First Weekend Excursion!

During the week we stay fairly close to home base,
venturing across the street to the beach, a few floors
down to the rooftop pool/hot tub or out on the bus
if we want to get somewhere.  So by the time the weekend
comes we are hankering to expand our horizons and get
 out of town.  Jason is the only one allowed to drive
 the rental car so he's our ticket to freedom on his days off!







MAKAPU'U LIGHTHOUSE HIKE
See my completely separate post for more pictures of this beauty!  We know we want to do a lot of hiking while we're here.  But 3yo legs and intense sun are a limiting factor.  We started out easy on our first weekend excursion and went to the Makapuu (pronounced Ma-ka-poo-eee) lighthouse.

Its a paved path, at a slight but steady incline, about a mile long and the views are absolutely breathtaking.  I cannot describe the vivid blues, lush greens and amazing landscape.

We had hats, sunglasses, sunscreen and water.  But the littles were DYING from the heat and moved pretty slow.  We stopped a lot for water and lookouts, found the tiny spots of shade and kept the pace SUPER slow.  There was quite a bit of upbeat encouraging and pointing out of cool cacti and flowers that we don't normally see, and they made it!  But they don't want to do it again.




BELLOWS BEACH
Next we headed to Bellows Beach.  The Department of Defense owns it and part is public but part is only open to DoD employees.  I feel so fortunate.  Daddy and Ella tried their hand at boogie boarding.  The waves were a little too big for Ella and tossed her around a bit.  Josiah wanted no part of the waves.  We enjoyed but moved on much sooner than we had originally planned.








NUUANA PALI LOOKOUT
On our drive back we went THROUGH the mountains via tunnel which was neat and stopped at the Nuuanu Pali Lookout. (pronounced "New-ooo-ah-new) 
     
This is a steep cliff that is the historical sight of a fierce battle where King Kamehameha (pronounced "Kah-may-ha-may-ah) invaded the shores of Waikiki, marched up this valley and  overtook the Oahuans by an overwhelming margin.  The wind coming off the ocean hits the steep cliff and is driven upward with such force that it pretty much blows your hair straight up!


MAGIC ISLAND

We checked out Magic Island.  Its a lagoon out on the end of a peninsula.  It was built to be part of a resort but they ran out of money and now its part of a public park.  We LOVED it!  Sandy, sunny, gorgeous, calm.  Daddy and Ella donned their snorkel gear and found fish and sea urchins!  Josiah and I played in the water and rested in the shade of the palm trees.

                                             







Sunday morning we tried out Metro Christian Church and loved it!  It was THE BEST sermon I have EVER heard on this topic.  And I've heard a lot in the 15 years I've been a believer in Christ!  The link should take you to it if you want to check it out!  The kids space is awesome, friendly and well staffed.  The message was THE best I've EVER heart on Ephesians 5:22.  And the atmosphere is great.  I'd say its mostly locals.  Ella was the only Caucasian girl in the kids church and I think it is such a valuable experience to be the minority for once in her life, as that is an experience she'll never get in Maine!  She said a boy about her age befriended her and "showed her the ropes" telling her the routine and what would come next as well as offering to be her partner in a game where they needed to pair up.  That was music to my ears and I can't wait for future Sundays.  I want to meet this family and tell them what a blessing their courteous, thoughtful boy was!