HAWAII 2010

A big thanks, again, to Jill and Jonathan (my sister and her husband) for finding us a place to stay in Hawaii that saved us big $$$.

This trip was SO FUN! It was relaxing and beautiful. My parents and brother, Jason, were not flying in til a few days after us, so we were able to leave our boys with them for the first few days. Then Jeff's mom and my visiting teacher stepped in to cover the rest. A big thanks to all!!

Warning!!! Possible picture overload.

The first day, Jonathan took us out to try our best at surfing. Let it be noted that my arms were sore the rest of the trip. It's a lot of paddling and the hardest part is getting out to where the waves are. HOWEVER..... I did get up my first try and rode the wave for at least 8 seconds!!! I don't know how I got so lucky because my second and third try were both disasters. Like, getting pulled under, tossed around, swallowing water, exhausting disasters. So I was done. I caught one good wave and was happy with it. Jeff got SO SO BURNED that day. Of course it was my fault because I was in charge of sunblocking his back (which I did -- but I guess not enough).

A few years ago, we took a DeWitt family trip to Hawaii and covered most of the touristy sites. So this time, it was nice to hit up some of the beaches and activities we hadn't done yet. For instance: CHINAMAN'S HAT

image found here
I'm trying to think back now how long it took us..... maybe half an hour. You can walk from the beach to the island on the shallow area you see in the picture. Jeff was quite skeptical of Jill saying it was possible. Especially since she's only ever gone across in a kyack. But people do it all the time. Once you're there, you can then hike to the top, getting all muddy and dirty in the process, then wash off on your long walk back to the shore. Jill brought her waterproof camera on that outing. I'll have to ask her for photos from that day.

Another place we went was...... dang, I forget the name. Another island you can walk through shallow waters to get to. However, that day we took the kayak and taxied the four of us out. This certain island I can't remember the name of is some sort of wildlife habitat for endangered birds. You're not allowed to bring dogs out with you and certain parts of the island were roped off. It was a beautiful place, but almost out of some weird fairytale. See:

Really white sand and green foliage on one side, then on the back... sharp, SHARP, pointy, cavernous rock formations. So sharp that flip flops didn't really help and on wrong step would cut your foot or leg for sure. Notice the small puddles of water throughout the rocks?
Jeff and I were hopping along from tip to tip of jagged points and came across a slightly bigger pool of water that an eel was in!! An eel! On the top of an island, in a small pool of water. We tried to get a picture, but it found a great hiding spot. So it's okay if you don't believe me. But it IS true. I promise.

Most of the really pretty hikes in Hawaii that the locals know about are illegal. One of them being Sacred Falls. The trail to the falls was just gorgeous. Greenery, a stream perfect for rock hopping, leaves the size of your head (or bigger if you have a small head), this super sweet super tall half cave wall thing:

Jill and Jonathan had informed us that the water at the falls would be cold. Really cold. So Jeff and I never planned to go in. When we got there, Jeff was so hot that he regreted not bringing his suit. The title for this next picture is: "Jeff Asked, Jill Agreed"

Jeff hadn't wanted to swim in his gym shorts or underwear, so he borrowed Jill's swim bottoms. She had worn board shorts as well, so don't worry, she wasn't left hiding behind a rock or anything. My family and I were all quite surprised at Jeff's desperation to get in the water. Super funny though. Especially when he swam across and climbed up the other side with a huge, sumo wrestler wedgie.

Golf day. I don't really golf. So I didn't go. Jeff went with my mom, Jason, and Jonathan. Jill and I wanted a few hours to lounge at the beach. My dad had thought about snorkeling again, but decided to stay home and read his book. This next series of photos is what usually happens when my sisters and I get together with a camera, so forgive me. This one made better by the adorable, amazing, giant, beachside swing we found.


(Obviously I didn't know about the sultry shot Jill was trying to get)

There we go

The last day of our trip was another hike. Stairway to Heaven..... also illegal. This one was definitely more of a challenge. 5000 stairs or so. Pretty much straight up, most of the time:

It was long and tough. We were all sore and my hands had the start of blisters.
Absolutely gorgeous though. I'm glad we did it.

It was super windy at the top and colder of course, so we didn't stay too long. On the way down I turned and captured this classic picture of my mom with Treasure Troll hair.

Isn't it awesome?! I promise you'll laugh if you enlarge it. Love you mom!

The walk back to the car was along a trail of bamboo forests. I had to take the photo op again. Fortunately, for you, Jill was not with me at the time and our camera disk was full. So this is all you get:

While I was attempting a spy/Charlie's Angels pose, I'm pretty sure Jeff went for the trapped gorilla who's too cool to escape out of the huge gap in front of him.
We were all STARVING afterwards and so we stopped by IHOP before heading to the airport for our trip home. All plates were scraped clean, mostly by me. PLUS I finished my entire birthday dessert they brought. Oink oink!

What a great trip!!!