PARADISE!

In August we packed our bags and went to our "happiest place on earth"...Hawaii!! We spent the first week in Oahu with our friends the Mills. It was also great to spend time with Jared, Gina and Kai.

On the first morning in Oahu "we got in our car, drove up to the North Shore, got in the water...in a cage and swam with sharks!" For those of you who don't know, sharks are the girls biggest fear (that and bees and clowns...go figure!). John and I had already gone in the shark cage on an earlier trip. We both knew immediately that we HAD to bring the girls to do it! We have awesome friends that wanted to do it with us. It was great as we had the boat to ourselves. It was so scary for the girls and Kate was literally screaming through her snorkel. She and Alyssa fought about who got to be on the side with the plexiglass and Abby was clinging to either me or John the whole time. After it was all said and done it was one of the best things we have done as a family. However, none of the girls would do it again...


Alyssa with her best friend Amber.

Kate and Abby...starting to get nervous!

This is when the screaming started...

...and the fighting continued.

Just one of several sharks around our boat and cage!!



After the big shark experience, we went to Waimea Bay. It is so beautiful. Especially that day as there were hundreds of dolphins swimming in the bay. Kate, John and Brennen all swam out to be closer to them. It was really cool. Everyone also jumped off the cliff...after a short nap, of course!


Sleepy head!

"You aren't supposed to wake up early on vacation!"

Kate and Alyssa...sisters and best friends!

Kate

Alyssa

John

Abby

Abby buried in sand...the first time she stopped moving all day!

The whole crew!



One of the days we decided to be a little adventurous. Our friend, Kelly Mills(who went to BYU-Hawaii and is very familiar with the island), took us out to Goat Island. This is an island off the north shore. You wade/swim out to it. It doesn't look like much when you are standing on the beach but as soon as you get in the water it is a little rougher than you expect. We made it across without incident. When we got to the island we went swimming, took a hike around the island and just hung out. After a couple of hours it was time to go back. We could tell that the tide was getting higher and the waves were bigger and rougher than on the way over. I was a little nervous from that when I heard Kate start to scream and cry! She said something hurt her arm really bad. As I looked around, I saw a blue jelly fish. Yikes! We just started to swim as fast as we could to get back to shore! When we got to the beach you could see that Kate had a few big welts on her wrist! Poor thing...it hurt for a whole day. Later on that day as everyone was playing at Pounders Beach, Alyssa got stung on her ankle! They were both real troopers!


Just as we were arriving at goat island. That is Oahu in the background.

Our family out swimming. It is a protected beach.

The group as we hiked around the island.

John and Kate. The waves on this side of the island were pretty big!

Alyssa, Amber and Rachel. They didn't feel like going on the hike...such princesses!!


Alyssa and Abby at Pounders Beach...right before Alyssa got stung!

Kate's yucky sting!

Kate hoped it would leave a scar...that would be "legit!"



We spent a day at Waikiki Beach. We met Gina and Kai there. The girls went surfing (with Daddy's assistance) and I hung out on the beach with our stuff. Kate and I went on an outrigger boat ride. It was a lot of fun!


Paddling out to the waves.

The fun ride in.

On our way out to catch another wave!



John and Kate went scuba diving. They really enjoyed their time together. They saw some cool stuff including an octopus! The dove at a place called Sharks Cove. It was great because I got to snorkel along with them for a lot of the dive!


Getting their instructions.

John and Kate all geared up!

After a fun day together!



On our last day we went to a waterfall that Jared introduced us to. It was a lot of fun. It included a natural slide and a rope swing. The falls were beautiful!


Abby

Katelyn

John

Samantha



While in Oahu we stayed at the Ko Olina Marriott. We love it there. This is John and Abby playing in the beautiful pools!




This is the end of our first week in paradise. We had a wonderful time! Thank goodness we still had a week in Maui to look forward to!!