Summer Catch-Up: Hawaii

We had a week at home after our trip to Utah and Idaho. Mostly we were on vacation recovery mode, unpacking, doing laundry and such. I took the kids to the LA Arboretum with Alarie one day during that week. We tried the Santa Anita Race Tracks first. I'd read online that during the summer there's no racing, but they keep horses there and that we could go see them. But when we got there, the people told us that the horses had gone elsewhere for the summer due to construction in the park.

The Arboretum is a big huge garden that has different themed spaces: the vegetable garden, the Australia garden, the African garden, the prehistoric garden. There was a little pond in the middle, as well, and a little cottage on the pond. Peacocks roamed the whole place, and the kids loved looking for peacock feathers on the ground. It was fun. But so hot that day, and we stayed a little too long for the kids. They were really hot and tired by the time we had to walk back to the entrance of the gardens. I was really proud of my girls. They had fun with their friends, but they were also such troopers, despite having to walk so much and it being so hot. Particularly Camille. She's such a little girl and has such big spunk and attitude that when she's so strong, I'm always pleasantly surprised (though I probably shouldn't be). They were awesome, so I bought them some icy drinks on the way home.

The Saturday before we left, Daniel told me to get Jack's hair cut. Actually, he'd been telling me for weeks that we needed to do it, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I loved his hair, and I thought that cutting his hair would steal away any remaining babyness left in him. And that made me really sad. But, I'm so glad we did! He looks so cute and handsome with his hair cut. And yes, a little more grown up. He's not a baby so much anymore, but little boy. Which is both good and bad. I love this age more than any I've come across so far, so I'm just loving it. This little man owns me. He's the cutest person ever.

Mom flew into LA late Sunday night, and Daniel went to pick her up from the flyaway in Van Nuys. The next day, Daniel and I were rushing around finishing our trip preparations. We took the girls to Emily Thompson's house for a couple hours so that mom could drop us off at the flyaway. Jack was the only one with us when we actually left. I was a little sad and nervous to leave my baby; to leave all of them really, but I knew the girls would really be fine. I was mostly worried about Jack. He didn't seem to realize what was going on when we got out of the car, thankfully, because Mom told us that he didn't really cry or fuss at all! But I missed him.

It felt so weird to be going somewhere big without the kids. Or anywhere without the kids, really. I struggled that first day, when we flew to Hawaii. I was nervous about leaving them and about the whole trip without them. But on the other hand, it was quite luxurious to be in an airport, waiting for a plane, flying, etc. without them!

We missed our flyaway, and then we hit traffic on the way to the airport, so both Daniel and I were stressed out that we were going to miss it. We barely made it on time for them to take my bag. And we had just enough time to buy some ridiculously expensive airport food to eat on the plane. But once we were on the plane, we could both relax and enjoy the fact that we could just be together.

We landed in Hawaii, and a guy from the travel agency took us and a bunch of people to get our bags and catch our shuttles. It was not hotter than LA, but definitely more humid. And it smelled a lot nicer! (Of course, that could've been the lei that the travel-agency-guy had brought for us) Our shuttle took us right to our hotel, where we checked in and got settled before going out to explore!! It was about 7pm or so when all was said and done, and we'd seen a very interesting kind of market right outside of our hotel that we wanted to check out. It was mostly just a big area with a dozen food stands and trucks, with some tables and chairs, and a couple of guys with big parrots you could take pictures with. We got some dinner (Thai and Indian food) and then walked around the city near our hotel for a little bit.

Waikiki and Honolulu felt very much like any other city, to be honest. All the buildings were the same off-white color, there were lots of buildings and highways, shops and restaurants. There were homeless people hanging out all over the place, and lots of people. Waikiki itself was very crowded, so so many people, and there was a lot of shopping and restaurants and things going on. The beaches on Waikiki were gorgeous, with white coarse sand and such clear blue water. The water was warm, too, and very fun to swim in. BUT ... thong bikinis seem to be the Hawaiian uniform for women on the beaches, which neither Daniel nor I appreciated. It was not as hot as LA, but more humid. The trees and plants were so beautiful, and the air did seem fresher. But, it was just another city.

It wasn't until we explored other parts of the island that I began to see what all the fuss was about. On Tuesday, Daniel and I rented a car so that we could take a circle tour of the island (with the help of a cool app, Shaka Guide). It was incredible! We drove through these huge cliffy, green and lush mountains to the other side of the island, and it was just such a difference. Trees and plants, green and blue ocean everywhere!

