August 18, 2017-Hawaii Adventure!

(click here for today's pictures)

I am not sure when Whitman climbed into bed with us but when I discovered him, he was about to push Robby off of the bed. I had two choices: to roll over and go right back to sleep comfortably on my side or to pull the squirmy child over to my pillow. This was a tough decision but I did decide to move the boy on my side.

Around 6:15, we were all up again this morning. Robby told Whitman that he could get out of bed after he told him who his favorite was. Whitman leaned in to Robby and said, “you are my favorite, Daddy.” Then, he whispered in my ear, “I’m just pretending, Momma.”

Anderson and Graham were awake on their beds playing their ipads and Campbell was walking around. I pulled our clothes out of the dryer and sat down to fold and rebag all of the kids outfits THere is nothing like having all clean clothes on a vacation.

Soon I was even having the kids put on their clothes so I could wash their pajamas before we left. Everyone ate their breakfasts while we finished getting ready. I fooled around as long as I could since I was stalling on taking a shower. Pops said that it was warmer but really, warm is not hot and I didn’t have any warm water. My shower wasn’t too bad but I was sure glad to turn off the water!

The solar panel man came to check out the solar panels which are supposed to heat the water and the handyman was back staring at the hot water heater this morning as we were loading up for our daily adventure. Our first stop this morning was Manoa Falls. It looked very Jurassic Parkish on the trek. It was only a .8 mile hike but it was a bit difficult.

Nonna and Pops stopped about halfway back and Jason didn’t make it all the way to the falls. It was like we were walking in a different country-the plants and trees were like nothing we have seen. The trail was wet (it was rainforest-y after all) so that made for some slippery walking.

We made it to the top and were able to enjoy the view of the waterfall. It took us about 20 minutes to walk up the hill and probably about that much time or more  to walk down since we had to navigate the slippery rocks. My favorite memory from the hike involves Anderson; that child is so mellow. He pretty much is an exact duplicate of Robby except that he is a much more mellow. Graham is full force at everything he does whether what he is doing is good or bad. Anderson is just the opposite-can hardly tell if he is enjoying things or not. But today on the hike, it was crazy slippery, and I asked Anderson if he was enjoying it. He said that it was fine but each time he slipped, his heart skipped a beat and he thought, “this is it!” Thankfully, we all survived the hike and made it down the mountain safely.

Our legs were all pretty muddy when we came down the hill. There was a bathroom nearby so we hopped in to wash up before heading to Pearl Harbor.

The parking at Pearl Harbor was pretty full so Robby and Pops dropped us off. I went to find tickets and just about as soon as I made it through the line, Pops and Robby were back. We had time to peruse the gift shop and walk around outside before our tour began.

We had tickets for noon and the first thing we did was to watch a movie. Now, I tried my best to stay awake because I know that the people sitting behind me probably enjoyed watching my head bob during the movie. Keaton was on one side of me snoozing and Whitman was on the other side cuddling up trying to shut his eyes. I was awake for the last few minutes of the film which was indeed pretty good. I was able to get a good look at Robby’s head bobbing up and down.

When the movie was over, we boarded the boat and sailed to the U.S.S. Arizona. I tried to explain to Whitman that we had to whisper but I just don’t think he understands that word. He was fine though and the kids really seemed to get where we were. We had read a few books about Pearl Harbor so they were familiar with what had happened there.

We were able to see the oil floating to the top of the water from the sunken ship. I am sure that I have seen that before, but I don’t remember it. I told Robby that seeing that was the one thing that the kids will remember about Pearl Harbor.

Soon we were on the boat back. Reagan had tried to get the same seat that she had before because the water splashed her and Anderson as we rode there, but they weren’t able to snag the same seat. By the time that we made it “back to shore” as Whitman said, we were starving. I had a pretty good breakfast but I was famished.

We practically raced back to the car to make ourselves some sandwiches. Everyone had sandwiches, cookies and some candy. After eating, I think that we were all much better. We then drove to the Pali Lookout. The kids enjoyed running in the wind. They were more impressed with the wind than with the scenery.

All Reagan and Graham could think about was the bees that were flying around. There were a lot of bees flying around but I tried to reassure the kids that we had not heard anyone shout that they had been stung so surely we were fine. Indeed we were fine and no one received a bee sting while at the lookout.

When we turned out of the lookout, we went the wrong way which sent us through 2 tunnels and back on some of our island tour from yesterday. It was still just as pretty as it was yesterday. Soon though we were back at the house and the kids were anxious to throw on their bathing suits. After we did a few things around here, we let them and soon we were off.

Nonna, Pops and Jason stayed back at the house so I drove one car and Robby drove Pops’ car (I think he really had been wanting to drive that jeep.) This was fine except our driveway/carport is at the top of a super steep hill. I started sweating backing down it and it didn’t help that I had Anderson and Reagan with me trying to give me pointers.

I did make it safely down the hill and was able to follow Robby through the streets of Wakiki. He drives like he has lived here his entire life and I was just puttering along in my minivan trying my best to keep him in sight. We parked where we did last night. It was a pretty good walk to the beach area that the kids wanted to swim at. They enjoyed all of the activity at Waikiki last night but wanted to swim where there was not a sea wall. I would have been just fine swimming with a sea wall nearby since it blocked the waves.

Once we found our spot, Robby took pictures of the kids holding up what number state this was for them to finish. This is Reagan and Anderson’s 49th state, Graham and Campbell’s 46th state, Keaton’s 45th state and Whitman’s 43rd state. That is not too shabby. Robby has been working on everyone finishing all 50 states for a long time now and the end is definitely in sight. One more trip (possibly next year) will complete everyone’s state count. The kids have mentioned that maybe we should start doing countries but our traveling days will be over by then! (not really!)

Back at Waikiki, the waves there were crazy and the kids loved, loved, loved it. Whitman has no fear and after Robby took him to deeper waters and would let him float in on the waves, he was a wild man and he was much harder to keep up with. He enjoyed playing in the “shallow” water with Keaton and me. I said “shallow” because even though the water was shallow, it could knock you down in a second. When the water would knock Keaton and Whitman down, I would have to grab them as they floated back towards the ocean. They had a blast.

Now, my big kids-I don’t really know much about what they did because my eyes were on the little two the entire time. They had loads of fun on the boogie boards. But they didn’t even really need those because the waves were big enough to wash you ashore without the boogie boards. Everyone had lots of fun and when Robby said that it was time to head back, no one really complained.

Once we made it back to the house, showers were needed for everyone. I had (and still have) tons of sand in my hair. If I have that much in my hair, I can not imagine how much sand the girls have in their hair. I had been in the shower (HOT! They worked on it pretty much all day long!) for a good 10 minutes when I realized that I still had a bucket full of sand on me.

When we were all finally clean, we loaded up and headed to a BBQ joint nearby-or at least we thought it was a BBQ joint. It was a mix of Chinese/Hawaiian food possibly. The food was fine and different than what we were used to but it just added to our adventure.

It was also an adventure to drive to Leonard’s Bakery to grab something sweet before bedtime. They are famous for their Malasadas which are a portuguese pastry so when in Rome...Robby and I both had some of them and they were delicious. It was like a doughy holeless doughnut covered in cinnamon and sugar. It was very, very good!

From that stop, we zoomed back to the house and I put sleeping Whitman to bed and everyone else soon followed. Graham is almost as exhausted as Whitman and couldn’t wait to get into bed tonight. I hope that they rest well because we are planning on leaving here around 6:30 in the morning!

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