Once all the arrangements were made we packed up again. We thought the plan was to hit snorkel beaches that were down on the south shore since it was our last day down south. After picking up snorkel gear we caught up to Hydee and Adam at the tree tunnel. Colton was standing out on the road waving his arms at us while Hydee got a picture of us in the tunnel, we in turn took a picture of them from the back.
I really was grateful for Hydee because I knew I was going to get more pictures of us with her around! We followed them all the way through Lihue, and after turning around few times we made it to the first beach. We got out, packing all the stuff onto Ollie's stroller and headed to the beach. While Adam, Macey, and Colton ran ahead to get going on snorkeling, Matt stopped to take pictures of Ollie and me. The scene was too cute to pass up, Ollie had on his cute little Puma board shorts and rash guard, and I had put on his sunglasses and little quicksilver sandals. He looked so dang cute, and there were cute little short palm trees to lean up against so we took advantage of it and got some shots. Hydee was feeding Emmie so we weren't in any hurry anyway.
But before we even got down to the beach Adam came up and told us the snorkeling wasn't all that great so he wanted to just do a quick swim and then move onto a better beach. I was fine with that. Matt went in and joined them and at one point it looked like they might have found something wort looking at so I decided maybe I should head in, but by the time I got to the beach they were getting out and Matt confirmed that it wasn't all that great. Strike one.
It was getting time for lunch at that point so Hydee suggested heading to one of their favorite little places that was nearby- Cafe Coco. We packed up and followed them over. I was excited when we arrived, it looked like a cute little local place and there were cute shops next door that looked like they would be fun to explore. But after we all got out of the car, had pulled out the stroller and the babies and had even taken some pictures we headed to the front door only to find they were closed on Mondays. Strike two.
So we packed up again and resorted to yelp to help us find some place worth eating at. It took us a little further north but we ended up at a fish market with high ratings and I have to say I was impressed. Everything was fresh and delicious. I think we stressed out the lady taking our orders because being goodies we wanted her opinion on which items were best, etc. and for whatever reason that seemed like a hard thing for her to do, maybe because they were all delicious and when we would ask her which dish she would pick over the other with two dishes being completely different she was having a really hard time knowing what to suggest.
After lunch we headed further north, our next stop was for ice-cream. I can't even remember the name of the shop I just know it was a favorite destination for Hydee and Adam and they were excited about it. We pulled up and saw cold stone and joked that it better not be the place evven though we knew it wasn't. The guy behind the counter was the owner and he was a big talker. He talked about how amazing his ice cream is, where it has been featured, how many gallons he goes through in a day, how he is opening a store in Phoenix, etc. He had both gelato and ice cream. It was very good but I'm so in love with gelato and especially with my favorite places back home that maybe I wasn't quite as impressed as I should have been for all the guys big talk. We were all surprised at the cost, I think Adam spent nearly $50 for his family and Matt spent $20 for just the two of us. It was still a good treat though, and I was happy to find a Jack Wyland whaling wall right there in the shopping center so after we got our ice cream we all walked over to look at it and get a picture. It is looking old but I remember seeing it in the book of his that I bought in college so it was fun to see it in real life. I cant say that Wyland is one of my favorite artists or anything, I think there are others that are much better at the details and making it look more realistic, I've just always had an admiration for the scale of his artwork and his ability to create it in proportion when he is so close to the work- he says he does it with his minds eye, he doesn't sketch it all out in huge scale he just paints it from his minds eye, thinking of where he would be in proportion to the whale when he is diving (paying careful attention to the size and proportion when he is next to it in real life) and somehow in the end he had a huge whale painted in perfect proportion. That is what is impressive to me. And he has done these huge scale projects over night before which is also impressive. So it was fun to see one of his pieces again.
After we were all stuffed we headed further north following Adam to the next beach for snorkeling. As we went further north the scenery started to change. The north is definitely greener and the houses, they were impressive! Matt kept talking about what we needed to do to move out here permanently. This is of course the topic of nearly every vacation we go on, New York being the one and only exception. The beach was beautiful. It had a grassy area with trees, at the edge of the grass there were big pine trees, and there was a short drop down to the sand, the grass acting like a ledge. The sand was actually difficult to walk through at first because there were pine cones everywhere- such a strange landscape but beautiful none the less. It was cold and windy out so Hydee was nice enough to let me use her wetsuit, otherwise I think I would have passed on the snorkeling. After getting Ollie situated Matt and I left him with Hydee and Emmie and joined the rest of the gang in the water.
It was still cool getting in, even with the wetsuit but definitely bearable. I felt bad for Matt and Adam. The reef was huge! The water was shallow for quite some distance, I never really ran into the edge of the reef. It was fun to explore it with everyone. There were parts where it got really shallow and it was hard to stay flat on top without touching it. And then I started having mask problems, mine kept fogging up even with the defogger stuff applied so I kept having to stop. I don't know why but I totally got the giggles out there. Just little things kept making me laugh, mostly Matt he wasn't trying but watching his big feet stop and step down on the ground in those flippers all of the sudden it all seemed so funny and I would start giggling and then choking and then that would make me start flailing around trying to get to the top for air, and then that would make me laugh even harder. It was quite the experience but really I did have a great time just being with Matt. We were near Adam, Macey, and Colton but it was hard to keep up with everyone so we at least stuck with each other. There were some interesting fish and there were a lot of them but no big schools. I love to see the big schools moving together. And the reef really wasn't colorful, it was pretty monochromatic so I wouldn't put it at the top of my snorkeling experiences but it was still fun. Unfortunately despite the fact that my body was comfortable my ears are super sensitive to the cold and after a while they really started hurting so I had to head in, I didn't want to leave Hydee with both kids for too long any way. Matt had pretty much seen it all so he headed in with me. Adam and gang didn't stay out a whole lot longer.
When we got the beach and I had to take off my wet suit I wanted to die. It was so cold! But somehow I survived and once again we packed everything up and headed back to the condo (which at this point was an hours drive back south).
When we got home Adam picked up dinner for the kids and we all showered and got ready for a night out. We went to a restaurant Hydee and I had been eyeing. It was fun to get dressed up and enjoy a good meal. We got there late so we didn't get to sit outside, but the restaurant was upstairs and the windows were all open to the outside. It overlooked a cute courtyard that had this big tree full of a variety of lanterns that were all lit up so I wasn't disappointed with the atmosphere at all. We had a great waiter and we didn't talk about work at all during the meal so it was nice and enjoyable. I finally picked a good dish- my best meal yet! And the dessert was amazing! The only down side was Hydee wasn't feeling well at all so she didn't eat much. We left completely satisfied and I was happy! The start of a great birthday eve for Matt. When we came home we walked in the room to find Macey and Ollie on our bed, Macey was watching a show and I feel bad because Matt and I both took one look at Ollie in his diaper, with his onsie up above his big belly and we both got the giggles and started laughing. We were laughing because his diaper was looked so funny, it was pulled up all tight and then fanning across the top with g-string looking sides. Since Macey was the one that did it we didn't say anything we just tried to talk to her about how he was in between our giggles. I don't know why we thought it was so funny. Poor Macey I don't think Ollie gave her an easy night either she said he was fussy. After she left the room we snuck a picture of him in his diaper so hopefully someday she can look at it and laugh too!
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