one of the things i was excited to try while in hawaii was paddle boarding.
sure, i would love to be some super hot surfer girl.. but that's not *ever* going to happen!
so i will settle for being a low-skilled paddle boarding girl instead.
we rented a paddle board from some shop by the beach and spent the day cruising around a quaint little bay in makaha.
i loooved it.
one of the first times matt and i went out, we floated past a sea turtle.
we were no more then 8 feet from him, and he was about 2 feet long. amazing!
he was a cute little fellow. but frustratingly evasive.
after that first unexpected encounter, he never let us near him again.
i spent all afternoon chasing him. but he was too clever.
matt came out with his snorkel gear and i tried to guide him to the turtle, based on my view from above, but that turtle would not have it.
every time matt would get close, the turtle would dive under the water and pop his head up somewhere else.
matt said there was one time he was watching from the beach and he saw the turtle pop his head up out of the water right behind my board.
as if he knew i was looking for him, but couldn't see him there.
and as if he thought he was being hilarious.
well played, mr. sea turtle. well played.
we took our boys out on the board for a ride. they thought it was pretty neat.
chet spent the rest of the trip asking when he could ride a paddle board again.
unfortunately, he never did.
but he did ride a lot of boogie boards.
by the end of the trip he had learned to enjoy laying on the board and letting the waves pull him in and out.
the afternoon that we had the paddle board, my parents took our boys back to condo for naps and left matt and i at the beach.
me + my handsome husband + a hot, sunny beach in hawaii = perfection.
my parents actually did that a few times throughout the trip.
matt and i were spoiled.
beaches are so fun with kids, but they are also really fun without kids:)
on the friday, my parents wanted to go to temple, so matt and i found something fun for our family to explore up on that side of the island.
we had my parents drop us off at waimea falls.
we did the 30 minute walk up to the top, where we got to swim in a pool at the bottom of the falls.
it felt nice to swim in fresh water, but the water was pretty chilly.
our boys were not super thrilled about getting in it. holden especially.
he was also super angry that we made him wear a life jacket.
but we made him do it. and it made for a good memory!
fun fact: the land around waimea falls has been used for filming lots of movies over the years.
most recently, it was used to film part of the hunger games.
the area is super lush and full of all sorts of plants i have never seen before.
after waimea falls, we ran across the highway to waimea bay.
we didn't swim there because the waves were insane!
we just sat on the beach and watched all the crazy people getting destroyed in them.
it was actually very entertaining.
my parents met us at the bay with some lunch they had picked up from ted's bakery.
and from there we headed to the dole plantation.
we took the train ride around the plantation and learned all about the history of the pineapple.
and then we got some dole whip for the ride home.
holden slept through our entire trip to the plantation.
[matt and chet are right by the falls in this picture]
