Snorkeling, fun for the whole family... or not

I was convinced that if you lived in Hawaii you had to own snorkeling equipment.

 For my birthday (yes another present, I know I am spoiled!) D bought the whole family snorkeling gear and we set off to Sharks Cove. Yes the name sounds daunting I know, but there are no sharks there. Legend has it that a nice  mama shark used to live in one caves but is no longer there, thus the name.

We were all so excited. Our kids are all pretty decent swimmers so D went on a head with the two older boys leaving me with the two younger. As soon as they left I realized T was freaking out.. almost hyperventilating. You have to understand T is my most brave kid. He will jump from anywhere do anything. Meanwhile lil B was having difficulties with his mask and it was hard to stand because the waves were a bit choppey and coral was everywhere. I finally got D's attention to come back and take T. 

Then we had a wonderful wonderful time. ( I know, poor T!)

We saw the coolest fish ever!! I need an underwater camera for sure.

 I finally came out of my sea world experience to notice that D and T were on the shore. 

T apparently had had enough.

This is him(below) when I told him yesterday we were going to go again.. He was running and hiding from me. 

Apparently snorkeling is not his favorite thing to do.

But it sure is mine!

It's my Birthday!!

For my birthday I really wanted a place to eat out side. 

I got it! 

(Thanks Colleen and Rick)

The Boys decided to make me a fire pit, as well. YAY!!

(yes, it's legal, if you cook with it)

We are going to have to get creative thinking of things to cook on this firepit because these boys ask all day long to build a fire.

 S'mores were in order!

 "A" put together the whole table and made most of the fire pit. 

He really is handy!

Father,son bonding time!

Yummy! 

Sewer Fishing...EWWW

 T, lil B and the neighbor kid decided to go fishing.

In the sewer!

My motherly instincts were screaming noooooo,

  I didn't think any fish would be caught,

Not to mention they were thoroughly entertained for a couple of days, outside!

 so I let them go for it..

.

I WAS WRONG!  

they caught 2 cat fish!

 Apparently, it wasn't the sewer but the rain gutter they were fishing in and it goes directly to the ocean.

And no, we did not eat them:) 

They were let back into the" sewer" to find their fishie families:)

When it rains it usually doesn't pour to hard...

These were the luminous clouds that were out as we set out for our Sunday evening walk.

We were probably a half mile from our house when it started to pour. It usually rains for a minute or two then clears up. So we never pack an umbrella. Well today it poured the whole way home, when I say pour I mean buckets.
If you know Dan you know what the rest of the story is. Yes, he and the kids were singing and dancing down the street. I think they thought they were Fred Astaire in ,"singing in the rain." I wish I brought my camera!

Things I love about Hawaii, and the things I don't like so much:)

I love...
Everyone wears slippas (flip flops) and removes them before coming into your house, even the servicemen.

That if your 13 year old son forgets his shoes while going to a doctors appointment, its ok! No one even bats an eye. (except for me, floors are NASTY)

 I am  with in walking distance to everything.

I can go days without driving my car.

When walking down the street, people I don't even know (they know us because our WHOLE family spoke at church last Sunday) say "Hi Sharps!"

You can order spam, eggs and rice at McDonalds, (I haven't yet but one day I am going to make my boys try it) Spam is really big here.

My House

When the serviceman comes to the door. Instead of knocking  he says over and over again, "Carrie, Carrie, Carrie" not sure why I love that one but I do.

When calling the intermediate school to ask a question about my registration packet that was not complete .due to school error.The head hauncho happened to answer the phone and was very upset at her helper who made the mistake so instead of putting me on hold, started to yell at the other lady. She was calling her stupid, etc..Cracked me up! Then she  came back to me sweet as can be.

Pineapples

Mountains

I actually like the drive to Honolulu, its beautiful, it takes an hour to go to Target, walmart or costco but its a great drive.

My husband is making money at his dream job! So he's happy I am happy!

Long Sleeve shirts can be made into short sleeve..oh yes I did:)


THINGS I DON'T LIKE SO MUCH...

Cockroaches!!!!! These boogers are gigantic!!!

