Four

Back in real life, I've been lamenting the fact that Blake's birthday falls around the holidays.

I feel like we can never properly celebrate his big day in between Christmas parties and decorations and gifts and cards and visiting out of state family and on and on and on.

Luckily, Blake is still young enough that he doesn't realize that he's getting slightly jipped on the partying and presents end of things.

Because holding up four fingers for the first time is magical to him, regardless of what month his birthday falls.

Four things I love about Blake:

1. He is very detailed and deliberate in all of his conversations. I never really realized that he was unique in that way until some of my friends commented on how they get a kick out of his unending flow of information.

2. The way he counts everything in sight. And once he passes nineteen, he exclaims, "Twenty Hundred!" every time.

3. His imagination takes him into a wonderland of machine construction.

4. The way he closes his eyes and nods when he really wants to convey something important.

Happy Birthday to our favorite four year old.

Hawaii Wrap-Up

I could probably fill several more posts with details from our Hawaiian escape, but I must wrap it up before we get into the thick of Birthday and Christmas season.

One of the best parts about being in Hawaii was simply getting to play outside. The boys traipsed through every square inch of the yard.

The best surfing on the north shore of Oahu begins in December, but as we drove past spots where we could view surfers, we noticed that every available parking spot was filled with cars and trucks. Their owners were out on the 7-foot+ waves. Platforms and bleachers were being set up along the coast for the big surfing World Cup. We just missed the competition, but we enjoyed seeing colorful surf boards strapped to vehicles, used as mailbox posts, hanging on restaurant walls, and lining fences.

Another fun site along the shore was the fruit market.

It doesn't get much more authentic than freshly fallen coconuts.

The owner helped us pick out the most fresh pineapple.

She even threw in a few apples for the boys.

Troy thought it was important to take a morning and visit Pearl Harbor since Blake shares a birthday with that tragic event. Troy sat everyone down at the beginning of our trip and wrote out detailed daily schedules to ensure that we fit in everything that we wanted to do. It was super helpful to reference the agenda every day. I think I may be be rubbing off on him. :)

Nash and I played in the palm trees while Troy and Blake watched a short documentary about Pearl Harbor. Blake summed up what he learned by stating, "There were airplanes that had pombs (bombs) and they broke a lot of boats and then there was a lot of steam (smoke)." Well put.

Then, Blake and Nash became celebrities. A group of ten or so young Koreans spotted Blake with his blue eyes and blond hair and like the paparazzi started continuously snapping pictures standing next to him. He became really confused and uncooperative about all of the pictures, so when Nash and I showed up a few minutes later from the ticket line, the entire group rushed over to him and one by one proceeded to snap about a hundred more shots with another blue-eyed boy.

We heard them exclaiming, "American babies! American babies!" It was really one of the funniest things I've ever experienced. Troy thinks they must have come straight from the airport and our blond haired children were the first they had ever seen in person. I really wish I would have taken a picture of them instead of Blake's expression during the aftermath of the photoshoot.

We jumped on a ferry to visit the memorial that rests on top of the sunken USS Arizona battleship.

Within the memorial, there was a wall devoted to the names of the seamen that perished. The building was also constructed symbolically. It had 21 openings that represented a twenty-one gun salute.

The one thing that surprised me the most about Hawaii was how green and mountainous it was. I never minded our drives to various places because on one side of the road we saw the endless ocean and on the other side we saw beautiful rolling mountains. It was really breathtaking.

It was pretty surprising to see colorful peacocks roaming around as well.

One of the coolest things we did was soak in a friend's hot tub overlooking the ocean at sunset.

Uncle Todd was the favorite as usual.

We were on the wrong side of the island to actually see the ball of sun sink into the ocean, but the lit up pink sky was just as dazzling.

'Till next time, Aloha.

Chasing Waterfalls

Our first and second attempts to hike to Waimea Falls were unsuccessful.

Our original plan was to hike on Thanksgiving morning before letting our feast settle in. We checked online to make sure they were open, but once we got there, there was a small sign on the gate that said "closed." That's Hawaii for you. You must call and then call again if you want to ensure that your plans go through. It was no big deal, we just crossed the street and went to the beach instead.

We rescheduled for the next day, but we ended up snorkeling on the south shore longer than we expected so that fell through as well.

I was determined to make the hike happen so we gave the falls one more shot towards end of our trip while the guys were out golfing.

We were successful at last.

The hike was just under a mile and once again I couldn't resist capturing tropical gems along the way.

At last, we spotted the waterfall.

Of course, the second we arrived, a torrential downpour began.

Sweet Blake tried to shield our heads with his hands.

We took cover under a small changing hut but it didn't stop Nash and Blake from running right out into the downpour. The rain was no good for my camera focus but I had to capture the boys being so sweet with each other (with no coaxing from me).

The nice thing about tropical storms is they blow over quickly, so we were eventually able to venture back out into a light drizzle.

We geared up for a little swim.

The water was cold, so we opted for the shallow end of the pond. 

Blake and his grandma played fun games on the boogie board which was another big highlight of the trip for him. He collected a few authentic Waimea Falls rocks as well. 

I'm so glad we didn't slip off the island before seeing yet another spectacular site.

Polynesian Cultural Center

If you ever wanted to be submerged in the island cultures of the Pacific, the Polynesian Cultural Center is the place to go.

It's set up with villages representing Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Aotearoa, and Marquesas. Each village offers entertaining (and sometimes hilarious) shows that demonstrate the culture. You can watch a Samoan make fire by rubbing two sticks together, create coconut milk with his bare hands, and climb up a 40 foot coconut tree. Then you can head over to Tahiti and learn how to swing your hips.

The costumes, dancing, and food are completely authentic.

Blake scored his very own grass headband in the village of Samoa.

Many of my dad²'s students work at the Polynesian Cultural Center (and he and my mom² volunteer there), so they hooked Blake up with a handmade grass fish as well. He could make the fish shoot forward by pulling the stem through the body.

The boys were slightly excited about the river boat.

Mostly because they got to sit by their Uncle Todd, who they quickly choose over us as of late (he was such a good sport to hold Nash on his lap at multiple restaurants).

The center also abounded with gorgeous flowers and waterfalls.

As the clouds threatened rain right before our big Hawaiian Feast, I tried my hand (or feet rather) at climbing up the coconut tree. I was the only one in our company to give it a shot, and let me tell you, it was way harder than it looked. I thought it would be similar to rock climbing, but it was nothing of the sort. My arms gave out before I could reach the top and I was sore for three days.

After eating exorbitant amounts of authentic Hawaiian food, we topped off the night with the spectacular performance of "Ha - The Breath of Life." We let Blake stay up for the show and he couldn't even sit in his seat he was so mesmerized. He actually cried on the way home because he wanted to see the baby that was born at the end grow into a man. Apparently he was really following the plot line; he was not happy when the performance abruptly ended. I love that he is old enough to enjoy a little theater.