Last Saturday, Ryan and I braved a chilly wind to hit the Magrath Golf Course for our first round of golf of the year. The cold wind forced us to call it after 9 holes and I won’t even go into how poorly I did. Time to hit the driving range!!
Meet My New Adventure Buddy- Rocky Barkboa
8 AprI have always wanted a dog but have always been in a rental where it wasn’t possible. After we bought our house in August I decided to wait until after the wedding to commit to a puppy. The weekend we returned from Hawaii, I found a little black lab who stole my heart and I brought him home.
Rocky and I have already had a couple of adventures. On an unseasonably warm day we went and played in the mud.
Rocky and my cousin playing by a creek
Me and my muddy pup
We have had a lot of fun playing in the snow too.
Playing in the snow
Ryan loves him already
Expect to see him in a lot of pictures this summer. 
Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 7- Surfing & Final Beach Day
6 AprIt was hard to believe how fast our honeymoon went. When we first arrived it seemed like we had a lot of time and all of a sudden it was over.
We had only gotten to surf once because we were so busy so this was our last chance to try to catch a wave. It didn’t go well, neither of us did catch a wave but I enjoyed my time on the water big time. Ryan felt it was a waste of time (he doesn’t get the zen of surfing I guess). But we did get a bunch of fun shots on the beach.
I had to have an old school surf shot of Ryan
Ryan paddling out
Me paddling out
After this not so successful surf session, we dropped off the boards and hung out/showered on Kualoa Beach.
My sexy husband at Kualoa Beach
Chinamans Hat
Practising my crane
The happy honeymooners
It was a wonderful week and a great way to unwind after the pressures of the wedding.
Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 6- Hiking Hauula Trail & Laie Point
5 AprWe started off that morning with a hike on Hauula Trail Loop. It is a 3 mile loop with a little climbing, a great place for a trail run or a family hike.
Park at the beach across from 7-11 and head up the residential road towards the mountain.
There is a little parking at that yellow gate ahead but it’s better to park on the beach
You’ll walk along a road for a little bit
To the right you’ll see this sign for the beginning of the loop
I’ll warn you right here. At the loop you get to choose to go right or left. We went right because it started off uphill so we thought we would get the uphill climb out of the way. Go left! There is less climbing if you go left than to the right.
Hiking through the tropical forest
This trail reminded me of my cross country days
Halfway through we saw this red hill and decided to climb it
And this is the view we got
Ryan enjoying the view
If we had gone the other way we would have gone down these steps instead of up.
It was a great, easy, beautiful hike
We stopped by Laie Point to see if we could jump (like I did in 2008) but it was way too windy and choppy so we got a few pictures and called it a day.
Ryan on Laie Point
I was dying to jump but it was really choppy
Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 5- Funeral, Snorkelling & a Show
4 AprSaturday was a unique day because it was my Great Uncle’s funeral. You would never guess it looking at me, but my great grandmother is Samoan. This was Ryan’s chance to meet my brown relatives. Not exactly the happiest occasion for it, but it was nice to be there to pay my respects and represent my mom’s family.
After the funeral, we headed to Turtle Bay cove for more snorkelling and the most incredible thing happened, we swam with a sea turtle!! All my years of snorkelling in that cove and I finally got to swim with a wild sea turtle.
Ryan really enjoyed snorkelling
The sea turtle is on the bottom centre and that’s my butt on the right
We didn’t touch him but this is how close we got!
Hello beautiful sea turtle
Bye turtle!
That evening, we headed to the Polynesian Cultural Centre evening show, Ha; a breathe of life. I have been going to the night show for a long time and this was the most dramatic, pageantry one I’ve seen.
These photos don’t belong to me, I googled them
It was wonderful! Ryan and I did laugh because there was one skinny white guy dancing and he stood out like a sore thumb. If we had more money, I would have taken Ryan to the centre for the day as there is so much great cultural stuff to see and learn.
Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 4- Hiking to Laie Falls
3 AprOne must-do item on our vacation itinerary was hiking to Laie Falls. I did this hike with my sister Leilani in 2008 and I had to share this experience with Ryan.
This is about a 10 mile round trip hike and the incline isn’t too bad.
Ryan always starts our hikes off with a cigarette. Ha!
Park at the football field or the cricket field and head through the gates onto that dirt road. Follow it in a little ways until you see this blue sign on the left side.
I don’t know about the permit thing. We didn’t have one and I don’t know if you would have got in trouble because of it.
The trail starts off on a slight incline
You’ll quickly approach a fork in the trail with a sign that tells you which way to go (the left)
Someone scratched out Laie Falls on the sign, so just know you go left
You’ll go through two tropical pine forests
Looking down on the red hills
What a view
The higher you go, the better the ocean view
Up, up, up you go.
A large part of the trail is washed out making it fun to go down, but a pain in the butt to go up
Entering the second pine forest
At around mile 4 you walk through a tunnel of trees
After you turn off the trail toward the falls you have some scrambling to do to go down to the falls. Proceed cautiously, there are ropes to help you but it is slippery, narrow and steep.
Using rope to climb down the rocks
When you get to the falls, this is your view:
Nothing fancy but beautiful
Ryan found a rope but didn’t use it to go in
We swam under the falls
I just love how buff I look in this pic! Ha ha
This is an amazing hike and took us about 3 hours in total and that was with hanging out and swimming under the falls.
And don’t forget not to pick the local’s coconuts. Ha ha!
Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 3- Surfing, Valentine’s Lunch & Snorkelling
2 AprThe morning of Day 3, I dragged Ryan out to Castle Beach in Kahuku to give surfing a try. I had found a local who rented boards for cheap and we got two boards for $75 for the week. I am no expert at all, I have had one lesson and a couple of sessions on my last Hawaiian visit with Leilani.
My darling husband thought because he is a natural athlete (baseball, basketball, football) that he would hop on a board and go. Ha ha ha! I tried giving him a push but he didn’t like that so I tried to coach him. And a beginner coaching a beginner is not good. Needless to say, neither of us caught a wave that first day. I still enjoyed my zen time on the water but Ryan wasn’t happy.
Paddling out
Ryan paddling out
This day was Valentine’s Day so Ryan and I headed to Ola’s at Turtle Bay for a Valentine’s lunch.
Romantic lunch on the beach
Not a bad view
After lunch, we headed out to the cove for some snorkelling.
Ryan snorkelling
Glowing fish
Me snorkelling
