home to both a powerful shark goddess and Madame Pele……..the cave has been the site of magic, ritual and religious ceremonies.”

“At the back of the cave there is a slimy stone where the shark man was said to leave his victims until he was ready to eat them.”

I’m kinda glad I didn’t know all this history before we’d ever been in. Kinda creepy. I’m still surprised, though, there’s no mention of this anywhere, but I’m guessing Joey’s always had a sixth sense about this cave because he never goes all the way in and this last time….. stood guard at the entrance.

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BONUS TRIVIA! “The Sounding or Barking Sands near the cave make an otherworldly humming sound.”

I did the math and determined we’ve been correct in calling Barking Sands beach that, and I even got to learn why. How’s that for learning something without even trying??

Kaena Point State Park

2010-03-10T03:37:00.001-06:00

Continuing on up Farrington Highway the next sandy beach after Barking Sands is Kaena Point State Park, or Yokohama Beach or Yokes, as the locals call it. Here we’re at the very start of the Park, looking back south to Barking Sands Beach. Then North up to Kaena Point.

This is as far as we can go on the west side of the island. Well, we can park and walk all the way around the point, but there’s no way to drive it. When we want to get to the North Shore we have to drive all the way to the south end of the island before taking another highway up to the north, which is about an hour drive. (It’d only be a few miles if this went all the way around). We hiked it a long time ago, but not yet this trip. The kids are rebelling against me with the hiking lately, so I’m patiently waiting for them to get re-inspired.

Now you see the reef.

Now you don’t.

This beach is another popular family spot, mostly locals, and usually on the weekends. It brings tourists out here that drive up the coast and back, but I rarely see any of them get out and enjoy it.

Maybe a quick snapshot, or two.

Our neighbors like to come out here, saying it’s their favorite spot for collecting shells, but we like it best for the tide pools…especially it’s creatures.

We looked this one up today and learned it’s a Ha’uke’uke or Helmet Urchin.

The reef is always crawling with crabs. Can you spot them in this picture?

Wherever there’s good reef, there’s usually someone fishing it.

The pools on this side of the park are teeming with algae, seaweed, anemone, crabs, helmet urchin, spiky urchin, snails, and countless varieties of fish.

Farther north up the beach the reef is a lot higher and drier, but we spotted fish jumping from pool to pool, so that was pretty exciting.

This is the end of the road. Literally.

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*aaaand one vintage shot from Yokohama*

(note little Jonas’ “hang loose”)

Vintage Barking Sands

2010-03-09T13:40:00.001-06:00

I had to do it. I found a few old pictures from Barking Sands beach and I just had to do it.

Notice Jewel’s hands? She must have gotten sand on them..oh no!

Jonas snorkeled for the first time using a boogie board with a specially made snorkeling cut out.

Notice the practically empty beach? I wonder what Jonas is pondering?

He’s probably wondering how I screwed up the sunscreen that day!

Even his eyeballs looked sunburned.

Maybe that explains why he took his skincare into his own hands!

Vintage Makaha

2010-03-09T00:22:00.001-06:00

Seeing that old picture of the kids on the beach got me to reminiscing. Reminiscing got me to shuffle through old CD-R’s. Shuffling through old CD-R’s got me to reminiscing some more.

We had friends that lived in a house right on Makaha Beach where the boys once threw a Frisbee and hit their very first piñata. The boys also tried out their first surfboard on Makaha Beach….unconventionally, of course.

Jacob was about five here, back when he used to let me give him bowl cuts.

This was one of our favorite Christmas’s. We had just gotten to the island and didn’t have a lot of money so we took the gift money my mom sent us and we decked the kids out in all the must have beach gear we could imagine. We put the presents under our wooden palm tree and were on the beach by ten in the morning. I stayed on the beach with the kids while Joey and his friend walked into the deep blue for some scuba diving. Makaha Beach has such good surfing because there is a large underwater “wall” out there. The water forces up against it and since it can’t keep going towards shore it forces all the water up, created the large waves. This wall is a popular diving spot usually reached by boat, but the strong (and thrifty) can swim out to it.

