Loving the holiday after the holiday!
Trip Start
Sep 16, 2011
1
56
290
Trip End
Nov 20, 2011
Where I stayed
Haleiwa, Hawaii
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
We briefly visit Hale-iwa as we need to weigh Woody and measure him – so Justin can look into car seats in Oz for Woody. So we try a drug store which does not have scales, and they recommend we try the local doctors. So, we go there and they say they we cannot use their scales as they can only weigh people who are patients. We laugh our heads off at this. We then head over to a sports physio and they weigh Woody. Next, we go to the hardware store and measure Woody. Acheived.
And then, what do you know, Woody fancies a hot dog. So we go back to the Grass Skirt Grill and we get hot dogs, a veggies burger and fries. Good stuff. Over lunch, read a sign about how dangerous the shore breaks are at the beaches we have been swimming at. Oops....
Elwood manages to get a big splinter in his finger and kept saying it hurt, which is very unlike him. So it either does really hurt, or he is super tired, or both. On the way back to the drugstore to get tweezers and band aids (our first aid kit is currently in the hire car in Los Angeles!) Elwood walks into the wing mirror of a parked car and gets a proper bump on the forehead. He sobs. He was having a strop when it happened, so I get a misplaced fit of the giggles and barely resist the urge to say something about karma. So we mend the boy and head to Sunset beach, stopping only to pick up a boogie board and a behemoth coffee.
Sunset beach is magnificent, as usual! Elwood climbs up his tree favourite tree stump to drink his milk. He looks so grown up, like he should be in school. I tell him to climb a tree, like we saw at the Polynesian Cultural Centre yesterday, never thinking he would be able to – there are no branches! When Noah comes back from getting changed, Elwood is up the tree, and then he jumps from the tree and lands in the sand. People who are not used to seeing such crazy things from 3 year old, look and gasp, and a man goes to get up to go to Woody. Noah and I clap and cheer words of encouragement. He does it repeatedly, it is pretty impressive.
Then we hit the waves, or more to the point, they hit us. They are breaking hard in the shallows; I think the technical term is the 'shore pounder'. We laugh like maniacs. We take it in turn to hold Woody and take photos but the whole time our legs are being bashed about, our toes are gripping the sand, and our faces are being sprayed with salt water and sand. The whole time, we are laughing our heads off.
We decide to head north to Turtle Bay so Woody can have a swim without us having to hold him so tightly. We buy some watermelon and pineapple from a roadside stall on the way, and then we hit the beach. The boys jump in first whilst I chill on the beach. But then they sound like I am missing out on too much fun, so I’m in. We are playing on the boogie board and then we spot a massive turtle a few metres away. It keeps lifting its head and you can see its shell, just coming out the top of the water. Sometimes, you could see a fin/ paddle/ flipper / paw? coming out of the water. We watch it for ages, swimming backs and forwards. There are some people snorkelling and I have a go on their snorkel and goggles and as if by magic, a turtle appears right in front of me. It is amazing. It is massive and majestic. It is swimming to the bottom and is chewing moss and seaweed from the rocks and then swimming up to the surface. It was amazing.
I try and swim out with Woody to show him the turtle underwater but it is quite deep and we do not have his floaty jacket. So we put Woody’s goggles on and float him on the boogie board so he can just hang his head in the water and see the turtle underwater. He tries really hard and enjoys seeing under the water but we don’t manage it. He is, however, delighted when he spots my foot under the water. Ha!
After that, Woody goes a bit crazy. Swimming, jumping off the boogie board and laughing loads. We play for ages and then we pop Elwood in the car as a grey cloud threatens rain. Woody promptly falls asleep and we head back to Hale-iwa where Noah buys a new t-shirt and we buy another Christmas present. We also monster a packet of biscuits whilst Woody is asleep!
We head home, we see an amazing sunset at Waimea Bay and by the time we pull over, it is gone. Bummer. Tomorrow, that sunset is ours!
Back at home we eat dinner and Woody plays happily but looks shattered. Putting him to bed is a bit of a hassle as there is a backpacker’s party going on. He eventually nods off, leaving Noah and I to finish the biscuits, and get some bits done.
We just have 3 more nights, 2 more days on the fabulous North Shore, and then another 6 days on the south of the island. The real world is creeping up on us, but we are going to fight to keep this Aloha vibe even when we are back in ‘real life’.
Good night lovely people.
