A Few Malihinis: Princeville Staycation, Pre-Hurricane

Zachary got some bling! He thought it would be a big adjustment but handled it in stride. He ate plenty of sticky food--gummy bears, gummy rainbows, Twix, gum--in the week before so he could get his 21-month fill. He's learned that flossing is the worst part of braces. Before, during, and after.

The kids are still working on their 100 mile challenge, and usually ask me to drop them off on the way home from the beach. Even their friends get in on the action. Owen loves running the mile and begs Zac and Kate to go with him--it is "not so fun" with just me. I learned why: Zachary makes the entire thing a game. What a great brother.

No summer vacation this year, but we did get time in the Layton House in Princeville. Brady will be living up here several nights a week with a coworker, but the roommate has not come yet so we took advantage of the empty house and stayed there for a week. It took preparation: buying sheets, towels, cleaning supplies, and basic cooking supplies. We packed for the week, including 6 bikes, 7 boards (one paddle board), snorkel gear for all of us, food, and even weights for workouts. We had both of our cars stuffed to the brim.

The views out the (very hot) living room are breathtaking--they look into the mountains and the house backs up to the golf course.

The kids excitedly picked rooms and made beds. Owen was most excited to read in this chair in his room with a trundle bed. Even chores are fun in a new house, and he asked to vacuum at least three times the first day.

Owen found a manta ray floatie and spent twenty minutes snuggling it in the sand while the kids caught wave after wave. I perforated my ear drum surfing the week before, leading to a vicious ear infection, so I stayed out of the water for several days and could not hear well for 2 weeks.

Small swell on the north shore was perfect timing for our trip. Typically, it is very flat at Hanalei during the summer.

I'm convinced there is no prettier surf break in Hawaii.

Brady, Kate, and Shay on a wave! Shay joined us for several days of our trip. She is our second daughter.

Owen and I explored from Pine Trees clear to the end of the beach, finding "balance beams," crabs, playing with dogs, and crossing streams.

I loved spotting Kate and Zachary riding waves together.

Brady, Shay, Kate, and Zachary.

Hanalei is 5 minutes from the house in Princeville, and we stayed there until past sunset. The town itself is quiet and eerie--shut down almost completely from COVID. A small handful of restaurants are open until 7pm and we almost ran out of options the first night.

Corndog: dinner of champions.

Bedtime routines are more fun on stiff, red couches. It doesn't matter where we are, the kids need a piggy back ride to bed.

The next morning, we took our bikes along the path for several miles before going straight back to the beach.

Brady had the next afternoon off--first in five months. It was cloudy but the waves were more fun (so I hear).

Tandum surf! The girls caught a dozen waves together on the Wavestorm.

Friday evening, David, Vicki and Jim joined us. David surprised us with getting his braces on a week early!

Princeville has a park with swings--a novelty for parks here. It also has built-in workout equipment around a path, and a huge climbing tree. The kids were excited the park almost as much as the shave ice and ice cream trips that we took daily.

Afternoon bike ride to make it worth hauling 6 bikes.

The view of Brady's project.

We met up with David, Jim, Vicki, and Grandma for a Hanalei evening. I pushed David into a bunch of waves for his second time surfing. We got an extra dose of excitement when at 7:10pm, Brady waved vigorously for me to come in. I figured it was so we could make our 7:30pm dinner reservations with the kids, and waved him off. We could get a few more waves in! Then, he started making the universal shark sign, and we booked it right in, spending the next 15 minutes watching the shark swirl around the water where we'd been surfing. Exciting!

Dinner that night was hilarious. Brady and I both figured the other had checked the menu and knew something about the restaurant. We had made the reservations on the recommendation of a local we talked to at the beach. We arrived after rapidly changing into dry clothes, but our hair was wet and unbrushed, and we looked like a pretty ragged group. We sat down, immediately noticing that everyone there was dressed nicely and there were no kids. We got the menus and realized it was a Tapas Bar--and it was very expensive. The waiter told us that they recommend 3 tapas per person (which would have run us $450+). We got one per person and told the kids we'd make quesadillas at home. Zac apparently missed that announcement, and when the server brought us our check, he exclaimed, "WHAT?! I'm still STARVING!" Ha!

The next morning, we met up with David's family and made the slippery, muddy trek down to "Turtle Cove"--possibly a misnomer because there was only 1 turtle down there and we only discovered it after assuming it was a boulder and walking right by. It was still an adventure, and Brady made it so much more fun by hosting an hour of "skeet shooting".

We also collected shells.

David's family invited us to the pool to warm up. They played and played, and Zac and David went to the gym and worked out like adults.

Owen and David's grandma played peek-a-boo for thirty minutes. He talked her ear off, which delighted her but also made her laugh because she is almost deaf so could not comprehend a word.

The girls playing "Moco Mermaid":

North shore foliage is so much prettier than south shore:

One more trip to Hanalei with David--this time more rainy and cold!

Going up to Princeville, we knew there was a possibility that Hurricane Douglas could affect our plans. However, hurricanes very often are on the horizon and then miss us by hundreds of miles at this time of year. By Saturday, we were watching the weather closely as the hurricane went from a tropical storm warning for us, to a hurricane watch, and finally to a warning. The closer it got, the more it looked like it could be a direct hit, with the eye of the storm over the north shore. Even if the hurricane itself missed us, we knew we needed to button up the house to prepare for strong winds and rain. Our neighbors have told us stories of windows getting knocked out by garden hoses, etc., and we have a trampoline! We decided to head back on Sunday after a bike ride.

I love this darling picture of Brady and Kate:

The kids pooped out early, opening up time for Brady and I to explore more. We found Club Med, the hurricane ruins that lead straight out to Hanalei. We felt some apprehension walking among ruins from a hurricane when there was a hurricane headed straight toward us.

We drove back to our home, gazing at all the businesses boarded up. No one was on the road. Windows were boarded island-wide. Shay was petrified and ready to be with her family. My kids were quiet and apprehensive.

We took apart all of our outdoor furniture and supplies, and dissembled the net and flipped the trampoline over. The neighbors and Owen jumped on it upside down for a solid 20 minutes.

The storm was aimed to hit us for the entire night--estimated to make landfall at 2am. It was creeping north of our island but everyone was unsure and predicting a hit still. Alarms and sirens went off periodically. After sleeping terribly at the Princeville house, I surprised myself and slept straight until 2am when we checked the weather and discovered it was passing north and missing our island, missing us by a mere 20 miles! Kate came down at 2:30am for a status check, and slept happily after knowing we were safe. The next morning, all the kids wanted to do was pack back up and head north again. We went back, this time with more food and sadly without Shay.