One of my best days was when we were at our friend’s house on the beach and we spotted a large pod of dolphins. We always carried our snorkeling gear in the beach cruiser and since we had plenty of adult friends around, Joey and I were able to leave the kids and swim out to the dolphins. We swam and swam, even when the other two guys that swam out with us gave up, we swam some more. And just when we gave up on finding them, there they all were…dozens of them…..circling around us! They would never come close enough for us to touch them, they just kept circling around us. It was AMAZING! Then just as fast as they appeared, they were gone.

Jewel spent her entire time during this stay (five months)….not touching the sand with her hands. She hated the sand. Despised the sand. She wouldn’t go anywhere near the water either. Boy has she changed……..

**All these photos were taken between Dec ‘02 & Apr ‘03 on an old Sony Mavica CD, my very first digital camera that was maybe 4 MP, but I only saved the pictures e-mail size. Yes, I am still kicking myself.**

****I had so much fun going down memory lane! expect more of it!****

Barking Sands

2010-03-08T20:43:00.001-06:00

Barking Sands is the only name we know for probably, our favorite, beach. It’s only open on the weekends and you have to be willing to traverse major potholes in order to get to it, but it’s well worth it.

IT hasn’t changed A BIT since we were first here about eight years ago.

(Including the treacherous thorny plant that finds my feet every time!)

These little kids sure have, though!

I’m guessing they were about seven, five and three here. Back when Jonas didn’t mind a tan, apparently.

The inland side is this Army Installation, and it is strictly off limits. Although, I heard some of Jurassic Park was filmed here. I can see it.

This is a nice beach if you’re looking to stay away from the crowds, which is pretty much tattooed on our backsides. We’ve bonfired out here, fired off homemade (by good friends, Larry and Sally) water bottle rockets, boogie boarded the waves, baked in the sand and snorkeled the reef. The only thing it doesn’t have is a shower, so you even get to take the sand home with you.

Makaha Beach

2010-03-08T13:41:00.001-06:00

Not only is Makaha Beach just down the street from us, it offers beachside, street parking.

That’s not just good because A) parking so close we don’t have to haul our beach chairs and cooler all over the place, but B) we get to keep an eye on who might be trying to break into it. They warn you not to leave valuables in your car in Hawaii, and there is good reason for that. We haven’t been robbed yet yourselves, but know plenty of people that have.

The left side of the beach I like to call ~~couples~~ ~~tourist~~ ~~haole~~ ~~white~~ family beach, with it’s large sandy beach and calm water. The right side is definitely the locals and surfing side of the beach. This side has large sets of waves that almost always have someone surfing them, and sometimes the waves wash away some of the sand exposing big black boulders and comes up almost all the way to the road. May surf competitions are held right here in famous Makaha Beach, and one weekend we had the pleasure of watching one…from the correct side, of course. We’ve also seen, twice in fact, a movie being filmed down here: Heart of a Soul Surfer - The Bethany Hamilton Movie, about the young, almost pro, surfer girl that got attacked by a shark and lost her arm. Pretty happening little beach, it is.

Usually we’re alone but occasionally some friends will join us, and one such friend brought a hula hoop.

Look at the Camera, Jewel!

Oops! Sorry, Jewel. I know, my camera messed you up. But thanks for still smiling!

The North Shore may have Sunset Beach, but the sunsets on Makaha beach are just as beautiful, in my opinion. On a cloudless night if you watch close enough you can see a green “burst” of light just as the sun sets below the ocean. Just another pretty cool thing about living in Hawaii.

Hawaii Tsunami 2010

2010-02-28T03:04:00.001-06:00

My day started at five…IN THE MORNING, with a text from my mom asking Are you under a tsunami warning? what’s the reports from your end?

