Another Day at Hanalei

I always say Polihale is my happiest place, but a sunny day in Hanalei is hard to beat.  Clear water, mountains with cascading waterfalls as the backdrop, and lovely water conditions for kids to play.  

 In our quest to start decorating, we're working on a few beach photos to canvas.  Not sure if these are the ones.  I'd rather have an action shot for Zac, but all my good ones are phone shots.  Zachary has long hair for the first time in his life and he loves it.

 Funny face:

 Kate was really happy to pose for a few pictures, but she let us know the minute she was done.  (In her defense, she just woke up from a snoozer in the car.)

 We started off the afternoon taking Kate boogie boarding on the surf board.

 This was one of our first beach outings where we both played in the water with the kids at the same time.  I know that sounds bizarre, but usually one of us is surfing or paddle boarding, so we follow Kate around.  Now, Kate wants to be in the water most of the time.

 The big deal of this trip was Kate boogie boarding independently for the FIRST TIME EVER.  She's taken a wave here and there over the last year, but never wanted to do it again.  With each ride this outing, she squealed "whoo-hoo," and then begged to get another one.  We kept wondering if she would get spooked when a wave rolled her or she got hit in the face several times in a row by waves, but she laughed and said, "Again, again!"

Tongue shot:

 ...and again:

 Zachary still doesn't love to surf, but he loves to surf if he's on his boogie board.  He rode dozens of little waves this way until finally grabbing his real board.

 Kate and I went out on the paddle board for an hour, and she paddled by herself.  Brady took a turn, too.  We easily spent 4 hours in the water, and it felt like the perfect Saturday--yard work and chores in the am followed by recreation all afternoon.

Another tongue shot:

I'm really, really excited to go on vacation and explore new places, but it's also so nice to know that the same old, same old isn't getting old.  I love where we live and I love the delight my kids find in learning the ocean.