vacation update

Last week the four of us (while Nathan was at work) did some more tourist-ing. We went to the Waimea Falls/Botanical Gardens trail. It's a national park, directly across the street from the ocean. To get to the falls, you take a 20 minute (or so) walk on a paved trail surrounded by native plant life. These are the things we captured along the way.


Mom says, "Have you ever seen a philodendron leaf this big?"



These huge trees were everywhere along our path. They're called Monkey Pod Rain tree, and they're expanse is massive. It was hard to really capture what the eye sees when you stand under them and look up or when you stand and look out at it's vastness. Mom has her "Hawaiian Trees" book out and she quotes, "there is one monkey pod tree in Oahu whose branches cover 3/4 of an acre."






Mom had a lizard just like this as a pet when she was a kid. His name was George and Aunt Martha ended his life by stepping on him in the kitchen (he was under a rug, so it was determined to be accidental rather than premeditated)

As luck would have it, when we were walking along the trail, there was a lei making class in our path. We stopped, of course, and let mom learn a new trade to take back to moffets/Hyvee.

The woman who taught the class gathered all the little flowers from here and there in the botanical garden. The base of the lei was a tei leaf, and all the flowers were wrapped on by raffia.

The end of the trail brought us to somewhat disappointing "falls." We did not know when we started out that the fall was merely a trickle. I think that it changes with the seasons. But, it was still a fun walk and trip.

After the Falls trip, we went to Dole Plantation. We didn't do too much there except to ride the train, which is Levi's favorite, and to peruse the gift shop.

This is how I made sure that Levi did not fall out of the train as he was happily peering out the side.

A boy and his Pop

For dad's last overnight stay here in Hawaii, he and mom rented a pimped out hotel room at Waikiki Hilton. Here is the view from the room.

This picture is actually a reflection of mom and dad standing in front of the sliding glass door (inside the room) and looking out at the view.

The pools and the ocean were open for swimming all night long. Mom got to swim with the pool all to herself in the moonlight, for 45 minutes while a live musician played practically poolside.

This is their table at the poolside restaurant where they ate dinner the first night.

The hotel was so superior that they even had their own penguins....

...and flamingos...


Down at the restaurant there was a band playing live all afternoon. Mom requested "Eagles" songs and they delivered. We went and met them for dinner before Dad had to fly out and we all sat and watched them for some time. It was pretty enjoyable.

Sunset at Waikiki beach. We had to walk around the grounds, viewing all the fish-pool lined sidewalks and exotic birds. Levi enjoyed it, like a zoo.

After we ate dinner at Waikiki Hard Rock Cafe, we had to take Pop to the airport for his departure. The boys led the way, carrying the luggage. Ever since Pop left, Levi asks after him several times per day. Always at night when he's passing out hugs, and in the morning when everyone is waking up. He had a fun visit with his Pop. Grammy is still here for another week. We're trying to live it up as much as possible, yet leaving ample time for lying around on our Hawaiian couch, viewing our hawiian tv.

Last night Levi and Pippin both dressed up in this puppy outfit. Those two and Grammy were running wild up and down the hallway behaving like dogs.

Grammy needed a disguise as well

Tonight while mom and I were loading all these pictures, Nathan came back from the grocery store with a present for me. Royal jewels for his Princess; For ages 4 and up. I told him that if he also gets me a Tiara (which is only appropriate) then I will wear it out for Halloween.