Dalton Family: Hawaii Day 6 ~ North Shore & Tacky Souviner Shop Part 1

Я люблю, и вы пропустите Женеве!

On Tuesday we decided to head up to the infamous North Shore. If you have seen pictures of people surfing the BIG waves in Hawaii, they were probably on North Shore. We headed to Hale'iwa which is the shopping/tourist town of North Shore. We met my sister at Killer Tacos, where she parked her car and got in with my parents.

Did I mention that during the week we were in Hawaii, my sister had an Urdu refresher course from noon-4? She is a linguist that speaks Russian and Urdu (Pakistani) I am so proud of her! Since she had to leave for class, she just met us at Hale'iwa, I don't think it is too far from where she works, but I don't know for sure!

Anyway, we thought we would hit some of the shops first. Only to find out that most of them weren't open yet. One thing about Hawaii, they kind of run on their own time. The sign may say that they open at 10:00, but it might actually be 10:30 or later. =) We walked down a little bit further to a T-shirt shop where my kids were able to scam.. er..talk my sister into buying them t-shirts. (they are very good at that!) Lilly had a great time throwing the little nerf footballs in the store, but she didn't get one of those!

After the t-shirts were purchased, we headed to the first beach. Since it is becoming summer, the waves weren't nearly as big as they are in the winter, but they were still pretty! The first area we stopped at was a lot calmer than I expected and there were lots of pretty shells on the sand. We spent a while looking for seashells and Geneva actually found a sandcrab for the kids to see. It was pretty neat! Emily and Ashley found some sea urchins on a rock just in the water. Of course the kids got COVERED in sand! We decided to head up to another beach called Waimea. It was amazing! The waves were big, but not huge but they crashed into these big rocks! It was quite the picture. I would love to go back in the winter and see the really big waves!

The view from the first beach, isn't that amazing?

Lilly digging in the sand. Her favorite thing to do in Hawaii.

Braxton collecting seashells.

Can you see the sand crab?

Chad in the ocean!

Since the beach was so pretty, we took a ton of family pictures! Emily and Ashley got a few pictures of their own. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The (cranky) kids and I at Waimea!

Chad and I. How cute!

Mom, Dad, Gwen, Kim

Dad, Gwen, Kim, & Grandma

Emily & Ashley with their new friend. I assume no responsibility for this picture.

Since Geneva had class, and Ralf needed his car that day for an appointment, we came up with a plan. We would keep Ralf's car and Grandma would come with us, Genny would go to class, and Mom and Dad would head back to Hickam for Ralf. This plan worked out perfect! We were able to explore some more of North Shore! We left Waimea and headed towards the "tacky souviner shop" and the macadamia nut farm. We found the souviner shop, and it was a total dive! Braxton found a bracelet and Lilly got a necklace. We have been promising Braxton a Hawaiian shirt, and he found a shirt/shorts set that he loved! We didn't find an outfit for Lilly but we did find a great housewarming gift for Ralf (long story)! Outside of the shop was one of the famous North Shore shrimp vans. Complete with outside sink. We had been told by Ruthie that the shrimp from these places was AMAZING, but I couldn't bring myself to eat shrimp out of a van. Maybe next time.

Cheese!

Would you eat shrimp from this place?

As we left the shop and went on our quest to find the macadamia nut farm, we passed some of the most beautful beaches! This part of Hawaii is so different from Waikiki. This is where a lot of the locals live. There were lots of little roadside stands selling vegetables including sweet corn which I found odd. There were cows grazing in fields. It was really neat! We never did find the macadamia nut farm, we found out later we turned around about 10 miles too early. That was OK though because the kids were starving! We headed back to Hale'iwa and Pizza Bob's! It was a good thing too, the kids were starving! Ironically, Grandma was the only one that got Pizza. hmmm.

After lunch we headed to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. After some goings on there earlier in the day, I will be a little wary of eating pineapple for the next couple of years! Love you Daddy! Tee hee!

We rode the train around the plantation and heard the history of Dole. It was pretty interesting. Did you know that it takes almost 2 years for a pineapple to grow on a new plant? The second pineapple that plant grows will be ripe after 15 months. I had no idea it was so long! Grandma and I shared a YUMMY pineapple ice cream then we headed back to town for our picnic. The picnic is getting it's own blog entry, so stay tuned!