Tag Archives: nature

Diamond head! {Spring Break Day 3}

Posted on by

1

The night before doing this hike I had talked to my mom who reminisced about doing it 30 years ago! I’m sure not too much has changed since then so hopefully this pictures bring back memories for you mom!

First off, there was zippy parking in the crater (there are only 50 spots or so inside) so we had to park down at the community college and walk in.

dh1The walk up to the crater isn’t too bad at all, although walking through the tunnel is a little unnerving… Especially when buses decide to honk all the way through. Also, I love that my kids were coordinated in yellow and black! Thanks guys!

dhcrater

Diamond head was formed long after the initial volcanic activity that formed the island. Both this and Koko head were formed by secondary eruptions, basically a magma burp. Crazy!

dh2It was hot and dry during our hike, there wasn’t much breeze. Thankfully there are lots of spots to sit and take a water break. I was amazed by the number of people doing this in flip flops… I know its not a REAL hike but it was NOT sandal friendly!

Also? There are stairs. No fun at ALL! I jogged up half of them and then felt like I was going to die. That’s enough of that! The stairs are part of the original fortifications. There are pillboxes all along the coast and I’m pretty sure most of them had guns, but I don’t know that any of them were actually used.

dh3

Oh yes. More stairs.

dh4

Finally! The very top! The breeze was fantastic and the view was amazing. You can see from Koko head to Waikiki. It was SO crowded up there, everyone was squishing and squeezing, trying to get a photo. It was a little insane. dh5

And the award for the most perfectly placed shave ice truck goes to….dhice

 

A nice cold treat after that hot hike. This was a pretty easy one, Mckenna kept track and from the start of the trail in the crater and back it took us exactly an hour.

Of course, we then needed to go cool off…

pool

Out with the old…

Posted on by

1

So. 2012.

Really you weren’t so bad. Or at least you didn’t start off that way.

January we stayed busy in Spain with Three King’s Day, Puerto Sherry, and eating at my favorite 100 Montaditos.

IMG_7459

February was Mckenna’s Rainbow Birthday which was SO much fun to do and a day trip to Vejer de la Frontera.

The 'new' part of the town.

The ‘new’ part of the town.

March brought basketball, homemade hot sauce and a scrapbooking getaway for me.

The girls!

April was a super busy month for us with an ER visit, beach days, Easter, zoo trips, children’s theater, goat farm, hosting my first bunco and FERIA!

IMG_8549

May was even MORE feria, Mother’s Day, a trip to the bee farm and a photo session from one of friends!

SAM_3061

In June Omar reenlisted in the Navy, I had my going away lunch at work, we celebrated Father’s Day, took a day trip to Portugal, I graduated, and we had our last week in Spain.

IMG_8938

 

July, oh July. We left Spain (and left part of my heart there), moved to Hawaii, saw tragedy in Colorado, went to Hanauma Bay for the first time (of many!), and the kids started school!

firstday2012

 

In August we finally got to move into our new house, hit up the North Shore, snorkled, got a Harley, and swam with a sea turtle for the first time!

DSCF0105

 

September. My month of woe. We spent some time at Kaneohe Bay, Omar turned 5, and we found out daddy was deploying. Daddy deployed.

IMG_9503a

 

October saw more beach days, bird rescues, the end of my football season, a month down of deployment, a port call in Malaysia for Omar, and a great Halloween for the kids.

IMG_0036a

 

In November we hit our four month mark of living in Hawaii, Mckenna made it to regionals with her robotics club, we elected Barack Obama for a second term, my husband got older, I got older, I hit my one year blogging anniversary, we hit our 11th wedding anniversary, and the kids and I spent Thanksgiving in California.

One. More. Bite. Of. Pie!

In December we lived through another tragedy, I baked WAY too much, took a million pictures of the kids at the beach, threw a party, and had a wonderful Christmas.

IMG_0363a

2012 it’s been real. Peace out.

Making Our House a Home…

Posted on by

2

Kinda.

Trying to anyways.

So I was bored as heck yesterday, no friends to hang out with, and complaining to my husband about how bored I was and he said, go plant some flowers. So I did.

