Last Weekend!

Last weekend seems so far away already! How does that happen when we haven't really been that busy! We've been a bit busy during the days this week. We're trying to double up our school days so we can have a bit more down time while my Mom comes for a week and a half. The kids don't know that she's coming yet so it's bound to be very exciting (and loud!) when they see her on Friday! They just think that they're working so much on school because of Ella's birthday on Friday and I keep telling them that I have some fun things to do next week because of a fun gift Bumpa (my Dad) is sending them!

So, last weekend we decided to head up to the North Shore to explore a bit. Before we left town we stopped at Leonard's Bakery (a classic store in town) to pick up some Malassadas (basically a very "ono" (Hawaiian for delicious!) Portuguese donut of sorts- though we told the kids that it was a seaweed and fish egg breakfast). It was here that my Dad called and told me that he had just surprised my Mom with sky miles for a plane ticket out to see us. Needless to say, I'm definitely homesick out here and would be happy to have anyone I know to talk to, but having my Mom- who, other than Derek, is my best friend- out here with us for over a week is such a treat! My Dad is the best... even letting her come and not having her there on his birthday cause no other time would work! They are both already planning on coming in December when my Dad has off work but it was so far away so I am so thankful for my wonderful Dad loving both me and my mom so much!

Now in a fantastic mood, after breakfast we drove up the middle of the island to Waimea Valley on the North Shore. The Park had quite a lot of activity this weekend with a "Heal the spirit Festival" or something of that sort. There were lots of Indian tribes & native Hawaiians there doing dances and exhibits and it was quite interesting. The girls loved the dancing and Mia found it hard to believe that these were REAL Indians. She confided in me later that she always thought real Indians would be meaner. So cute! I guess we are reading "Little House On The Prairie" right now and at this point in the book Indians are a bit of an unknown threat! :) They have a beautiful hiking area and Jett surprised us by wanting to run and explore everywhere. We figured out that if it was a normal paved road he refused to walk on his own without a tantrum but if it was a dirt path or stairs to a more woodsy area he was off at a run! What a little bugger! :) The whole area was beautiful and we especially loved that this was so clearly a "Lost" TV show filming area. There was a beautiful river running along the path that was the typical stop for water or have a flaming arrow attack spot in the show and then at the end of the hike was the gorgeous waterfall which in and of itself would have been worth the hike but made it even better that this was the falls that Kate & Sawyer found the briefcase in and that Jack jumped off of to rescue Hurley & his guitar case too. I'm in Lost Fan heaven! :) I was so bummed that they don't let you jump off the top anymore but it made my day completely to be able to swim out to the bottom of the falls and sit on a ledge there and just let the water run over me. It was a beautiful moment! Mia was so big and swam out with me and though she was a bit nervous by it all just loved it too! Ella took a bit of persuading but she at least tried to swim out with Derek (the kids have to wear life vests in the park) and then just got too tired of waiting for the other people to take their turns in the waterfall. After leaving Waimea Valley we drove just a minute or two down the beach to 'Ehukai Beach. It was such a nice beach with hardly anyone there and tons of sand for the kids to run and play in. The water here was crazy since it was over our adult heads in just about 4 or 5 steps out but it was a great place to begin to teach Mia to snorkel. The waves hit hard right on the shore but after getting through that first wave Mia loved getting out and learning how to breath through her very own snorkel. We'll have to come back to this beach in the winter since this is where the Banzai pipeline is and the expert surfers will do their thing! This was a great day to play in the sand, digging big holes and burying each other and over all getting ourselves completely pooped out!

Thankfully we had a long holiday weekend so we had a relaxing next few days. We took a walk along the Ala Wai Promenade right by our house. It runs next to the Hawaii Convention Center which was named the most beautiful convention center in the world. It made for some fun pictures and our kids loved climbing up all the stairs to the waterfall fountains. I definitely love having all this special time with our kids doing things together as a family... it would be perfect if we could just get a date night out without them sometime soon! :)