hanauma bay + a random 'off the beaten path' coastline

octopus. 

eel

octopus again. actually, there are two in this picture. can you see the second one? 

(he's down in the right corner) 

this day was a long time ago, as you can see, nate is in some of these pictures. (he's back in seattle now.) but i figure, better late than never. 

mānana trail

i tripped before we even got to the trail sign. how embarrassing.

photo credit: nate gleisner (he took his one and about 2 others)

this trail also goes on forever, but we turned around at about three miles. 

we ate, hung out and nate put up his hammock at a lookout area. 

11 mile hike along a mountain ridge

 don't worry, it was safer than it looks.

 nate, a friend of ours & i hiked and hiked and hiked some more. 11 miles, to be exact. this trail was called the royal summit. i thought we would actually reach a summit, wouldn't you? nope. three miles in, i come to find out there is no summit. so why is it called the royal summit? well, it's  because the neighborhood/subdivision near the trailhead is called royal summit. way to falsely advertise, huh? ha. another thing we learned is that this trail doesn't end. it goes on forever and ever. we ended up hiking up/over/down 15 (i think that was the final count) mountain peaks(?). i don't really know what to call them. stephan had hiked a part of this trail before, but hadn't gone this far. at mile four, we stopped for lunch. and every couple of minutes after that, we debated about whether or not we should turn around. "still have enough water?" yup. "ok, let's keep going." "feet hurt yet?" nope. "ok, let's keep going." we really wanted to find an end to this thing. ultimately, the (pouring) rain made us make up our minds to turn around... very quickly. the dirt became mud, and it got slippery and dangerous. we didn't want local newspapers to write about three hikers gone missing in the mountains (no joke, this happens frequently). i didn't get any pictures of the rain and how drenched we were. i thought it was a little safer looking at where my feet were landing than what my phone was taking pictures of. but just imagine jumping into a pool with your clothes and shoes on, then coming out and going hiking.

we. were. soaked. 

and obviously, we made it home safely because here i am, talking about the experience three-and-a-half weeks later. :)

oh, and i will find the end of this trail someday. 

waikiki

first time testing out my lifeproof phone case- it works!

nate and josiah went para-sailing while kai and i were swimming at the beach.

we found a sea cucumber while exploring in the deeper water. 

and then forced our brothers and dad to touch it. :) (my mom touched it willingly.)

pool time aka wash-off-the-saltwater-&-sand time.

for dinner we ate at a world famous hot dog shop called Hank's Haute Dogs.

i got a no dog. it had avocado, tomato, onion, cucumber, Chinese parsley, spicy chipotle mayo and cheddar. delicious.

aaaaaallllllloooooohhhhhhaaaaa

waiting for the friday night fireworks

after fireworks, we walked around downtown, window shopped, people watched, and kept walking until our feet hurt. waikiki is almost more alive at night than during the day, and many talented street performers line the sidewalk. the picture above it from a guy who puts on a show of music and dancing while spray painting (yes, spray painting). amazing, huh? the last song he played was "i can only imagine". he gives glory to God. how awesome. i have a short video on my phone, but i don't really know how to get in on here... oh wait, here's a youtube video. watch it now.

here's his website. check him out.