The Camaras » beach

Polihale for the 4th

Ross — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:37:06 +0000

For the 4th of July my extended family headed down to Polihale to camp for the weekend. Polihale is at the end of the road on the west side of the islands and is a beautiful beach that is mostly dominated by locals since rental car companies don’t allow their cars to go out there. It was a ton of fun to spend two days down at the beach with most of my family showing up at one point or another. Nicole did a good job roughing it at the beach and I think some of my family were impressed with Nicole for handling it so well. The weather was perfect while we were down there as the waves stayed pretty mild so the kids could stay in the water all day long. Plus there was a nice breeze during the day so it didn’t get too hot. Surprisingly for all the time we were out on the beach we managed to not get burned.

Yes this is how we camp at the beach. With cots and air mattresses

Our camp site at night time.

Jake and his boogie board

Dad and Phyllis enjoying the beach from the shade.

Chad’s boat. One of the multiple boats that were there that we used.

Karen, Seth, and Keoni checking out stuff caught along the shore.

Nicole and Ross at the end of the beach.

Nicole, Cheryl, and Rhonda

Uncle Dwight and Aunty Audrey with their newest grandson.

Fireworks for the 4th

Ross caught asleep….

Goats that came down the mountain right behind our campsite in the morning.

Seth playing with some crabs

Nicole and Ross at Polihale as we were leaving.

Holo Holo

Ross — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:17:41 +0000

Friday evening we flew up to Kauai with my dad and family to spend the fourth of July weekend with the camara side. Saturday morning Aunty Audrey and Uncle Dwight had arranged for Nicole and I to take a tour boat ride to see the Na Pali Coast. Now I’ve never been out that side before so I was really excited to be going. The tour was with Holo Holo tours because my uncle knows the people who run the place. The tour was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed myself. Nicole had a pretty good time but the sea’s were a little rough so she spent about half the cruise trying not to get sick. Luckily she managed to not get sick on the whole ride. Unfortunately it was kinda drizzly though out the ride so we weren’t able to get too many good pictures.

Meet our crew

Ross enjoying the ocean air and view.

Dolphins!! There was a whole lot of them swimming around the boat.

Nicole checking out the scenery while trying not to get sick.

Na Pali Coast

Ross after the snorkel.

Nicole at the snorkel spot. It felt good to get in the water.

Bye Bye Na Pali Coast

Beach and Dinner

Ross — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 03:25:18 +0000

Thursday was our last day on Oahu before we went up to Kauai. We took it easy by going to Ala Moana for a few hours. We got there plenty early and after some early clouds we got a good amount of sun. Unfortunately Ross managed to give himself a pretty good sun burn on his back. For dinner we met up with my high school classmates Keane and Kristyn at Wah Kung. Although service was a little slow at the restaurant we had a great time and got to catch up with them.

Nicole on the beach

Ross after a swim on the beach.

After dinner with Keane and Kristyn.

Bowling and Beach

Ross — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:36:26 +0000

A bit out of order but on our second day in Hawaii Nicole, my mom, and Phyllis went to Ala Moana too get a manicure and pedicure. While they were getting pampered I picked up Jake to go bowling on the base with Dad. Jake had joined a summer league and needed to do some bowling for practice and to make up some games he was gonna miss while on Kauai. Although neither of us bowled very well we had a good time and it was nice to spend time with just the three of us. After bowling Dad took us to a lunch wagon that was just off the base where we got some great cheap local food.

Dad helping jake

Now for some lunch from the lunch truck right off the base

After bowling I swapped Jake for Nicole and Mom back at Ala Moana. Nicole had had a really good time and looked very pretty with her new nail colors. (pictures of her toes can be seen on the previous post). We dropped mom off at home and headed to Ko Olina thinking it would be a safe bet for a nice beach with good sunshine. Unfortunately the rain clouds followed us out there and it was mostly overcast while we were at the beach. In the couple of hours that we were down by the beach we saw 3 separate bridal parties come down to the beach to take pictures. I guess Ko olina is a bit of a wedding factory as they have a wedding every hour or.

The rain/clouds followed us to Ko Olina

Ross trying to hide from the occasional shower that came through.

One of the numerous japanese brides that came down to take pictures. Really that kind of a dress for a beachy wedding?

Nicole and Ross at Ko Olina

North Shore

Ross — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:55:57 +0000

Day 3 of our Hawaii Vacation took us up to the north shore. It was overcast for a good portion of the morning and we had the occasional shower but we still got plenty of sun. In fact Ross managed to burn the back of his legs since he didn’t put any sun screen on back there.

Ross driving towards the north shore

Ross at Haleiwa beach.

Nicole’s pretty toenails she had done the day before with Janice and Phyllis.

Enjoy a quick nap

Ross enjoying the view.

