Summer Highlights

School starts in 2 days,which means summer fun is over :(

Here are some of the things we did this summer.

In June we took a weekend to visit Sandpoint, Idaho. All Erica wanted to do was go horseback riding. I was reluctant, because trail rides can be boring, but we had the best ride ever!

It was the first warm weekend of the spring. The sun was shining and the horses we happy to be out exploring just as much as we were.

The view was amazing, and brought back floods of memories of riding with my dad in the Uintah Mountains when I was younger. The alpine forests have such a unique smell of fresh pine. It was a great day to relive happy memories for me. 

Erica was so happy. She is a natural with all animals. The most exiting part of the ride happened as I was waiting to dismount. My horse decided he did not want to wait for the rider and saddle to come off before rolling in the nice soft dirt of the arena. As he fell down to his knees I realized what was happening and went into auto-pilot, remembering my dad telling me "get your foot out of the stirrup." As the horse went down on his side I simply stepped off and it was actually the easiest dismount of my life.  



Joshua had robotics competition for school where they also learned about building underwater ROV's(remote operated vehicles).

His team did a great job in the few minutes they had to create a robot.

It was a fun way to get out of a day of school.

Tracy and Josh also went backpacking with the Boy Scouts to Cape Alava on the Washington coast. Tracy has an iconic story about the boy scouts taking the wrong trail (and of coarse they didn't feel it important to wait for the leaders at the fork in the trail) and the leaders hiking 9 miles in the dark and rain to finally them at 1am. A very good learning experience for all involved.

Here's Tracy and Josh at the petroglyphes on the beach.

The first weekend of July brought the STP(Seattle to Portland Bike ride).

We built a team of friends from our ward and had a great adventure together.

left to right is Dave Lee(our honored friend from Utah), Maria Smart, Cale Smart, and Chad Smart.  

(the guy in the very back looks like his jersey matches us, but he was not with our group)

Here is my self portrait.

Here we are lounging at the 100 mile mark in Centraila. Most of the riders stay here for the night, but we still had 50 miles to go. Dave's wife, Leslie(far right) met us with fresh KFC sandwiches and root beer floats! Thanks again Les!

On our way to Kelso in a great pace line.
(front to back) Chad, Jeron Walker, Tracy and Bruce Green.

This was my view for almost the entire ride, just trying to stay on the wheel of the guys in front of me.

This is Tracy as we crossed the St. John's bridge in to Portland at about 200 miles. What a perfect weekend for a bike ride!

We made it! Seattle to Portland on a bike.

(left to right) Heather, Maria, Bruce, Chad, Cale, Jeron, Dave, and Tracy.

Hawaii Vacation Part 3- (condensed version)

Since I am  such a procrastinator and it has been 4 months since we went to Hawaii, I've decided to just finish the story quick and get on with my life.

All I can say is Hawaii was the best of everything. If you want adventure, warm weather, cool weather, relaxation, sunshine, or clouds, you should definitely visit the Big Island.

Our final 5 days were spent exploring the area of Kona.

Visiting "The Place of Refuge"

learning to weave palm frons into fish, by a nice old Hawaiian guy, who likes to watch basketball.

Enjoying a whole day at the beach....boogie boarding and relaxing. Erica and Josh are going out to catch their first wave.

The color of the water was dazzling, and the sand was as soft as powdered sugar. 

Getting a sunburn.

being warm and happy !!!!

That night we had the greatest adventure ever...Manta Ray Night Diving (snorkeling in our case).

This is the boat we went on, but none of my pictures turned out. Follow this link to

Manta Ray night diving
with Neptune Charley. There is video of the Manta Rays. It is definitely a "Bucket List " item that everyone should experience.

The next day we spent the morning on a Snorkeling trip and learned a little more about Hawaiian history.

Heading out on a beautiful morning in the Zodiac to explore the coast and see some whales.

A pod of Pilot whales that we stumbled upon. Very cool!!!!!

Snorkeling at Captain Cook's Monument. Also known as the most pristine water in Hawaii. This is also the place if inspiration for Finding Nemo:)

           When we got back to the boat dock there was a sea turtle just hanging out on the boat ramp.

After snorkeling, Tracy and the girls relaxed at the condo, while Josh and I went shopping at the farmer's market. After shopping we had the best Hawaiian Ice treat invented. The secret is the scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom. Yum Yum!!!

On our final full day of play we started out with a visit to the Kona Temple.

We then drove to the Southern tip of the island to explore the Green Sand beach. On the way we drove over multiple different lava fields. Very harsh, dry, and windy. Reminded me of parts of Idaho.

This was our first view of Green Sand beach. It is a two mile hike, or 4-wheel drive across lava and sand dune/prairie grass. We chose to adventure here so we could go 4-wheeling again:.

Josh loved playing in the surf.

I didn't think the sand looked very green at first, but up close you can see the green colors sparkle a little better.

Thanks honey for taking me to Hawaii!!!

Driving back to the paved road. Very bumpy and dusty.

We finished of the day watching the sunset from the beach a enjoying one more chance to play in the surf.

What a beautiful way to end a perfect vacation.

Our last night out on the town. Actually only the second restaurant we visited the whole week. We went for the local scene.

As we boarded the plane I refused to say goodbye. I loved Hawaii and vow to return again. In fact I think it would be a perfect place to live someday

Hawaii - Part Two

Monday April 25, 2011

Hilo and Kapoho

We decided to drive to Hilo to find a waterfall to swim in. The day did not turn out quite like I had hoped, but it was still an adventure!

