Hanauma Bay

Yesterday we decided to go to Hanauma Bay. The day started out great...until we got out of the car and Gabe had an unfortunate encounter with the sidewalk. Luckily he’s a happy little guy and it didn’t get him down for long.

Once we finally got into the park the kids got to play on the rocks while we waited to get in.

When we got down to the beach, the boys and Uncle Seth started digging in the sand and I stayed on the beach with the stuff while everyone else went snorkeling. After a few minutes, the family next to me packed up to leave. Right before they left they told me that there was a storm coming in 20 minutes. We should have listened...

After awhile, Auntie Cassie and Gram and Gramps came in, so I went out snorkeling with Pat, and Bella went back out with Auntie Katilyn and Uncle Nathan. The snorkeling was nice, but it did desperately make me want to go diving again...

We were about to head in when we saw Nathan on the other side of the bay motioning about turtles, so we took off that direction. We watched the turtle for awhile while Nathan left to go find everyone else. Pat and I decided to head in just as Nathan and Katilyn came running out to find the turtle. They also said that it was starting to rain, so everyone else was getting packed up. Pat and I headed in and found Gramps on the beach, who asked us where Bella was. The last we knew, she was with Katilyn, so Gramps took off down the beach to find her. Pat and I found Gram and Gabe under a tree with all the stuff and then he headed off to look for Bella also.

It was starting to rain harder and I said I was cold, so Gabe told me “Mommy, get under the tree!” I did and it was warmer! Gram also said that Bella was getting dressed, so even though everyone was off looking for her, she was fine. Just then a huge thunderclap/lightening flash hit and the lifeguard yelled at everyone to get out of the water.

We decided that was a good time to head for the cars. Seth had run ahead and gotten one of the cars already and turned around to get the other one. By this point it was raining so hard that it was literally like God had dumped out a bucket of water on our heads. Water was pouring down the hill like it has been poured and you couldn’t even see more than a few feet in front of you. Everything we had was soaked. The two little boys were wrapped in wet towels and carried by Auntie Cassie and Pat and they were actually doing pretty well until another thunderclap hit and scared them.

There are not words to describe how wet we were by the time that we got to the top. We fit as many people into the van as possible while we waited for Uncle Seth to bring the Jeep, but every time the door was open for a brief moment, more sheets of water came pouring into the car. As soon as Seth showed up everyone not in the van ran into the Jeep and we all shut ourselves inside.

Everything was wet. The people, the cars, and everything in them.

Poor Bryson kept saying “I not okay. I cold.”

By the time we all got home, everyone was exhausted. We all showered, got lunch and I took a nap. Since I was asleep, I have no idea who else slept...

After dinner, we went to the mall and played glow-in-the-dark minigolf. And we all had wet bottoms because the car seats were still soaked...

It was quite the day...