Rainbow, Three Tables, and Coconut Joe

I have a lot of pictures to share today. It started off with a rainbow out of our window on a misty morning! Admiring the rainbow from our window -

And the view of it from our balcony. So lovely! I shared it on facebook - a friend from my childhood, Matt, commented "No rain, no rainbows" - like roses and thorns. "There's gotta be opposition" (-Dying Breed by the Killers!)

The little kid were bartering and trading with their coral rocks that we gathered yesterday.

The older kids needed to work, so I took away the little kids. 

The rainbow from the lagoon - 

This is a magical place! So we played in the sand - 

Trying to make sandcastles with the new bucket set that Corey bought yesterday. 

After Corey, Joseph, and Wes went boogie boarding last night (without success) the locals told them that for boogie boarding, you need flippers. So they picked up flippers at Costco on their way home. And goggles. And snorkeling stuff. And that bucket of beach toys. 

Peter and I moved toward the reef. Aww he's so pretty...

We just sat there enjoying the ocean, and then I noticed some movement on the rocks next to us and I saw a little crab. It was big compared to the tiny ones Natalie and I saw on Friday. It would come out if I was still. And then I noticed more and more crabs everywhere of all sized. I called the kids over and we had fun looking at the crabs

We noticed Hyrum waving to us - can you see Hyrum? He's in the top balcony on the right side there, you might need to zoom in. Hi Hyrum!

Natalie buried herself.

A view of the kids on the beach from the lagoon.

It was nice and therapeutic to just watch them play. 

Then we went on an outing. Hyrum and Wesley stayed to work on homework (it's midterms on Friday). Peter fell asleep as soon as he was buckled into the carseat - 

After a nice 47 min drive through beautiful Hawaii, we arrive. That was a perfect nap time for Peter. The girls ran to the beach first to go check it out. 

I straggled behind with the little ones. Abi came back to the van to help me get kids and towels, and that was lucky for her 'cause she got to see a chicken up close. She wants a "wild" chicken for her pet. She's a silly girl. Everytime she's seen chickens on the side of the road (actually quite common here) she squeals "A chicken!  Look at all those stray chickens! That's a baby chicken! I need a pet chicken!" She's joking and I'm playing a long, funny. 

We went to Three Tables so that Joseph could snorkel before he leaves tomorrow. 

Snorkeling today, surfing tomorrow. He flies out around 9pm. The waves were pretty violent in my opinion. I'm not sure how it went for snorkeling, but hey, we got a pic, so thumbs up. The waves were really busy, so we were on high alert for Natalie cause she swims well but didn't have a floatie and I didn't trust the water. Corey watched kids in the water, I watched them in the sand.

The sand on this beach was so light, it was almost puffy. 

You couldn't build with it, but it was good for digging.

Peter taught us how to dig. Then we built a moat around him just in case a big wave came up. 

I actually don't think it would have helped, but it was fun digging - Joseph on the moat, Abi burying Sophi and Natalie. Owen was running back and forth into the water. 

And DANIEL was cracking me up, cause he is just such a friendly little guy - he was making friends with these two girls who were laying out near the top of the beach, and he'd talk to them, then he'd get a running start and do a little somersault or toddler cartwheel flip thing for them. Showing them his skillz. Corey got this picture of him -

He's such a cute little boy, he cracks us up. You could try to build something or walk along the beach, but then a wave would come and wipe it all away in one swoop, and suddently you wouldn't be able to tell humans had ever been on this beach. It was really cool. Almost like Playa Conchal, with how steep the beach was, and how fast the waves crashed up on the shore. Also by how easy it was to dig in and with how the sand would stick to you. Here's Sophi's new skin after being buried -

She's sand girl.

Kinda like the pictures of the kids at Playa Conchal in Costa Rica, right? I was thinking of Wesley's face when I saw it sticking to Sophi, no one put their faces in it though. Joseph attempted a castle, but it doesn't work with this sand. 

Time to bury the toddlers... 

Joseph had dug a nice big hole for Owen and Daniel. Peter thinking he will make a stand against the waves. Nope.

So it was great. Three Tables was a spot that Corey's friend Eric had recommended. We loaded up in the car and headed home -

It wasn't dark yet and I thought maybe we could drive around the island an see the east side before it got dark. But there was another Eric recommended spot close by where you could maybe see some sea turtles... and the kids were ready to get back to the hotel asap (a ride around the island would be another 90 min prob) so we drove a short ways and all got out of the car again. More beach, more sand, more digging...

While we wandered around tide pools and looked for shells, Joseph found a coconut!

He threw it at a big rock over and over again. We joked that he was working on dinner.

He worked on that while we waited. 

It was a small alleyway from a neighborhood to the beach. Felt like Costa Rica

Joseph isn't giving up. He said pulling off the husk was very satisfying.

