Hawaii: Day 5 (06 June 2009)

Ah, finally we come to the "real" reason to the long tedious trip to Hawaii:

Yea, Amy graduated! It was a long way to come for a graduation but the ceremony made it all worth it... well... OK, it was good, President Snow of the Seventy even spoke... but it is a bit tough to sit around for a few hours inside when the beach is just calling your name! After the Graduation Ceremony we found our "graduate" and all took turns lei'ing her. Hawaiians have a good thing going with these leis!

Amy was so excited she couldn't even throw her cap up in the air properly, it almost put out dad's eye! If you ask Amy she will probably tell you the wind was blowing or some silly story like that, but come on who you gonna believe?!

Look at that pretty girl... can you see the relief of a "free" woman in those eyes? Well, it didn't last very long... Amy soon realized that now she had to figure out what to do with her life now! Lucky for her, she has a poor college boy to support!





Finally, picture time was over and we all made a b-line for the desserts! Those were some pretty good cookies as Juan's face can attest to!

OK, enough is enough, time to go answer the call of the beach!

We got changed into play clothes and went to The Turtle Bay Resort to play volleyball. I have to say that the "Colton Clan" dominated the court, even to the point of being kicked off by the staff so the hotel guests could play too. It was a great time and we played for a few hours. Then we were off to get wet once again!

We just couldn't get enough of those waves, though by this time most of us fair skinned folk were wearing shirts to try to keep from looking like lobsters.
Through out the all boogie boarding many of us had "wardrobe malfunctions" but Sera Dulce was the only one lucky enough to get hers caught on camera! I told her I'd blog it but Laura made me clean it up first. Sera, you better thank your aunt Laura!
This was the kids favorite activity of the trip.










As you can see they both got the hang of it pretty quick. It was fun to hear them squeal in delight as they caught a good wave.
We all had a blast catching waves.

There's nothing like catching waves on a sunny afternoon with your family in Hawaii! After a long day of fun in the sun we had a great B-B-Q at the beach house, ate too much, played some games and fell swiftly to sleep. A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Hawaii: Day 4 (05 June 2009)

Day 4 in Hawaii had to be one of the best if not THE BEST day we had there. It was filled with once-in-a-lifetime events (at least for those of us who don't live in Hawaii!). What a beautiful, wonderful place!

As is custom for us main-landers not used to the 4 hour time change we were up before the sun and first on the list for our new arrivals (Sera and Evan) was hitting the early morning beach in search of seashells, hermit crabs, and cool rocks. They were both so excited to see the ocean and get their feet wet.

Our first real adventure of the day involved us (Evan, Anne, Sera, Jordan, Laura, & I), a 15 minute boat ride, a large cage, and a whole bunch of wild Galapagos sharks!

We were all excited and maybe a bit nervous for some of us.

Wow, I could not believe how blue the water was, I thought that maybe the goggle lenses were tinted or something but no, the water is just that blue. And as for the sharks... amazing, simply amazing. The water was pretty choppy so it was tough to take a good picture but I did get some good video, take a look.

Evan was having a blast. We practically had to drag him out when the time was up! Jordan, Anne and I had a great time as well although Laura didn't last too long before getting a bit green around the gills. She gets motion sickness pretty easy but she got to see the sharks and have some fun too. Poor Sera, she got in and as soon as she saw all those big sharks lurking about in the water she was pretty freaked and got back into the boat quick. She still claimed that she had a fun time even though it was scary!

So, I would have to say the trip was a great success and we all agreed that it was one of the most amazing things any of us had ever done... though the day was still young and there was much more to come!

After the Shark Adventure we made our way to Waimea Bay, one of the famous beaches know for calm ocean in the summer and incredible surfing in the winter. I had gotten showered and changed after the shark trip and decided to just watch the kids play in the water. All this changed when I heard the Life Guards announcing to the beach goers the rules about not getting too close to the dolphins. Sure enough, looking out into the bay we could see lots of dolphins breaching the water. It was a ways out in the bay but I figured it isn't everyday that you might get to swim with dolphins in the wild! I quickly change back into my swim suite and snorkel gear, grabbed my underwater camera and headed for the water. What an incredible experience! There were probably 50 to 60 dolphins all swimming around in groups just frolicking with each other. As I got closer some seemed to be curious and came nearer to investigate while others just ignored but didn't try to avoid me. They were graceful, elegant creatures. It was amazing and peaceful to see and swim among them. I took pictures and video until my batteries were dead. I was soon joined by Anne and we both gawked at them together.

I Just have to say that I did take all the footage in this video and yes, those were two dolphins having sex... or mating... whatever.

I guess we happened upon a dolphin orgy. How lucky were we?!

One more "Bonus" to add to the list!

Laura and Jordan decided that they had to get in on the action despite the nearly third degree sunburns they got boogie boarding the day before. If you look closely you can probably see their red skin glowing through the t-shirts.

As you can see they were sufficiently awed by the whole experience.

As I said before, this was a most amazing day; sharks, dolphins and to finish it off we had pizza for dinner.

And of course, a lovely full moon shining down on our very own little beach! Awe, what a life.