IMG_0296

IMG_0295

 

I forgot how much I really do enjoy gardening. That bed was just a mess of weeds and snails before and it looks SO much better now. Plus I got a ton of plants from the clearance section at the Garden Shop. Yay for 75% off plants! I buy them and tell myself “I can rebuild them” like they are the 6 Million Man. Got lots of fun stuff and can’t wait until it all fills in.  Now just need to get some seating up on the porch and it will look great out front!

Also, found the drill! Got to hang some pictures.

IMG_0297

I have a TON more stuff to hang but I don’t know where I want to put it! Plus I have a mirror that needs two people to hang. Where is my sister! I need her to come do this, she is the designer!

But anyways, I am finally starting to get this house together, it’s been hard feeling like this is home without my honey here. But I want him to come home to a real home.

 

Ko’olina Lagoon aka Sometime you just need to go to the beach

Posted on by

2

So after  long day of fun we decided to keep driving west until we hit the beach. One of the best beaches on that side of the island are the Ko’olina Lagoons. We grabbed a spot, pulled the ever-present beach chairs from the trunk, and just enjoyed this fabulous life we have.

 

 

 

 

This was one of the best sunsets I’d seen since we moved here, we are rarely over on the west side of the island and the sunsets just aren’t quite as pretty from Pearl Harbor, too much in the way!  Stunning.

 

 

Mckenna of course wanted to model for me… This girl loves having her picture taken but it’s hard to get one now where she isn’t posing like a crazy person. 

 

And then there is this kid who HATES having his picture taken but I can occasionally get such a wonderful shot of him I could die.

 

Okay, disgusting post I know, my kids are gorgeous, I live in paradise. What can I say, it’s a rough life!

 

Inadvertent Animal Rescue

Posted on by

1

So I wasn’t reaaaaalllly planning on getting anymore animals anytime soon but I kinda stumbled over this guy this morning.

 

Literally. I was out walking the dog this morning after taking the kids to school. On our way back, right in front of our house, I saw this little guy in the grass. It took Bowser a second to notice him and then he tried to eat him.

Couldn’t just leave him there, we have TONS of cats in the area and I couldn’t see a nest (it’s a huge tree). So I brought him inside and stuck him in an old check box.  Found a wild bird rescue place on island but they pretty much just gave instructions and then said if you can’t get him back into the nest or you don’t see the parents, have fun raising your bird!

I did stick him out in the tree for an hour in a makeshift nest to see if mom or dad came and I didn’t see anyone. So back inside he came and I had to go on the hunt for baby bird formula. (Moanaloa Pets FTW!) So far he is eating and hopping around in his box. I texted a picture to the bird people and they think he is a dove.  After looking online I agree, and it looks like he is maybe 14 days old?

Thankfully I have some baby bird handfeeding experience from the old days of working at a pet store.

The kids think he’s adorable and I just have to keep the dog from eating him. Gotta love an unexpected houseguest! Find a baby bird yourself? Take a peek at this chart to see what to do with it!

I found a baby bird – now what?

Bellows Beach

Posted on by

5

Oh my… how has it taken me three months to get to this beach? It. Is. Gorgeous!

Like the beach you picture in your mind when you think of hawaii? The perfect curl of white sand with lush green mountains in the back and gorgeous blue water?

 

 

Yeah. This is it. Beautiful, soft white sand… clear blue water… just lovely.

 

 

 

So we set up camp right at the edge of the woods (great campgrounds right next to the beach for all you campers!) and hit the waves.

 

 

We went with a friend of mine and her two kids and we all had a great time. The water was the perfect temperature and the waves were perfect for boogie boarding. Mckenna hadn’t done in years but picked it right up again.

 

 

I could sit here with this view forever.

 

Or this one!

 

Omar was a little miffed at me after we wiped out one time when I took him out on the boogie board. Nothing bad, I think it just surprised him. Time to rinse off and eat some more snacks!

 

 

Little Surfer Girls (boogie board girls?) They had a great time riding the waves and digging a giant hot tub in the sand.

 

Sandy, happy children. Really, who couldn’t be happy with this practically in our back yard?