Peter saying cheese for me, aww, love that little baby face.

Corey is such a good father and husband, we are so blessed that he gifted us this trip. The kids don't want the day to end. But the sun had set, time to get going. Joseph! Natalie! Owen! Daniel! Let's go!

He's finally done it. He can leave the beach in peace. Coconut Joe from 10 years ago has returned and conquered the coconut.

He cracks it open, a little bit of coconut water...

And a little coconut meat. He didn't seem thrilled with the taste, but he'd going to enjoy it cause he worked so hard to get it. One last pic of the kids buried, Natalie buried them. 

And then for our final act of fun before we say goodbye to Joseph tomorrow, and since it's his last night, AND since he reminded Corey and I of Tom Hanks when we saw him trying to open that coconut, we stayed up late tonight (past 9pm) watching Cast Away. The kids had me laughing through it, especially Hyrum. A few kid quotes: 

Hyrum when Tom Hanks finally starts making fire "There we go! Why did it take him so long to get to this point?!?! It's been like 6 days!" - "I feel like he's gonna get attached to that, then his volleyball is gonna die somehow..." Hyrum does have foresight. Later with a smirk "Him and Wilson are arguing" then all the kids joined in - "Don't push your friends away! Yeah, Wilson was a toxic friend..." Abi asked with horror "He cut himself to fix Wilson?!?!" Hyrum again: "It's like life of Pi, and Wilson is the Tiger". When the whale peeks up to say hello "Hi Buddy! Hope you find your dad!" - from Elf, lol. When Kelley Frear faints, Wes feels sick with sorry for our main character "Oh no! She moved on!!!" When he's on the plane going back to his life before the island, Hyrum says with a little disappointment: "I was slightly hoping he's have his full beard..." And they say Cast Away 2 will be when Wilson will become a cast away on his own island. Fun kids. We had a very wonderful day with all of them. Joseph is leaving tomorrow! Suddenly it feels like this vacation is going to be over so soon! We only have 3 more days at the pool and beach, then Sunday church, and then we leave! We will try to soak it all up while it lasts. This has been wonderful, I'm grateful to be able to enjoy 4+ more days. 

Last Sunday with Mel

We were lucky with Ethan that we had a weekend and a Monday to play before he left for his mission. It would have been nice to have an extra day with Mel, but alas, today was the last day with her. We enjoyed it with a nice meeting at church and then a double feast at home. Mel was able to say her last goodbyes to some ward members, and it was funny cause today was also the first day Joseph has been back to our ward for six months! He was invited to come up and get an elbow bump from the bishop and receive his mission plaque. Mel didn't get a shout out, she already had her farewell. At home we had a feast for lunch and Corey's parents came over and joined us. 

Poor Mel, she ended up sitting in between the messy toddlers. Daniel served himself up a lot of Nutella for his rolls. 

Corey made a note to self: "Don't serve up dishes of Nutella with toddlers around" He didn't have any salad, potatoes, or salmon, just rolls and Nutella. He was licking it off of his plate and licking his hands a little too passionately, it was making Wes uncomfortable...

So I got a cloth and cleaned him up. Ethan calls Daniel's age the "ugly phase of toddlers" and said that one thing on the bright side of him serving a mission was that he was going to miss some of Peter's ugly phase. Sorry to make you sit between them Mel, but it was our last chance with you for several months. 

Who knows, maybe she will look back at this moment with fondness. We had another feast of crepes later. Crepes are Corey's specialty. He will have four pans going on the stovetop a the same time. He's got skills. It is a lot of work though, I'm impressed he has the stamina to make them as often as he does. Kids ready to dig in... Peter in his Sulley costume, such a cute little monster.

My parents came over for the evening feast. They didn't eat the food, but we had a nice visit. My dad brought us some of the cute little gourds that the the kids were admiring from his garden.

I didn't get a picture of them with Mel at her farewell, My dad could be a pretty good Santa in December if he wanted.

After dinner Mel enjoyed some time with her favorite baby brother. 

Peter was going to bed and hopefully, if he sleeps well, we won't have to wake him up in the morning to come with us to the airport. They played "Where's your nose?..." ...eyes, toes, and hands...

And they made happy, sad, and mad faces... (mad face below, Peter's pretty good at that one)

And she tickled him, Peter brushed her hair, and she blew it at him and made him laugh.

Peter, Mel loves you! She is going to miss you so much! Ethan did sat that missing Peter is one of the hardest things. 

And with that we'll say goodnight - we stayed up way too late again (me blogging, Corey was talking with Joseph...) Joseph calls Corey quite a bit for help with his computer programming class. Tonight he wanted help with planning his finances, trying to apply for a credit card, and then with figuring out who are all the people on the ballot that he needs to vote for. A new adventure begins for Mel tomorrow, it's the end of the term for HWAL, so back to the grind for the rest of us.