The White House: Hawaii Trip - Esplin Family Reunion Part 1

So every 5 years Stephen's family on his mother's side does a reunion in Hawaii. His grandparents moved there in 1960 to start up the English department for BYU Hawaii, so Steve's mom, Claudia was about 4 at the time they moved there. They lived there for about 6 years until they moved back to Utah. There are some wonderful stories and memories from their time there. So after Stephen's grandparents died, they started the tradition to go to Hawaii every 5 years. I got to go the year after Stephen and I got married which was wonderful. This time was the 50 year reunion which was a pretty big ordeal. 139 members of the Esplin family all came. It was chaotic and incredible!

The flight over was manageable - except the seats being squished together, the airline not even offering water, and the bathrooms that started going out of order - my kids did well though and even napped some of the long flight. :)

Hawaii - here we come!

The humidity hit us the second we walked off the plane and I enjoyed every minute of it. We settled in to the condo with both kids sleeping in our room...and then both of them ending up in our bed since it was so hot (with no air conditioning), and with the time change, we woke up by about 5AM to roosters crowing like crazy and jungle birds chirping. I thought, "Wow, how awesome - we are really IN Hawaii!" and then I thought, "okay - and I'm done now. I'm going to ring their necks. I need to sleep!"

We got settled in the next day, buying a GOOD fan that made quite a difference, even though it stayed pretty hot since our room didn't get much of a breeze. We went to Kakala Beach in the evening and I remembered why I like Hawaii. I decided the ocean and beach are reallly Hawaii's air conditioning.

First time after the beach! Kakala is fabulous!

The next day we headed for my happy place, Waimea Beach. I could float in that beautiful ocean all day long. The snorkeling there is really fun too. We saw schools of fish, the blue tang fish aka Dory from Finding Nemo, and lots of others. The kids liked playing in the sand and Ross liked riding on the boogie board in the water.

LOVE this beach

My happy place :)

Cutie sand girl!

LOVE him :)

Snorkeling :)

Relaxing in the sand

On Saturday we went to the traditional Hukilau on Hukilau beach and watched them bring the nets in that caught probably about 25 fish.

It was fun to see. Ross liked all the fish and crabs jumping around. Later that morning Steve took Ross with his family and did the PCC hike to a little waterfall and pond while I let Ruby take a good nap at home.

Hukilau time!

Hukilau Beach :)

Hangin' out with cousin Olivia :)

Catching the fish!

The PCC hike - JUNGLE!

That evening we went for the crazy family pictures which somehow got done and then a nice luau dinner since Stephen's Uncle Kimo had set up a scholarship fund for the college. There was a tribute to Stephen's grandparents and a nice program. The food was delicious. The kalua pork was delicious, and they had taro, squid, long rice, poi, and a coconut dessert. :) Yum! Our kids finally fell asleep on us (which NEVER happens) because it was a long day. Bless them - the whole trip was one of little or no naps with all the stuff going on. They were really good troopers for the most part.

The Esplin Grandkids :)

The Esplin GREAT grandkids

The Married-In's AKA the mudbloods ;)

The White Family Esplins - sans Nate and Young

The Esplin Kids :) Judi, Jill, Robin, Mary, Linda, Claudia, and Kimo

Most of the Esplin Family - CRAZY!

Esplin Luau in honor of Ross and Olive Esplin

Sunday was got up early to go to church so the boys could watch the World Cup finish. It was funny though, because we went to three churches before we found one in English. The other chapels were Tongan, Fijian, and Samoan - only in Hawaii. :)

Sacrament Meeting was beautiful. There was a family speaking who were moving soon, so at the end of the meeting, people went and put lays on them and Brother Ah Quin (who plays Mahana's father in the old Johnny Lingo and is also an Opera Singer) sang Aloha Oe with the most beautiful voice. LOVED that. I went to take Ruby to nursery since she is finally 18 months old thinking it would be a piece of cake with how friendly she is with everyone. She was fine for a while...until she realized I wasn't there anymore. She was quite sad. It was funny though. If I'm with her - she's constantly running away from me! I guess she just needs to know I'm stationed somewhere. Crazy girl.

After church we ran over to Uncle Kimo's to finish watching the World Cup. Germany won which was exciting and fun - right at the end. Afterwards we tried for naps and then had a fireside that night on some of their family history and heard about Aunt Judy's mission to the Marshall Islands. I hung out in the nursery with the kids at the end since they could only handle being quiet and still for so long.

Watching the game!

The next day we went to Pupukea to play. There was a great area like a big bathtub for the kids which was fun, and Steve and I snuck away for some more snorkeling which was fantastic! There are fish everywhere. We saw angel fish and so many other colored ones. I love that place for snorkeling. It seriously is the best.

Pupukea

Ruby picked up another fetish while in Hawaii. Sticks. Whenever we get to a beach she immediately starts sorting through drift wood for the perfect two sticks to constantly carry with her. It's hilarious. She prefers to dig in the sand and look for sticks and run up and back from the water rather than actually float around and swim in the water. Ross, on the other hand, likes to go jump the waves which makes it tricky being all together in the water with happy kids when one is for the water and the other is for the sand. :)

Afterwards we went up to the Heiau where they had an ancient sacrificial war temple. It has a great view of Waimea too. It was a fun walk around.

Awesome picture with the uncles overlooking Waimea!

Ross in front of the ancient sacrificial temple...cheese!

That night for FHE we had another huge potluck get together with the family and all the Aunties' friends so we could get to know them. We slipped out early since our kids were beyond exhausted.

One of the handfuls of ginormous family gatherings :)

Some bro and sis time getting pulled around on the blanket :)

On Tuesday we made a break for a store trip and then went to Kailua Beach which has made into my hall of fame for beaches - especially as a mom. The beach is beautiful, clean, perfect water, and it even has a little shallow river the kids can play in. Ross and I spent a lot of time in it watching all the little fish and this lady who was catching crabs. It was pretty exciting. :) I've got another happy place. :)

Her hair mostly fitting in a ponytail!

Catching a Winnie the Pooh Ride - Ruby's dream come true!

Cute cousin Alex

Kailua Beach - another of my happy places :)

In the evening we snuck out to celebrate a cousin, Jodi's birthday with volleyball at Turtle Bay and eating at Kuhuku Grill - yum! My burger was AT least 10 inches high!

Crazy Burgers!

That night the boys took at shot at husking and opening a coconut. It's a lot of work actually. Also fascinating. :)

Husking the coconut!

Wednesday was a town day in Honolulu. We stopped for classic Chinaman's Hat pictures on the way and then went to the fabulous Swap Meet for shopping at Aloha Stadium. After we went to the Punchbowl Cemetery where veterans from WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam war are buried. It was a beautiful place!

Chinaman's hat!

Love Hawaii's mountains

The Punchbowl Cemetery

We ate at Egg's 'N Things which is definitely a repeat - scrumptious, did a little more shopping in Waikiki, and finished with the Waikiki beach which was fun. Whew - so much we did!