Labor Day Campout

We had plans to hit the beach on Labor day with some friends from church so when they called late sunday evening and said they were heading down early to campout the kids and I decided to tag along. Matt joined us the next morning (he had a cold and wanted to get some decent sleep at home). We camped at Kiholo bay which is a black sand beach. Since we hadn't planned in advance we just packed up what we had in the cupboards and amazingly I even had some marshmallows handy. We arrived after dark and had fun making sch mores and singing songs and just hanging out with the Casuga Family and Ching Family. The black starry sky was AMAZING! I didn't sleep so good but each time I woke up I looked out at the stars and listened to the ocean and didn't mind that I was awake.


Here's a shot I took of the kids when I woke up. We didn't bring sleeping bags with us to Hawaii so I just packed up a few big blankets and we shared them. The kids had started out all in a nice row next to me but look how they ended up!


I took this picture at 6am this was my first view of the beach we were camping on. (The sun rises on the other side of the island)
Adam, Dawson and Olivia with Helaman Casuga. Olivia and Dawson always mispronounce his name and call him Helium. He's such a cutie!The kids had a blast in the water. We swam lots and even shared the water with a HUGE Sea Turtle. He was probably 6 feet from us in the water at one time. I wasn't ever able to get a good picture.A wild game of "apples to apples" during a break in the shade.
When Matt came down he brought our landlord's sea kayak. The kids loved it! Olivia went out with Josh and Kaiya and even jumped out while they were out to sea. Dawson and Isaac were the first ones to go out and as soon as they got in the water a Huge wave came and knocked the kayak over, the paddle hit Dawson in the eye and gave him a good gouge and black eye. He wouldn't let me take a picture but he looks like he is wearing purple eyeshadow.


After we packed up camp we drove over to a fresh water swimming hole. The water comes from under the ground and is super cold! The kids and Matt had fun jumping in.



I kept trying to get a shot of them in the air but it was either before they jumped or after they were in the water! The water was very refreshing on a hot Hawaii day!