Home again!

Jill dropped us off at the airport yesterday about 10:30 am and we got checked in. Very busy airport and long security line so didn't have a huge wait before we boarded the plane to LA. All went smoothly on the 3 flights and we arrived home at about 9:30 am to the smiling Joanne and Jim Hooker. Bless their hearts! Thanks to you both! They brought us home and we sort of drifted through the day since we'd only slept a couple of hours on the way home and had a 6 hour time change. Hopefully by Friday we'll be pretty much back to normal.

Thanks to Jill, Dave, Colin and Ryan for another WONDERFUL visit! You're great hosts and it's so much fun sharing those wonderful and thrilling adventures together! Looking forward to January when we can make new discoveries, this time with Gretchen too :-)

Aloha!

Box Cars and Air Show

Since today was really Colin's birthday, he got to pick out the activities for the day...and he made GREAT choices. We headed north and spent an hour riding in the box cars. You had to be 5 to drive by yourself so Colin just slid in. Had it pretty well under control by the time we left.

Then we headed to Hickam Air Force Base for the Wings over the Pacific Airshow. There were lots of planes on the ground, bombers, fighters, tankers etc, helicopters, fire engines etc. You name it, even the Admiral's 747 was out. Most of them you could walk through and sit in the cockpits, much to the thrill of two little guys! Then the highlight was the Thunderbirds performance. Quite amazing. Makes for sweaty hands and chills down the back when they are passing each other just feet apart! Great show. We then headed home to have mac and cheese with chicken and peas for dinner--Colin's choice! Yum! Another very fun day! Thanks Colin!

Back to O'ahu, Soccer, Colin's Birthday Party

Busy, busy day today. We got up at 4:30 to pack the car and head to the airport. Flight left on time and Jill picked us up and we headed home to all sorts of exciting preparation for the Birthday Party! The Theme was Out of this World with rockets and all sorts of fun things. Jill made a Rocket cake and John and Dave helped fill the water balloons for the planet toss.

Then Dave, John and the boys disappeared for Colin's soccer game. He's getting quite good..much more aggressive than we saw him in Virginia Beach. They don't keep score so no winners or loosers. They all came home hot and tired so boys had a nap, Dave and John got cleaned up and Jill and Mom set up for the party at the clubhouse across the street. At 3:00 24 kids (counting siblings) and parents arrived to celebrate birthday #5! I had met a few of them when we first arrived. Nice bunch. There was a rousing game of comet, comet asteroid (duck, duck goose) and a pinata as well as pizza, cake and ice cream. Quite the celebration! Everyone cleared out about 6 and we headed home to open presents and regroup. Got the boys to bed and then got the rest of the mess cleaned up and all fell into bed ourselves! Very fun day.

Area around Kona

Another beautiful sunny day in Hawaii! We headed south past Kona and down the coast. We stopped at several beaches on the way. We stopped at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park where we walked along the beach and found wonderful tidepools. The tide was out and many of them had turtles stranded in them. They were very content to just eat the seaweed and wait for the tide to return. There was one Dad there teaching his son how to fish with a net. The son was about 2...very cute.






We then headed further down the coast to the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden. It had representations of most of the edible plants grown historically in Hawaii. Not quite as good as expected, but interesting. Then a little further down the coast to the Coffee Shack for lunch. It overlooks the gorgeous Kealakelua Bay. Unfortunately, it was a hazy day, but still wonderful. Along the side window there were open individual jelly containers. We thought that a little strange since breakfast was long over, but found out it was to attract the green geckos. They were GREAT! Lunch was wonderful and we headed back to our place so John could get his snorkeling gear and head back to Mauna Lani to snorkel again. It was late afternoon by the time we got there and did get windy so he didn't last too long. While I was waiting for him I was walking along the beach and saw a little Japanese boy catch a fish. I went over and asked if I could take a picture. It was a Jack fish and would be dinner for them that night. Good size, good eating fish according to the proud Dad. Headed home to get packed for our early morning flight back to Jill's. It's been a very interesting stay!!

