Over the holiday weekend, we decided to hit the beach every day. I think over three days (Thursday thru Saturday), we hit four: Bellows, Turtle Bay, Sunset, and Waimea. Whew! Talk about lots o' sun, water, and FUN! Sunset's waves were entirely too big and strong, so we only stayed for maybe 30 min there. Turtle Bay is nice--very touristy--I don't see us going back there to hang out all day (plus the fact that they charge for parking--BY THE HOUR).
By far, our favorite was Bellows. :):):) I simply can't wait to go back there! Lots of waves--but not the ones that knock you off your feet and drown you. These were big and PERFECT for boogie boarding!
To top it off, this place is on an air force base--so it's not always open to the public. (ie: less crowds). Jason--I'm soooo taking your family here whenever you guys decide to come.
You can't tell just from looking, but this sand is INCREDIBLE! Powder soft. It's incredibly fine and so smooth.
We've acquired a few body boards over the past couple of weeks. Evelyn's thinking that she might be able to surf on this one....
Jacob's expression absolutely cracks me up!
Nice size waves--we got out the body boards and rode these straight back onto the beach.
Taller than me! I couldn't believe this preggo woman next to me...I was riding the waves to keep my head above the water and getting shoved around a bit--I can't believe she was JUMPING in these things too!
Julia's finishing riding a wave...again, LOVE Jacob's expression. :)
Jacob got courageous and hopped onto a board too--and ever since, he only wants to go to beaches that have good waves so that he can boogie board.
We weren't about to leave all that fun to just the kids! Ryan and I took turns going out. LOVED it!
When Sunset didn't workout, we headed down the street to here:
Race you in!
"I'm winning! I'm winning!"
"Geranamo!"
Something else we discovered this weekend--snorkeling. Oh my gosh, I think it's my favorite past time now! LOVE IT! We bought a couple of masks and the mouthpieces and we're ready to go! I especially love it since I'm not the greatest swimmer (like, at all). All we have to do is don the mask and mouth piece and literally lay face down in the water. Since it's salt water, we stay afloat without any effort whatsoever.
Here's Ryan and Julia. Ryan and I took turns going out. We went over near the big rock that everyone jumps off of--there's some cool coral over there and TONS of fish. We saw hundreds of tiny silver fish in a school, lots of sea urchins, and some of the most AMAZING colored fish I've ever seen--purple, green, and orange (all the colors on just one fish), striped white and black ones (like a zebra), some larger than my head.
It looks like Julia is swimming--but she's just using her feet to actually move forward. Otherwise, you literally just lay there and enjoy the scenery.
I'm thinking that this is going to be my one child who learns how to surf.
The end of our three day beach hopping--and everyone is tuckered out. Marcus actually fell asleep on me--so I covered him in towels and layed him down on all the other towels (and liberally applied sunscreen to his exposed face). Jacob was nodding off himself here.
4 comments:
pay for parking at turtle bay? that's changed since we've been to hawaii. that sucks. but that beach is not that great. snorkeling is by far one of the reason we love hawaii. it's just so fun - it's so fun to see your family doing it! so i have to ask - no one in your family looks burned! how do you do it???
LOL--trial and error Karen. The first time we ever went to the beach, Ry put on one tiny coat of sunscreen. We ended up leaving two hours later because he said it felt like his skin was literally on fire. So, we put on a ridiculous amount of SPF 50 on right before we get in the car (literally, huge handfuls). Then we reapply ever 30 min or every hour. One big tube of sunscreen lasts about 2-3 weeks. And I think the girls and I are going to start wearing hats to the beach cause our heads keep getting sunburnt (where the hair parts).
Speaking of snorkeling, the next time I'm at waimea, I'm going around the big rock. Some people told me they saw sea turtles there.
thanks! i think the sun is just stronger here in texas. i never got burnt in hawaii but it seems i do here - with using a hat, rashguard, etc. weird. oh yeah - we've seen turtles at waimea every time we've been there. we hike past the jumping rock and go in there, on the left hand side looking at the ocean. there are almost always turtles there. it's such a fun experience to see those turtles in the water.
So fun! We stayed at Bellows several years ago, and I'd love to go back! I'm so jealous looking at all your beach pics! But so glad you're all having fun. :)
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