Sand....still trying to figure out how to keep it out of the car.. No success yet..

$5 a gallon milk...my kids drank a lot of milk before we moved here, not anymore.

That every time we go anywhere we have to all put sunblock on!

My friends and family are so far away..

Waimea Bay

 Waimea Bay,

 known for its extremely high waves in the winter, 

and in the summer, jumping off its huge rock cliff. Notice rainbow in background.

 It was pouring rain minutes before.

 This was a bell tower to the right of the Bay, I just thought it looked picturesque.

 My cutie T.

 And "A" who tries to get out of all the pictures. I think we teased him to much. 

When he was little he always had to be in every picture so we teased, but now he won't let me take a picture of him. 

Before we showed up there was a couple modeling for a photo shoot in this exact spot. So we had to get a picture there as well. Glad we did, look at the clear blue water.

And here is the rock. 

Notice T in mid air. 

The boys all( well everyone but lil B) jumped non stop. 

By the end of the 2 hour period we were there, B  and T were jumping backwards and doing twists. 

Then they begged to go back a couple days later.

Crazy Boys!

This and that

 This is what I see out my kitchen window. 

 This is the first day we got here, kids had made friends already. There are a ton of boys on our street.

 These birds are everywhere, especially after you mow your lawn. They follow you while you are mowing and eat the bugs. They are actually very pretty and look like a white miniature flamingo.

 There are so many different flowers everywhere. One day, after I have lived here long enough, I will wear one in my hair everyday.

 This is a lava rock. Lil Bis obsessed with them, he can hardly believe that its an actual lava rock.

These birds come to visit our yard all the time. That's a coconut piece behind him if you were wondering,(kind of looks like something disgusting)

Anyone know what this bird is called?

"Da" Beach

We went to the beach right after our hike. I actually can't remember the name of the beach, but it was really cool. It had tide pools and a huge swing. 

We loved how the locals were diving in off the ladder. They were doing flips and dives.

T at the tide pools.

This swing was in the biggest tree, when you jump off you go flying!

awww Hawaii!!!
After we swam we had lunch at the park behind the beach with the Bishops family. Oh my! Talk about delicious! We had the yummiest chicken and sushi (and I don't like sushi but this was soo good). The bishop is an avid fisher man and caught or rather speared 20 different fish while snorkeling!
Yes we are enjoying it here.
We miss our friends and family but we do love Hawaii!

Laie Hike

 On the Fourth Of July we took a little hike up 2.5 miles up the mountians to Laie Falls

 It was beautiful. The terrain we covered with lush forest to red rock.

 The views were spectacular!

Above is the view from about half way up..

These are the guava strawberries that B could not get enough of! 

We made it! No one even made me carry them! Whew! my kids are getting big..

Yes, we ALL swam in the pool in front of the waterfall.

We made record time to get up and down. Some of the locals told us it would take us 5-6 hrs. We were up and down in 3 and half. Talk about Speed!!

Sunday Morning

Due to the time change we woke up very early on Sunday morning, our ward doesn't start until 12, so we took a walk.

The Laie Temple.

Then down to the beach. Its just breath taking, the green foliage,the sand, and  the blue blue water.

My kids say the sand feels like heaven,so soft.

We ran into our bishop who is a native Hawaiian, and he was able to teach us a ton of  things about  Laie. Right where we were standing we can swim sea turtles at night, then to the left a little we can walk to Goats island when the tide is low. He also showed how to catch a crab. Those babies are big!

At his house he picked coconuts off the ground and taught the kids how to  open  one up. It was quite the experience!

 Lil B thought it made a great helmet..

Our new home

View of Honolulu from the plane.

This is our home. The neighborhood is great! We came home twice this week to 2 different people on different days mowing our lawn, another day to someone bringing us coconut trees!
Talk about the Aloha spirit!

This is our street.. notice the church at the end of the street. The beach is behind the church. We can walk everywhere!

Living room, I have not decorated or painted walls, but thought I would give you a little idea of what we live in. It's much bigger than our last place, so we love it!

This is our back yard. Great space to play soccer!