Day Five

Today was ziplining. There was a minimum weight requirement so Thomas and Emily were not able to participate; they stayed at the beach with their cousins.

Here we are getting ready to go, followed by a few of the pictures from the day. Everybody had a really fun time. We went on 9 ziplines ranging from 230' to 1260' over the Hawaiian "jungle". We hiked through cow pastures between the lines and crossed foot bridges over streams. We had a nice lunch and a swim in a natural pool. The whole excursion lasted about 6 hours.










After ziplining we wanted to check out the snorkeling at Tunnels Beach. There were lots of fish to see which was fun, but the coolest part was the dramatic drop off from the inner reef, we could see clearly down about 40-50 feet. Picture "Finding Nemo", and yes I was a little nervous, and didn't want to swim out over the edge. But it was totally cool!

Don't you love our toes? Can you tell which ones belong to Karin and which to me?

Day Four

We woke up to Thomas not feeling well today. We hope it's just a little too much sun and salt water. I stayed at the resort with him while the others went snorkeling at Lydgate Park. But don't feel sorry for me, who wouldn't want a nice quiet day watching over a child but also reading and enjoying the sun and sea. I'm into a great book called The Help, and I don't want to put it down. Besides, if I went snorkeling I wouldn't be writing this blog for my mother to read.
Here are some pictures taken from our balcony of the place where we are staying. Also the BBQ and playground pictures from yesterday were taken from our balcony.



This morning before they left, Karin took Emily to a lei making session. Don't you wish you had a big sister like that?



The hike to Wailua Falls.




Exhausted probably doesn't adequately describe it.

There is a trip to Cold Stone going on right now, we'll see if they take pictures or try to keep it a secret.

Day Three

Everyone but the oldest of teen-agers was in the pool or the ocean today by 7:00 am. And after all the traveling we did in the past two days, it was wonderful to just sit and read or swim for most of the day.

Waiting for the Farmer's Market to open, and purchases made.



At the beach.




Emi, Laura and Camille learning the Hula.

Playground fun.

The Chefs.

Ganon preparing shish-ka-bobs with Karin supervising.

The dinner...fabulous

For Family Home Evening we attended a Luau to get a taste of Hawaiian culture. Of course we wish our friends, the Atkinson family, would zip over here from the Big Island where they live and give us a complete education of Hawaiian history and culture. We hear that Cole does a wonderful job. I'm sharing only one Luau picture just to prove we actually went.



Sharing jokes before the show starts.

Day Two

We began the day by attending Sacrament Meeting in Kalaheo Here is our entire group. We are vacationing with our nephew Ganon (friend of all the boys in our family, scout leader, baseball fan even willing to come to many of our games) and his family - Jennie his wife, the dearest of friends, piano teacher, walking partner and voice of calm in all this madness - Madison(9)great friends with Thomas, joke teller - Laura (7), lively personality - Camille (4) Emi's best friend (notice the matching skirts) - Andrew, the cutest baby on the island. After church we went for a drive around the island to see some of the natural sights. First we stopped at Spouting Horn Park, a great blow hole, especially at high tide. Then we drove the 40 mile round-trip viewing of Waimea Canyon. We ended the drive with a stop at Jo Jo's Clubhouse for sno-cones.