Hawaiian Paradise: Day 5

Then there was today.

Oh my goodness.  That's all I can say to sum up our day today.  It was AMAZING!!! 

This morning, we headed over to Heidi and Nate's house.  Kezia, Ivy, and Elysse are very excited to see you all in June.  It was so fun to be with them today!  We headed over to Waimea Bay where the water was clear, beautiful, blue, and perfect. 

We did a little stand up paddling so Heidi could take some pictures.  She was making a new brochure for their business and needed a new picture.  We did our best, but I'm not sure we got any winners.

As I was standing there, Heidi yelled "Cheri!  Look at the dolphins!"  I turned and there were dolphins jumping out of the water way out there.  We headed in and daddy and I got on our snorkle gear and headed out toward the dolphins.  We had to swim a far far way and we thought we were almost toward them.  But then, suddenly daddy saw them behind us, really close to us!  We ducked under the water and were able to watch them swimming not far from us at all.  We followed them, watching them jump and spin above the water and swimming with them under the water.  We could even hear them clicking and squeaking under the water, which is how they talk to each other. It was so cool!  There were about 20 dolphins swimming together, including several babies.  Oh, I wish you could have seen that!  Daddy and I LOVED it.  It was like our own personal dolphin show, but the best we've ever seen!  This was definitely the highlight of the entire trip.  And who could've planned it?!

(Note: these are NOT pictures of the dolphins we saw.  Unfortunately, it was so spur of the moment that we didn't have a water camera.  So we had to get online and get pictures of spinner dolphins instead.) 

Then, we jumped off a really high rock, which was kind of scary but also really fun!  Even Kezia jumped off from the very top and Elysse jumped off from lower.  Brave girls!

We played a bit in the water with your cousins and then searched for sea shells with Ivy to bring to you. 

We went and got shave ice that was so delicious!  I got mango passionfruit and daddy got pineapple coconut.  It was great! 

For dinner, we got pizza and then talked with Heidi and Nate.  Now, we're sitting at our little house getting ready to go to bed.  We're so tired!  And sunburned...

We are excited to see you.  Can you believe its in just 4 more days?  So soon!!  We miss you and love you so much!  We are proud of you for doing so great with grandma.  Have a fantastic time!!  We love you!

Mom and Dad

Hawaiian Paradise: Day 4

Here's the trouble.  All the pictures are on Braden's computer.  Most of the time, he has his computer with him at school.  So I don't get many opportunities to update this blog.  Hence, it is taking me a couple weeks to finish up our trip to Hawaii.  We'll see how many I can get scheduled this time around...

Hi girls!

Sorry I didn't write yesterday.  We were so tired I couldn't stay up to write.  I'll try to catch up today.

Yesterday morning, we headed back to Turtle Beach and swam with the turtles again.  This time, Ben and Robb took waterproof cameras so we could take pictures of the turtles under the water.  I can't wait to show those to you. 

This one looks like he's just walking along

SMILE!!

As you can see, we were super close to them.  Probably too close...

Coming up for air

Braden swimming behind the turtle

Then, we headed back to Shark's Cove and snorkled with all the fish. There was another big turtle over there. Daddy bought a waterproof camera for Shark's Cove and got some great pictures, too. 

Can you see all those shiny fish?

Braden's favorite

My favorite

That night, we had a stand up paddle surfing lesson which was SO cool!  We paddled up a river, and there were turtles swimming up the river to go to sleep.  It was a lot of fun to be on the boards on a beautiful night, paddling into the sunset.  It was awesome.  Even grandma, with arthritis and bad hips, did awesome!

Heidi and Nate told us that about 20% of their students fall in the river.  We decided to prove them wrong and go for a grand 100%.  I had the easiest board, so I didn't fall in until I was pushed in.  Braden had a really hard board, so he fell off every couple minutes.  Poor guy.  I hope he had fun anyway.  Nicho, Stace, and Laurie, of course were troublemakers and were the cause of a lot of wet people. 

We had the best time.  If any of you are ever in Oahu, you HAVE TO take a Stand Up Paddle Surfing lesson with my sister's school.  It is called Rainbow Watersports and you will have the time of your life.  It was so fun!