Blog 8 of January

Only a couple more days of the Hawaiian Vacation - hang in there.

It's Wednesday, January 1st, 2014.  Yes the first day of a new year, and where would you want to be, well, we here, enough said.

Today is Kailua beach (it's pronounces just like the liqueur)  I had read good things on line about this beach and had heard from friends that the sand and water here is amazing.  I believe Ashley was navigator today, and she and the GPS got us to the beach in no time.  But the parking was atrocious.  Seems everyone else must have read the same article or talked to my same friends.  With a few maneuvers we managed to find a nice end spot on a near by street, so there wasn't much walking involved to get to the beach.  The beach is right next to a park, and people had volleyball nets set up; some people were BBQing.

   We found a nice little spot next to some fallen trees (built in shade if needed)  Ashley and Ethan left to find the nearest place to rent paddle boards.  Patrick was also interested, but the interest lessened when he discovered the farther than he had hoped.

  So while Ashley and Ethan were paddling, Patrick and I built another sand fortress.  The only criteria Patrick wanted was for it to be the tallest in the world.  Small request.

And Bill, well he did what he needed to do!

  Farther out in the ocean was this small flat island.  Apparently it is a designated bird sanctuary and although you can walk on the edge, you are asked to stay off the actual grass area.

  At one point during the day, there were sirens, followed by EMS and a firetruck farther down at the end of the beach.  Hopefully all turned out well. (or maybe there were shooting a scene from Hawaii 5-0)  - that was my theory.
   We took a great family shot - Bill insisted on trying out the timer on his camera.  He rested the camera on our shady tree trunk and then would run into the water

.  The group photo you see is the last photo taken with the camera - because shortly afterwards, the camera fell into the sand - and it bit the dust (or sand)  The humor in this story is that a lady near us in the water offered to take the group shot for us, but Bill wanted to see how the timer worked.  Lesson learned (or not) On a side note, Ashley took the camera in when we got back to Calgary, and it wasn't worth the cost to fix it - so Bill said he would try - too bad cameras can't be flushed down toilets like fish when they die!)
   Ashley and Ethan paddled their boards back to the renters (it was quite a jaunt) and the remainder of us drove to meet them at the same renters.

 Well that was a journey in itself - the traffic was the worst I have seen.  We find out later on, the traffic is a result of one President Obama.  Seems he was golfing in the area and stopped to pick up some shaved ice for his girls at the place next to the paddle renters.  Hmmmmm, annoyed but kind of cool.
    We get the kids, we're kind of wet, a little sandy and good time to head back to the hotel.  But seems Bill had a moment - we are in the area anyway, so we stop at the Punchbowl - the military cemetery.

  It is a wondrous site. And a great way to wind down and reflect.   I remember when Bill and I came years ago, we visited the site of the Hawaiin astronaut Ellison S Omizuka.
  Then we headed back to our hotel and on Ethan's suggestion we tried out the Cheeseburger paradise and no, Patrick did not get ID'd.  The food and service were both good.  It was a great end to a busy but relaxing day.
Almost done.
Stacey