First Day of School

 

This summer was the most eventful, enjoyable, and memorable summer I have had with me girls.  We truly had such fun together that I could almost understand why people homeschool, I didn’t want the fun to end.  But, really, I doubt I could teach as well as their teachers at school.  Tabatha told me getting Mrs. Bayliss was “a dream come true” because she likes her so much – and who can compete with that.  Alicia got Mrs. Willden, a mother to seven children and who also happens to be LDS and a very nice lady as well.  We met them at parent orientation two nights ago and we feel very confident sending them to Endeavour Intermediate this year.

So without further ado, here are the pictures of our new 2nd grader and 4th grader, ready to conquer the world, or at least the playground.

Olivia needed to add herself to the picture, she is a Pre-K student this year, so she will start school in just a few weeks.

The Honu Turtle

On our last day in Hawaii, maybe it was because we were tired, or maybe because we had already come to Ulua Beach before, but we somehow didn't take any pictures. I couldn't let this day pass though without telling my favorite story of Hawaii.

I love to snorkel. The girls are trying to learn, but the coral is very sharp and the waves are strong enough that they only stay by the shore. Ken does not like swimming next to other swimming animals - he remembers being stung by a portuguese man of war and I am not going to be the one to say that it didn't hurt that much. Luckily that has never happened to me.

Needless to say, since this was the last relaxing day I decided to snorkel in the corral next to where Ken and the girls were playing in the water and sand. I grabbed some snorkel gear and headed towards an area where someone had seen a turtle. I didn't want to get in the middle of the coral ring where he had seen the turtle, just the outside of it.

I wasn't disappointed by what I saw. Yellow tang swam in a school around me, various fish came up so close that I jumped a little when I saw them right next to my mask. I swam carefully so I wouldn't hit them. I just floated on top of the water as I looked at various sea urchins, lots of coral, and various varieties of small fish. I wish I had all the names, there were too many to count.

As I was looking around I noticed that I was getting closer to the rocks, and I tried to swim around them. I didn't realize it was later in the day and that the current was stronger. The more I tried to swim out, the more it pushed me in. I wasn't worried, since I was far enough away from the rocks, but I was a little concerned.

Just as I was looking around trying to get my bearings (which is a little hard since I didn't have my prescription glasses on, so everything was a little blurry), I saw the Honu. A large sea turtle was swimming to the right of me, just below the surface, I am guessing 10 feet away. I wanted to see a turtle, but not be bit by one, so I stayed clear and watched as he gracefully came up to the surface and looked around. While searching I found the following picture, and this is almost exactly what I saw. I was in awe, and amazed by this creature that I had been looking for.

As I watched the turtle, a very strong wave hit me. It actually had a white cap to it, and before this the waves were gently pushing me along. I realized with some panic that I was in the middle of the coral rocks and that the water was being pushed into this circular area and creating very large waves. I tried to swim out the way I came, through an opening where there weren't any rocks, but the waves were too strong and another wave quickly pushed me and rolled me over in its wake. This time I was slammed right into the corral. I saw some sea urchins that we had seen on the glass bottom boat.

The naturalist onboard mentioned that these black sea urchins defend themselves by having their spikes detach into your skin and creating a very painful sensation. If you try to take the spike out, it dissolves and can take up to a year to fully go away. I didn't want to be anywhere near these things, but they were on the coral that I was being pushed against.

After rolling a third time and hitting the coral, I was starting to to get really scared. I knew I was cut up and probably bruised, but those sea urchins scared me, and not know how the waves could crash me against the coral. I didn't want to break a bone or hit my head. So I said a prayer right before being hit by another strong wave. I hit something, but not too hard, and then I was close enough to the shore that I was able to stand up.

As I walked down the beach to Ken, I could see blood coming off my feet, arm, and fingers. I was so grateful to be safe. When I got to Ken I pulled out some band-aids and looked over the damage. I had some pretty long cuts on my feet, I ended up with some of the largest bruises I have ever had on my side, arms and legs, but besides being sore and a few minor cuts I was fine.

As I sat calming down I decided that seeing the Honu was worth it. I have never swam next to such a large creature before, and seeing the sea turtle right next to me has been a dream ever since I heard of swimming with them when I was a teenager on Honolulu. What a great day, even if I don't have my own pictures to share, I still have a great story.

Iao Valley State Park & Kepaniwai Heritage Garden

Before leaving for the day, I thought I should give a picture of the view from our condo lanai.  Isn’t it amazing.  Alicia is wearing one of the many flowers from the trees on the lawn of the condo.

Less than 30 minutes from our condo, we were able to go up to the rainforest at Iao valley.  Ken and the girls would have loved the road to Hana, which is incredible, but after my last trip there made me so sick we decided Iao Valley would probably be a better option.  I don’t think the kids were disappointed.

We pulled in to this view.  Although you can’t see it, wild chickens were running around, that is why Olivia wouldn’t look at the camera.

Behind us is the Iao Needle, 'Iao Valley is the site of one of the most famous battles that occurred in 1790 and changed Hawaii history forever when King Kamehameha I destroyed the Maui army in an effort to unite the Hawaiian Islands.  With the lush rainforest around us it was hard to image a battle ever being fought here.

