labor day!

Every Labor Day, our Ward at church rents a picnic area at Ala Moana Beach Park and hosts a HUGE BBQ/beach party.

I had contemplated skipping this year since I wasn't really looking forward to making the drive down and hitting the beach sans husband, but since most of the cousins were also going to be there, I decided to gather my wits and go!

And, I'm glad I did!
The girls had fun! And, so did I.

Here are some of the highlights.

Swimming at the beach with cousins.

That's Kela on Hugo's shoulders, with Rumi swimming by behind them.

Isn't the weather beautiful?
I totally have the sunburn to prove it!

Ah, the float boat we brought along.

That got commandeered by most of the other kids later...but it's all good!
Sharing is caring, right? :)

Anna with her fellow Sunbeams classmate, Caleb.
Does the deepness of the water scare you?

It scared me!
Not to mention the waves were actually quite strong!
Thankfully, the girls were strong enough swimmers to combat it.

Jolee running away from the waves.
She made me the most nervous of all!
Especially since I'm quite past the "able to run after a toddler" phase of my pregnancy.

And...seriously...who needs a BOY when you got a daughter who acts like a little BOY?!

"I LOVE getting dirty!"

-Anna

And, she did a bang-up job of it, too!

Sandwiched in between trips to the beach was some lunch...

And some shave ice...

Some more shave ice...

And even MORE shave ice....

And then some fishing in the dirty canal that runs along the park.
(Seriously. I've seen shopping carts in there...)


I have NO idea what Jolee is doing here...

but it made me nervous nonetheless.

Anna was so determined to catch a fish.

Thankfully, I didn't have to unhook any poor unsuspecting (not to mention icky) fish.

Jonas did, however, manage to catch himself a crab!
Way to go, Jonas!

Ah...if only I weren't so paranoid about my girls falling into the dirty canal...I'm sure I'd have found this activity more relaxing.

Then, after all the hubbub of swimming, eating, fishing, and eating some more...we found some swings that people had created from the vines of this huge Banyan tree.

The girls had a blast swinging.

And getting even more dirty, but I guess that's what Labor Day is all about, right?