Diamond Head Hike

One of our family's favorite things to do together is to go hiking.  I'm not saying the boys beg to go everyday, but once we get to a trail, they are usually pretty stoked to get going.  And of course they love the praise they get from Mom and Dad after a particularly strenuous hike.  Last Saturday, we tried a new trail.  It's a fairly popular one with tourists, but lets face it...we're like extended tourists.  At Diamond Head, it's $5 for a car to enter the park or $1 per person if you walk in.  We opted for the annual pass of $30 for parking, obliging us to get back there at least five more times in the next 11 months.  Shouldn't be a problem.  For our family, it was a very easy hike.  There were no open ledges anywhere for mom to freak out.  The stairs were few and far between.  There is one section of steep staircase, but it can be easily avoided, or just used to come down. The incline on the hike was never too steep.  A lot of back and forth along the side of the crater.  And of course, the views are breath taking.

Here are all the boys towards the beginning of the hike.

Somewhere along the route, there was a lookout that we stopped to enjoy.

The boys are looking out over the southern coast of Oahu.  

 As with most of the hikes here on the island that lead to the top of a mountain, there were bunkers from the war that were used as lookouts for incoming threats.

Here are my boys manning their post.

 And this is their view....

 This particular bunker was cool because you could enter and traverse the different levels inside.

It was a tight squeeze and a low crawl to get inside, but well worth it.

Noah is pretending to be VERY scared!

 As usual, the sun was shining bright!

 Mom even got in front of the camera to show off my newest haircut.

(Lately, it has been changing a lot. Think I found one I will keep for a while.)

 Looking down over Kapiolani Park, Waikiki, and further in the distance downtown Honolulu.

 Another cool part of the hike that the kids thoroughly enjoyed was the cave.  More like a lighted tunnel with a railing to guide you, but cool none the less.  Dad had his work cut out for him with the low ceilings and Baby Jonah riding along.

After the hike, we quickly checked out the KCC Farmer's Market where the boys indulged in kettle corn then headed home for a relaxing afternoon...of washing the car!

Got to get that bird poop off!

Here are a couple videos from along the hike.  In the first one, you can see the boys literally running up the trail.  And the second one gives you an idea of the wind towards the top.  Always a nice reward.