It’s not a big secret I’m not really an outdoors and nature person. Being sweaty and dirty isn’t entirely appealing to me. I’m not a fan of insects and animals. Basically, I’d rather have a book to read while sitting inside in air-conditioning, ha ha.
Alas. I don’t even have air-conditioning here in Oahu. And I can’t remember the last time I read a book that wasn’t parenting related.
And if we are being completely honest, this island is so beautiful, even the least outdoorsy of people can’t help but be out and in all of all the beauty and wonders of it. I don’t mean that in a hokey way. Like, it’s genuinely breathtaking. Everywhere we go I just find my jaw dropping and my eyes growing large as I try to take it all in. Even places and things I’ve seen more than once are still so amazing.
It’s my goal to take advantage of all the time we have here. To see and do everything. Time is precious and our kids are young. I want to hike and explore every nook and cranny that is safe to do with kids. I want to walk on every beach that isn’t going to engulf my children in one fell swoop, ha.
I’d be a liar if I said the island life was all romantic and dreamy. There’s a lot of downsides. But oh my goodness. There are so many upsides. And one of the biggest upside is the beauty of all this nature around us.
This weekend we decided to leave Honolulu and all the crazy Fourth of July tourists and festivites (yes, we’ve only been here 3 weeks and we are all ready over the tourists) and head over to Kaneohe and check out their botanical garden.
It is so kid friendly and relaxing. We will definitely be back there.
The pond was full of Koi fish much to everyone’s delight. And so many ducks. Which is, of course, Sweet M’s current favorite word. And the ducks are so used to people, and people feeding them (I have feelings on this, but for another day), that the kids were able to pet them, which completely made their entire day.
I feel like every other sentence out of my mouth was “They’re still wild animals,” while trying to prevent Sweet M from plunging (okay, he wanted to jump) into the pond. I mean, all those fish couldn’t help but captivate him!
This area was particularly nice because it was stroller friendly. We are avid baby wearers but it’s also really hot here. Have I mentioned that? And when it’s not crazy hot, it’s still humid. And since Sweet M is pretty cool with the stroller, we take advantage of it when we can.
It started to rain pretty hard when we were leaving, which I’d anticipated as we saw the thick clouds rolling in above us. Again, a beautiful sight to behold.
I’m not going to lie, all this nature definitely makes me feel closer to God. What an amazing landscape that’s been created by the universe. It’s so awe-inspiring.
J wanted Korean BBQ for linner (lunch/dinner) but we couldn’t find the restaurant we were looking for and I saw a Thai place, so we ducked in since we were starving. It was 3pm, so off hours, and we were the only ones in the restaurant.
The food was so good and everyone was so fantastic with our kids. They gushed over how well-behaved and sweet they were (don’t worry, we have plenty of restaurant adventures where we are just trying not to lose someone because they’re crazy, ha).
The chef came out when H commented on her salad about how much she enjoyed it, and was so delighted with them that he presented them with silly string and a grand desert. Needless to say, the kids were tickled to death!
The day before, Friday, was definitely the most challenging (mentally and emotionally) for me on the island thus far, so a super happy and fun day was so very much needed!
I cannot wait to share what other small adventures we find ourselves in here in the next year.
Oh, and here’s two photos of 2 out of 3 of my favorite tiny people. It felt really good to pull out my real camera again, too!
