Hawaii Day 4 Hiking to Manoa Falls & Hawaiian Luau 8/20/15

Day Four was another Hawaiian adventure-
a trip on a city bus, a trek through a neighborhood
to find a path, to hike up through a rain forest,
to see a waterfall.  My kind of day!

My hiking buddies :)

It's difficult to appreciate how HUGE these
trees were- see my baby girl?

bamboo forest....so cool.

HUGE trees!

See Emily and I?! This rain forest was like a scene out of Jurassic Park!
We half expected to see dinosaurs come crashing through the jungle!

Such a beautiful hike.  I LOVED IT.

It was quite the hike up and a bit muddy and slippery along the way.
We eventually heard water rushing.....

Our view from the boulders we sat on while
we had our picnic lunch :)

I couldn't wait to get in!

My view looking up, up, UP!

I will NEVER pass up an opportunity to
put my head, or my whole big self,
in to a waterfall :)

Happiest girl in Hawaii :)

C'mon in girls, the water is awesome!

 

 

As I sat with the sun on my back and watched
and listened to the girls playing on the rocks
in the water, I was taken back twenty years.
The rest of the pictures tell the same story
to this day...Little Sissy leading Big Sissy,
telling her where to step and leading the way :)

  

Ta-dah!!!  Adorable <3

My Peaches, my Ellie Bug.  I have the best girls :)

Such a huggable buggable <3

We got home just in time to wash off the mud,
throw on a dress and head out the door!

We had a bus to catch to go to Paradise Cove for a luau!

My lovelies <3

  

We had a couple of hours to enjoy the Hawaiian festivities
before dinner was served.  We started with mai tai's and tattoos!

tats :)

We opted to not take a family bird photo...six birds in all!

There was spear throwing, some sand games
and such, but we decided to braid a headband :)
Emily thought it was going so well, until
the old Hawaiian guy promptly took it from
her hands to say she did it all wrong!

What a cool keepsake; I wore mine on the
plane ride back to Beijing :)

While the girls were braiding, I joined in
on the shower of petals...it was beautiful.

Then I braided, too.

You could also paddle around in an outrigger canoe, or
cast and pull fishing nets.  They got a group of men to do
a tribal dance to bless the bounty from the sea.
It didn't work- their nets came up empty, lol.

The sun was beginning to set as they
blew the conch shell for the 'unearthing' of
the pigs that were roasting in the sand ovens.

We got some pretty wooden carvings, and
then Ellie found a squished penny machine!
She's been collecting squished pennies from
all over the world since she was a little girl :)

I grabbed my dinner plate, then headed down to the
beach to catch the setting sun.  I savor these moments.

So beautiful

We were treated to some traditional Hawaiian dances, then
they got some audience members to participate in learning
to hula.  The girls joined in on the fun.  The funny thing is,
I remember doing the Hukilau at the Kodak Hula Show
about a hundred years ago :)

The dancing was really beautiful.  If you want to see some
eye candy...have a look at this You Tube link.
Yes, the male dancers' thighs are that huge!!!
hot, hot, hot hula males!
Our dancers performed this same 'muscle dance'- whew!

The perfect end to a perfect day :)

G'nite, y'all!

Hawaii Day 3 Bike & Hike to Diamond Head 8/19/15

The hotel had free bikes available to its guests,
so we decided to be super women and BIKE
to Diamond Head, and then HIKE to the very top!
We're all smiles here, but it's just 7am, and
still a comfortable temperature outside :)

The two girls in front of us heard of our plan for the day, and
asked if they could join us- the more, the merrier
(or sweatier, or whinier, whichever the case may be ;)

We were pedaling along swimmingly, down the boulevard
along Waikiki Beach...and then the road made an uphill turn.
Ummmm...at some point each of us had to bail and walk our bikes.
The end was in sight once we pedaled through the volcano's tunnel.

There were no pics of the steady uphill climb.
It was all we could do to pace ourselves,
keep chugging water, and keep putting one
foot in front of the other. We had a lookout point
before the final ascent.  It was a long fall down-
but you know me, "Look, girls, no hands!!!"

