Hanauma Bay

I decided to get my kids up super early so they could walk on the beach with me and watch the crabs. I didn't want them to miss it, so I got them up around 5:00.  That turned out to be a bad idea.  For some reason, there were hardly any crabs out today.  Maybe we were too early?  The sun rise also wasn't as spectacular as it had been other days. It rose behind clouds.  Then the rest of the day I had to deal with grumpiness.  My fault.  Oh well, worth a try.  I did enjoy having the kids out with me on the beach this morning.  Preston found a sand snowman that he played with for a long time.

 Jorja

 Preston

 Stockton & Maysen

 Stockton

 I wrote my name in the beach

 Mike was nicer

 The kids had fun drawing for awhile ~ Stockton

 Maysen

 Stockton & Jorja

 Mike

 Jorja and Stockton

 That's a good eraser!

 Try again

 Mike and Maysen chasing crabs

 Success!

 What a cute crab

 Preston leading Stockton and Jorja to his favorite spot

 Mike, Jorja, Maysen, Preston, Stockton

 Maysen

 Preston really wanted a wave to come and hit him again

 Jorja, Mike, Maysen, Stockton

 Maysen & Stockton

 Preston caught up to them

 Preston, Stockton and Maysen

 Mike

We packed up a bit before we headed to breakfast.  Jorja had been begging to go back to the cafe on the base that Rachel took them too. On the internet it said it opened at 7:30.  That is when we arrived, only to find the sign said 8:00.  Fun.  We spent the rest of the morning packing and cleaning up.  Sad to leave this place, it has been great! Hopefully we can come back again one day. 

Our next stop was Hanauma Bay.  We heard it was great snorkeling. Too bad the parking lot was full.  They close the lot when that happens. We parked at a scenic lookout nearby.  Brett ran back to ask the guy by the sign where the best place to park and walk in was.  He called Rachel a few minutes later and said that they had just opened the parking lot and to hurry.  We jumped in our cars and got a spot!  It was a long walk down to the beach.  The beach was covered with people.  It was weird though, even with so many people, when you were out snorkeling you hardly ran into anyone.

Maysen and Stockton went together, Mike took Preston, Jorja and I were together.  I was a little scared any time I put my face in the water. I don't know why.  I had a hard time getting my mask to not leak.  I have a nice mask that Mike bought me so I wouldn't have this problem. It is hard to get all of my hair away from my face I guess.  Anyway, Jorja grabbed my hand and helped me.  It was so cute, but it calmed me down and I was able to do it.  I did not like it whenever she let go of me.  For two reasons.  Holding her hand made me feel safer and I did not want to lose her.  We snorkeled pretty far out and I started to get worried she would be swept away into the ocean.  There were a lot of beautiful fish.  It was really a nice time.  It's weird because there are these coral beds that are pretty high.  The waves push you right over them.  When that happens, you totally think you are going to crash and scratch your entire body, but you always end up missing it by inches. Crazy.

Jorja and I made it back to the beach and found Preston being buried in the sand.  Mike and I went out snorkeling together while the kids buried each other.  That was fun.  I saw a giant rainbow fish.  It glided right past my fingers.  It was huge!  Not as big as the turtle we found.  I pointed it out to Mike who couldn't see what I was talking about.  He turned around and the turtle was right under him.  Almost as big as him!  He was tempted to take him for a ride, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him away.  Touching a turtle is a BIG fine!

Once we finished we headed back to the base to shower.  We used their camping showers to get cleaned up to fly home.  I was hoping to stop by this aquarium Kristen told me about, but we ran out of time.  I sat at a picnic table with Marie while we were waiting for everybody.  I told her how beautiful it was and hoped we could come back one day.  Marie said, "I hope I can come back so I can play in that tree house."  It was the tree jail Preston had played in a few days ago.  I said, "Let's go now!"  She is adorable!

Plaque at Bellows

 Marie in the treehouse

 Taking a picture of Brett taking a picture

We decided to eat at this hamburger place Kristen recommended.  We said good-bye to Brett and family there and we took our food to go.  I wanted to get one more snowflake before we left.  I had heard of another place that served them.  It ended up taking longer than I thought to get there and we were close to missing our flight.  Whoops. The snowflakes at this store were not as delicious as Aloha Crepes.  We got to our gate just as our group was boarding.  Stressed Mike out completely, but we survived.

Stockton, Jorja, Maysen

 Mike and Preston

Our flight left a little after 9:00.  We will arrive at Utah in the morning. Hopefully everyone sleeps!  It's been a long day and an awesome vacation.  Aloha Hawaii!