This is also where we got our first look at a Banyan tree.

These trees were amazing. They had vines growing down out of them that looks like roots. They are gigantic!

Next we stopped at Rainbow Falls like every good tourist does. You are not allowed to swim in this pristine tourist attractions though, so we were onto our next adventure-to find a place to swim.

The guide book said "Wai'ale Falls itself is a pretty and fairly high volume waterfall. Above the falls lie several beautiful pools and some small falls that can be delightful to play in (if the flow is not to high)." Sounds great right! The great part was scrambling along an unmarked trail in search of the "beautiful pools".

The trail went through a little bamboo forest and was very exciting to explore the unknown (although a few people in our group were a little skeptical about where I might be taking him). Josh , Erica and I lead the charge, while Tracy and Megan, shall we say, brought up the rear. After a short jungle scramble over a very obvious trail we found the "beautiful pools".

It was not quite what we had hoped for, but the kids had fun all the same. The river rocks were very mossy and slippery, but this was our only chance to swim in the river"IN HAWAII"!

That was our mantra all week.

Erica ..." Can you believe we are swimming IN HAWAII?"

Heather... " I can't believe I am actually at the beach IN HAWAII!"

ect...

After swimming we had a quick picnic lunch and started back to Kapoho to go snorkeling.

But first we stopped for some ice cream and visited the "Naha Stone." The Naha Stone weighs about 7,000 pounds. It is said to be the sacred stone that King Kamehameha  overturned at the age of 14 and fulfilled the legend that whoever could overturn the stone would be the first king of all the islands.

After our quick trip to Hilo we picked up our snorkeling gear and headed for Champagne Pond. It is a geothermal heated saltwater pool, but to get there you have to drive a mile over a treacherous  lava field. This is where MoJo came into action.

Now tell me, have you ever seen Tracy with a bigger grin? All boys like to 4-wheel drive:)

The coastline was incredibly raw and rough. This lava field is was created in 1960. This lava was very sharp and treacherous, but the road was very fun to drive over.

Champagne Pond was not that big, but the water was nice and warm, and it is where we saw our first sea turtle. He just sat on the bottom and stared back at us, then would swim up briefly for a breath of air before settling back on the bottom (about 6 feet deep). It was so cool to see a turtle so up-close.

another view of Champagne Pond looking inland.

On the way back, Tracy let Megan drive the jeep, and Josh even got to ride "shotgun". I don't know out of the two who had more fun.

As soon as we got back to the house we headed for the tide pool. It was only one block from our rental to the water.

After all this swimming we were just tired and hungry. We got back to the house as the frozen lasagna was done. We had a great meal, then jumped into the jeep to drive to the black sand beach before sunset. Tracy decided to not point out the fact that you can not see the sunset from the beach on the east side of the island, and just let me figure it out on my own half-way there. We had fun driving on the rolling little road through the jungle anyway. We picked up a hitch-hiker named Conner and took him to the end of the road at Kalapana. By the time we arrived it was pitch black and we could not even see the beach. Tracy enjoyed his "Jeep power" on the way home though and all-in-all it was a very fun filled day.

Tuesday April 26, 2011
drive to Kona

We got a good early morning start at about 8:30am. We drove back to Kalapana to see the black sand beach that we could not see the night before.

It is strange to think this land is only 3 years older than Megan. The lava flow destroyed most of the town in 1990, including a world famous black sand beach. The new beach that is now forming is also beautiful. There are lots of small coconut palms growing along the trail and the sand was very soft and fine.

Erica and Josh jumped the waves, while the rest of us sat in quiet solitude just breathing in the beautiful site of a black sand beach "IN HAWAII!!!"

On the way back we realized the coconut palms grow right out of the whole coconut. This little tree had come up-rooted, so we just dug it a new hole in the sand and covered it back up. Notice the little root coming out of the bottom.
When we made it back to the parking lot there were craftsman and vendors setting up shop for the tourists. One guy made these leather masks and let the kids try one on.

I wasted way too much time just looking around, but I had fun talking to the vendors and looking at their stuff.  But we had to get going for the long drive ahead to Kona with lots of site-seeing along the way.

As we drove back through Hilo I made Tracy stop for a quick picture with King Kamehameha the Great!

Then on to the Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden. Here are some of the amazing plants we saw.

this is called a cannonball tree

this is everyone getting hot and tired as we hike out of the canyon saying "We love Hawaii."

Our next quick side trip was to Akaka Falls.

 By this time it was early afternoon and we still had Waipi'o Valley to explore. So we so we bought a few cokes and cans of POG and drove to the end of highway 240. From there it was only a mile down the 25% grade road to Waipi'o Valley!!!!

Here is a view of the valley from the overlook before plunging down the road.

these pictures just don't do it justice.

looking out over the valley on the way down

playing at the beach in the bottom of Waipi'o Valley

Josh covered in black sand

the wild horses

Hi'ilawe Falls back in the valley. Not much water coming over it right now.
By this time it was nearly 4 pm and we still had 2 hours of driving to get to Kona. So we loaded back into MoJo and 4-wheeled our way back up the valley road and made our way to the west side of the island. We arrived in Kona about 6pm. Quickly checked into the condo, then went to Costco for groceries and hot dogs for dinner.
Whew, what a day "IN HAWAII"!