Party Till You Drop

Our year started off with a bang, literally.  If you have ever celebrated the New Year in Hawaii you will know what I mean.  Fireworks everywhere, to the point of smokey streets.  This video we took from our driveway.

We have missed snow a little so we improvised.

Then we went outside and forgot about snow.

We spent a lot of time this month at parks

First time on a swing, we finally found one at a park near Laie (most parks here in Hawaii don't have them)

Ok, this is our yard not a park..but still a fun play area

And beaches.
Hickam Beach

Ko'olina

Yes, he eats sand.  So far he has survived.  But he loved being burried

So did this guy

We also did a beach hike from Kahuku to Turtle Bay, which felt so remote for Oahu.  We saw only a couple fisherman on a 6 mile hike.  The hike was a bit more strenuous then I expected, 6 miles through sand as a 4 year old is tough.  But we made it through our hike only to realize that I had forgot our keys in our drop off car.  Jake calmly accepted the duty to ride the bus back to pick up our car.  We were totally blessed that he caught a bus withing 10 minutes!  I will hopefully never make that mistake again.  So glad Jake stayed so calm and sweet even though he was super tired after carrying Grant through the sandy hike.

The boys favorite part was crossing this little sandy river.  They loved wading through.

I don't know if you can see him, but that is Grant inside the little hut we found

Break time on a beautiful beach

A monk seal along the walk.

After the long hike and car fiasco we were all a bit more than hungry.  Unfortunately most of the shrimp shacks that had food our boys would actually eat were already closed so we made it down to Haleiwa for burgers.

We found this cute photo stop on the way to dinner, but Grant was a bit too hungry

He was so hungry he ate his carrot

 Jake and I went horseback riding near Laie

That turtle shaped island is Molekai

We also took the boys to see the Laie temple and visitor center.  And we stopped off at Laie point.

Jake got these gorgeous pictures of the temple

We celebrated my birthday.

Jake made me sweet and sour shrimp and Lemon Chiffon Cake with Strawberry Frosting.  Yum!

And of course we had so much fun we got really tired.