babymoon, last day

our last day, new year's day, was a rainy one.  it was pouring at our bungalow, so we decided to pack our bags and drive until we reached dry skies.  well, that never happened.  midwest-like downpours, to alaska-like misting rain, drizzling on and off - it was pure silliness.  add to it that it was a holiday and most places were closed, and we had already taken in 3 movies because of rain other afternoons and evenings...

can you believe i tried to get us on 
an earlier flight home?!  

but, with full flights, we were stuck with our 9 pm departure.  a drive around the island, some last minute nordstrom rack shopping, one more quiet lunch alone and a last minute beach venture - oh yeah, there are ways to pass the time.   

spotted a funky vw, just for our jackie boy's funny obsession.

perfect bench on the north shore

 sandy beach

a special thank-you and shout-out to our momma's for watching the kiddos - nana lynn (and {great} grandma), thank you for caring for our sweet bubba man.  this trip could not have been possible without your unconditional support and love.  and ditto to you, gramma d - knowing dylan june was in your safe keeping meant a peace of mind for ben and myself.  we are so blessed to have two adoring grammas in our children's lives.  we're forever grateful for your presence.

ALOHA ♡

babymoon, lanikai & makapu'u

i can't help myself.  look how gorgeous.  waves crashing, birds singing, the warmth of the sun on your face at 7:12 am - it's 10:10 am in wasilla right now, and the sun is still not up...  

our photog friend, who had done a maternity shoot for us the day before, suggested we check out lanikai.  we were sooo thankful for this recommendation.  sugar sand, variegated blue water - another gorgeous beach experience.

 i'm forever indebted to him for carrying countless floral-print bags.

directly behind us, we spotted some hikers along the ridge line.  

i was so envious of their accomplishment and view!  

 ...but, i had a pretty spectacular view from the comfort of my beach towel, too.

plenty of reef for benji to snorkel

after we had our fill of vitamin d, we jumped in the rig for yet another drive.  further on down the kalanianaole highway, we pulled off to check out the makapu'u tide pools and light house in waimanalo.

our new years eve was extremely low-key.  considering our full day in the sun and on the highway, we had dinner by 5, a movie by 8, and we both could barely keep our eyes open during the drive home.  i was asleep by 11, but not before being startled awake by the neighbor's cannon-like fireworks.  what we thought was the start of a civil war, turned out to nye celebrations, well into the 3 o'clock hour.  we found out the next morning that most on the north shore make their own fireworks.  and, we thought the valley was bad...  

another fabulous recommendation: dinner at hale'iwa joe's in kaneohe  

now that's a slab of prime rib

babymoon, hale'iwa & waimea bay

we decided there had been enough time spent on the other side of the island.  we drove a few miles up the highway to hale'iwa for breakfast at kono's and some shopping.

across from ted's bakery, we walked through a neighborhood and fell onto this gorgeous beach.  ben thought i was being venturesome, but i had been to the beach before - with jb when he was 15 months old.  i wanted to bring ben here with thought of being on the exact beach with both my boys. 

REWIND:

doesn't the sand on my fingers and the sand on baby jack's face look similar?

ben could not get over the chaos of the power lines in hawai'i.  we never drove far without him commenting on the utter mess and lack of organization.  i had to capture at least one of the poles because it was very much a discussion during our vacation.  the man is a lineman through and through.

within the hour, the weather changed.  more clouds rolled in, and the sky opened up.  we were thankful for our early start to the day - to enjoy the little blue sky we were blessed with during our morning.

on this day, there were to be 30-40 foot waves, and therefore, the annual "eddie would go" surf competition could take place.  well, the waves didn't appear (at the desired height) so neither did the eddie - 2009 was the last year the competition was held.

it was rather blustery, but still, dudes were out in the surf, hoping to catch something.  we watched for a while, but eventually succumbed to the rain.  i think we went to the movies (twice) on this day.

waimea bay 

 a dozen surfers, waiting for that wave

babymoon, hanauma bay

there's no other place like it.

2 of the 7 reefs were closed due to such rough currents, but we were able to snorkel back door lagoon, keyhole lagoon and sandman's patch.  benji went to channel by himself because i wasn't quite as daring to venture so far out.  it's a good thing witch's brew and toilet bowl were closed.  i'm sure he would have pulled me way out there.

we saw SO many fish.  and, we were only in the water for 10 minutes when a turtle swam right in front of us - i nearly screamed in my snorkel!  we also saw butterfly, parrot and sturgeon fish, moorish idols and tangs.

honu!

after two 2-hour snoozes, we were fried and ready to seek some shade.  and after-sun lotion.  but man, whatta day.  whatta experience.

here's a real doozy to end our amazingly-fun day in the sun.  as if my pregnancy brain hasn't been kicking my butt enough, it didn't cease on vacation.  upon reaching the entrance to hanauma bay, i noticed the parking lot was full, and they were flagging people to drive on.  quick thinking (ha.) i noticed 3 other vehicles parked directly across the street and - lucky us - there was one space left!  i swung in and thought nothing else of it.

so.

can you imagine our surprise, after 6 hours in the sun, totally burnt to a crisp, ready to get back to our bungalow and whatdoyouknow - no rental car.  no cars on the side of the road, period.  $#@%!!!

we. got. towed.   

first a call to 9-1-1 (because in HI, that's who you call when you get towed...) and three other numbers before we reached the correct tow yard... a 15-minute wait for a cabbie... then the fun really started.  

