We were so busy at the beginning of the summer that it was the 3rd week of June before we signed up for the summer reading program at the library. But after that we made several trips to the library to choose new books and participate in the summer reading program activities for kids. (I don't have pictures of Cat reading but she was definitely reading this summer too!)
Luke considered choosing this board book as his midway prize for the summer reading program.
Shakespeare for Kids in the brand new theater at the library!
Jack and Eliza both got parts in Richard III
At the end of the program we'd earned enough points to enter the Fairy Tale-themed escape room - the kids loved solving the puzzles!
I encouraged Jack and Eliza to join our town's summer swim team this year and they did and it was great! Before school got out, both kids had to complete a swimming evaluation to determine which level they'd train with. They were excited that even though neither had done any competitive swimming before, they were both placed in the Silver group, which is early intermediate. By the end of the summer, Eliza was offered a spot in the Gold group!
Eliza definitely enjoyed being on swim team more than Jack did, but both finished out the season with nearly 100% attendance at practice when we were in town, for 8 weeks. I was mostly interested in the kids becoming very comfortable in the water, but we had the added benefits of getting the whole family up and moving in the mornings during the summer (practice was 8:45-9:45), and giving Jack and Eliza time outside exercising every day. (It turned out that helping Luke do the physioneurotherapy exercises while Jack and Eliza were gone worked out well too.)
Jack competed in the first meet, swimming the 50 yard free, the 50 yard backstroke, and a relay, but being new to swimming he had a hard time swimming the full distance without stopping and ended up with DQ's in his races. He was planning to compete at the next meet but it was cancelled due to the timing equipment not working. He decided not to swim in the remaining two meets of the season.
Eliza competed in 3 meets altogether, with the following as her best times:
50 yard freestyle - 46.02 seconds 50 yard backstroke - 50.72 seconds (3rd place in 6/19 and 7/10 meets, 4th place in championship meet) 100 yard IM - 2:05.65 (1st place in 7/10 meet and championship meet) 50 yard breaststroke - 1:09.95
She also participated in the medley relay and the 200 yard freestyle relays.
One thing I wasn't prepared for was how long swim meets take! The first one was the longest - we arrived at 7am with the meet expected to begin at 8am (it started late) and finishing at about 11:30. Luckily, we'd brought snacks and I downloaded some things for the kids to watch on my phone during the down time.
Last day of swim practice!
At the end of the season there was a team party at the pool with lots of pizza and sodas, and free use of the Flowrider (surfing). The coaches also gave out awards and Eliza was named one of the MVPs! She's pretty sure she wants to do this again next summer, and maybe Luke will give it a try too.
Saturday was our last full day together in Hawaii. We left early-ish to try to get a parking spot at a popular beach park, Waimea, which is a beautiful beach with cliff jumping. Unfortunately, that was also the day of an open water swimming race, so there was no parking to be found within half a mile of the park. Andy and Ben dropped us off and paid to park in a different lot while Amy and I got settled with the kids. It was fun to watch the race, but the beautiful water and surrounding area were awesome. The kids played in the sand and water for a while before doing some cliff jumping from the 10-30 foot rock (depending on which part you jump from and what the tide is doing) at the edge of the bay. My older three did several jumps, but Jack surprised me by being the most enthusiastic jumper. Sawyer really wanted to jump but got nervous when he was faced with the reality of the height. I can relate. After multiple attempts and lots of patient talking, Andy finally convinced Sawyer to jump, on his own, to Cat waiting below.
A seal was hanging out in the bay for a while.
Jumping Jack!
*The Cliff Jumpers*
We changed clothes at the hotel then drove to Laie to go to the PCC. After another yummy food truck lunch we did a little souvenir shopping, then toured some of the islands. We learned about drumming in Tonga; dancing, weddings, and local handicrafts in Tahiti; the history of hula in Hawaii; and all about the coconuts in Samoa. We also went on a canoe ride and enjoyed a yummy luau. Then we saw the amazing "Ha! Breath of Life" production, which all the kids, even Sydney, enjoyed! It was a great way to wrap up our stay on the North Shore.
Tonga
Tahiti
Manmade Waterfall
Luke-propelled canoe
I'm so glad I can get my coconuts from the grocery store!
(Replicas of Easter Island statues in the background)
Andy and his family flew out on Sunday morning but we were taking a redeye that night so we had one more day in Hawaii. We started out watching Music and the Spoken Word while we enjoyed a buffet breakfast of all of the food still in our rooms. Breakfast included pies and malasadas from Ted's bakery, Funyuns, chips and queso, and fresh fruit. It was both gross and awesome.
After breakfast we used bikes from the resort and rode on a trail to a pillbox and a huge Banyan tree that was featured in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie and Lost. Then we showered, finished packing, received some more goodies from the concierge when we said goodbye, and enjoyed our last golf cart ride.
After one last lunch at Kahuku Sugar Mill we headed to Honolulu and had a little bit of time to peruse the Pearl Harbor museums before they closed. We were bummed that we didn't book the Arizona tour in time to take the kids out to see the ship and memorial but the museums are really informative, and it was a great experience just to be there together.
Since we were on the redeye home and nervous about how the kids would do flying overnight, we sprung for the lay-flat seats. Four of us took advantage of the space and comfort and got at least some sleep on the plane. I'll let you guess which two stayed up all night, taking advantage of the space and comfort to watch movies. I think we'll get them regular seats next time.
(at baggage claim, 6:59 am Utah time)
(on the shuttle back to the van in long term parking, 7:18 am)
The boys slept on the drive to the house, went right to bed when we got home, and Jack woke up in the early afternoon and wanted to eat lunch then go back to sleep. I made him stay awake, and I woke up Luke too. Cat and Ben were rockstars - Cat went straight to soccer tryouts as soon as we got home that morning, and Ben started working right away. Eliza rested a bit before going to tennis camp, and I was happy just to be home after being gone for so long that I mostly scurried around putting things away and doing laundry. Thankfully, all of us went to bed at a normal time that night and adjusted back to Utah time pretty easily.
It was all worth it - we loved our trip! Ben's ready to move to Hawaii and BYU-H is now on Cat's (not super short) list of colleges to consider. So, maybe we'll go back some time? If nothing else, we need to do that cage dive... :-)