I don5 know. still sleeping. It’s 5

8.8 IN CHILE – check your local – SAID WILL HIT AT SIX YOUR TIME.

That got me up! Within seconds Joey calls from work saying they’re stuck there, the highway’s been shut down because of a fatal motorcycle accident. Then I start getting facebook messages and texts and phone calls, and to be honest, I wasn’t scared until I sensed that everyone else was! I was never worried about mine and the kids’ safety because we are, what they call, “up country”. I was just worried about Joey and what would happen with him, and that we’d be without him. All I could think was I WANT HIM HOME. I wasn’t even paying attention to the news and the fact that the entire island was stocking up on food and gas. I knew the tsunami would never reach us, so no need to bother with those things. Once Joey made it home (the freeway closure was behind him) he called his good friend that lives in the evacuation zone and then we headed down to the beach to help them move things to higher ground.

It was around seven when we went down and our road was already starting to fill up with evacuees. The tsunami wasn’t expected to hit until after eleven, and everyone on our side of the island seemed to be taking it seriously, and I didn’t see anyone panicking. The roads were pretty clear way up here, but Joey did say the two lane highway, Farrington, out to this point was very busy, but moving good.

Makaha Beach was deserted except for a few lone diehard surfers, and a plane flying overhead blasting a loud siren for all the people that live "on the beach”. They have no electricity and quite possibly could not know what’s about to hit. Up at our place the sirens were pretty weak but our friends down here were jolted awake by them.

On our way back up the hill I was trying to get some quick shots of the evacuees along the roadside when one woman said, Look at dat bitch..taking pic-tures! That’s all we need is to give the locals another reason to not like this Haole.

Our friends ended up evacuating to our place, and at eleven we were standing on the street corner at the top of the hill to see what’s going to happen. I expected the entire complex to be out there looking but I think we were the ONLY ONES. Everyone else were evacuees. There was no way I wasn’t going to be out there!

People were set up in the ditch like it was a day at the beach and they were relaxed and enjoying themselves.

When we’d already been out there an hour and hearing reports that it was finally starting to show some action over on the Big Island, we knew we had to wait at least that much longer still. I hardly took my eyes off the water because I did not want to miss anything. The kids were already over it.

Cars were parked everywhere on our street, including in the bus stops and center divider.

At one point the kids found a lizard and Jewel was ecstatic. Then I made her let the little kids hold him too because she couldn’t keep running away from them all day. She didn’t want to let them “because they’re only five.” Which translated to “she’s not responsible enough and will drop him!” Which is exactly what she did. The rest of the day was a big fat sad face for Jewel.

This picture screams to me, The Natives Are Restless!

I loved all these little island kids playing with big sticks and no one getting hurt…. and no one yelling at them to stop. Where’s all this panic the news was reporting?

Finally we started to see some action in the water. First I saw one single solitary large wave, and then probably half an hour later I started noticing this white circle in the ocean.

It started off as a solid circle and then very gradually started to spread out.

The weird thing was..no one else was commenting on this. Or else they’re all just very very quiet. Or else, it’s, you know…normal.

While I was keeping my eye on that growing circle I notice the family in front of me.

How sweet is that? I half expected people to be stressed out, scared, nervous, agitated. I saw none of that.

We decided to walk down the hill a bit to see if we could get a better view. We can see the circle has gotten really wide and thin now……and there are whales riding right in it! We also saw the line of cars down to the coast………… doesn’t stop.

Jewel did find the one empty spot to sit down and sulk in, though.

After a couple hours we figured there wasn’t going to be anything more to see so we went back to the condo to wait for them to lift the evacuation order. Around five Jewel and I went down to Makaha Beach to see if there was anything even noticeable on the beach.

Up here you’d never even know this road housed hundreds of people just hours earlier.

And peacocks stood where we stood all afternoon.

And the beach was quiet and welcoming.

Looks like the water didn’t get any higher than any other day. The only difference were the lack of sunbathers for a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, and a lack of waves.

I still can’t believe we live in Hawaii, and now we experience a tsunami. A TSUNAMI! 2010 is proving to be quite an exciting year, and we’ve barely just begun. I CANNOT wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us.

