Adventures in Hawaii: Part Three

Day 7- Thursday, April17, 2008:

Rise and shine! Everyone got up bright and early for Tyler's 6:00 AM baptism. Temple Beach wasn't far away and it was a perfect morning! The breeze that was there a few mornings earlier was gone and the sun was just about to rise over the horizon. It couldn't have been more perfect. My parents' bishop, Bishop Keale, was there to preside and conduct. What a nice man! He was so excited to be there. He is the bishop of a student ward, so this was a special occasion for him. Casey gave the opening prayer and asked that Tyler would not be stung by a jellyfish or anything. :) We stood on the beach as we sang "I am a Child of God". Then my mom gave a nice talk on baptism, and Randy's mom spoke about the Holy Ghost. Next, all the kids sang "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam" just as the sun was coming up. Randy, Tyler, my dad and Randy's dad all walked out into the ocean for the baptism. Wow! They wrapped in towels and Randy confirmed Tyler a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The bishop made some nice comments and then he asked me to bear my testimony. I was a little caught off guard, but happy he asked me. Next, Casey was ordained a Deacon and received the Aaronic Priesthood. The whole morning was unforgettable.

We ate breakfast at Randy's parents condo and hung out for a good part of the day there. My parents went into the office at the PCC to work for a little while. The beach outside the condo was nice, and some of our family went swimming. Hailey and I left our swimsuits home becasue of our sunburns. But the water was irresistible and we got a little wet. When Emma was done being on the beach, us girls went back upstairs to the condo and watched Randy and the boys play in the surf. I saw a dark object moving in the water about 20 feet away from them. It was a giant Sea Turtle! Randy ran for the snorkeling gear to try and get a better look, but it was too fast for him. Once he got the gear on, he headed out to see what he could find. He saw lots of cool fish and other sea creatures. After coming back in to shore, Casey put on his mask and fins and went back out with Randy. A little while later, it was Tyler's turn. Tyler couldn't get enough of it!

We decided to go to Shark's Cove and see what we could find. We climbed over sharp rocks and waded through some swift currents in search of crabs, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins. Tyler sliced his hand open on a sharp rock. Luckily, we had that super glue from our airport entertainment!

Randy spotted a ledge he wanted to explore and he took the older kids out to it. My FIL stayed in the car with Emma while my MIL and I took Hannah and Nathan to get some shave ice.

By the time we headed home, it was late and we stopped for something to eat at Ted's Bakery so my parents wouldn't have to cook for us. The food was pretty good. In fact, they had the best 'homemade' fries I have ever tasted. But, it could have something to do with the fact that we were hungry and tired.

When we got 'home' to my parents', we attempted to watch "Tora, Tora"- a movie about Pearl Harbor. I think I lasted 15 minutes, tops. Everyone else, but Randy, was out in 30.
Day 8- Friday, April 18, 2008:

Sea Life Park was a ton a fun. We lucked out because my parents are able to get in free, along with two guests, because they work at the PCC. And they were able to get a 'local's rate' of $8 for the kids 4-12. So it cost us only $32 to get in! Casey and Hailey thought the touch pool was the greatest thing! We watched a dolphin show that was pretty amazing. Randy had never seen anything like it, so he really thought it was neat! The Sea Lion show was a riot, and the Sea Ray Ballet was pretty cool. We were all excited to feed the Sea Turtles. They ate lettuce right out of the kids' hands!

After Sea Life Park, we took a nice drive on the Pali Road. It took us through some amazingly beautiful lush, green scenery. There were vines hanging from huge trees much like in Tarzan. The vegetation was so thick in some places, you'd need a machete to hike though it. We traveled through tunnels of trees and man-made tunnels through the mountains. At the top was a lookout point with an awesome view. The wind was pretty powerful up there, too. We drove down the road a little further and hopped out for a quick hike. The 'jungle' was a little eerie, but cool as it was covered in moss and vines.

Thursday at the condo, Hailey saw a commercial for Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor. Randy has been talking about Farrell's our entire married life. He has always wanted to go back to one. He has a memory of one as kid- just like Bill and Ted's...remember the Ziggy Piggy? That was Farrell's. Thanks to 'Mahana', my dad's affectionately named GPS, we were able to locate one. We ate dinner in a'train' and enjoyed our ice cream, complete with train whistles.

Day 9- Saturday, April 19, 2008:

In all our travels, Randy spotted a beach he wanted to visit. Our sunburns were better (and Randy purchased a rashguard for himself,) so we hit the beach. Tyler left the house without his Crocs, but my parents picked them up when they went back for their chairs. The sand was so incredibly fine that it attached itself to everything. The kids enjoyed playing in the water- even Nathan. Hannah spent most of the time trying to get her feet free of sand. She'd wash them off in the water, hobble back to the beach mat on her heels, and realize she was unsuccessful. Back to the water, this time with flippers in hand (she didn't want her Crocs to get sandy, either.) So she tried washing her feet off, and attempting to put the flippers on her feet and walk back to where I was sitting. Nope. That didn't work either. She gave up on cleaning her feet off in the ocean, so she filled a water bottle up with salty water and walked back to the mat and poured water on her feet to wash them off. The trouble is, she ran out of water before her feet were free of sand. She patiently filled up the bottle again, and tried a couple more times. After a good 30 minutes, she resorted to leaving the sand altogether and joining my parents at the picnic tables in the park behind the beach where there was a water faucet.

Casey was thrilled when a dad and his son showed up with a couple surf boards. As is characteristic of Casey, he talked the man into letting him try it out. Soon, Randy, Tyler, and Hailey were in on the action, too. Surprisingly, Nathan had no interest in it. It was so nice of mister surfer dude to let us use his boards. They spent quite a while riding the waves, little as they were. They had a great time and disappointed when it was time to eat lunch.

The younger kids were tired, so we headed back home so they could just 'hang out' with Grampa and Gramma. Randy and I took Casey, Hailey and Tyler back to Shark's Cove for some snorkeling. It was there that I realized just how fearful I am of water. As a kid, I almost drown in the creek behind my house. That same feeling came back as I tried putting my head under water and breathing through a little rubber tube. I began to hyperventilate. I tried just using the goggles and holding my breath. But the goggles weren't a great fit, and I just couldn't do it. Oh well, I don't really like the taste of salt water, anyway.

We stopped at Sunset Beach on the way home. The waves were ginormous! A storm had rolled in and so there were lots of surfers there. I was amazed at how young some of the people were in the water, because I wouldn't let my kids near the waves! It's a good thing they didn't see those waves before surfing, or they wouldn't have been content with the mild waves.