Luau

Our big family event on Wednesday was the luau in Kailua, at a resort not far from our house.

There were some activities for kids, including a lei bracelet for Bridget and a turtle tattoo for Tor.

The food was great. Even the the kids liked it, and ate everything on their plate.

The show kept the kids attention the entire time. Tor's favorite part was definitely the fire batons.

Lagoon Lounging

After a little later wake up, we headed back to the Queen's Bath Beach, and most of the family joined us. The sun was out, the tide was out, and the water was calm. The kids spent nearly all their time snorkeling.

We ended up staying about 3 hours. The kids got a lot of sun, and ended up a little pink.

Afternoon in Kona

We made a run to Costco for supplies and a quick lunch, then returned with the mission to find a better (safer) beach. It took a while of driving around Kailua, but we eventually found a spot suggested by one of the locals called "The Queen's Bath". It was tucked away and not easy to find, but worth the trip. The water was much calmer.

(Note Tor's scrape on his leg that he got climbing the lava rocks ... he liked telling everyone that it was a shark bite.)

Of course, as soon as we returned to the house, the kids got right back in the pool, this time joined by their cousins for some games of football and volleyball.

The evening settled out with grilled hamburgers and hot dogs by Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin.

The family gathered around Grannie and Papa to hear them recount their first decade together (1959-1969), with many of us learning some shocking new details we had not heard before. Bridget took it all in, like the little family historian she is.

The kids wore themselves out and were ready for bed. Here's Tor in his happy place.

Morning in Kona

With the 3 hour time difference, the kids were up pretty early, and were in the pool before 8:00 am. It's small but warm.

Shortly after, we walked the 2 blocks to the Magic Sands Beach.

It's a small beach, and the waves crash really hard. The kids got knocked over several times, and Bridget definitely had the worst crash, going under and rolling around. She wasn't too happy.

Jillian spent most of her time working on body surfing. She's getting the hang of it

War!

While waiting for our flight to Kona, Tierney busted out the deck of cards and played War with the kids.

Miss Thunder Mountain Pro-Rodeo

Lindsey became the 2020 Miss Thunder Mountain Pro-Rodeo tonight! The kids were very excited. They celebrated with some ice cream cones.

Instruction and Games and More Games

Tierney gave Jillian a volleyball lesson and Brock, Bridget and Tor were the targets and shaggers. Tierney started out teaching passing and everyone got to run around a lot chasing the ball until Jillian got the hang of it. Later Tierney worked on her serving and setting so there was a lot of volleyball all day.

 For a break from volleyball there was a lot of badminton played.This was a lot easier for all of them.

 Later came games of Spikeball with Cale and Erika too. It was close to bedtime so the little ones got to play some before coming in, but the big kids went past dark.

 Then Wednesday the twins got to come play a lot. It was a hot day so they did some crafts with Bridget in the shade. (Jillian was still working on her volleyball with another lesson from Tierney.) These girls made signs with inspirational sayings on them, like "if things never go right, go left".

 Then some more volleyball, this time with Aunt Julie (former setter at KU) working on Jillian's setting skills. She learned so much in two days from all the great help she received.