Still Totally Worth It!

Meanwhile these are the pictures we received from home. My mom and sister are hilarious! :)

Poor little Ry Guy.

The kids were doing well with out us. They had cousins to play with and my parents kept them entertained. However, I called home one night and when Taylor heard my voice he started crying. I guess it reminded him that I really was gone. I quickly ended the phone call and thankfully my sister was able to soothe him. I didn't talk to the kids again after that. We missed them but we knew they were in good hands...with hair clips and all. ;)

Day 3 (Part 3) - North Shore

After visiting the temple grounds, we drove a short distance to the north shore. The north shore is known for its massive waves. Our first stop was Sunset Beach where they were setting up for the Vans World Cup of Surfing.

 There were signs posted all along the beach that swimming was prohibited. Dave couldn't resist getting in. He didn't swim but played in the waves near shore. He was great entertainment for the wave watchers standing around me. He got pretty beat up by the waves, but oh the joy on his face every time he surfaced!

Sunset Beach.

 We continued our drive and stopped at a few other locations. (Don't know their names.)

 Eventually we ended up in Waimea Bay. The waves were huge! I loved watching and hearing them. Again, I was there to watch and relax...Dave was there to play. And play he did! He tried his boogie board, but it cracked in two on his first wave. These weren't playful waves, they meant business. We spent quite a bit of time here and we were both happy. I was taking pictures (lots of them) and Dave was as happy as can be in the ocean.

Waimea Bay at sunset.

We then rushed over to the beach where Lost was filmed. It was creepy being there just after sunset. The wind was picking up which added to the eeriness. We continued our drive to the main north shore town of Hale'iwa. We found a recommended burger joint off the main road. The burgers were as large as my head! They were so delicious! We stopped and picked up a couple tiki souvenirs for the boys and headed back to the hotel. It was another long day, but one of my favorites...and a fabulous birthday!! 

Day 3 - Happy Birthday to Me! (I rhyme!)

(I'm sorry if anyone is getting a little tired of my Hawaii posts, but I want to get it all journaled.)

What a place to spend a birthday! Saturday we woke up, ate our mini-bagels and donuts on the beach (we got our breakfast down to a science), and picked up our rental car. For the next two days we saw the island in a black Honda Civic...oh, yeah. :) We drove the Likelike Highway through beautiful green mountains to the Byodo-In Temple. It is a replica of a Buddhist temple found in Uji Japan. Oh and it was in an episode of Lost and Magnum P.I.

 The ringer of this bell is promised "happiness, the blessings of Buddha, and a long life". Sweet! This birthday girl is all set. :) Way better than blowing out candles.

 Dave meditates with Buddha. Ahh...

 The temple grounds were gorgeous! Many types of flowers, a koi pond, streams, and even a little gift shop. We wandered for a little bit until a rain storm developed. We took shelter in the gift shop and the rain had stopped by the time we figured out our Target $1 rain ponchos.

 We took our time driving up the coast. We even stopped for a couple pictures on the BYU Hawaii campus in Laie.

Here's a little joke...Why did the chicken cross the road?

You would too if this big man was chasing you!

Day 3 (Part 2) - Another Temple...the LDS variety

I think we took on the "Aloha Spirit" a little too much. We arrived to the Laie Hawaii Temple 25 minutes after the last session began. Maybe we shouldn't have stopped to chase chickens. :) We were totally disappointed when the security guard in the parking lot informed us that we were too late. We even asked the temple worker at the front desk if we could just take a look around the inside. No dice. So we enjoyed the peace and beauty of the outside instead. 

 We were both surprised how small the temple looked in person. For some reason I thought it would be larger, but I was not disappointed. Gorgeous! Every temple's landscape is amazing, but I loved all the palm trees and hibiscus flowers.

 We discovered, once we got home, that the lens of our point and shoot camera had a cute little Ry Guy fingerprint on it. So all our pictures taken with that camera had a hazy spot in the bottom middle. Wish we had noticed sooner. I tried to fix it in Lightroom, but Dave and I are still in a Ry Guy-made filter. :(

 I found a real flower! (On the ground of course. They fall from the trees.)

 He's always willing to pose for the camera! :)