Fun in the pool in Hawaii

Near our condo, there was a warm pool, and a hot jacuzzi. Since the day we arrived, my siblings and I have been working on a synchronized dance in the pool. We had to stay together, and every one had to memorize their parts. We also had to practice all the lifting, and put together the dance. This dance was difficult, as it was long, and it was hard for all of to agree on the routine and not fight. We worked on it every evening during our vacation, and at the end, my mother recorded our final dance.

At the end, we all held hands and bowed. We had a fun experience trying synchronized dancing, and we hope we will get together, and create something else soon.

Here is the video of our synchronized dance. 

Have you ever tried coordinating something with your siblings or friends? 

How did it go?

Surfing

A few days ago, we were feeling very energetic, and decided to try to surf. We went to Mana Kai Beach which is supposed to be a very good beach for going on boogie boards, body surfing, and for going on paddle and surfboards. In the mornings between 7:00am  until lunchtime the waves are small, but the winds start picking up around noon until 5:00 pm.

 

 

We rented our surf board  from across the street, and carried it to the beach.  We didn't have anything on our roof in the car to hold the surfboard, so we couldn't go far with it. As we put the board onto the water,  we had to pass through the shore break into the deeper part of the ocean where there were no waves so we could stand on the board. When we watched other people go surfboarding and paddle boarding, it looked so easy, but when I tried it, I found it to be a lot harder than it looked. The board is very wobbly, and it is hard to stay balanced. I got knocked off the board many times and it became very tiring to have to get back onto the board over and over again. We each took turns trying to get up on the board and counted the seconds to see who can stay on the longest. When we became cold, we rode a wave on the board to get out. Then we built a few very tall sand castles, and dug many deep holes. We had a wonderful day, and will never forget this experience. 

Have you ever tried to surf?

 How did it go for you?

Haleakala National Park

We recently drove to the Haleakala National park, which has a volcano crater. We had to drive through winding roads, and up to 10,000 feet elevation. As we reached about 8,000 feet we were so high that we were driving through the clouds. Finally we reached the volcano. The volcano  forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian islands of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by the West Maui Mountains. As we drove through the entrance, we went straight to the visitor center to pick up a map and a Junior Ranger Booklet for Haleakala National Park. To receive a Junior Ranger badge, we had to complete a certain number of activities in the booklet based on your age.

Finally we were prepared for our long hike called Keonehe'ehe'e (Sliding Sands). It was called sliding sands because along the trail were loose gravel. There were many signs showing the way of the trail, so nobody went off.  When we started our hike, the clouds were coming in, and we couldn't see the volcano. After about ten minutes everything cleared up and we took many  beautiful photos. We saw all different colors of mountains. At the bottom, there was some green grass growing, and to the right of that, there were some pink and red mountains. It was very windy above the clouds, so we put our long-sleeved shirts around our head, so it would cover our ears. We felt much nicer and warmer with the sweaters around our ears. In the beginning of the hike, we went straight down for about 40 minutes but then we had to go back up. It took double the amount of time to go back up, so that hike back up took another about 90 minutes with a few short breaks.   All together we hiked approximately 3 miles.

After we finished that hike, we ate lunch, and got ready to go back to the visitor center to get our badges. The ranger checked all our booklets, and corrected our mistakes. Then she told us to read the pledge that was written on our books to always take care of nature. Finally, we earned our badges, and took a photo together with the ranger. We are now official Junior Rangers of Haleakala National Park.

Have you ever visited a volcano?

Spectacular Beaches and Amazing Views

Fleming Beach

Recently, we flew to Maui, Hawaii. It was a long flight, and we were kept busy doing our homework, reading and playing games like Uno and cards. When we neared Maui, we saw lights of the city. The island is large with many sandy beaches and warm calm waters.

Wailua Falls

One day we took a trip to the city of Hana located on the eastern part of the island.  In the middle of the drive it started pouring, but it rained warm rain. It wasn't surprising to us because it was a rainforest and everything was very green. While driving, we saw many tropical fruit trees such as Guava and apple bananas. To keep us busy on the drive, we bought a CD, that talked about all the sites and guided us around this part of the island. Check out Miriam's post for more details about our drive.  It was about a 3 and half to 4 and a half hour drive through the amazing rainforests.

Black Sand Beach

As we approached Hana, we stopped at Waianapanapa State Park, also known as the Black Sand Beach. It has black sand from the volcanic rock.  While the black sand was nice and soft, the water had large black rocks that hurt are feet. We therefore wore our water shoes when swimming. In this beach, the surf was high, pulled us in, however, the water was very nice and refreshing. We couldn't go out far because of the huge waves. Only our dad went in all the way in the water, and he didn't even have water shoes.

Black Sand Beach

Red Sand Beach

When we left, we drove a little more, and parked on the streets near Hana School. Our next stop was Kaihalulu known as the Red Sand Beach. We had to to hike a few miles to get to this beach. We hiked up the hills and down the mountains. It was a very hard hike because it the sand was slippery, and we were high up. When we finally reached the beach, we saw gigantic red boulders above a beautiful blue pool of water. Although the waves were high, the large boulders blocked all the big waves. It was a very nice and refreshing swim before our trip back home.

View of the Volcano from the car driving back

For our long drive home, we decided to take the other way through the barren volcanic land.  While driving, this road took us high up, and there was a gorgeous view of the ocean. The ocean was turquoise near the shore, and gradually became darker blue. The other side of the road had a view of Haleakala Volcano.  It was hard to keep our eyes on the road. The rode was bumpy and unpaved for part of the trip.

Do you enjoy going to the beach? 
What do you like to do there?