On that day, we saw a lot of things: the Byodo-In Temple, the Macadamia Nut farm (the best glazed M Nuts I will ever have), swimming at Sunset Beach, snorkeling at Shark's Cove, the Laie Temple, and garlic shrimp on the North Shore (MMMMMM!). It was an amazing day! We took our time, which meant that we didn't get to finish the tour before we had to get the car back.There was a lot we missed that I would've loved to do: Waimea Valley and Beach, the Dole Plantation, and walking around Haleiwa. But it was an amazing day.

Snorkeling was a bit of an experience. Shark's Cove was really rocky, and it was hard to get out there with all of our gear. I was fairly disgruntled about it all, and Daniel was really patient with me, bless him. And when we got out there, there weren't that many fish, and the water wasn't quite clear enough to see everything. Plus, we left our water shoes on a rock, and one of Daniel's and one of mine got washed out. Daniel was able to go out and retrieve mine, but his was lost forever. I got all kinds of beat up trying to get in and out of the water there, and was bloody in a few spots. Needless to say, we were unimpressed.

But the garlic and coconut shrimp that we got on a food truck... AMAZING.

Wednesday, we hung out on Waikiki, went swimming in the ocean and relaxed on the beaches. We took a walk around Waikiki in the morning before going swimming. And then we walked down the beach quite a ways to another snorkeling spot. So we went out again, but again we were disappointed. There weren't many fish out there again, and Daniel wanted to go out farther, but I wasn't quite comfortable with that. Who knows if the snorkeling would've been better farther out. Either way, Daniel was a little sad. Snorkeling was the one thing that he was really excited to do on Hawaii.

Thursday, we took public transportation out to Pearl Harbor as early as we could manage in the morning. We saw the USS Bowfin Submarine and the Battleship Missouri, and it was incredible! We had headphones that took us on a little tour for the Bowfin, and then we had a tour guide for the Missouri, and it was really cool to hear some of the history of WWII on Hawaii. The Battleship Missouri has quite a history in itself. It served in multiple wars, which I never knew, and the WWII surrender documents were signed on it, as well. We saw the pictures and copies of the signatures and hearing that story was very touching to me. I really loved Pearl Harbor and wished we could've stayed a little longer to see the Arizona Memorial and other things. But we had a bus to catch.

 
We took a bus out to Kualoa Ranch for the Movie Site Tour. A whole bunch of movies and TV shows have been filmed in Hawaii, with many scenes shot in the valley at Kualoa Ranch. It was raining cats and dogs there when we were there for our tour, but it was a pretty fun experience. We learned more about the island's history, got to walk inside a WWII bunker and see where some great movies were filmed.

It was still raining pretty hard when we were done, and we learned that taking the bus to other places we wanted to see was going to take way too long. So we hopped the next bus back to Waikiki. It was interesting how on one side of the island, the weather would be one way, and on the other side, it was completely different. So, even though it was raining at Kualoa Ranch, when we got to Waikiki, it hadn't been raining at all. We rented a couple of bikes and took a ride over to a pretty well known donut shop, Leonard's Bakery for some fresh hot malasadas. They were pretty good, and I really enjoyed our little bike ride.

Summer Catch-Up: Utah and Idaho

The weeks following the last time I wrote were busy and fun, and I had very little time to write. So now we play my favorite game: catch-up.

The 3rd weekend of July, we took a family trip to Utah and Idaho. We left on the 21st of July, and drove all day long to get to Daniel's parent's house. The kids were really good in the car on the way up. There was very little bickering, fighting and whining. Camille took an inexplicably long nap in the afternoon, which surprised Daniel and I, and Jack took a couple of little naps as well. But in the late evening, when we actually wanted them to be sleeping, NONE OF THEM SLEPT. We got in at around 10:30pm, but they wouldn't sleep in the car.

We stayed with Daniel's parents for a few days, went to church with them, hung out with them, went to a pool party at Aunt Tamara's house. We also went to Bowman and Stephanie's house to stay for a night. We had so much fun with them. They did water balloons with all the kids, we did fireworks at a nearby park, watched The Greatest Showman, and helped Bowman harvest his first batch of honey (which was so fun and fascinating -- they got A TON of honey, and it only increased my desire to keep bees someday). The girls loved playing with their cousins, and we always love getting together with Bowman and Stephanie.