After going through Iao Valley State Park we went to an architectural heritage park close by to have lunch.  We hadn’t heard of it in any brochures or maps, I think because it was free and there was no revenue from publishing it’s whereabouts, but it was really amazing.  This little park showed houses of Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and New England-styles next to the traditional gardens from each nation.  The Kepaniwai Heritage Garden was a great place for lunch and for explaining various cultures form the region.

This is from a Filipino house.

 

Here is a traditional Filipino garden.

And lastly, Olivia and I are in a Japanese inspired home.

Polynesian Village Luau - Maui

The one main thing that our daughters really wanted to do on Maui is to make sure we made it to a Luau.  They loved the one we went to on the Big Island of Hawaii and wanted to go again.  This time we wanted to make sure for the price that it was kid friendly again, with things for the girls to do.  We found the Polynesian Village Luau, and with kids coming for free, it made it an even easier choice.

Once we got there, we saw craft areas all around the dinner area.  The girls wanted to make flower lei’s first, to go with their outfits I am sure.

Here we are showing off our new flower lei’s – homemade even.

Alicia made a headpiece from her lei.

Tabatha didn’t make her headpiece, she had it made from banana leaves by this hulu dancer.

Alicia liked the idea, and here she is with her photo shot.

The girls loved the pre-luau show.  They had various children come up and showed how to open a coconut, how to make coconut milk and other luau dancing demonstrations.  The MC did a wonderful job making all the demonstrations funny and exciting for the children.  Here Tabatha is laughing as another funny antic is being played out onstage.

Here we are watching an Imu demonstration.  This is my third luau, but this is the first time that instead of a large pig already cooked that they pull out, they showed us the traditional way of weaving banana leaves around fish and cooking a smaller chicken from the very beginning.  At the end of the night we were able to eat the food they had started cooking in these pictures.

Here you can see the coconut husk that was pulled off earlier in a demonstration being put around the coconut shavings, and then when twisted the coconut milk comes out.  It creates quite a spark on the fire pit.

Here the girls are dancing in the kid luau demonstration. 

If you look at the back row, Ken is there.  He helped out in the men’s dancing.  I have a short video of that but I have a horrible time uploading it onto my blog, so this picture will just have to be a teaser until you come and visit!

After a demonstration where a man climbed a coconut tree bare footed, the men and women danced all there dances, and the imu was taken out and the fish and chicken were eaten, we got this last picture.  We all enjoyed this evening.

Kama’ole Beach 1

 

After trying Kama’ole Beaches 2 and 3, Ken suggested we go to Kama’ole Beach 1.  We couldn’t walk to it like we had the others, but it still had a lifeguard, safe beaches without too many rocks, and as always, breathtaking scenery.

We took it slow, just lazing around, boogie boarding, playing in the sand, and relaxing outdoors.  Here is Tabatha relaxing on her boogie board.  She kicked around for hours.

Alicia and I went far enough out that our feet didn’t touch anymore.

Tabatha and Alicia hanging out together in the waves.

And a very messy sand monster trying get the camera.

Glass Bottom Boat

After our walking tour we went to a really cute Keiki luau where small kids danced all the dances.  I have a video of it, but no pictures to show of the actual show. 

After the show we went back to Kihei and took pictures of these cannons as we waited for our glass bottom boat ride on Reef Dancer.

Once on the boat we were able to see lots of sea creatures, and if they were far away divers would grab the animals and bring them to us.

The divers introduces themselves by doing the “Shaka” which is the peace sign that you rotate back and forth.  All three girls are watching the dancer and responding with a Shaka back.

Here are two different sea urchins brought up by the divers.

After an hour I was getting a bit seasick and the boat was ready to move over to an area known for sea turtles.  As we went along we got a little snack above board.

I didn’t see the turtle that Alicia, Olivia, Ken and Tabatha saw skimming along next to the boat.  I was on the opposite side at the time and missed the photo opportunity, but I still got to see Maui from the boat and water sparkling made for a wonderful trip back to the dock.

Walking Tour of Kihei

After two full days of sun and beach, we thought a chance to get out of the sun might give us all a nice change of pace.  So we decided to do the Walking Tour of Kihei before going on our Glass bottom boat tour.  We each got a walking map and we seemed to be doing fine, until all of my daughters landed up in jail under city hall!  I am not sure why they looked so happy while being locked up.

Next we went to the ruins of a fort, built of coral reefs.  We were a bit mortified to know how many tons of coral reefs were pulled up to make Kihei harbor and then used to build with.

It was the hottest day of our trip, which made the walk a bit laborious for our girls, so when we got a chance to see the only Hawaiian Madonna on the islands, we went inside to take a look.

We stopped at a Hawai’ian kings reproduced hut.  The idea of never needing walls is fun.

At the end of our walk, after seeing numerous original churches, cemeteries, jails, and other historic sites, we stopped at the banyan tree in the middle of town.  This tree is huge, this is only 1/4th of the width of this magnificant trees branches.