Hawaiian Odyssey Part XII - Farewell To Thee

Our last day in Hawaii. What did we do?

Gathered round Uncle John's computer to watch videos.

Took another trip out to the rubbish chute.

Headed out to Pearl Harbor.

Pondered a day that will live in infamy.

Tested out some diving equipment.

Examined a sunken battleship.

Boarded a plane and amused ourselves with angry birds.

Played the dumb game from our last fast food kids meal.

Made faces when we decided we'd been on a plane too long.

Ran around at the curb while waiting for our ride home to arrive.

Sat back and relaxed, glad to be home.

Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe

E ke onaona noho i ka lipo

One fond embrace,

A hoʻi aʻe au

Until we meet again

Hawaiian Odyssey Part XI - Twilight

Our last full day in Hawaii dawned bright with mostly clear skies so we headed back to the Sans Souci beach. We even had to use sunscreen.

We made a few sand towers.

But mostly we just enjoyed the warm weather and water.

I'm not sure what the point of the rocks were but he seemed pretty certain.

Grant found a little hermit crab.

Cole got in some final boogies.

And ended up with sand in his ear.

John and Laura got to snorkel together.

This is what a Hawaiian beach day should be like.

Towards evening we stopped by to look at the penguins and turtles at the Hilton. This photo is the last confirmed sighting of Emily's shoes. Maybe a penguin ate them.

Then we headed down to the beach for some last minute cousin time.

A local woman, probably hired by the Hilton, came to the shore and did some dance looking performance.

It was a nice way to spend our last few minutes with the beach.

Hawaiian Odyssey Part X - Hawaiian Oddity

The day was overcast and rainy: decidedly non-beach weather. We decided to take a bus to the International Market. It rained pretty hard on the short walk to the bus stop. Grant wasn't pleased with the weather. You will note that the intersection behind us is entirely free of lakes, ponds or other bodies of water. I shouldn't have to mention that fact but it will become important later on.

A quick stop at McDonalds for happy meals brought a smile to Grant's dour face.

Bryn had the same smile.

Then Cole and Grant smiled together.

But there was definitely trouble in paradise.

Once we arrived at the bus stop the rain returned with a vengeance.

After a longish wait, we found out that the bus doesn't make change and we didn't feel like paying double for a bus ride. We walked a block until we found an ABC store and bought Skittles to get change. By then we thought that we were close enough that we might as well walk. So we did and we arrived without further incident.

Spirits were still high and we even bought some stuff.

There was a lot to choose from.

On the way back we again opted to walk, after all it's less than a mile. That's when it began to go wrong. Or rather, that's when the rain really began.

And kept coming. We huddled under an awning in front of Tiffany & Co. to ride it out.

In spite of it all spirits remained high, if a little damp. We tried flagging down a taxi, to no avail. Who wouldn't want five soggy passengers in their car?

Cole seemed pleased with his Hawaiian satchel as we continued to wait for the rain to abate.

It finally did, at least enough for us to trek the rest of the way home, where we encountered the aforementioned intersection, now the site of a lake in training. Notice the photographer on the other side of the street.

Turns out he was from the Honolulu Star Advertiser and he put our photo in the paper. Notice the photographer on the other side of the street. Ain't she cute? It's like I'm on both sides of a mirror.

The following is a graph of the rainfall totals for each 6 hour period since January 1st. Guess which day coincided with our walk to the market?

Not my favorite vacation day but it left us with a pretty good story and the kids' first appearance in the paper.

Hawaiian Odyssey Part IX - Going to a Hukilau

Monday dawned gray and rainy so we headed back north to Laie. First we stopped at Laie point to look at the crashing waves. They were impressive.

And sometimes they catch you off guard.

But braving the waves did yield some results.

Did I mention that the waves could surprise you?

Since we were wet, we headed over to Hukilau beach.

I still have the song stuck in my head. Now it can be stuck in yours.

The kids got right to work on building and defending their "kingdom" from the encroaching sea.

The waves were a little more manageable and Sue got her boogie going.

Once we got back to John and Laura's place we hit the pool.

And since it was a cool day we hit the hot tub as well. Grant declares the "hot pool" to be his favorite activity from our entire trip.

Later, the rain picked up, accompanied by lightning, thunder, hail, waterspouts, cats, dogs, signs, portents, and flying monkeys. (I didn't actually see waterspouts but they were reported. I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of flying monkeys, but it wouldn't surprise me.)