More Aloha 2010!

One more shot from Jessica's Beach:

That one will be going up on our wall. :)

You just can't beat Shark's Cove for taking little ones, particularly if the wind is blowing. It's clear, shallow, and protected.

Keiki loved the water, particularly playing with the boogie board in the water! He crawled right up onto it and then proceeded to stand on top of it. I'm sure he'd be a gifted surfer dude if given the chance!



Incidentally, Shark's Cove is also a great snorkeling spot, which suited me just fine. I could spend day after day in a mask and snorkel. Sort of creepy in some ways, but how amazing to see underwater creation!

There was a little "excitement" going on early in the week. The ocean and critters therein are to be respected:

Look at this amazing pineapple field! Isn't it beautiful?

I saw these little pineapples with a renewed fascination this time around. Betty mentioned to me how cool it is that in each plant there's the old and the hope of the renewal...

I took the pineapple pictures on the way down to Kailua. I love this little outdoor restaurant.

They have GREAT tropical smoothies!

I have a photo of my mom and I in front of this same fountain two years ago.

Here we are! How amazing to think--there was no Keiki Honu yet! I had NO idea I'd be in that same spot two years later with a precious baby son...

Kailua Beach was super-windy that day, but you can't win 'em all. We stayed just long enough to snack Keiki and then headed out. For him, beach = food + POG.

Felt a little slap-happy that day:



And I'm pretty sure it took me about....36? tries to achieve the desired effect of this photo of China Man's Hat Island:

I was totally intrigued by this Civil War-period sugar mill:

Reminds me of Scotland or something....not sure why...


From another morning walk....ahhhh... These Spider Lilies were amazing and smelled just like Lilacs:



Then on to Ka'ena Point for some 4-wheelin'. We are an adventurous sort. :) Actually this photo doesn't look real impressive, but I'm still feeling a little jostled from the foot-deep ruts.




We took Betty's Jeep out to Hidden Beach. We had the beach all to ourselves. Betty is a beach-combing extraordinaire; however, I found the mother-lode on this trip! I just happened upon a glass bottle cap from an1800-1900-period apothecary bottle. Apparently, the expensive medicines, perfumes, elixers, or poisons were kept in such bottles. The cheap ones had cork tops. Remarkably, a few glass tops remain intact. It was really amazing to hold that in my hand and think, "Who was the last person who held this?" It made for a great history lesson when I came home. The boys are CERTAIN it came from a pirate's ship. Who knows?

It took a couple of days, but Keiki and Millie made friends:

Ka'ena Point is an amazing place. You're on a relatively narrow strip of land with beach and sea on one side, and emerald mountains on the other. It's a beach-comber's paradise, and there are new discoveries to be made around every bend. Most of the beach is lined with lava rock, which creates tons of little coves and tide pools. There are critters EVERYWHERE--anemones, crabs, tropical fish. It's a super-fun place to spend a day....or several days...

On the way out I had to stop for a picture of this cool Yucca:

After the Yucca pic, we maneuvered our way past all the vehicles and equipment used to film Lost. My mom and I tried desperately to figure out HOW IN THE WORLD one could be lost on Oahu. Sigh. The magic of television (I guess anyway... I've never watched Lost.) Ok so once again I thought I could wrap things up in this post, but I'll need to let the sun set here and keep you guessing until tomorrow!

Birthday and Aloha

Seems like every time I get on here to post, I'm playing major catch-up. I guess I've just been too busy living life to post about life! This month started out with a bang as I turned the big 3-5. Here I am (with no make-up--bleh!) during my favorite part of the day--being showered with birthday gifts from my little men:

I received some pretty creative gifts....including this beautifully illustrated coloring book from Eaglet. He included all the things he knows I love about warmth, green, and outdoors.

My squirrely, can't-sit-still boy also gave me this coupon...and believe me, it is VERY valuable!! Can you decipher the precious, creative spelling?

Turned 35--check. Next on March 2010's To-Do List was to get packed up to go to (sigh...) Hawaii for the 3rd year in a row. YES, I totally know how ridiculously spoiled and incredibly blessed I am. I have appreciated the reprieve from winter and amazing memories with my dear mother SO much!! Here's my little keiki with Grandmom, shortly after take-off. He's a regular jet-setter now. This was his 2nd trip to Hawaii and his 4th take-off.

We were greeted with gorgeous leis by our wonderful friends, Walt and Betty!

There is nothing like that amazing scent of lilikoi.

Just about every morning, we went out early for a nice, long walk in the sunshine. Walt and Betty live on the North Shore of Oahu, which by FAR is the most beautiful and laid-back place on the island. It was so fun to dress Keiki up in his warm-weather duds and let his chubby, adorable bare-feet hang in the breeze...


Isn't this yard amazing? We passed by it and several others that were just as beautiful every day. I love how the Hawaiian yards are most often gated, and the people are so creative with their walls and gates and gardening.



Every day we made it out to the beach ASAP! I had been looking forward to introducing Keiki to the wonders of sand and surf. Like his mama, he is right at home.


One of the coolest things about making these repeat trips is that there were very few tourist attractions we cared to see that we hadn't seen yet. This whole trip was all about friends and the beach and hitting the best FOOD stops! I had to hit Ted's Bakery on day 1. I've been dreaming about Chocolate Haupi Cream pie for an entire year. JUST LOOK AT THIS:

It is the perfect dessert, and cannot be repeated by any other but Ted (Or whomever the baker actually is at this establishment.) Please know if you ever visit the North Shore you must hit Ted's Bakery. Other North Shore must-stop-and-eat places are Pizza Bob's (Order the Portuguese Bean Soup with salad and BREAD, and don't forget to top it off with pineapple iced tea,) Haliewa Joe's (Such fun evening atmosphere,) Cafe Haliewa (All about the breakfast,) Konos (TOTALLY about the breakfast burritos,) and last but not least, Fumi's Shrimp, which has the most A-Ma-Zing coconut shrimp I have EVER eaten in my life (and that's saying a lot.)

And then we pretty much had to cap off every day with a little shave ice:

Keiki began to recognize the colored plastic holders so well that he'd start fussing and toddling toward 'em whenever he saw someone holding one. The other great thing about making repeat trips is that we knew just what beaches needed repeat visits (or repeat upon repeat visit for that matter.)


Of course we had to take my little Keiki Honu to Turtle Beach several times throughout the week. I'm still amazed by these beautiful creatures...



And this, my friends, is my new Happy Place:


This is a beach up toward Ka'ena Beach. Not sure of the exact name, but let's just call it Jessica's Beach from now on...



Is there a rule about how long a post can be? Not sure but although I fully intended to hit it all in this one, I think I'll keep you in suspense (or have mercy, depending on how you look at it) until tomorrow.