Kayaking to Moks Island

Ok, I promise I'm almost done with the Hawaii posts so I can move on to what we're doing now. It was just hard looking at our Hawaii pictures because it made me too sad so I kept putting it off.

One of the most perfect days/nights we had in Hawaii was when we kayaked in Kailua. We went with the Dalleys and Ngauamos.
In the picture above, first we went to the little flat island on the far left. Then we headed to the pointy one between us. It was a little scary going to the 2nd island because we kept getting stuck on the reef and then some waves came, but we all made it without tipping over.

On the first island.

We went exploring.

On the 2nd island we climbed over rocks to get to a small tide pool.
Here we are trying to all fit without touching the walls which were covered in urchins.
We found a sea cucumber and had fun playing with it. It's on Asa's head in the picture above.

Heading back

Then we just played and had fun in the warm, shallow waters of Kailua beach while the sun set.
And we ate one last time at our favorite restaurant, Phuket Thai. We miss that place!!
We also miss everyone!! Thanks for a perfect last Saturday in Hawaii!

Kauai

Our last week in Hawaii we went to Kauai with Brandon and Katelyn. It was so amazing! It is the prettiest Hawaiian island of the 3 I've been on. It's what I pictured Hawaii would look like before I went there. We saw some beautiful places, enjoyed the most peaceful sunsets, and hiked the most breathtaking hike. And to top it off, we were there with some of our BEST friends. I just wish we would have planned for 4 days instead of 2.

On the plane ride home I started bawling because it sank in that in a week we would be flying on another plane, leaving this gorgeous paradise. Visiting Kauai did not make leaving any easier. I hope you enjoy our pictures and that you can visit there one day. (There are 46 pics!)

Easter Party

A long time ago we threw an Easter party. Of course I had to make it as embarrassing as possible for everyone. :) Upon arriving, everyone put on their bunny costumes.

Jenny and Steve

Ian and Katie

Me and my love bunny

Asa and DarleneBrandon and Katelyn

We started with a 3-legged Easter-egg hunt behind our building.

And the winners are... Jenny and Steve!

Next we had a marshmallow toss.

Rob really went for that one.

Can you see the marshmallows flying through the air?The winners...

The losers...

We had a "pin the tail on the bunny" game. Jenny was right on! Steve went first and his was way over on the crack of the door. Haha!
Next, we had a yummy lunch. Egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches, fresh fruit, pasta salad, chips, drinks, and Easter basket cupcakes.
We had one more game to play. We taped thumb tacks to our noses and had to pop each others' balloon tails-no hands. It was hilarious. Katelyn and Steve tied. Eventually Steve's got popped by an on-looker. Sorry, all I have is a long video of that game.
We were entertained by this egg-laying chicken prize.

After the party Asa climbed a coconut tree. He went sooo high!

He was tired after his first climb in 3 years.
Rob had a great idea to have a deep fat fryer party with the fryer he got from the freebie bin. Sick. Everyone came back over and we fried all kinds of things. Rob and Steve fried a cupcake and it came out weighing like 5 lbs and they said it tasted like a grease sponge (yeah, they tasted it). Our house smelled for 2 days after that party, even with our windows open. We promptly gave the fryer away to our neighbor and vowed to never own one.

And I have to finish with these pictures of sweet Katelyn.

Being a nice cuddly bunny...

Now a bunny with rabies.

Those that know Kate know this is a common look in Kate's pics. Love ya!

Under the Sea

After the whale watching we went snorkeling-another activity to cross off my list of things to do in Hawaii. I have grown to love snorkeling since living in Hawaii.

Hanauma at 8 am...

Hanauma at 12 pm...

Rob had sprained his ankle during whale watching so he couldn't snorkel with the fins for long. We're thankful to our friend for letting us borrow her underwater digital camera.

This fish looks like it has a beak, ouch!

This shy fish is the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the state fish. It was the only fish that would swim away when it saw the camera.

Where's Waldo?

We finished our eventful day at Teddy's Bigger Burgers in Hawaii Kai. It was delicious after all the day's activites!

Unfortunately I got a phone call at Teddy's from my family because my brother broke his ankle up in Idaho. :( The Mule atv he was riding tipped over in the snow and landed on his ankle. Ouch. He still has a boot on it.

Whale Watching at Hanauma Bay

Hi readers. Yes, we are still alive. I really need to catch up on everything we did the last month in Hawaii. I'll try to do it chronologically for my sake.

First off, the end of March we went whale watching in Hanauma Bay. We (us and Ian) hiked out to the left side of the bay and sat on the rocky cliffs there (by the Toilet Bowl) It was with the whale conservation group so we stayed for 4 hours recording any activity we saw.

It was so windy the whole time! It was nice to have an umbrella to block the wind, until it broke.

We didn't see much action except at the beginning and then at the end. I was so happy though because seeing whales breach was on my list of things to do in Hawaii. We saw several spouts or blows, an up fluke dive (when the entire tail is above water as they dive down), a mom and baby breach, and then about 20 head slaps where the head and top half of their body comes out of the water and then slaps down. You might want to click on the pics to enlarge them. We didn't get a picture of them breaching because we weren't ready with our cameras. Ian got some better shots of all the head slaps.

It was a very cool experience to see how BIG they are. We learned some interesting facts about them. The director said these humpback whales are about the size of a school bus, or 45 feet long, and each square foot weighs 1 ton. The whales come from Alaska to have their babies and play in the warm water. There are less predators in the shallow waters around Hawaii so it's safer for their calves. They only eat when they are in Alaska the rest of the year.

If you're in Hawaii next Jan-March you should do this. It's the last Saturdays of those 3 months.