Ohana in Hawaii

We had family come vacation with us. Ohana in Hawaii! (Ohana is the Hawaiian word for family). We had so much fun so this blog post is bound to be a long one with lots of pictures. Krista & Daniel were happy to land in warm sunny Hawaii after leaving cold wintry Colorado. Spring weather hadn't arrived yet in Gunnison, CO so they were ready for a change after all the snow and sleet. And who couldn't blame them since it was May already! This was baby girl's first trip to the beach. We said "how many people get to have Hawaii be their first beach experience?"

There are four beautiful lagoon beach areas where we live. We went to a lagoon right after bags were unloaded. Baby girl seemed to love the beach and sand. She was a lot more confident and adventurous on the beach than I expected. When we got into the grassy area by the shore she took off walking straight towards the sand. Then she pointed to the ocean and said "milk!" That gave us all a laugh. Everything she drinks she calls milk (and some times juice) so we often heard the ocean called milk during their visit. We spent a few times at the lagoons relaxing on the beach, swimming, snorkeling, and waiting for sunset a couple nights. Krista and Daniel took advantage of some night walks at the beach while Caleb and I watched the little one at home. 

Even the littlest one liked sitting in a chair and looking at the view. Of course this lasted only a few minutes because playing in the sand was more fun than sitting and looking at the view.

One night we sat on the beach until sunset, but we didn't see much color and it went dark. The second time we watched the sunset we thought we weren't going to see any color again. We started packing up our stuff and Caleb went to pull the car around for us. Krista & Daniel were gathering up our things when they noticed the sky started changing colors so they waited a few minutes. We were so glad they waited because we came back out on the beach and saw the prettiest sunset we've seen yet in Hawaii. The sky was painted with a vibrant orange and shades of pink. We stayed taking pictures and watching it until it got darker and the colors started going below the horizon. 

Baby girl loved her water float and kicking her legs and splashing her hands. Her favorite was being spun around in her water float. She would laugh so hard. The ocean water temperature has been 79 degrees and usually stays around that this time of year. The water is cool to the touch when you first get in since the air is so much warmer, but then after you are in it feels really good swimming on a sunny day. The temperature on Oahu stays within the same range during the summer months. In May the temperature highs ranged from 80-86 degrees and in the evenings the lowest it got was 70. 

Giggling and cuddling on the lanai

We ate almost every meal outside. Krista was really hoping we'd be able to do this and her wish came true! We had breakfast outside on our lanai every morning. Lanai is what an outdoor porch area is called in Hawaii. We grilled out for dinner most nights in our pool area. We are truly blessed to live in such a beautiful area on Oahu. The area we live is called Ko Olina which means place of joy. It is a fitting name for the beautiful property with all of the tropical plants and ocean views.

There are a variety of birds around the resort property where we live. We went for a walk one day to feed the mama duck and her babies (they got fed whenever the bread didn't go into baby girl's mouth first). There was a big black swan who kept trying to intimidate the mama duck. He wanted the ducks to leave so he could have the bread all to himself. The pond also has large koi fish that would surface and eat the bread which the ducks or swan didn't get to fast enough.

Pearl Harbor is only about 30 minutes from where we live. The USS Arizona Memorial tour is free if you arrive in time to get one of the first come first serve free tickets (or make reservations online). We got tickets and walked around for an hour waiting until our tour time looking at the different displays of submarine and battleship equipment and plaques about WWII. When we walked over to our tour waiting area, we noticed a sign that said no more boat tours were leaving for the day due to strong winds. The Navy captains the boat which takes people over to view the Memorial and pay their respects. We were a bit confused why they cancelled boat tours for the rest of the afternoon because we didn't notice any strong winds and not any noticeable waves in the harbor. It was a bummer we couldn't take the boat to the memorial. It was nice we were still able to watch the documentary film which you see before taking the boat and then we walked through the museum showing the timeline and information about the Pearl Harbor attack. I think we all came away a lot more educated on why and how the attack happened. Caleb and I plan to go back some day to take the boat tour over to the USS Arizona Memorial.

a view of the North Shore Banzai Pipeline stretch from the Ehuaki Pillbox Hike

We enjoyed different parts of the North Shore - snorkeling, shave ice, hiking with views, food trucks, and sharks. Yes, sharks! We hiked the Ehukai Pillbox trail to get scenic views of the North Shore and Banzai Pipeline area. Baby girl is a great little hiker. She was awake and happy in the backpack carrier. Krista, Caleb, and Daniel enjoyed snorkeling at Shark's Cove while baby girl and I looked at fish in the tidal pools and swam. She loved bobbing in the waves when they'd come to shore. The picture below shows Shark's Cove. The snorkelers saw a green sea turtle as soon as they got in the water.

Krista swimming with the sea turtle

Caleb and Daniel went on an interesting excursion off the North Shore. An excursion with sharks!

They reserved tickets with a group called Hawaii Shark Encounters. The boat took their group about 3 miles off shore where they have a cage in the water. The shark cage was anchored and also attached to the boat. Caleb and Daniel had snorkel gear and got into the cage to view sharks swimming. The sharks they saw were Galapagos. Being in the cage was a lot rougher than they expected it would be. They felt like they were being thrown around in the cage because the ocean was choppy. They held on to the bars to try keeping themselves steady. Seeing the sharks in their natural habitat up close made the tour worth even the rough-rocking cage. The guys were both really glad they did it. They saw about 10 sharks which wasn't as many as they expected, but the boat guys said sometimes there are only about 4 so it was a good day to do the shark cage with them getting to see about 10. Caleb got some great video clips of the sharks. You can enlarge the video to full screen after you click play.

Our week with ohana will probably hold some of my most memorable moments in Hawaii. It was so much fun to share the beauty of where we are living with those we love. We hope family and friends continue to visit us as we travel to other beautiful places around the country after we say a final aloha to Hawaii. Until then, Caleb and I are taking advantage of seeing all parts of Oahu while we live here. There are plenty of new places and spaces left for us to explore in our weeks ahead. I love sharing the beauty of Hawaii with each of you. ~Aloha~