Wrappin it Up.

I'm forcing myself to wrap up my Hawaii pics and videos. Ya'll have been very kind, allowing me to relive my trip in giant, photographic detail.

But enough is enough.

So, after today, it's back to studying April and her idiosyncrasies. She's thrilled.

I keep telling her I would write about my own, if I had any...

That's neither here nor there (or, as April would say, "that's neither a rabbit nor a frog").

Back to Hawaii.

After experiencing the surf myself, North Shore bolted to the top of my list of things to do. I wanted to go watch professional surfers ride gnarly waves.

Worked out perfectly because Cory and Jenny wanted to mountain bike near the North Shore, so they dropped Apes and I off with the kids before heading out to pop wheelies in the lush Maui terrain.

Look at this view. Look at it. Look at it again. Gorgeous, right?


Was the perfect place for us because the rock wall created little pools of water for the kids to play in. We weren't about to let them get close to the shoreline - not after reading warnings about how unpredictable the surf could be along this stretch of beach.

The pools of water were perfect for ALL the kids...




Apes and got Cassie got busy building a sand castle...


But not just any sand castle. Uh uh. Theirs had trees, a garden and cars.


At one point, I left to go get us some hot dogs. I came back to find Cassie like this:


Perhaps a few of my favorite pictures from the trip:




The day before we left, we headed down the beach toward Black Rock. Apes and Cory were itching to jump.

Before they could leap, we had an obligation to the kids...

Again.


This time we got a little creative (what could they do, they were buried and stuck. We deserved to have some fun at their expense. And we DO love football...)






We also took video of the adorable Cassie. When I miss her little voice, I watch this. It helps.


Here are videos of Cory and April jumping of Black Rock. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to rotate the videos (grr). I know it's annoying to watch them sideways. My apologies.

Cory:


Apes (she jumps around the :30 second mark):


The uber-proud duo, showing off:


Perhaps the thing, other than surfing, I looked forward to the MOST was whale watching. Apparently February is the best time to take a whale watching tour - it's mating season.

Unfortunately, the day we went, the waters were really choppy and we didn't see many whales, but the ones we saw were breathtaking. They'd breach, meaning, they'd propel their bodies completely out of the water, not far from our boat.

I actually teared up every time it happened. Being that close to nature is so humbling. It happened too fast for us to snap pictures, but I was able to find a video on You Tube (they slow down the video somewhere in the middle, explaining the weirdness).



Now you know why we looked like this for two hours:









April's parting shot...


Our last day, we did the famous Road to Hana.

Hana offers some of the most spectacular scenery found anywhere in the Hawaiian islands, but the road is long and winding, with more than 600 curves and 54 bridges. It's only 53 miles from Kahului Airport to Hana, but it usually takes about 2½ to 3 hours to make the drive.

Apes and I joined Johnny and Terri in the convertible on a rather windy day...please note our "wind tossled locks":





whatever.


Purty Scenery:




Perfect trip. Perfect girl.