My Bowen Family Reunion started Thursday night for us. We spend Thursday afternoon driving up to Idaho from Daniel's parent's house. It took us a few hours, and then we got to the retreat campus we were staying at. The Reunion took place in a tiny town just about 15 minutes from Burley, Idaho, called Albion. It was the tiniest little town I think I've ever seen and so cute. We visited with a few of my mom's cousins and met some new ones, and then we went to dinner at the only restaurant in town, Piggy Sue's (it was a food truck specializing in BBQ and purely American cuisine). We ate and chatted and got to know our cousins (well, me and the girls. Daniel stayed at the room to put Jack to sleep). Mom and Dad showed up at Piggy Sue's and then we all went back to the retreat for a get together. A lot more of the cousins came that night to go over plans for the reunion. It was nice to hang out with mom and dad and to meet some new cousins. Brooke and another little cousin really latched onto each other that night and played together.

The reunion was so fun! I was going into it a little skeptical. My Bowen relatives, God love 'em, are quite quirky (at least the ones that I've grown up knowing) and special. And I was apprehensive about going and not knowing anyone. But we met people quickly and got to know them, and there were prepared activities that were so fun, and it was actually really wonderful. The place we stayed at was a big, old college campus that this couple had turned into a retreat venue. There were a handful of old brick buildings, but only one was outfitted for guests. It had 3 floors and several rooms on each floor, with bathrooms. The main floor had a large living space and kitchen, and the top floor was a big game/movie room. The campus also had a volleyball court outside, tetherball pole, pool, and banana bikes (which were actually so fun), picnic tables and a hot tub.

Aside from all the stuff to do at the campus, the cousins had planned activities. On Friday, we met at Lorna Kay's house for breakfast and games, and then in the afternoon, they took us down to the Snake River (Lorna Kay's house is basically right on the river) for boating and water games. We used a neighbor's water slide and some paddle boards, went on a boat ride and had lots of fun. On that day, too, most of the rest of my family showed up. Diane and Hou's family and Scott came early on Friday, and Brian and Sammy came Friday night.

In the afternoon, after lunch at Lorna Kay's, we all drove over and checked into our rooms at the campus. We played at the campus, prepared and ate dinner that afternoon, and in the evening, after dinner, Mom had prepared some fun things to do to get to know our ancestors. We put together and played a bingo game with faces of our ancestors and she had a little trivia game about them. Afterwards, most people went to bed, and me and my siblings and Daniel stayed up way too late playing games.

Saturday, after breakfast and a rousing (and exhausting) tournament of tether ball (with Dad, Brian, Hou, and Diane), Diane, Mom, Dad and I went on a tour of the family farms in the area around Burley. Cousin Kerry took us around his farms and some of the other farm houses in the family and everyone told stories, and it was really nice (though perhaps a bit long for Diane and I ... we were a bit anxious to get back to our families). We played in the yard around the retreat, went swimming, had lunch, and visited with people.

Brooke and I did a little something interesting in the afternoon on Saturday. The couple who owns the campus turned the other buildings into haunted houses, and a bunch of the family chipped in to take the tour altogether. Brooke and I signed up to go, ... and it was not at all what I expected. It was all dressed up to be a full on haunted house, like the kind they have everywhere in Halloween -- mannequins, props, skeletons and monsters and blood... not my kind of thing at all. Brooke seemed quite terrified. So after that first building, I told Brooke we weren't going to finish the other buildings. She said she wanted to, but that isn't the kind of thing I want swimming around my 5 year old's head. Even I was scared and didn't at all like it. There was a handful of other people who didn't finish the haunted tour.

That night, after dinner, Mom had prepared another night of family history. She read her memories of Gramma Myrtle and Grampa Fos, and then a bunch of the other 1st cousins got up and told some of their own stories. It was, again, long-winded and lasted a very long time, but also so fun and I loved hearing all of the stories. I hope the cousins put all their stories on Family Search so that I can go get them. :)

We went to church in Albion, just for Sacrament Meeting, and then came back to pack up and leave. We really had a good time at the Reunion, and I'm really glad we went. We drove back down to Daniel's parent's for the evening and hung out with his family one more time. And then we got up early and drove out Monday morning.

It was a great trip. The girls met new cousins and played with so many cousins, I didn't even know where they were most of the time, haha! Brooke really bonded with my cousin, Mary's boy, Ethan (he's, like, 12). They bonded and really grew to love each other in those 2 days they were together, and now all Brooke talks about is Ethan. Jack kind of struggled with this trip. He was very clingy and needy for most of the trip, and wouldn't let us put him down or go to anyone else. It was just a lot of people, and new unfamiliar people, and different places. Poor baby. I am glad for the times we can get together with our extended family so that the girls can play with their cousins.

(Also, I took approximately zero pictures of this trip. So I'll have to steal everyone else's pictures.)