May Flowers

I miss them already....

Hawaii Trip, Day 2: Pali Lookout

I forgot to mention a few other lovely memories from Day 2. We drove all the way around Oahu just to see what was there. It was simply beautiful! We snapped these 2 pictures on a beach where the waves were crashing most incessantly! It was so cool! We were quite far away. I wish the cameras could have captured the drama more accurately.


I remember there was a young family out on the cliffs, beyond the warning signs. I was so irritated at the parents for doing that. It was a stormy day, and I worried about what would happen with the turbulent water.


Later on we drove up to Pali Pass. It was incredible. Just gorgeous. Here's the group:

I've never seen mountains so steep. They came right up to a point, in fact:
While on Pali Pass, we were drenched by a fantastic storm! We were covered with big, fat, warm raindrops. I loved it!

Easter Celebration

My adorable boys made out like bandits this year. They were lucky enough to attend five Easter Egg Hunts this year! And the Easter Bunny brought new camp chairs and Pillow Pets! (Ok, he didn't actually bring Pillow Pets. He brought some cheap Walmart knock-off 'cuz he couldn't handle spending $22-apiece on plush toys. Luckily the children were not affected adversely.)


We were blessed to be surrounded by loved ones and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Thanks to all who worked so hard to prepare the hunts and prizes. Our boys had a great time.

Hawaii Trip, Day 2: Diamond Head and Hunama Bay

On day 2 I started to appreciate the beauty around me and relax into the spirit of this place.

I was surprised to find it far different from either the west or east coast of the continent. There's something for everyone in Hawaii. Of course there's the party crowd one finds on any scrappy little beach. But I was so pleased to find the natural world on display so beautifully too! Unlike my previous coastal experiences, there was so much to delight my mountain lover's senses. It was great. It's a good thing we left our kids behind, or I might never have come back!

Here's the view of Waikiki Beach from our hotel floor commons. It was spectacular.
It looked like this all the time, rain or shine.

Here's the view from the other side of our hotel floor commons: Immediately below our deck is the Honolulu Zoo. Beyond that, the spectacular green cliffs are that of Diamond Head or, as the Hawaiians called it--Leahi--which means something about the yellow fin of a
tuna fish or some such.

We climbed up to the highest point that morning. The view was breathtaking! The below pic doesn't do it justice; it's amazing to look all around at the whole caldera. Beyond that, we could see the entire south side of Oahu and the surrounding ocean. It was just extraordinary! I couldn't look around me fast enough to take it all in.

The picture below is of Waikiki Beach. If you click on the pic to make it bigger, our hotel is circled in red on the lower, right side.Here we are at the top. Can you believe how beautiful it is?!
Look at all the colors of the water below--every kind of blue and green. I wish our camera could have captured those colors as true as they were that day!

Ben and Zeke found some decaying hunk of metal to get all geeky about.

and we snapped a few photos

The military installation at the top of the hill was amazing in and of itself. How men and mules managed to drag all of that metal and concrete up such steep slopes, I'll never understand!

At the tipy-top of the climb the trail bottlenecks in the gun turret room where, one at a time, each hiker must duck under and climb over various remnants of the past to escape into the sunshine outside. But, on our way back down, after we stood in line for 20 minutes or so, Ben got a little impatient and jumped through the a gun hole to tell those coming up to hold the line for a second. He's my own personal super-hero, ever vigilant to see that justice is done!

After some good afternoon tucker, we were off to Hunama Bay for some snorkeling
(another first for me).

I LOVED all the wild chickens! They were so funny. The big fella on the left is probably my favorite out of all the millions of chickens we saw. I just think he's gorgeous!

Here's some shots looking down at the beach and caldera.
Snorkeling was incredible! I can't wait to go again!

A highlight was when this beautiful creature jumped out from underneath us. I think he was as startled as we were!

As you can see below, the colors of the fish and scenery grew far more vivid when the sun was not filtered by clouds.

Nice shootin' Hottie!

A few days later, on another snorkeling expedition, I got to watch an eel glide across the sand beneath me. I wish I'd have had a camera then too. It was so cool.

Our Bike Ride was Cute Short Tonight...

The Weber River continues to carve out new bank every day. The precipitation is relentless these days, and the poor swollen river just cannot contain it all.

On the one hand, I'm grateful that cool weather has stopped the snow-pack from all coming down at once. On the other hand, we're about to head into June! Snow-pack melting in June heat. The circumstances are worrisome to say the least. But then, I was worried about typical May weather, which hasn't bothered to show up at all.

Perhaps it won't ever actually melt, and we'll be left with our own private glacier system all year 'round.

Hawaii Trip, Day 1: Waimea Valley

First of all, I have to document my pedicured--and artificially tanned--toes. Both of which are firsts for me. The pedicure was a bonding experience with the girls, that I am anxious to repeat. Pampering and a leg massage can't be beaten. That was so fun!

As for tanning; even though I don't advocate the seeking out of cancer-inducing activities, I decided to do some fake-baking before we left. I knew that my winter-fresh complexion would be a total disaster on the beach, regardless of my hearty investment in sunscreen. So I bronzed up my body a bit before we left, in self-defense. I still got really, really burned. Oh well. Sunburns are a small price to pay for a few days in paradise.

It was dark when we arrived in Honolulu, but I was impressed by a landscape there at the airport. The smells, the colors--even in the dark--immediately struck me as something different from experience entirely.

I was also impressed by the lack of doors on buildings! Businesses that stay open all the time, such as our hotel, just open right onto the street. They don't even have a wall or door frame or anything! It's just crazy. I can't imagine living in a place where the weather is absolutely never bad enough to warrant serious protection. They just need a little cover from the rain occasionally, and apparently that's all!

Check out my hubby: He actually traded in his Wrangler jeans and Tony Lama boots for shorts and flip-flops while we were there. Who knew it was even possible? I had to document it.

These next pictures were taken in beautiful Waimea Valley on the North Shore. I'm a bit of a coconut and loaded them in backwards order. I'm far too lazy to fix the error, so invite you to walk backwards with me:

I cannot count the number of bizarre and interesting sites that crossed my country-bumpkin eyes.

Here is a Cannon Ball Tree, which I believe is most appropriately named.

Here's one weird plant growing out of the trunk of a palm tree.

The first pic we sent back to our kids. I thought the bamboo trees were so beautiful.

Waimea Falls was a stunning end to our beautiful meander through the valley. Ben was the only one among us who was brave enough to get in the cold water. He's waving way down at the bottom of the falls.This was taken after we rounded a corner and the falls came into view.

I LOVE jungle trees!! Oh, how I wish these picturesque giants would grow in our climate!
A native-style Hawaiian school house.

Here's Bonnie pretending to play a native Hawaiian game that none of us could figure out.Ben's demonstrating a game that Hawaiian children played in preparation for hunting wild chickens and such. They would roll a stone ball or disc and take out the chickens legs, then they would grab the thing before it could recover. Voile, dinner!
Ben, Amanda, and Andy really got into it.

The canopy was amazing! I could lay and stare up into those distant tree limbs and leaves forever. I loved the beautiful and intricate designs created as things interwove.
Aren't these little birds beautiful?! They sang the sweetest song too.
Amanda is standing beside the gorgeous trunk of a Rainbow Tree. So beautiful.

There were half a dozen of these beautiful little Geckos climbing all over this plant. They must have been only 2 inches long from nose to tail end. So cute!

Actually, before we went to Waimea, we stopped at BYU-Hawaii in Laie where Millie went to school. Look at this campus. And the beach is only a block away.
It's a wonder she ever got any schoolwork done!