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!