Some fun stuff

Here are a few more fun things that happened on our trip...

Leila just fooling around...

 Feeding a bird by hand on our balcony overlooking Sunset.

 I never wrote about the food, but we ate like champs every day. We alternated making dinner with our travel partners and every day, a masterpiece had been created and consumed. From fish tacos...

 To Panko crusted marlin, it was a great success.

And of course, Ethan learning to count by using a barbecue...

 And beer bottles.

Our last day

Our last full day enjoying Oahu was a little different than the others. The waves were already starting to get really aggressive the day before, so we only had one beach to choose from - Turtle Bay Lagoon.

 This is a public access beach right in the middle of the resort and typically the most docile in the north. However even here there were some pretty edgy waves. On one in particular, I threw Leila over the wave as it went from being knee high to over my head. So we decided to go into town for some shave ice instead.

 We also had some last bit of fun around town.

 Playing can give you quite the appetite, so went to Pizza Bob's for both food and the koi pond.

 We had one last look at some great waves and enjoyed our final sunset at Sunset.

Surfing

Here's a photo of me dominating the Banzai Pipeline.

And my adoring fans simply awe stricken by my control and strength. 

Just kidding...that was someone else doing their best to stay alive at Pipeline. I was slugging it out at a spot called Chun's Reef, which has been a good spot to learn how to surf. Today was slightly different - it was more aggressive,  unpredictable and gnarly. While the word gnarly is nothing new, feeling it certainly is. I spent more time underwater than on top of it and it mostly resembled being in the spin cycle of a washing machine. I also happened to have a large sea turtle swimming with me as I'd paddle out, which was fun. Of course, he seemed to be gasping for air as much as I was, so perhaps he was looking for support.

While I was doing my best to survive, Ethan was staring at the ground...

Making some fun footprints with Mandy.

And here's the spot that Ethan started really enjoying the water...at an overrun of water at Banzai Pipeline.

Of all places to overcome the fear of swimming, I didn't expect it to happen at Pipeline.

I should also mention that this was our anniversary.  Typically known as Lance Romance, I did the right thing and took a long walk on the beach under a full moon... with my family buddy Rich. We went to check out the waves crashing down on the beach, as well as seeing a lone crazy guy surfing under the moonlit sky. It was heavenly.

Birthday Bonanza

Having a birthday in Hawai'i is terrific. It was Mandy's birthday on Sunday and I thought to myself, "what better gift to give my wife than to have her taking care of the kids while I go surf?"

After some deliberation,  I went with another option, but I'll keep that idea in my back pocket for another year.

We went to a local coffee spot and took the morning nice and slow.

After some hot coffee, we decided to cool down with some delicious Matsumoto Shave Ice.

We also stopped by a fruit stand and the kind lady lopped off the top of a coconut,  gave us a straw and Leila and Ethan had their first coconut drinking experience.

We've been drinking coconut water the whole time, so the kids found it kind of bizarre to be drinking it out of something other than a can.

We also bought some fresh pineapple since Leila keeps devouring it.

We did some shopping and at the end of the night, Rich and Kristina babysat for us while we enjoyed some dinner at Haleiwa Joe's.

Progress

Leilani is typically a cautious little girl and started off this trip scared of going in the water, period.

Any sign of a wave and I'd carry her into the water while she hung on for dear life.

Our time here on the North Shore has changed that. She has since asked me if she can go in without a life jacket and has even gone boogie boarding with me. When a son/daughter shirks safety in the name of adventure,  you have succeeded at parenting.

 Ethan is still a little scared of the waves, but he's slowly getting into it. For now, he'll just work on his form on the sand.

He's also deeply intent on fighting some crabs...or working on an audition for Lord of the Flies.

Waimea Bay

Waimea bay is Mandy's favourite beach. It's one of the best and also where legendary Eddie Aikau became the first lifeguard up here along the North Shore.

Everything about Waimea is big. There's a huge rock in the above picture that people jump off to an approximately 60 ft drop into the water.

The beach area is vast and in the winter, some of the waves get up to around 50-60 feet.

This river drains the overflow from the freshwater from the mountains to the seawater. A few years back, Mandy and Lina recorded some footage of this area before it was a river. Back then, they would dig a trench from the pond to the sea whenever necessary and it resulted in a standing wave.

I don't know the nutritional value of sand, but the amount these two have eaten makes me think that it should be a part of everyone's diet.

Ethan has learned that crabs live in small holes near the watee and every now and then,  he'll stand over a hole and start yelling "GET OUT CRAB!!" Shockingly,  they don't really listen to him.

Leila has tried some snorkeling and while it hasn't been overly successfully,  she's progressing. 

And after a heavy day of beaches and swimming, she sunk her teeth into a big "keiki burger" at Kua 'aina.

Experiments

We haven't simply been frolicking around on the beach and ocean here. We've spent some time running some experiments on the kids...it seems like a harmless idea with no side effects whatsoever.

Here, we shrunk Ethan.

This one, we darkened their skin colour. Leila's has gone from "see through" to "white." We also held them without sleep for days to see if they could function like adults.

Sunset at Sunset

Tgis is the best beach in the world as voted on by me. Sunset Beach is incredible and symbolizes Hawai'i.  The beach is beautiful,  there are waves nearby, you're steps away from Ted's Bakery, etc.

Our place is 100 steps away from it.

 We tried taking some photos of Kristina,  Klara and Rich, but Ethan would have none of that.

Our first hour at our new house was a bit of a challenge. The lady forgot to send us access codes for the house,  so we were stuck outside. I know, I know...we shouldn't be complaining,  but we had just bought a ton of groceries so we could hit the beach and relax for the rest of the day. 

Leila killed some time by playing in the treehouse.

Ethan on the swing. ..

Eventually, we made it to the beach, something a very industrious Ethan was excited about.

I thought I'd put this video up of the two of them singing away. If surfing isn't in their future, perhaps it's off to Broadway.

Poipu Beach Round 2

Earlier,  I had mentioned that we confirmed we were at a beach that was not Poipu beach. This was not confirmed by the Poipu beach authorities,  so I'm not really sure if we asked anyone at all. The good news is that we were in fact at Poipu. How do I know this time? Because our directions led us directly to the exact same spot. While slightly disappointing that there wasn't some other superbeach awaiting us, it was still an awesome beach that was just as good as the first time...Although this time Leila had the added bonus of seeing a massive sea turtle.

We checked out Waimea Canyon, which was also pretty sweet. Hawai'i is pretty relaxed in the rules department,  which Leila and I witnessed first hand. In this photo there is a fence, but in other places there wasn't one...just a straight drop.

We also went on a little train ride around a plantation. At one point,  we all got off and fed some goats, pigs and roosters.

This pic is just before a rooster jumped up and stole the bread right out of Leila's right hand. There are roosters everywhere on the islands and they are hilarious.  I don't think that they're the brightest animal, either. Many times, you'll see them jump out of the bushes and onto the road...looking as though they were having some promiscuous fun. I can tell you that if I was having some fun in the bushes, I wouldn't go running into traffic.