Hawaii Part 2

 This was what the hiking trails looked like. Rocky and bit slippery.

 Maui traffic. We found it easy to navigate around the island.

 We found this remote beach with beautiful sand and blue water. I put the camera back in the car and we went swimming. With both of us being raised on the prairies, we are not familiar with the ocean. We were out swimming and a wave came and rolled us both over under the water. Sand was everywhere. So the next while I spent trying to wash sand out of my swimming suit.

 We drove up to Haleakala National Park to hike down into the crater. The elevation was around 10,000 feet. I had a bit of altitude sickness. Once at the top of the crater, we started the decent downward. In 4 miles, there was a 3,000 foot elevation change. I felt much better at the lower elevation.

 The beauty was incredible. It did take us longer to hike back up.

 We visited a winery while on the island. Very interesting piece of history and how the different wines are made.

 Just over 1,000 miles were put on this car in a week. Curtis enjoyed driving it. The island is populated with Mustang convertibles.

 It was worth it to visit Pearl Harbor again.

 Bunker fuel that is still leaking from the sunken vessel.

 Last time we were in Oahu, the aviation museum was not open yet. A neat place to visit. This aircraft hanger is huge.

 The bullet holes are still there from the attack.

 Now that is a system of wires. I would not make a good pilot or aircraft mechanic. Too many wires and buttons.

 A foot print was made int he concrete  outside the hanger. I think the date was 1947.

Maui Part 1

 Curtis and I had the opportunity to invest some time to our marriage. With the kids being taken care of by all the grandparents, we took off to the Hawaiian Islands. We spent 7 days on Maui and 3 days on Oahu. Since we travelled light (could have travelled lighter) Curtis wanted to rent a Mustang convertible. Well, I think most of the tourist that visit that island rent Mustangs. They were everywhere.

 This was a holiday where I didn't book any tours. The only thing I had pre booked was the hotel and car rental. So with help from Google, the GPS on the iPad, and spending a little bit of time in research, we filled our week with activity.

 There are not that many roads on the island and the traffic is very light. We drove on every major road. One of our goals was to go hiking in the state and national parks. We only payed an entrance fee for one of the parks. The rest was free to enter. Hiking was free as well. The beauty we seen on our hikes was spectacular. It was so worth the bit of effort to get there.

 Driving on this road was the scariest part. Most of the road was just a bit wider than the car, blind corners, rock on one side of the road, cliff on the other and no guard rail. Curtis was very good at honking his horn around the corners to notify other drivers and backing up to a place where 2 vehicles could pass.

 Where we went hiking, looks were not important. The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there. Rain, mud, water, and mist don't kill people. We knew later in the day we could get cleaned up.

 In this valley there was a helicopter giving tours. Below is the city of Kahalu.

The trail in the state park was defiantly not well travelled. We did meet some other hikers along the way. I liked going to places where most tourists don't. We were not trying to get through crowds and with the peaceful quiet around us, we chatted all the way up the mountain and all the way down.

Kids are Growing Up

Russell has chosen for his winter activity to do a young masters class. It's a fusion type class of karate, ju-situ (not sure on the correct spelling), taekwondo, self defence, and wrestling. He is in a class with other kids his age and size, so it's not so intimidating because all the kids are about the same size. There are girls in the class as well which creates a nice balance.

 Chloe is playing soccer again for the winter. She really enjoyed her time there last year. We have a soccer net at home and with the beautiful summer we've had, she has enjoyed playing soccer at home.

 Ranger is still her best friend.

 In this picture she is giving Ranger instructions not to move and to look at the camera.

 Russell has even played a few times as well.

 Going for walks and enjoying the scenery in Northern Alberta doesn't get tiring.

 Ranger will be 9 years old this month. He still acts likes he's 2 sometimes.

11 Year Old Russell and the Dirt Bike

Let's just say he is a typical boy. The kids received this dirt bike in January. Instead of just looking at it sitting in the garage over the long winter, they learned how to ride it on snow and ice. So by the time spring came, they were pretty good at handling it. It's just the right size for Russell. He likes the challenge of learning different manoeuvres.  I'm sure there will come a time when the jeans are ripped and skin is scraped!