we jumped in this newish minivan, eager to find our vehicle.  immediately, i could tell the van hadn't been in for a tune-up or an oil change since it left the plant.  this thing smelled like the engine was gonna blow.  and at 45 mph, it should not have been ferociously shaking, right?!  ben was peeking at the dash, trying to spy if the temperature was in the red; i had my beach towel over my face because the smell was so rotten (sorry about the fume ingestion, baby 3!).  ben and i were silently laughing so hard, whispering our exit strategy if this thing were to blow up.

after a $46 ride, we realized we didn't even have exact change and cabbie wouldn't take a card.  but - he was sooo quick to dismiss the issue, really just telling us "you get out here.  you fine."  standing in the middle of chinatown, with a friggin cooler, snorkel gear and beach crap, we realized there wasn't a tow yard in sight.  after our nervous laughter subsided, and we noticed we weren't in the greatest area - but yet, we were THE perfect targets for mugging with our arms full and sandal-clad - i spotted a tow truck race down an alley a block away.  

needless to say, after $180, we were able to escape chinatown in our ford escape.  this experience would end any decision making on my part and commence benji in full-charge of anything else to happen during our 4 remaining days.  

babymoon, kualoa ranch

another joyous sunrise

and yet, another activity we likely wouldn't have done with the kiddos: kualoa ranch.  well actually, there were several activities the youngins would have liked, but we wouldn't have been able to kick up our heels and relaxed as we did.    

with all the activities the ranch has to offer, we chose the "secret island" adventure.  the tour of the movie sets (like jurassic park and 50 first dates) would have been fun to see, but we didn't want to be stuck on a musty school bus for 1.5 hours.

to get to the secret island, we took a flat bottom boat across their ancient hawaiian fishpond, through some trees, along a sandy trail and BAM! - paradise.  didn't take long for me to find the hammock...

secret island allowed us to paddle board, snorkel, kayak, swim, lounge and play volleyball or table tennis.  with only 5 other people out there with us, it was very low-key; everyone did their own thing.

benji and i were the first ones to take out the paddle boards.  such a fun experience to skim over the reefs and see straight to the bottom of the aqua water.  we kayaked, too.  after an hour of playing, i decided to seek some shade and relax in the hammock while benji snorkeled.  

mokoli'i island or chinaman's hat

ghost crab home and a ghost crab!

after everyone had played in the sun and splashed in the water, the crew offered to take us on the glass-bottom boat to seek out some honu.  sure enough, they knew exactly where to go.

great memory for us.

my snorkeler.

after a late lunch in hawai'i kai and our "long" drive home (because everywhere you go, it's, like, 35 mph), we took turns in the outside shower.  there is nothing like taking a cool shower, outside, in 80 degree weather.  

new friend.

babymoon, day 1

we arrived on o'ahu at 8 pm to pitch-black, warmth.  just as much as i enjoy stepping out of ted steven's int'l after a trip away, taking in that first breath of alaskan air (because it DOES smell different than anywhere else, promise), i do love the smells and sounds of the islands.  those certain birds with their sing-songy tune, a dozen different floras; i heart hawai'i.  so much.

as we made our way to the north shore, and once we were on the kamehameha highway, i knew what was just beyond the houses to our right.  but benji - he had no idea the sight in store for him the next morning.   before we fell asleep to the crashing waves, i had checked the sunrise time.  i didn't want to miss it because i knew we had an unobstructed view right in our back yard.  sure enough, 7:08 am, i was not disappointed.  

good morning, ka'a'awa.

 

nothing compares to the pacific, sweeping over your tootsies.

we rented a simple bungalow from a newly retired couple.  this was the perfect place for benji and i to sleep off the sunshine and rest up for our next daily adventure.  there was an outside shower (heaven) and it was so peaceful you could hear the lizards crawling on the wooden lawn furniture.  i could have spent a month here.  ok, like 3 months.  ok, so i would have liked to stay until may...  it was a dream to spend 6 days here with my best friend.

in 2009, i visited the dole plantation with my mother, jb and a girlfriend.  ever since, i have been craving their pineapple frozen yogurt, and it was just as delicious as i remembered it!  benji ordered a massive sundae, which he could not finish, but it was the perfect fuel to tackle the garden maze.

upon our entry, we overheard a father with his 3 kiddos say, "new record!  only 2 hours and 10 minutes!" to which ben and i looked at each other, and almost in unison said, ummm, yeah, we're not walking around in this heat for 2 hours!  ha!  we found 4 of the 8 secret stations and that was completely fine by us.

pretty pineapple fields

after our dole visit, we continued around the north shore to the fun and funky town of hale'iwa.  we grabbed lunch at breakers and people-watched for the better part of two hours.  i sipped on my arnold palmers while benji attended to some work from afar.  i snapped this picture in hale'iwa, in the middle of our lunch date.  

{i'm blogging as dylan takes her 3-hour snooze, and jackie "rests" nearby on the sofa.  in the middle of his movie, he walked over to check on me and asked, 

mama, what is that thing?}

on this adults only trip, we wanted to squeeze in events and such that we wouldn't normally attend with kiddos.  one of those was a visit to the polynesian cultural center - located on the north shore, in laie, and just a few miles from our bungalow.  

because we had to ability to be sporadic, the husband called to check on the lu'au and evening show.  well, the dinner was sold out but there were two seats available for the evening show, with no more available for 5 days.  we jumped on it.  we were in the 10th row, had an aisle seat and were just giddy to have snagged our these last minute gems.  

the show, Hā: Breath of Life, was incredible.  the only bummer (according to me) is there was no photography allowed, not even flash-less.  i guess it's nice to take it all in and have a night off.  but...   

i couldn't help myself.

 g'night, north shore.