Weekend Adventures

This weekend we set out on two new adventures in our new home.  

First, on Saturday we decided to tackle the hill outside our lanai, more commonly known as Koko Head Crater.  There is a trail hike that we have seen people using to climb to the top, and we decided it was our turn.  So, the five of us loaded up and headed to what I now understand as nature's stairmaster.  Luckily, we had taken the kids hiking in Phoenix several times so they were well prepared for the battle.  And I must add that I was pleased that there were no edges of cliffs along the way that freaked me out with the kiddos....that is, until we got to the top.  

Here is our first picture from the very beginning on our way to the trail head.  You can see the "stairs of doom" that we will soon travel up as the light line along the left side.

 Here are the boys at the beginning of the stairs.  Just and old railroad all the way to the top.

 The view behind us....still towards the beginning.  The houses and canals there to the right is Hawaii Kai, where we live.  Off in the distance you can see Diamond head,  a well known landmark at the edge of Waikiki.

Here is a shot of Hamauna Bay, a protected marine life conservation area and underwater park.  Snorkeling here is one of our next adventures.

 Below is the same view as before of Hawaii Kai...almost at the very top.  I wish we had more pictures along the way....but when you are in the act of climbing and worrying about your kids, helping them, and trying not to die yourself, pictures are the last thing on your mind.  One weird thing is that it is super close to the shooting range....and those gunshots echo LOUD off the mountains.  Seems a bit unsafe to me.  At one point, about half way up, along the climb the bottom literally drops out from below the stairs and you must cross the "bridge" stepping from tie to tie.  Eric walked across just fine holding Caleb's hand....I was in no way shape or form having Noah's balance depend on mine, so we crawled across. :)

On the way back down, when our legs were much more jelly, Dad and Caleb again crossed just fine.  Dad came back across to retrieve Noah and help him walk, while I again crawled.  Noah made it all the way to the last step and that's when he fell through.  I looked up from my crawl just to see Dad holding Noah up through the ties....hanging by one arm. Oh my.

 Did I mention that Dad was carrying Jonah on his back the entire time.  Trooper.

Once we crested the top, the cool breezes began.  Talk about a reward!  It was almost too cold.  And, as you can see below, the sheer drop off on the other side.  Cue mom's paranoia.

 After all that, even Baby Jonah was beat!

 On Sunday, we decided we needed a bit of a reward for ourselves so we headed to the beach.  We had yet to hit the beach in Kailua, so we met some friends there at Kalama Beach Park.  Holy cats, let's talk about nice.  Best beach we've been to by far.  Guess I haven't really blogged about the other ones, but I'll get to that. Perhaps.  Here is our whole crew heading out to swim.

 And of course an irresistibly cute picture of Baby Jonah after his first swim.

Lots of body boarding and sand castle building was done, complete with a tunnel.  We even had a visitor come and swim with us for a bit.  Probably the coolest thing I've seen since moving here....besides the two humpback whale sightings.  And speaking of those sightings, Dad was the closest to one at Aloha tower in Honolulu harbor where he was lunching one day.....and he didn't even know it.  He witnessed it on the news that evening stating, "I was wondering what all those TV cameras were for!"

Anyway, back to our visitor...