Way Out of the Ordinary

I have been know to sabotage family beach outings...or at least complain so much that we don't go very often.  The beach is not my favorite place to go.  There I said it "out loud".   I don't mind the actual beach, but I feel like it is such a huge production getting everyone and everything ready, that I dread beach outings.  We look like we are moving to the beach with the amount of "stuff" we haul out and back...just sayin.

This morning, I decided I would take the kids to the beach by myself (while Darwin was at work)  We took lunch and I brought a chair and umbrella.  I told the kids I wasn't going to carry anything and we were just going to play in the sand and water...no snorkeling, no diving, no boogie boarding (mostly because the beach I took them to was more like a pool than the ocean).  They didn't quite grasp the idea, so they did end up bringing snorkel stuff and two boogie boards.  I sat on the beach in my chair with my umbrella and read a book.  The kids had fun just playing in the water. 

...and Darwin had to pick his chin up off his desk when I sent him this picture.  He couldn't believe I took the kids to the beach of my own accord.  It has never happened before!

Beach day #2

It was Caleb's birthday on Saturday and we celebrated by going to the beach!  I will do a separate post for his birthday...but wanted to post the pictures from the beach and the Halona Blowhole.  The blowhole wasn't doing much in the way of blowing, but there were lots of whales out...so we watched them!  Very cool!  The picture is from my phone, so the whale spout is tiny...but they were very awesome to watch!

Beach day #1

Today we went to the beach!!  We went over to Bellows beach on the east side of the island.  I loved this beach!  Not too crowded and it was only knee deep for like 50 yards out!

Relaxing on the beach

London with the boogie board

Isaiah digging a hole which later became know as "D-Valley".

Melissa

More digging

Grandma Nita and Marcia sitting on the beach

Darwin and Darwin...heading out to snorkel

My Caleb...who really looks like a teenager in this picture!

Brooklin

Marcia got tired and decided to take a nap.
Isn't she cute! =)

Meeting old friends...and a huge turtle

We drove to Laie today to meet up with a friend of mine from high school and her husband.  I met Jennifer when we were 11 years old.  Her birthday is the day before mine and we had a double slumber party together at my house when we both turned 12.  I don't really know when I met TJ, but we went to high school together too. =)  TJ served his mission here in Hawaii, and this was the first time he had been back to visit.  They were staying with Jennifer's sister Tara, who's husband is stationed here in Oahu with the Navy.  I love being able to see so many people who come here to visit Hawaii.

Jennifer and I in the visitors center at the Laie Temple

Jennifer and TJ

Laie Temple

The family.

After visiting with Jenn and TJ, we drove to Laniakea beach on the north shore of Oahu to see if any turtles were out basking in the sun.  We were luck enough to see one big turtle!  There are volunteers who keep watch over the turtles so people don't bother them.  They put a red rope around the turtles as a kind of safety zone for the sun-bathing turtles.

Low tide

Today we had one of the lowest tides of the year. It was a -4 tide, which I learned was -4 feet down from sea level...not out. The water was out from the regular shoreline was like 100 yards! We went out at 8:30 this morning and got to stay out for a few hours. We had fun with our friends laughing and finding critters. I had to go home around 11:30 to work on my English homework, but Wendy said she could take the kids home later so they could stay and play longer...and I could have some quiet time to work on my paper.

Brooklin was the dirtiest of my kids. She picks up everything and had goo and mud all over herself. She is not afraid to play in the mud. Here she is pretending to eat an eel...the kids found tons of them, and then a shot of a clam she opened. She only had to think for a minute how to get it opened...the same way the birds do it! She tried to pry it open, and then decided to drop it on a rock! Smart girl! She picked off the top shell and then inspected the gooey contents with gusto!

London is a little more like me. She will touch some of the critters, but doesn't like to get herself that dirty. I don't like to touch any critters...so she is better than me, but has her limits. Isaiah has no problem getting messy either. He found this starfish and also a crab and some eels.

You can see where the normal shore line is...and it is really far out there! The first picture is from the beach, and the second one was taken with my heels in the water looking back at the beach.

This boat was left high and dry when the tide went out...two hours later when the tide was coming back in, I took another picture of it refloating.

This is a heron. He is hard to see, but while I was watching him, he snapped a fish right out of the water.

The tide was so far out, that this person's crab pot came clear out of the water! It was really funny! The buoy didn't have any identifying markings on it (which is totally illegal), so when Caleb and his friend harvested the dungonuss crab out of it, I didn't get after them too bad. They left the bait, and actually added another fish head they found to the pot, so maybe that guy was able to catch more crabs after the tide came back in.

These are sea anemones. They are everywhere. In the water they look pretty. Out of the water they look like big, slimey, colorful, boogers! (and worse) They were really interesting...I touched one (on accident) and instead of the fingers being slimy, they were like tiny velcro. It stuck to my finger and I jumped! =)

We found several tiny crabs. Caleb is yelling at his for trying to pinch him.

You will have to click on this first picture...I caught a salmon jumping out of the water. They were jumping all over! The other is a shell from an urchine.

Some starfish...some big and some really tiny! Oh, and then a picture of me...haha! I actually took it after I got home. I braided my hair for pioneer day! =)