Beautiful panoramic shot, but still not at the top. You can see the rim of the volcano :)

Victory!

There's a lighthouse waaaaay down there!

Group shot with the selfie stick! We are positively glowing!

The shades of blue and green were
absolutely gorgeous, and mesmerizing.

The bad news? It was only mid-morning, and it
was already ridiculously HOT.  The good news?  It
was all downhill on our bikes heading back home-
we dried our sweaty selves in the breeze as
we dodged pedestrians and traffic!

Emily headed straight for the pool, while Ellie
and I treated ourselves to more coconut ice
cream with sticky rice from the Thai restaurant
that we went to the other night. It was THAT good :)

I could feel myself recovering with every bite :)

After a relaxing afternoon by the pool, we went
to the wine and cheese happy hour at the hotel
before we headed out to dinner.

By the looks of my face I may have had too
much wine- oops.  

Our ride to dinner.... not really.

I can't pass a pretty flower without taking a pic.

Macro shots of flowers make me happy :)

We had a delicious Italian dinner, then headed to the marina
and waterfront to watch the sunset.  My lovely ladies <3

My hippie chick, like her momma in more
ways than one ;)

My baby girls, and sailboat masts sticking up in the air-
THREE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!

Add a setting sun to the 'favorites' list, too.

Both girls deserved this vacation for all of their hard work
to graduate with Honors from college.  I'm one proud momma.

We were worn out from the day's bike and hike, and sunning and swimming at the pool. (and maybe a drink or two may have contributed) We could barely stay awake for the movie we rented. We needed to get our rest- we have another hike tomorrow, and a luau tomorrow night- stay tuned!

G'nite, y'all!

Waikiki Beach Day 2 8/18/15

Ellie and I met with the concierge in the morning,
and got our plans laid out for the week.
Today was a beach day!

Ellie and I are both the travel planners, and a wee bit anal
about making a schedule and filling in the calendar.  The
fact that Tyler had a blank activity calendar to map out our
week's activities?!  Let's just say we're going to get along
swimmingly with Tyler, lol.  We are booked for the week!

Today was Waikiki beach, a ten minute walk from our
hotel, where we had a beautiful view of Diamond Head...

sailboats...

surfers...

and little old ladies with nifty sun shades!  

No beach day is complete without at least one selfie...

or a photo of a beautiful Bug in the ocean :)

As beautiful as it was looking out over the ocean, or down
the beach to Diamond Head, it was just as beautiful looking
up through the trees from our beach sheet.  (This beach sheet
has been with me all of my life.  It was the sheets that were
on the bed I slept in up at my Grandma's house in Michigan.
These sheets then went with me to my college dorm room,
through two marriages and divorces, five kids, grandkids,
and all the trips we took to beaches all over the world.
I'm a sentimental fool, that way. I love to take Grandma with
me to the beach. She and I would drink margaritas :)

The trees and foliage were beautiful, too, as
we walked through Fort Derussy Beach Park
on our way back to the hotel.  We were cooked!

On Tyler's recommendation, we went to a Thai place for dinner.
I had a delicious chicken and pineapple curry...

While Ellen had some four alarm dish- whew!

We decided to walk off the coconut ice cream and sticky
rice dessert, by a stroll further down Waikiki.  We went
past the Moana SurfRider Hotel, the only original hotel
left standing on Waikiki Beach.

We came upon the statue of "The Duke"-
as in Duke Kahanamoku- the surf champion.

I snapped a pick of my first born lovely :)

...then a pic of my second born lovely :)

And they snapped a photo of their momma by an outrigger canoe.
(I have to get my toes in the sand and my a$$ near a boat-
any old boat will do, lol)

And then we watched some hula dancers in the setting sun.

But this was my favorite shot of the day; the setting sun shining on
all the rental surfboards that had been returned at the end of the day :)

We called it an early night, as tomorrow the big adventures begin...

G'nite, y'all!