Manoa Falls Adventure

Once Upon A Time we decided to take a hike...

Here we are gearing up for the journey at the cool little shop & restaurant & the base of the trail(and Aya decided she needed to ride the little stone elephant)

Then off we went into the wild jungle...

And despite me telling Aya at the store that she "needed to go potty now because there aren't potties in the jungle" low and behold we came across this bathroom along the trail!

everything was so green and beautiful!

Many of the episodes of Lost were filmed here

We especially loved the bamboo thickets

As we continued up the mountain the trail got muddier...

and muddier...

and muddier until it was hard not to slip & fall down with each step!

But we finally reached the beautiful 100ft Manoa falls!

Then we headed back down the muddy path...

very carefully until we were back where we started.

We were pretty much covered in mud from the waist down, except for Aya who didn't like the "squishy stuff" and decided she needed to be carried on the way up and on the way down :)

And after a lot of washing off we were clean enough to at least get in the car & drive home to pick up Hana from school.  It took a lot of scrubbing to get all the mud off but it sure was a fun adventure!

The parents in paradise!

Mom & Dad Bushman came out for a 2 week visit on May 31st and we have been loving it!  They are so fun to talk with, feed, enjoy inside jokes with, explore with...pretty much everything.  We have missed them so much.  While I'm writing this Mom is upstairs telling the girls a story and putting them to bed.  So sweet!  Daddy was doing the dishes earlier and I joked with him that I won't know what to do when they leave & I have to start doing dishes again since they do them almost every meal!

Being the great explorers that they are Mom & Dad have found all sorts of cool things here on our island.  One morning they went down to one of our beaches (Paradise Cove) around 6am and ended up swimming with sea turtles!  I've been trying since we've been here to catch them in shallow water so I could see them really up close and swim with them for more than a second but haven't been able to yet!  So glad they had this cool experience.

Mom & Dad on the way to our pool.

Playing with the girls in their "secret hide out"

Playing the Fruit Ninja card game -this is for you Li & Alan!

Riding around on the golf cart.

Playing with Gramma

Hana took this picture of us at the beach

My cute ladies

Enjoying a beach sunset at Paradise Cove

One day we borrowed a kind friend's van & went sight seeing all together

The girls have loved swimming a lot with Gramma & Grampa

More shave ice

Reading & playing games with Gramma

Right before church this morning

Aya helping Gramma make a salad

We've done so many neat things with them like watch sunsets and the beach, bird watching, golf cart rides, eating yummy food etc but my favorite things was being able to go to our Laie Temple together. (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/laie/)  So good to be reminded that our family is forever and wished the rest of my family could be there with us in that holy and beautiful place.

Me & my Mommy & Daddy :)

After the temple we had to eat at the nearby Kahuku Grill which is delish!

And then we needed some shave ice of course...

Excited for 3 more days of fun with the parents!