The Vacation Picture Post that Will Never End.
Tuesday morning I woke to the smell of french toast, stumbled into the kitchen to discover it was none other than Sherry cooking it! Will wonders never cease.
Our anniversary gift to the parental units was the hiring of a professional photographer to take as many shots as we could squeeze into an hour...or before the kids got squirmy. We decided to do the photo shoot at the Pono Kai and I must say that the kids all behaved wonderfully. I never found out exactly what kind of bribery was going on behind scenes but I'm sure there was candy involved. I haven't gotten the disc with our pictures yet but I'll post some of the better ones when I do.
The peanut gallery.
Grandparents and Grandkids
After the torture session was done, the kids (and adults) were released to get out of their good clothes and into swim suits. While waiting for the slowpokes, we heard that a Monk Seal had come ashore just up the beach so a few of us went off to investigate.
Don't worry, she's just sleeping. We stayed clear and a few minutes later, the volunteer Monk Seal Rescue Squad appeared with signs and yellow tape to rope off the required 100 feet perimeter. This was to protect the seal, not us. The seal didn't seem to care either way and just lay there looking bored with us all.
Having done our civic duty by helping the VMSRS (volunteer monk seal rescue squad) headed by the Crazy Monk Seal Lady (a close relative of the Crazy Cat Lady), post their signs, and having taken many pictures, it was time for the beach! Tuesday's beach locale was Lydgate State Beach. A great snorkling venue with two man made protected reefs. One for the kiddies and one for the big kiddies.
Having done our warm up in the kiddie pool, Isaac and I decide to walk over to the other side to see the big fish
And here they are. The one on the left looks particularly hungry.
After we were snorkeled out we took a short drive to the play bridge at Lydgate park. As you can see, it's a great place to run around and discover all the different paths and play hide and seek.
Or do some sliding, as Isaac demonstrates here. The video Sherry's taking here is hysterical.
Back home for BBQ Teriyaki Chicken and Steak and then the olympic games, Nitchman Family-style.
I'll have you know that even tho' I had the 175 lb brother, we still beat Sherry and Matthew in the wheelbarrow race. Leap Frog turned out to be a dangerous idea as I don't think the kids really understood that the whole point was to jump "over" not "on". Ouch.
The final activity for this very busy day was a "surprise" anniversary party for Mom and Dad. We tried to get Andrew and Colton to ask them to go on a walk to see the Dredger down at the canal but the boys thought we were trying to get rid of them, poor things. So we not-so-subtly told the parents that we needed them out of the way for 20 minutes. The kids had all made cards and we hung some leis and had pie and make you own sundaes for dessert. Do you think they suspected anything?
Wednesday had much less running around but was no less busy. We were on the road to Hanalei by 10 am to rent 2 person Kayaks for the day to take along the Hanalei river. By the end of the day, we were experts at loading and unloading kayaks.
Colton hasn't quite gotten the mechanics of kayaking down, plus he's working with a broken arm, so I did most of the work on this trip.
In fact, I seemed to be doing most of the work every time I went out! As you can see, my lead boater has abandoned his paddle for picture taking.
So Mom got her Anniversary cruise after all. ;)
No trip to the islands would be complete without Shave Ice. Matthew's Shave Ice is almost as big as him!
Andrew looks very pleased with his. I went with Root beer and Cherry (sorry, no picture available).
We walked into town to peruse the many souvenir & surf shops (most of whom are customers and had a lot of my work for sale). I bought some art done by local artists and my first Quiksilver shirt. I had dinner duty for that night. having never cooked for 16, I thought spaghetti might be best. Here I'm admiring my handiwork resplendent in my new Quiksilver Shirt. gilpin25, feel free to blown me up so Mr Gilpin can see my chest. ;)
And so, Wednesday wound to a close with some time in the pool and Raiders of the Lost arc on the telly.
I'll be back in a day or so to wrap things up.
Our anniversary gift to the parental units was the hiring of a professional photographer to take as many shots as we could squeeze into an hour...or before the kids got squirmy. We decided to do the photo shoot at the Pono Kai and I must say that the kids all behaved wonderfully. I never found out exactly what kind of bribery was going on behind scenes but I'm sure there was candy involved. I haven't gotten the disc with our pictures yet but I'll post some of the better ones when I do.
The peanut gallery.
Grandparents and Grandkids
After the torture session was done, the kids (and adults) were released to get out of their good clothes and into swim suits. While waiting for the slowpokes, we heard that a Monk Seal had come ashore just up the beach so a few of us went off to investigate.
Don't worry, she's just sleeping. We stayed clear and a few minutes later, the volunteer Monk Seal Rescue Squad appeared with signs and yellow tape to rope off the required 100 feet perimeter. This was to protect the seal, not us. The seal didn't seem to care either way and just lay there looking bored with us all.
Having done our civic duty by helping the VMSRS (volunteer monk seal rescue squad) headed by the Crazy Monk Seal Lady (a close relative of the Crazy Cat Lady), post their signs, and having taken many pictures, it was time for the beach! Tuesday's beach locale was Lydgate State Beach. A great snorkling venue with two man made protected reefs. One for the kiddies and one for the big kiddies.
Having done our warm up in the kiddie pool, Isaac and I decide to walk over to the other side to see the big fish
And here they are. The one on the left looks particularly hungry.
After we were snorkeled out we took a short drive to the play bridge at Lydgate park. As you can see, it's a great place to run around and discover all the different paths and play hide and seek.
Or do some sliding, as Isaac demonstrates here. The video Sherry's taking here is hysterical.
Back home for BBQ Teriyaki Chicken and Steak and then the olympic games, Nitchman Family-style.
I'll have you know that even tho' I had the 175 lb brother, we still beat Sherry and Matthew in the wheelbarrow race. Leap Frog turned out to be a dangerous idea as I don't think the kids really understood that the whole point was to jump "over" not "on". Ouch.
The final activity for this very busy day was a "surprise" anniversary party for Mom and Dad. We tried to get Andrew and Colton to ask them to go on a walk to see the Dredger down at the canal but the boys thought we were trying to get rid of them, poor things. So we not-so-subtly told the parents that we needed them out of the way for 20 minutes. The kids had all made cards and we hung some leis and had pie and make you own sundaes for dessert. Do you think they suspected anything?
Wednesday had much less running around but was no less busy. We were on the road to Hanalei by 10 am to rent 2 person Kayaks for the day to take along the Hanalei river. By the end of the day, we were experts at loading and unloading kayaks.
Colton hasn't quite gotten the mechanics of kayaking down, plus he's working with a broken arm, so I did most of the work on this trip.
In fact, I seemed to be doing most of the work every time I went out! As you can see, my lead boater has abandoned his paddle for picture taking.
So Mom got her Anniversary cruise after all. ;)
No trip to the islands would be complete without Shave Ice. Matthew's Shave Ice is almost as big as him!
Andrew looks very pleased with his. I went with Root beer and Cherry (sorry, no picture available).
We walked into town to peruse the many souvenir & surf shops (most of whom are customers and had a lot of my work for sale). I bought some art done by local artists and my first Quiksilver shirt. I had dinner duty for that night. having never cooked for 16, I thought spaghetti might be best. Here I'm admiring my handiwork resplendent in my new Quiksilver Shirt. gilpin25, feel free to blown me up so Mr Gilpin can see my chest. ;)
And so, Wednesday wound to a close with some time in the pool and Raiders of the Lost arc on the telly.
I'll be back in a day or so to wrap things up.