Dogs, Cats, and Chickens...oh my!

The natural beauty of Hawaii always takes my breath away! I forget how green and thick everything is! Peaceful and serene!

  

I am reminded of an interesting conversation with D the other day. As we were driving past the half-built walls of the elementary school near our house, he said in his matter-of-fact, no-nonsense manner, "Well...that school is going to be the same ugly brown and red like everything else around here." His comment startled me! When I graduated from Dixie State, we were given a small bottle of red sand with a poem about never forgetting the "dirt in our shoes." I remembered that gift every time I headed down that last hill on the drive from Las Vegas when I lived there and came "home". The view of those red rocks is breathtaking and some of the most beautiful in the world. I often take our surroundings for granted and I wonder if the Hawaiian people realize they truly do live in "paradise". 

This morning, I woke up at 4:00 am. I couldn't figure out why I was wide awake until I remembered the time difference. It was really 8:00 in my brain. I was able to go back to sleep pretty easily because I was so tired. We were all very tired! Just after we were all settled in bed last night...around 10 pm...we heard popping sounds. Earlier in the evening, J and Soph told us there were going to be fireworks. Of course, we all thought they were making stuff up. They insisted they heard the neighbors talking about it. When the noise started, I jumped out of bed and looked out our window. Yep! You guessed it! Fireworks! I turned the light on and he just grinned at me. Didn't say a word! He didn't need to. The littles hear it ALL! Be careful what you say! 

Then, several times in the night, we heard a dog bark outside our window. Just two or three loud barks then that was it for awhile. There are a lot of pitbulls on the island. They sound and look mean! But I'm figuring they must be pretty good dogs because there are a lot of them in this neighborhood! 

The kids pointed out all the wild chickens everywhere. We went down a side road and saw a lone chicken head-bobbing it's way along the side of the road. Rob thought it would be so funny to harass the chicken. He pulled up to it, rolled down the window, and started yelling at it. When the chicken turned and ran the other way, he backed up the car and started yelling at it again.

 "Hey!!" He yelled. "Where ya goin'?"  The back-and-forth continued until the terrified chicken jumped over the bushes and ran for its life! The backseat errupted with belly laughs!  

The fun continued when we pulled up to the stop sign and several wild cats were lounging in the sun. They all looked at us with their droopy yellow eyes and waited for us to do something. We stared at the cats. They stared back at us. Rob rolled down my window. The cats crouched...alert and ready to run. Rob called out, "Here kitty kitty!"  The yellow one walked up to the window with the others following as I pointed and yelled, "Drive! Drive!" He just laughed and kept calling the cats and the laughter erupted again from the backseat! We couldn't stop laughing the whole way back to the house!

Swap meet! The place where you find all those things you suddenly MUST have but never knew it existed until that moment! Hats, jewelry, kitschy Hawaiian souvenirs...I just have one thing to say...sweet bread!! If you have ever been to the swap meet at the Aloha Stadium,  you know exactly what I'm talking about! Yum! Of course we found our share of awesome souvenirs. Unfortunately, a guy talked my boys into the most annoying mouth whistle in the world! Hopefully those get lost soon! 😉 Uncle Eric would appreciate that! 

This afternoon, we went to a beach. I would say which beach it was, but there are so many, I don't even know what town we were in. 😳

 T loved boogie boarding! D enjoyed bobbing along out in the water without freezing to death (he has NO body fat), and J liked playing in the sand and running from the waves. I loved the waves hitting my legs! After a few minutes, I went and sat in a chair in the shade. It was hot! Mom tried to convince me to go swim. Andy told me to go swim and that he would help me across the rocky bottom to the smoother part.  I told him I would think about it. He told me to "get off my butt and get out there!" So I did! He wouldn't take any excuses! I held onto the boogie board as he pulled it out into the ocean. It was awesome! You see...I have this little secret about me and the family trips to Hawaii. I don't love water. I don't love swimming...swimming pools...the lake...ocean...immersing myself in large bodies of water. Honestly, I love the waves and the beach but I'm very nervous about going in the ocean. I haven't ever been that far into the ocean. Now don't think I was treading water or anything that exciting. I could still touch the bottom. But barely. It was cool and refreshing and as one of my dear friends advised me...healing! A whole new world was opened up to me today! Even Rob joined us in the water! Well...until I noticed the local girls laughing at me as I clung desperately to the boogie board! Oh well! It has to get easier from here! Right?!?

 

 

Back at the house, as we were all settling in for the evening, T reminded us how great it is that we can hear the ocean. Ah! Sweet dreams from paradise and more adventures await us tomorrow!