Hawaii Day 5 North Shore 08/21/15

On our fifth day in Hawaii, we hopped a bus up to the North Shore.
The North Shore is known for the Pipeline, where they get
some MONSTER waves 30'+ for international surfing
competitions.  Except, not this time of year.  It was dead calm.
Surf season is in the winter months here.  In the winter,
the beach will be filled with thousands of onlookers.

Miss Em had the beach to herself :)

Though the waves were hardly worth it to even
body surf, the red flags were out because of
dangerous rip tides.

Next our tour guide took us to Shark's Cove, 
for some snorkeling.  No sharks to be found :/

It was a beautiful cove for snorkeling, but I was getting
really frustrated with tourists just standing on the
reef in their fins.  Stupid people.  

The water was beautiful, and the reef had some fish,
but the reef itself was mostly dead.  Le sad :(

Next to Shark's Cove was another bay that was more
like tidal pools and very shallow. It was filled with
families and little kids swimming.  We attempted to
pick our way through the tidal pools, but the rocks
were tearing us up- no water shoes :(

The girls like to make fun of me and my backpack-
I think it suits me just fine :)  Have backpack, will travel!

So we headed over to Waimea Beach for some
sunbathing and body surfing.  The waves were better there.

Never too old to play in the waves :)

And I cannot set foot on a beach with jumping for JOY!
Every. Single. Time.

Waimea Beach is famous for the cliff jumping at the far end
of the bay.  I could not convince the girls to jump with me,
so I didn't do it either.  I have twice before, once the force
cleared my sinuses so that I had a raging headache for several
hours afterwards.  Another time I hurt my shoulder when
I hit the water.  It's probably just as well this old lady
didn't do it again- it would have likely resulted
in something getting seriously injured!

Turtles are often seen on this end of the island as they feed
 and nest in the summer months here.  We had been to
several beaches and never saw any, so our guide made a
point to take us to yet another beach where we were
sure to find some.....

Gimme some fin...noggin...duuuuuude :)
I just love Finding Nemo- click here!

At the end of the day were were taken to a little
village for some shopping at the Surf and Sea.

Love this...I want to paint a canvas of
this for our new home :)

I need this in my life!

I love this idea, too, for the sideboard on our
accent wall :)  

The girls each bought a pack of vintage postcards, then
decided they wanted to trade, so we resorted to the 'you
pick' game.  Usually who gets to pick first is settled by
rock/paper/scissors, or Ellie just calls 'youngest!' since
she is the more feisty of the two.  Sometimes, Momma
just calls it, so Emily got to pick first (for a change ;)
I love that at 23 & 25 years old, sisterly conflicts still
get resolved with rock/paper/scissors, lol.  As I sat on my
own bed and watched them pour over their post cards, I was
taken back to little girls about 4 and 6 years old, pouring
over seashells, or rocks, or Barbie clothes.  To see them
now as beautiful, confident, educated women makes
my heart soar.  I am one proud momma, and I could
not love them more.  I am so thankful to have this
special time with them.  So very thankful <3

Since it was Friday night, that meant it was Friday Night Pizza Night,

so we ordered in, rented some movies and called it a day.  It was perfect.

G'nite,  y'all!