Poli-almost-fail

Driving with this sexy, bearded man.

Polihale was just about a Polibust when we pulled in for our much-anticipated bonfire.  After being closed for months, it reopened a week before and we were excited to visit...as was the entire rest of the island.  We saw more cars and people than we've ever seen before.  It was also gusty.  We convinced our friends to stay and play despite the crowds.  The kids and adults body surfed for an hour before Caleb and Ty came in with massive jelly stings.  Actually, we found out later they were bluebells, which are similar to Portuguese man-of-war: beautiful but potent and painful/itchy.  Nic, Robert, and I chanced it to surf some fun waves until Nic and Robert started getting stung about 40 minutes in.  When we made it to shore, we saw the beach littered with hundreds of them.

Strike two: as I was watching Owen and snapping pictures of the kids as they sand surfed the dunes.  I was watching him closely until suddenly, I was not, and I heard Zac scream, "OWEN!"  In my head, a truck was driving 2 mph toward him as Owen ran at the pace of a snail, but of course that was the slow-motion in my head and not the reality.  I started screaming at the top of my lungs, and the combination of Zac waving his arms and screaming and me screaming got the attention of the driver who was charging down the sand right at him.  I felt like we were blessed by God to have Owen come out of the situation unscathed.  I was shaking for a solid 10 minutes as the scenario replayed again and again in my head.  (And curses to people who drive illegally on the sand.  I know it is common here but it still makes me crazy.  It is my fault for not watching him closely, though, and I acknowledge that completely.)

When they first started appearing, everyone was excited to hunt for them.

You can easily see 6 in this shot.

The way Jakey grips Sam on his way down!

Friends for Life.

Zac and Caleb dug out a cave.

Tate and Shay laughing so hard.

These two have been together since Covid started (6' apart, surfing) and they've never been closer.

I love this candid picture of us.

This was Genevieve's last trip to Polihale--her favorite place on the island--before moving to Utah.  Also, Jes shaved her head for Covid and she is the only person I know who can pull that off with confidence.

Bromance.

My favorite picture of the night with the bluebell in the foreground.

Aloha 'Oe, until we meet again, friend.

Owen was so excited about the bonfire and he opened both garages to get to the ladder to get to the storage racks attached to the ceiling to get to his camping chair.  There are several things wrong with that plan, one of which was that he actually closed the garage--on top of my Tahoe tailgate.  

The boys claimed that a parent gave them permission to start a second fire and we all assumed it was someone else until we realized that none of us actually gave permission and we are not sure which teen/tween was responsible for that rumor.

We stayed several hours, roasting hot dogs and s'mores and generally enjoying the relaxed COVID rules.  The wind died down, the stars were magnificent, and the kids and adults happy around the fire.  The kids were bummed that they couldn't play night games (too many cars on the beach), but hopefully when the excitement and crowds die down, the full Poli experience will be available.  We got home at 10:30pm, which the kids claimed was "too early" but obviously not.  A near swing and a miss turned into a perfectly acceptable evening to break up the long, vacationless summer.