Lily and Emily had slept with Beth’s kids and every morning when they woke Beth would turn on the TV for the kids and she’d go running, or walking with Greg and I. The kids found this dog training show that they loved and every morning we had to drag them away from it. So on our last morning we forced them to skip the dog show and explore with us along the beach. We had an awesome adventure learning about the radar towers and pill boxes used during WWII. We also saw horses, gathered shells, and heard Beth tell the Jewel Barbie story.
We dragged ourselves back to our place to pack up and leave our place for good. We grabbed the big kids, said goodbye, and headed out on our own. (The girls made this amazing rainbow while waiting to say goodbye to the cousins.)
We saw the Laie temple, ate at Seven Brothers where the kids got to feed their scraps to a couple of baby chicks, and tried mango otai (as pictured by Lily with the big blue straw- in her makeshift 8th seat).
We stopped at a blowhole viewpoint on the side of the road and the good luck kept flowing. The blowhole itself was pretty cool but we were also able to see whales, dolphins (there is still much debate about wither these were whales or dolphins but I’m sticking to dolphins), and several sea turtles (one special one named Fred). We stayed out a long time just enjoying all there was to see and moods lightened. By the time we returned to the car everyone was smiling and excited about more adventures.
Next, we stopped at China wall to watch people cliff jumping then we committed to go hike the Koko crater.
We got separated with Mack, Natali, and Emmy on a side trail that they assumed would reconnect to the main trail but ultimately required some bushwhacking to get to it. I could hear them in the shrubbery beside the trail and they would respond to my whistle, but I couldn’t see them until they emerged from the shrubs way above me on the trail. I say above me because the trail was up an incredibly steep abandoned railroad track. I could see their shirts up above me as I worked my way up the trail. I was with Kate and Lily, but they didn’t last long. They turned back with Greg and headed to the van while Andrew passed me and pressed on. 
At a point near the top the incline became so steep that it was almost like climbing a later. I chose to stop at that point and wait for the kids. I was worried my knees wouldn’t make it down the mountain if I pushed them too much farther up the climb. I sat and watched the sunset over the shore- beautiful and peaceful. But then it started getting darker. I was waiting for the kids and could see them coming but I was worried we wouldn’t make it down before the dark hit. And I did not want to be going down those railroad ties in the dark, so I started down. I figured they would be faster than me any way. We all met up and pushed it down the hill just in time. Natali and Emily didn’t make it quite to the top, but the boys did. Even without making it to the top it was such a cool hike with amazing views.
We hopped in the car were Greg drove us to see mongoose/kitty cat road. Apparently, while we were hiking, they found this road where mongoose and cats were running around like crazy. We didn’t have enough light to take any pics, but the kids were loving it. It was a great way to end the trip as we rushed to the airport. Greg gassed up the car while I grabbed 40 chicken nuggets and Wendy’s. We climbed on the car rental shuttle just in time and the 40 nuggets disappeared by the time we got to the airport. I hoped kids would sleep on the way home but no luck. We got to our house around 11:00 am – everyone crawled into bed. They said they would just take a short nap then go to school, but no one woke up till 4:00. It was a great trip, maybe not exactly as planned, but a fun time with cousins in a beautiful place.
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