Makaha Valley Hiking

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.

Makaha on Dwellable

I'm That Mom

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

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

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

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.

Turtle Bay on Dwellable

Pray 4 Something

  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

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

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

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

Maunawili Falls

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.

Kailua on Dwellable