fishing at waiahole

It was a fine, sunny afternoon that my sister, Elika, invited us all out to Waiahole to do some fishing. 

In a pond.  For catfish and tilapia.

We had nothing better to do, and the kids always LOVE hanging out with cousins, so we said YES!

Actually, the kids also LOVE to fish!

This was a private pond, owned by a friend/work acquaintance of Elika's and he was very kind and gracious to provide extra fishing poles, bait, and nets.

There were chickens roaming around and even a stray goat that nearly knocked us over when it got loose...but the kids had fun!  It was also very, very, VERY, dirty.  But it was a Saturday and we were not doing anything particularly important, so what the heck! What's a little dirt, right?

Oh, was I wrong!

Dirt is NOT my friend.

But anyway, the fish were biting pretty good!  Anna caught this tilapia first.  We hadn't planned on taking any home so ended up throwing it back into the water.  It wasn't until later that we realized how much of a waste that was!  We could take it home and eat it!

So, after releasing one tilapia and one catfish, we all began casting in earnest to catch us some dinner...

And not to toot my own horn, but I ended up catching 2 catfish and a tilapia for our dinner.

A couple other kids caught some fish as well, but they ended up getting loose and swimming away.

However, with our 2 catfish and tilapia in a borrowed bucket, we packed up our filthy kids and drove up to Elika's to eat some freshly caught fish!

Please excuse the bloody mess...but with the aid of a couple of Youtube videos....I filleted all 3 fish successfully!  

Honestly, it was pretty gross and I don't look forward to ever doing it again, but I was pretty proud of myself today!  I seasoned it and dusted it with flour and then cooked it up with some garlic and olive oil and wouldn't you know it, everyone said it tasted good!  

Everyone, except for Anna, that is.

They were, of course, alive when we brought them home and Anna was none too pleased with our having to make them "un-alive."

She was the only one that didn't eat any fish that day because it hurt her heart to think of the fish no longer swimming freely in the water.

Poor girl...I wouldn't be surprised if she became a vegan one day...

hiking up tantalus

It's true that we live in paradise!  And since moving to town, we've made a conscious effort to make the time to enjoy all that Hawaii has to offer!

Which means going hiking on our days off when at all possible.

We were babysitting my nephews for the afternoon so decided to get them out of our tiny house and into nature.  Mitch thought a hike up above Tantalus would be a good idea, so we loaded up all the kiddos, slathered them with bug spray, and hit the road!

The trail that Mitch wanted to hike was relatively easy going, but narrow in certain spots with lots of tree roots sticking up.  A couple of the little ones were slipping and sliding around and Jojo was none too happy about that.  Mitch carried my littlest nephew in the backpack carrier and we took turns holding hands with Kaden and his 3 year old cousin, Knox.  It was slow going in some spots but the older kids liked to run ahead at times, eliciting a "stop!" from Mitch and I now and again.

All in all, it was a nice hike!  But as we were going (and going and going) the trail seemed longer than Mitch remembered so we turned around and decided to head back.

On our way back down the Tantalus, we stopped by the lookout...and took a snack break.

The view from up here was spectacular!  Plus, there was a nice open field below that the kids ran up and down (and up and down) while we simply enjoyed the beauty of our island.

Me and Kaden...he was getting pretty tired and needed to be carried.

Do I baby him too much?  Yes.

Do I care?  No.

The cousins, eating popcorn on the hill overlooking all of Honolulu.  

Lucky we live Hawaii!

pu'u ma'eli'eli hike

Summer is at an end.  The girls are back at school, but on this first Saturday in August, we decided to take the family (with some friends) on an easy hike in Kaneohe.  

I looked and looked for an easy, kid-friendly hike and came up with Pu'u Ma'eli'eli hike near the Valley of the Temples.  ALL of the guide books I read said that it was easy and great for kids.  

I don't know what kind of kids those guide books are talking about, but for our little ones, it was more than a bit challenging.  It was also longer than I thought it would be.

BUT, the view was spectacular!!

There were lots of mosquitos, some muddy slopes here and there, and even a rock hill that you had to use a rope to scale...but through it all, the kids were troopers and did great!

We were very proud of them for making it all the way to the top!

And then up at the top, we were equally scared that they would fall off this landing area...but there was an extra ledge right underneath this that would prevent any serious injury should one child end up toppling over.  That's not to say that we didn't keep a close eye (and hand) on them at all times, of course!  I think even the kids were impressed with this fabulous view.

Me and Kaden.

Kaden did so great!  I'm so glad that Mitch was with us, since he helped out quite a bit with both  Kaden and Jolee.  Elika also came so I had to help out with her little ones while she carried Nixon in the backpack carrier.  But despite all that, all the kids pretty much climbed and hiked all by themselves!  We were so very impressed and proud of these kids!

All in all, with friends and family, we were a pretty big group, with lots of little kids.

The hike was pretty challenging, but they all did so great and I really loved seeing the beauty of Kaneohe Bay and pretty much all of the the Windward side of the island from the top of the hill.  

And the McDonald's ice cream and treats at the end proved to be the perfect reward for a job well done!