Parents came to visit

My parents came in to town this last week and we had a great time. We spent a day on the North Shore snorkeling, enjoying Sunset Beach, and indulging in fruit from the roadside stands and Ted's bakery. The next day we spent time at the beach in Waikiki .

Another day we hiked to Sacred Falls and then snorkeled at Hanauma Bay and ended the night at Nico's by the pier for some fresh fish. Our days have been busy!

Friday we kayaked to the Moks Islands and then went to Spaghetti Factory and then to the movie, Secretariat.

Saturday was extra fun. We attended the Laie Temple open house. It was such a beautiful temple and I loved the peaceful feeling that was there. It's funny now that I think about it, but our next activity was skydiving. That definitely was not peaceful. My Mom and I actually did it, we jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet. It was incredible and hard to describe how it felt. The scenery was beautiful, the rush was amazing, and I'm so grateful I'm alive! So cool. Afterwards we swam out to Chinaman's Hat Island and hiked to the top. I have to admit, my parents are pretty cool to do all of these things. The hike was not easy, in fact we had to climb several rocks that were pretty steep. I was impressed.

Sunday was pretty low key, we went to church and then took a drive up the west side of the island to show them what it's like.

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to visit. It was really great to spend time with you and do so many fun things together.

Ha

If you didn't know, Ha is the breath of life according to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We went to the Ha show on Saturday night. It was pretty cool to see the different types of dance and music. You can't come to Oahu and not go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, right?!

The west side and Kaena Point

Peter got home a little early on Thursday so we decided to explore the west side of Oahu. We started off at the Ko'Olina Lagoons for some snorkeling. We saw a couple really cool fish that we had not seen anywhere else that we've snorkeled. Then we drove up the coast to see that was around. I was shocked at how brown everything was at first. Then I was even more shocked by the homeless communities along the beach. There are these communities of tents all along the beach. It was so surprising to me to see all these people living on the beach and the tents and the trash. It was shocking!

We took the time to hike out to Kaena Point, the farthest point on the island. The hike was long, but you really felt like you were on the edge of the world. It was really pretty and so cool that we were all alone out there. Well, except for the Monk Seals that we say. As we were walking out on the rocks at the point Peter said, "Jen, don't panic, but turn around" he then pointed out several Monk Seals just feet away from us. We had just walked right past them and did not even noticed them. What if I would have stepped on one of them?!

Being the west side, there was a beautiful sunset.

Columbus Day Celebration

We took full advantage of this holiday Peter had off and saw more of the island. We started off bright and early at Pearl Harbor. It's always so beautiful to be there and it has a way of putting things in perspective and making you grateful.

Our next stop, Sunset Beach on the north shore. The waves were amazing that day so we lived it up. I'm pretty sure all of us caught some of the best waves of our lives.

Snorkeling at Sharks Cove was the next activity. It was really beautiful to see the fish and the rock formation. The current was really strong out there, so there were some times I got a little panicky about being able to get back.

Paddle boarding and cliff jumping at Waimea was a must. I'm really starting to love paddle boarding. Thanks to my cousin Elle's suggestion, we had Thai food at Haleiwa Eats to end off the day. The food was so good and of course had to be capped off with a shaved ice. We were all so exhausted after this long day, but we loved it. I pretty sure I took several naps on Sunday to recover from our amazing weekend.

Kailua and Mok Islands

Saturday was another really great day. The boys had the day off to Peter, Josh, Jo, Robbie and I rented some kayaks and headed out to Kailua. We kayaked over to the nearby Mok Islands. One of the islands had a beach to dock our boats on. We then set off exploring the island. Around the back of the island were some rock cliffs to jump off of. We had a blast!

We ended the day off with boogie boarding at Sandy Beach (where I got worked by the waves) and a BBQ with some friends. I love Saturdays, it is so fun to explore this beautiful island with Peter.

Point Panic

Friday was spent boogie boarding at Point Panic. Although Jo and I were out there with all of the surfers and they were giving us "the look" for invading their space. We got some good rides though and had lots of fun.

Kahana River

Since we already had the kayak, we spent the next day kayaking the Kahana River. It was a very quiet, jungle-like river. It was green everywhere!

Unfortunately, it was a shorter ride than we thought, so we spent the remainder of the day lounging at the pool.

Kaneohe Bay

On Wednesday of last week Jo and I rented a kayak and set off for Kaneohe Bay. We kayaked over a mile out to the sand bar in the middle of the bay. The water was the most beautiful blue and it was really cool to be able to get out in the middle of the bay and walk around. We also had some visitors while out there, sea turtles! There was one we tried to follow for a while and then we saw two huge ones bop up right in from of our kayak. It was really cool!

Then we kayaked out to an island not too far off, just over another mile. We encountered some waves along the way that gave us a little scared because by this time we were about 2 1/2 miles out from the shore. We felt pretty cool out there in our kayak, while everyone else were out there on their tour boats.

We explored the island and loved it. The rocks were so different and we loved the little creatures we found. The kayak ride back to our car was long, but I felt pretty cool when we got there and realized we had kayaked about five miles that day.

Sacred Falls

Our last hike was to Sacred Falls. It's located on the Northeast side of the island, just before Laie. This hike was a little hard to find also, but so worth it. The hike portion was much easier and the waterfall was amazing. The cliffs surrounding the stream were unbelievable. This waterfall was definitely the fastest flowing with the biggest pool we've seen yet.

Risky Business

Last Monday, Jo and I took a hike to some waterfalls not far from Honolulu. It was a little risky when we started because there were dogs blocking the way and they instantly ran towards us barking. I was a little scared, I'll be honest. I continued being scared as we walked down the side of a large hill to get to the trail. The trail followed a ridge up to a set of beautiful waterfalls. The trail at times was pretty tricky, it got really narrow at certain times and many falls were had by both of us. Luckily they were just minor and we didn't end up at the bottom of the ridge. The falls were beautiful. After reaching the first one we hiked up the side of it to see another falls right above it.

This hike was really fun and beautiful, but it was definitely on the risky side!

Waimea Bay

Peter and I headed up to the North Shore to spend the day with my friend Susanna and her family. Susanna was a mission companion of mine and I have not been able to hang out with her much over the years, so it was so fun. We went to Waimea Bay and did some skim boarding and paddle boarding and of course some catching up. It was a beautiful day.

On the way home we stopped in Haleiwa for some shaved ice at Matsumoto's. We ended the day off with the movie Inception. Peter and I had not seen it yet and we had heard from everyone how it was a must see. It was good!

The rest of the weekend was spent resting, studying (for Peter), watching football, and listening to conference. It was a great weekend, can't wait for the next one!