We finished off our day getting our ankles wet in a post tsunamic ocean and if I hadn’t been so wiped out from a long day, I may just have taken Jewel up on her request to get our suits on and go for a swim.

Night Life, or lack thereof

2010-02-27T02:22:00.001-06:00

We spend most of our time here on the west side of the Island, but one night a while back I saw in the paper that Dana Lyons was going to be performing free in a park in Honolulu. Dana Lyons is a vegetarian/comedian/singer/songwriter, and the background music to a video I made a few years back, called Run, Billy, Run. I was really looking forward to doing something special with/for Jonas. He always seems to like the exact opposite as the rest of us, but this was something he actually WANTED to do….it was sponsored by the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii, and to be honest I was hoping to get some recipes. We watched and laughed over and over to his Cows with Guns video, and drove all the way to Honolulu. In the dark…… After spending an hour in rush hour traffic, that was anything but rushing, we got to the park thirty minutes late and couldn’t find him! We found numerous other gatherings but nothing that looked like a concert in the park. Talk about being bummed out, but luckily everyone took it in stride.And me? ……Well, I took a picture, of course.

This was my first attempt at a night scene and can see I need a lot of practice. But then that means I have to go out into the big city at night. Alone. Because no one else wants to sit around while I’m taking pictures. Now I get the whole photo walking thing! I don’t go places with the intention of taking pictures, they just happen when I see something shiny or sparkly. I might have to change that.

This is our side of the island. Notice the difference? It’s much more our speed. And, see that little mountain? According to our local friends that is the World’s Smallest Mountain, and I plan on conquering it very soon. This night though was for eating ice cream cones. Again, I wasn’t planning on pictures so only had my cell phone and kicked myself for not having my camera……… That sunset glow sure is a wonderful thing.

Notice the rainbow to the right of Jewel? If we tried, I bet we could find at least one rainbow everyday here.

Back at home we have pretty good sunsets of our own.

But inside our home, we have a different glow.

I got this glowing candle at a thrift store, and I just lurve it. It takes me back to the time when Joey and I first started dating. It was the first time I’d ever seen these candles in the artsy district in Phoenix and they were too expensive for me to buy, so I only had one really teeny tiny small one, which burned up in hours. It’s been thirteen years since I’d seen one of these candles and couldn’t believe it when I found this one unburned in a thrift store. I still don’t understand people that don’t burn their candles, but I do thank them.

The New Road Home

2010-02-26T02:07:00.001-06:00

This are cell phone pictures from the beach and then the parking lot, looking towards our valley. This is how close we are to the beach, and my goal was to walk this road every day…….. It’s so easy to say that from three thousand miles away.

This is The Bus Stop. And my street corner.

And this is the drive up from the south side. So basically, either way is always a nice ride home.

Kane’-aki Heiau

2010-02-25T01:21:00.001-06:00

Today we checked out Oahu’s best restored Heiau (temple). It was originally built in the 1500’s and dedicated to the God of harvest, agriculture, and fertility, but by the 17th Century it was rededicated to the God of war by King Kamehameha. As a war temple, prisoner’s of war were sacrificed here. Pretty fun stuff.

Today’s it’s still considered a very sacred place and they don’t even want people speaking when they’re on the grounds. When we arrived there was only one other car there, which is rare in Hawaii since it seems like every place is busy..all the time. It was a nice treat.

The Heiau (pronounced Hey-ewww!) is located past the Makaha Resort so you have to go past security to get up there and it’s only for a few hours a day that you’re even allowed in. After parking it’s just a short walk to the Heiau.This is the front of it, but you’re not even allowed up the path to it. You have to walk all the way around it.

This is the “path” we had to walk. It’s tree roots. Then the view of the Heiau walls from behind.

Some people bring offerings to the Gods. I read beforehand what was acceptable, and if it wasn’t the listed acceptable offerings, than nothing was better than an inferior offering……….These items were not listed as acceptable offerings.

