June 4

Today, we decided last night, would be Waimea Canyon day, which meant we'd drive up the canyon road, stop at all of the lookouts, take an easy hike through the forest, and finish with shave ice at one of our favorites, Jo Jo's.

And that's what we did, but as usual there were some bumps along the way. As it happened, the selected Kaluapuhi Trail wound up being very, very muddy in spots; as in our shoes quite often made sucking sounds as we cautiously moved along the relatively narrow and verging-on overgrown path. Abby wasn't thrilled by the dirt, but Isaac and Brady had a grand time figuring out clever ways to avoid the mud, and their gleefulness made me smile. 

Self-appointed navigator Brady did his best to warn us about exceptionally moist areas and gave suggestions for avoiding them, but I still had mud all over my shoes and up my legs by the time we hit pavement (which was, for the record, the Waimea Canyon Road, which has no sidewalks and is narrow and winding. We walked up a near-45 degree angle heading back to the car because there was no way I was going to slog through the mud again). Knowing that I would struggle with the incline, Isaac dropped back and walked with his hand on my back, making racecar noises to spur me along. I love that kid's ingenuity.

Anyway, we survived the walk along the road and got back to the car to find that the Kalalau Lookout was socked in, so Adam and I opted to continue along the closed-to-cars, pothole-ridden road to the final vista point for a looksee. The kids chose to stay by the car, assuming we'd only be gone for a short time. We both unfortunately underestimated the distance --which was closer to a mile one way than the anticipated quarter mile-- and were touched to see the three of them in the distance walking the path toward us as we headed back. We waved at them, and then they immediately turned back toward the car. I guess it was enough to know that we hadn't fallen off a cliff or been parent-napped by a lunatic so they didn't feel the need to catch up and walk with us. But Adam and I were heartened by how they stuck together.

And then it was back down, down, down the mountain behind what had to have been one of the slowest drivers in Hawaii. (Even Brady was groaning by the time the car finally turned off.) The Jo Jo's treats were as good as I remembered (at least mine was). I opted for the coffee-with-cream selection, which involved a cream-capped coffee shave ice atop a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream. Mmm, mmm, good.

When we got back to the house, we had time to shower and rest a little before heading out to Burgers, Brats, and Bourbon night by the Club pools. The food was great, as was the cocktail I had; I can't remember what it was called --something Sunset-- but it was crafted using Hawaiian-made bourbon. I'm not sure I'd had bourbon before but the drink was tasty enough that I opted for a second. I felt a bit toasty afterward, but it was a happy-toasty and Adam said I was acting fairly normally so I'm cool with it.

So that was our Tuesday. It wasn't perfect, but it was good nonetheless. And I am grateful to have new memories to look back on.