Sherie Visits North Shore; Easter

Easter snuck up on us this year, but the week of, we read about Holy Week, watched videos about Jesus, and did egg crafts.  Owen asked me to boil eggs for him to decorate every single day.

South shore swell in spring is always exciting for the kids (and me!).  We sat in the chilly rain amid double rainbows and watched the kids surf.

All these lucky groms.

April 1st, the kids came up with trick after trick to play on us.  Kate taped Brady's shoes to the floor and Owen and Kate hid all the toilet paper and shoes under the car.

April 1st: also the day my cousin flew from Oahu to Kauai.  Quarantine rules for our island require a 3-day stay in Oahu or a 3-day quarantine plus a second negative covid test in both cases.  They state that the test at the airport would be ready no later than 6 hours after taking it, but after keeping her in the bathroom at the airport while she waited on the result for an hour, we called it quits and had her quarantine at our house.  The negative result posted 8 hours after she took the test, and we were relieved our plans would not be interrupted.  Brady and I prepped and packed for a long weekend at the Layton House with what felt like everything we owned--bikes, boards, beach gear, hiking gear, Easter baskets, work, and even pillows.

The next morning, the kids woke up early to complete piano practice and we loaded up and met Brady mid-day at the Layton House.  After the flooding, we had to carefully plan the weekend around when the road through Hanalei would be open.  We made it to the park and realized that Sherie was supposed to have a day pass and an ID.  This has never been a requirement in the past, and we were so grateful for to the guard for letting it go.  She also saw Roxy with us in my lap as we drove through, and did not make a comment.  We kept Roxy in a pack for some of the hike after seeing the sign about dogs in the park--driving her back home was really not an option at that point.  I am a rule follower so these hiccups were a bit stressful.

With all the blustery days, we were not sure what kind of hiking day to expect.  It was windy and chilly with some overcast--perfect!

Apparently in all the packing, we did not have Zachary try on his running shoes and in a few months, they are now several sizes too small.  He had to go barefoot and did it without complaining (at least the first two miles).  What a beast.

Muddy fur ball.

Awkward family photo:

Sherie misunderstood me and thought we were hiking 12 miles that day, so I'm really impressed with how relaxed she was at the beach as we slowly ate lunch and took photos at the 2 mile mark.

I was so happy the kids came and hiked enthusiastically without friends.  We talked to them about spending this quality time with Sherie and how important it was to us and to her, and they were very willing to cooperate even knowing their best friends were all together on this holiday weekend surfing great waves on the south shore.  Sherie is good company and a good sport, asking them animated questions and involving them without making them feel underfoot.  

I did not press my luck with their hiking, though, and only asked that they go to the beach and then turn around with Brady.  Sherie and I cooked it back to the waterfall, working hard on our selfie game (bamboo! waterfall! beach! vista!).

The hikers we passed made the hike sound slippery, muddy, and not really worth it.  I have done this dozens of times and knew it was exceptional, but I also knew mud can be a game changer when rock-hopping, and the cold rain was coming down.  We never hit any sections that would merit the distress of the hikers we passed on our way in and had the falls to ourselves for 10 minutes.  We convinced ourselves to jump in even though we were thoroughly chilled already as I explained that waterfalls have magical powers (I believe that).  Brr!  Once we numbed up about 90 seconds later, it barely registered as cold and we floated on our back and took in the cliffs, greenery, and pounding, cascading falls.

We wasted no time racing the clouds to get to the beach where it was sunny and gorgeous.

Sherie is going through a difficult divorce right now and all I want for her is to feel peace and love, and to be seen and understood.  She and her brother Brian were always the closest cousins I had growing up on my mom's side, and we spent reunions running around together, lip singing Boys2Men, playing piano and dressing up.  Oddly, she remembers me as a teen who changed nail polish with every outfit and "had it so together."  That makes me laugh so hard and I can't remember a version of myself that would seriously do that.  We lived together at BYU and she was instrumental introducing me to Brady.

We stopped at the Haena Cave and Ke'e Beach prior to a long night eating Thai food and playing card games with the kids until late.

The next morning, Brady and the kids headed to Lihue for two soccer games and a swim lesson.  Sherie and I rode bikes to Hideaways, where we had the beach to ourselves for an hour.  I could not believe our luck.

Sunshine, calm water, turtles, and breaching whales.  Pinch me.

Did I mention a beach swing?  Yeah.  A beach swing.

We hiked back up and went down to the Hanalei lookout where more views and yet another swing begged for our attention.

Sherie said her favorite flower here so far was a yellow hibiscus so hunted for other colors to test that opinion.  This one speckled with white looks almost plastic.

The kids joined us after lunch and we went to Hanalei in the brief window for the road closure.  Since the landslide, the road is open briefly 3 times a day.  No trip to Hanalei with someone who loves food can go without a trip to Holey Grail with their coconut oil, vegan donuts flavored with fresh island fruit.

We headed to the beach and noticed immediately that there were no waves at the pier, which made her desire to surf tricky.  I have a standing policy that I do not push adults into waves after many, many failed and awkward attempts.  Surfing should be taught by surf instructors who have giant boards and can stand on the reef/sand.  Instead of sticking to my guns, I figured I might as well try to help her be successful.  We had her up three times but while trying to get past a big set of waves, we ended up in a rip current flying away from shore.  I was not concerned for her since she had a board, and pushed her in.  She was able to get in without trouble.  Kate came out to "paddle me in," which was the sweetest gesture on the planet but I wanted her to get to shore.  I had her surf in and tell Brady to come get me on his 9' board.  By the time she made it in safely (and relatively easily), Brady was headed out to me and I was already back to shore.  It was not scary but I had a friend there who thought maybe I was going to die.  I get it that rip currents are scary, but the only scary part this time around was having two people for whom I was responsible.  Never underestimate the ocean!  The rest of our beach trip was uneventful and lovely, including 15 minutes when Owen decided he wanted to boogie board the barrels (they are always barrels in his eyes).  I was so impressed and excited to see him going for it even after getting smashed a few times.

I had to get Kate in a photo with us because she was such a gem, always making sure Sherie was comfortable and enjoying herself at Hanalei.  There were better waves for Kate to surf but she stuck by our sides, eager to help.

The next morning was Easter.  Kate was relieved to see that Sherie was not forgotten.  She had me purchase things to go in a basket for Sherie in case the Easter bunny did not realize she was visiting us.

Is this wildly inappropriate?  I think it probably is.

What a gorgeous backdrop for an egg hunt!

We packed up and headed home after listening to some conference talks and eating brunch.  We had a lot of cooking and prep to do before the Stebbins and Clarks came over for dinner and our annual Easter Egg Derby.  We also had to get back in time to dye eggs--this year with foam.  Kudos to Brady for handling that mess.

Kate designed these flower arrangements from our garden to go on the table with the French Mustard Chicken breasts, potatoes, rolls, salads, deviled eggs and Mahjinka's Easter Egg cupcakes.  I love that my friends can all cook.  

 The derby was a success, with Kate winning it all this year.  Retrospectively, I would have held off hosting a dinner the day we come back from a north shore weekend but it was fun to introduce Sherie to our besties.