Waipo'i Valley

9/17/09
Early morning! We were out of here before 6 heading for the Waipi'o Valley. This is one of the most sacred places in Hawaii. The valley once housed the kings of ancient Hawaii and served as a retreat for Hawaiian royalty. For this reason, the valley was bestowed the nickname "The Valley of the Kings". The valley is the largest of seven spectacular amphitheater valleys on the windward side of the Kohala Mountains. Waipi'o (Curving Water) is an emerald patchwork of forest, lotus and lo'i (taro patches) 6 miles deep where waterfalls plunge earthward from 2000' vertical pali (cliffs). The river continues on from the falls to the black beach and the sea. There is an overlook at the end of the road and then the road continues for only 4 wheel drive vehicles as it plunges down to the valley at a 25% grade. Or, you can walk down the road, which was how we got there. It's a mile down this curvy one-lane road that clings to the side of the cliff. At the bottom if you follow the road to the left you are rewarded with distant views of Hi'ilawe Falls which, at over 1400', are the state's tallest falls, with over 1000' of free-fall. There are also wild horses that roam the valley and we saw several of them. We then returned to the road and headed down the left road to the beach. The water crashes into the black sand beach. There were a good number of surfers. John had to forge the river to get to the far side of the beach and get more views into the valley. The telephoto lens was in the backpack. It was a very serene and peaceful place. We were heading back to the road up the cliff and ran into 2 boys who had just run down it. One said "People say it's 1 mile down and 10 miles up!" Steep hardly covers it, but there were always great photo ops so you could stop and rest. We took 25 min. to get down and 45 to get out so not too bad. I'm sure we'll feel it tomorrow though. Worth every ache though!! We then headed down the road to the Kalopa State Park. It's old forest and full of native Hawaiian trees. We had lunch in the arboretum area and then took the nature trail. There was a guidebook you could follow and it was a lovely walk. Lots of ferns and tree ferns which are our favorites. By then we figured it was time to head home to a shower and a nap! It was a quiet late afternoon around here, but a wonderful day!

Kohalo Coast

This morning we worked on the blog and did a little "work" and then headed north. We stopped at several beaches on the way up Rt. 19, then arrived at the Pu'ukohola Heiau National Park (The Temple on the Hill of the Whale). This is a temple built by King Kamehameha I in 1790-91, during his fight for supremacy over the Hawaiian Kingdom. Its platform was originally crowded with ceremonial structures. Today it is used for Hawaiian cultural events. The building with the ladders is the Mailekini Heiau. It was a fort during Kamehameha's rule. It is currently being restored by the Nat'l Park Service. The picture of Jean is while she is watching the information film at the Info Center. On down the road we stopped at the Lapakahi State Historical Park. This coastal park was a remote fishing village 600 years ago. It was later abandoned when the freshwater table dropped in the 19th century. There are modest remains and one house reconstruction. The location is stunning on the salt and pepper beach shores. There were lava rocks that they used to make salt by evaporating off the water from the sea. Interesting place. Further up the road we saw more modern lifestyles with a small windmill farm on the point. On to Hawi where the original statue of King Kamahemahe is located. It was originally lost as sea and a second statue was cast from the mold and is in Honolulu. This one was later recovered and given to the town where he was born. From here we drove on to the Pololu Valley overlook. It was stunning with the steep cliffs going into the sea and this beautiful valley below. John walked the path part way down. The valley was once abundant with wetland taro when Pololu Stream carried water from the deep wet interior to the valley floor. In 1906 the Kohala Ditch was built and diverted much of the water and ended taro production. The valley's last residents left in the 1940's and the area is now forest reserve land. We returned to Hawi and took the Kohala Mountain Road which gently zigzags down to Waimea. There is a 3500' elevation drop with stupendous views of the Kohala Coast. It was stunning driving through lush cattle pastures that made you want to take off your shoes and run through the grass and by the time we got to Waimea it was desert once again. There was basically a line of green where the clouds coming off the sea and hitting the mountains stopped the rain. The other side barely gets rain at all. It was a beautiful drive and delightful day!

Mauna Lani Beach

The five of us got up, had a quick breakfast and headed for the beach. We went to Mauna Lani. It's actually a lovely resort but all the beaches here have to have some public access so we were in front of a grand resort at an outstanding beach for the boys and for snorkeling. It was a hike through a lava field, by the Kalahuipua'a Fishponds which are among the few remaining working fishponds. They are stocked with awa (Hawaiian milk fish). Water circulates from the ocean through traditional makaha (sluice gates), which allow small fish to enter but keeps mature, fattened catch from leaving. Then across a bridge and onto the beach. On the bridge there were some Japanese ladies fishing. Japanese women are fascinated with blonde American kids (Ryan looks like a true "surfer" guy) and one asked Ryan if he would like to try, so he got in his first bamboo pole fishing experience. They showed us the Hawaiian Turkey Fish they had caught..impressive. We got settled on the beach and Jill and Colin and John went out snorkeling while Grandma and Ryan built sandcastles near the shore. Colin is getting to be a really good snorkeler! When they returned, Grandma and Grandpa went out. Really great snorkeling...lots of big yellow tangs, parrot fish, trigger fish, Butterfly fish, boarfish, unicorn fish, angelfish and great urchins and coral. Very fun. We stayed for several hours and then headed home for lunch and rest time. Jill packed up and we headed for the airport to drop the three of them off for their flight back to Oahu. We've got more adventures here and will return on Saturday just in time to celebrate Colin's 5th birthday! We stopped at a couple of beaches on the way back and then had a leisurely dinner and started getting caught up on the blog.