Friday, January 14, 2011

The Rest of Us (and some more Little Ones)

Swimming in the ocean, laying in the sand, floating in the pool and lazing on the lanai were not the only activities we participated in while in Hawaii. We did one or two other things. Small children limit the energy Tadd and I have to do too many other things. My folks' and the boys and Emily did lots of fun things like riding in an outrigger canoe, hiking Diamond Head, surfing and buying pearls (the boys most favorite activity was waiting while the ladies opened up oysters).
We watched the sunrise...
checked out other parts of the island...
ate dinner at Duke's Canoe Club as the sun set into the ocean...
walked around downtown Waikiki in the dark...

and checked out the local wildlife (a Hawaiian monk seal).
The boys played toss with the football most days and also played sand volleyball a fair amount.


One day we took a hike--it was tons of fun. We trekked probably about 3 miles and got fairly muddy. Caroline did all the downhill by herself and about 1/3 of the uphill. Grandpa kindly offered his shoulders for the rest of the ride. Nora lounged in the back pack and Ezra hiked his little buns all on his own. About 1/4 mile from the top he sat down and said he was done. I showed him how close we were and he whispered to himself "I can do this, I can DO this" and took off running. Haha, oh for the energy of a five year old!

Spectacular views.











And we drove into Haleiwa for shave ice several times. Yum!
After a week of relaxation on the beach...we had to come home. We knew it had to happen. Now it's back to the realities of winter! Snow, rain, wind and clouds--the perfect weather to keep us indoors for a while--where we have looooooots of projects : )

11 comments:

Megan Miller said...

Looks like so much fun. Love all the pictures! Ezra's little can do attitude is so cute. Btw Lucas learned to swim in HI too. :)

Anonymous said...

aww that's way tooo cute about Ezra saying I can DO it...love it! ~Cathy

Penny said...

Love your family picture!! Sounds like a great trip!

NaomiG said...

The pictures are so great!! Every single one of them... Looks like so much fun-wonderful to go with family too, because then you have extra sets of arms that love to help carry the kids. :-) Ah, hiking with kids. :-) Love that Ezra talked himself through the last bit, that's great. We have a very firm "even one complaint and you get NO ice cream when we're done" rule. :-)

kdk said...

You took the trip we keep talking about and not doing. Good for you!

Unknown said...

Amelia says: "Jake and Emily don't look very happy." haha. Despite the picture, I'm sure there were no real complaints about being in Hawaii! :)

Mike, Alice, and Hank the DOG said...

I even recognize some of these places! Love Erza's pep talk...got to remember that. Maybe it will work for me!!! You had a great trip

KLamb said...

Looks like a great time was had by everyone. Maybe we will have to try that with our family. Thanks for the pictures.

dgh said...

What an awesome place to vacation! We were there last year with my whole family...oh the bliss of bare feet and no coats for a week during the middle of winter! Love the pics of your adorable children!

robyn said...

What amazing scenery! Your kids say the cutest things :)

Rose said...

I'm so glad to see some pictures! How fun!