The Goodall Life: Around the Island

All around the island, the kids sampled POG (pineapple, orange & guava) juice. We found a pleasant restaurant across from the hotel, Monkeypods, that was awarded the "Best POG on the Island" award. Here are Noah & Anna sampling their glasses.

Jonah had 2 hats on the trip - his swim hat and his around town hat. At one point in our trip, while he was wearing his around town hat, someone referred to him as Bruno Mars. I'm not sure he's ready to answer to Bruno yet, but he sure is cute.

At our surf beach on the north shore, a turtle came upon shore to sun itself. The marine biologist in me could hardly stand it! A few days later we were back at the same beach and we could see the turtle swimming around in the shallows and that really made my day!

Uncle Bryan owns Uncle Bryan's Sunset Suratt Surf School (https://surfnorthshore.com), and with his help, we made memories to last a lifetime. He set us up with some of the best on his team, and they took all 4 kids out surfing. Noah and Anna did as awesomely as expected, and with some one on one help, even Jonah and Julia got up on the board. Given, a year ago Jonah was spending most of his time in a hospital bed, seeing him stand on a surfboard and ride the waves was enough to bring tears to all of our eyes!

After a day of surfing, we had to try out a Hawaii classic north shore style - Matsumoto Shave Ice. Until that moment, I thought that shave ice was simply a glorified Snoopy Snow Cone, but let me tell you - a Hawaiian shave ice done right is a delightful summertime treat!

How fun is it to meet up with friends from home so far away? The Cornelissens were on the island at the same time so we met up for some beach time together I think from now on, I'd like all playdates to happen at the beach!

Julia caught a snail in a tidepool.

Julia, demonstrating her surfer girl stance while the older kids kept riding the waves.

Sheala, Jonah and Uncle Bryan

We went to Kualoa Ranch to check it out. They did some of the filming of Jurassic Park there.

While at Kualoa we also took a boat tour to see the beautiful sites. It was during this tour that Noah and Anna learned that if you can manage to over-enunciate and slurry your speech at the same time while saying "boot and cats", it sounds like you're beat-boxing.

On the north shore in the winter there are some giant waves. This is where they have big surf competing and waves can easily get to be 15-20 feet tall. We checked them out a Waimea beach, and although they weren't 15-20 feet that day, they were big enough that we didn't swim and even splashing in the surf knocked Noah down.

As Julia didn't like to go into the water too deep with lapping waves, at Waimea she stayed safely on the dry land making a footprint circle.

The memorial wall on the site of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. It was a remarkable memorial and a chance to reflect back on American history.

We also toured the USS Missouri. At that point, Julia was all ship and history-ed out so instead of listening to the tour, she kept finding shady spot to rest in.

There is a Monopoly game for everyone! I have an unusual fascination with WWII, and have read many books with different perspectives on the war and wartime. If I was a Monopoly player, this would be the game for me.