For lunch we went to Macky’s Shrimp truck in Haleiwa. I don’t think Nicole was overly impressed with it but that may be because their specialty of garlic butter is not Nicole friendly. After lunch we went to grab dessert from Matsumoto’s which was so yummy. Nicole decided to branch out and try two flavors but I stuck with my traditional strawberry.

Ross can’t wait to get into the food

Nicole with her strawberry and pineapple shave ice.

Once we had our shave ice we headed back to the beach to catch a few more hours of sunshine before we headed home. While we were there in the afternoon we were lucky to see a bunch of turtles come all the way up to the edge of the water. Ross even managed to catch a couple of pictures of the turtle.

Turtle!!!!

‘The Beach’

Nicole — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:29:50 +0000

There is a small natural beach on the lake. Growing up, I think we went to the beach almost every day. This year — we only made one trip out to the beach. We had the little strip of beach to ourselves for a little while and then it got crowded (by crowded, I mean 2 other families came). It really is nice to be able to vacation on such a quiet lake.

Boys and digging holes…

Ross napping on the beach

Reading and napping on the beach

Beautiful view from the beach

Boating

Nicole — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:39:56 +0000

In Canada we have a variety of watercraft to enjoy. We have a canoe, paddle boat, small sail boat, a few fishing boats and the ‘big boat’.

One of the first things that Ross and I did was take the paddle boat out for a spin. It was near sunset, was pretty calm and really nice.

Ross on the paddle boat

View of our cabins from the paddle boat

View of lake from the paddle boat

Also popular is the trusty old canoe. We made it through the whole week without anyone tipping and getting wet while on the canoe. Ross was a little leery of getting in the canoe with me, afraid that I would get sea sick (as I did on the kayak on our honeymoon). However, there aren’t near as many waves on the lake as on the ocean — and I was fine.

Aunt Carla and Nicky in the canoe

Ross and Nicole in the canoe

Aunt Jackie and Alex took out the small sunfish sailboat. The were moving pretty fast once they got started. They had a little trouble when they went to head home…but made it home without having to get towed…so it was a success! I think the sail looked really pretty on the lake.

Finally calm enough for a sail

And they’re off

There are new regulations in Canada that require that all boat drivers pass a boating safety course. So, before heading to Canada I took the MD boat safety course online. Once we got to Canada though, there were plenty of other people eager to drive the boats, that I didn’t drive them all that often. Sam, my 13 year old cousin, absolutely loved driving the boats — I was happy to just go for the ride. However, one afternoon I did drive one of the boats — and Ross captured some pictures of me squinting into the sun as I drove.

Nicole driving the boat for the first time

Ross on the ‘big boat’

Ross on a sunset boat cruise

Kauai – Poipu Beach, Mah Jong & Hamura’s

Nicole — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:09:51 +0000

The day after Christmas we left early in the morning to spend a few days on Kauai with Ross’ family there. Unfortunately, they had been having lots of rain and it continued to rain while we where there. It wasn’t nearly as fun with all the rain – but we still enjoyed the time with the family. As always there was lots of good food — and it seems like all we did was eat.

Even though it was raining in Kalaheo, Ross and I escaped to Poipu beach for a few hours Friday afternoon. It was certainly a ‘tourist’ beach – but his Uncle thought it was the best bet for finding some sun. The beach was busy and full of people. The shoreline was kind of rocky, so we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the water. Ross noticed ( I wasn’t so observant at first) that there was a section of beach roped off. We went to check it out and found that a Hawaiian Monk Seal (endangered species, and state marine mammal) had beached himself and was sunning on the beach. Having just read an article about the Monk Seals, I was excited to see one up close.

Hawaiian Monk Seal

Nicole in front of the seal

Saturday it continued to rain, rain, rain. Ross’ family was playing a chinese card game, Mah Jong. They taught me how to play, and we played for most of the afternoon. It’s a game like rummy where you try and make runs or matches with your “cards” (really tiles). I had a hard time with some of the chinese characters for the numbers – but once Phyllis made a cheat sheet for me, I did okay. I still don’t get the complicated scoring system, but I can learn that on some other trip. While I thought the game was fun, I thought it was way too long…it took us four hours to play.

Nicole learning to play Mah jong

Saturday night Ross’ family had a dinner to go to, so we went into Lihue to Hanamura’s for saimin. The place was BUSY since it was the weekend, and was cold and rainy. It was a small local owned saimin shop and very yummy. It must have made some guidebooks since lots of tourists managed the find the place. Ross, Scott and I all ordered the “special” saimin which included two wontons, meat, fish cake and a hard boiled egg.

Hamura’ Saimen

Ross and Nicole at Hamura’s

Beach Day

Ross — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:49:07 +0000

Pictures from yesterday when we went out to Ko Olina for a couple of hours before we met Keane and Kristyn for dinner.

Scott and Nicole at the beach.

View at Ko Olina

The beach.

A self portrait of the two of us at Ko Olina