Lulumahu Falls

I have decided I better start to catch up since I am already behind. :-) This was a hike to Lulumahu Falls. We dressed the girls up in their matching skirts and headed off for "nice, easy hike to a waterfall".

The trailhead signs may have been my first clue but I neglected to take it as a warning or as a sign we were not at the right trailhead.

We started into a bamboo forest...which the girls LOVED.  On this hike the girls would not stop talking about how we had found the forest in "Epic".

Through the bamboo forest, down a mud-covered road.

...and across the green valley...it was there we finally found the trail.  :-)

There we met a local who told us we should not take the kids on this hike.  We have a hard time listening so he became our tour guide.  He was so sweet and took us through the maze of trails into the correct valley.

The trail immediately deteriorated into a single lane of slick, slick mud.  The camera was put safely in the backpack, so there are no pictures until we got there.  The lower part of the falls is 50ft high, but the rest of the falls go up as far as the eye could see.

It was beautiful!!

Yared is better from his sickness and was back in school so we took Nati with us.  He was a tough, tough trooper!  No help, no complaining, just moving forward.  He and Kylie both had a low-grade fever so we were ever impressed they did so well.

I love this tree.

Nati gave up keeping dry. I gave up waiting for Em to find footing.  K started just waiting for Dad.

We took one pic of type of stuff we were hiking on.  It was crazy!  Emily just kept saying, "Grab a tree, grab a root, just keep going."

Finally back out!!!!!  It was long and hard but the girls said it was worth the hike.

They are so cute!  Em said something and the other two were laughing at her.

On the way home, Em was thinking about the stairway to heaven hike.  Suddenly I hear from her, "Mom, I want to do the stairway to heaven hike. (Pause).  I want to see Toby (my parents dog who died while we were visiting last time)."  So sweet!!

God Bless!!!

We Made It

Ummmm...there isn't a whole lot to say...it's a bit nicer here than where we live...officially on vacation. :-)

Don't worry, I was standing just far enough back for M to get pictures.

Our first day, we hung out at the beach with Mari (our latest niece whom we met for the first time), while the boys were at school.

Can you see the bird?  He was actually taking food directly from the girls' hands.

There's my niece.  She is ADORABLE!!  Have you ever met a kid and realized they are far more beautiful in person than any photo you have ever seen?  This is Mari.  She is striking in person.  Still cute in photos, I know, but if you can imagine, this plaes in comparison to her in person.

K was convinced (and very proud of herself) that she was surfing.  See the waves?  That's because they aren't there.

New toys are always great.

Our first hike was out to a Makapu'u Lighthouse. Yared is running a fever and stayed home from school so we were on our own.

I love these birds.  I will have to figure out its name before I leave but for now, we are calling it the red headed bird.

The view from the top of the hill.

Some people put padlocks at the top.

We ate lunch under the trees.

There were lots and lots of whales off the coast where we were hiking.  It seemed like everywhere we looked there were splashes in the water and spouts of water from blow holes.  This one was just sitting out there slapping his tail on the water, over and over again.

Wildlife!  :-)  Dad picked up the cricket and started chasing the girls around with it.  I wish I had the video on, it was so funny!

We have need to decorate our hair with flowers.

Our first experience with shaved ice.  No one was really impressed.  Things are expensive here so I don't think we will be spending our money on any more of these.

When we got home, K read a book to Em...

I am just excited that we have only just begun.  Hoping and praying none of the rest of us get sick and trying to jump into relaxing right away so we go right into vacation mode.  God Bless!!