This was the closest we could get to the front of it, but it does show more of the walls. The buildings inside were recreated by the Bishop Museum, using thatching and wood from the Big Island.

We took note of the buildings like “hmmmmm…….this could be how we build our next home”

You didn’t think we’d be okay with living in a condo forever, did you?

Ship it? Think again

2010-02-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

We shipped eight boxes to Hawaii. Some small ones, but mostly large ones. All eight boxes made it here, with only one glass lid as a casualty. A glass lid that we shouldn’t have even brought in the first place. If we had it to do over again we would have spent some time selling things on Craigslist and just rebought those same items here from Craigslist or thrift stores. The only things I would have shipped were the personal, irreplaceable items. I thought it made sense to ship a skeleton set of bathroom and kitchen items, but I see now it would have been cheaper and less hassle to just go to Savers and start all over. Our thinking was we’d ship over a small household set to include everything we needed to eat on and sleep on, but as it turned out we made it here before they did and had to go get stuff anyway.

D-Rex made the cut because he was a recent gift from Grama, but he was still the dumbest thing we shipped. And the cutest.

Clothes: Now we’ve been to Hawaii numerous times and I’ve always said to people going to visit Hawaii to not even bother with clothes. Just take a couple pairs of shorts, tanks, a bathing suit and some flip flops and plan on buying Aloha wear there. I kept this theory in mind when I packed but I decided since we were going to be living there, and not just visiting, I’d bring all my summery clothes. All my summery clothes scream , TOURIST! TOURIST!! LOOK AT ME, I’M A TOURIST! No camera needed. Now in Waikiki my bright clothes fit in fine, but out here in Makaha, with all the locals, I’m just asking to get beat up and called a white bitch (which I have been (called, not beat up)). I went to Savers the other day for more dressed down and drab looking sundresses and I came home somewhere in between. Drab enough for me, yet bright enough for me. The kids and I will probably always stick out like sore thumbs around the Hawaiian’s but I’ve decided I don’t care anymore. If they don’t like me because I’m a Hoale, they’re not going to like me no matter how I dress anyway. So I may as well be me! :)

Home Sweet Condo

2010-02-22T23:59:00.001-06:00

The tree top views off our lanai, and if you look closely you can see the ocean, and with binoculars we can check the surf report ourselves for Makaha Beach, or we can look down and just watch the peacock prancing around the backyard.

Everyone says if I lived in Hawaii I’d be at the beach EVERYDAY! Unless you live ON the beach, that’s probably not going to happen. When choosing our condo we wanted to be within bike distance from the beach and have nice views, so we got just what we wanted. and then some, with the private backyard and gorgeous landscaping, including banana trees. So even when we don’t go to the beach one day, we still always feel like we’re in Paradise. At night the trees are lit up slightly, which allows for the perfect light to watch the nocturnal birds. One night we had a white owl sit on the tree tops all night, and occasionally swoop our way causing a small bird to try to fly into our large windows. We’ve watched mongoose play in the yard and even watched lizards scurry across the living room floor. The hardest part to get used to the lizards are their loud cracking noises, and I hardly notice the peacocks “cries” anymore.

We practice our surfing skills inside

But no matter

how hard I try

I CANNOT KEEP THE SAND OUT!!

Our complex also has two pools with jacuzzi’s, palapa style laundry rooms, 24hr gated security that would require a small army to break thru, BBQ grills, basketball court and a tennis court.

The complex is made up of long term rentals, owner occupied and vacation rentals. I like it for the fact that it caters to the vacationers, because…..everyday here feels like a vacation!!

We still can’t believe we live here!

The Road Here

2010-02-03T18:46:00.001-06:00

Our backyard went from this snowy mountain:

To this mountain in the clouds:

Before making it to Paradise we did have to work for it a little, as I’ve mentioned.

Jewel found laying face down in the snow was more fun than another minute stuck with her brothers inside.

After finally getting out of Tuba City we were a little surprised to see NO SNOW. We were stranded because of what? But not to fear, there was still some snow left.

Good-Bye Snow