Stolen memories....

Since my phone died the second day we were in Waimanu, I had to wait until my friends shared their pictures with me so I could overload you with more Waimanu pictures.....trust me, after all the hard work and the two toenails I'm losing after that hike, you better enjoy these pictures!

 Since the trailhead for the hike is located down in Waipio Valley, and we decided (smartly) that we didn't want to have to climb down Waipio and add another mile to our already 9 mile trek, we decided to take my SUV down into Waipio.....I'd like to pretend we all fit well and had a comfortable ride down.... 

When we got into Waipio Valley, we had to start our mile long trek across the valley to get to the trailhead....Which of course included crossing the first of many rivers....

Thankfully, someone was kind enough to leave a sign at the trailhead for us....

It reminded us to not fall of the cliff, there is no store at the end and there are plenty of sharks in the water! All very helpful tips....although Buddy and I were contemplating putting a rental store in the valley so you could rent tents and bags. We'd totally make bank, but then neither one of us want to be in charge of running the store, sooooo.....

Anyway, here are some more treasures from our hike into Waimanu (the only way I can tell which is to and which is from is the color of Buddy's shirt...I seem to be wearing the same clothes in all the pictures, which seems like a moot point that I even brought a change of clothes, since they were ALL completely soaked by that night)....

 Of course this is what was waiting for us at the end of our hike....

It was dry enough that first night for Buddy to start a fire..... 

And then it wasn't, so we all huddled under Cliff's tarp whenever we had to make food, otherwise, Buddy was all ready to start a fire in our tent so we could cook. I'm still not certain Buddy realizes that starting a fire in your tent is a very bad move!

By the time we left on the third day, it had rained so much that the river we had to cross out of Waimanu (we had to cross 2 rivers and 11 streams) had risen to Buddy's chest. Thankfully, there was a rope and Buddy had his air mattress to double as a raft...

Although, I'm not sure why we thought we needed to keep his pack dry, everything was pretty soaked and weighed about 10 pounds more than when we hiked it in.....but it felt like the right thing to do! Then, we hiked, and hiked, and hiked and hiked some more....

 Thankfully, for my shoulders, we also took some breaks....

When we could finally see Waipio on our mile decent down...

I could've run....except for the fact that at this point my toes had become a bloody, throbbing mess....but in my mind I was running!  We had to cross the last stream in Waipio and with all the rain it had some serious height and strength to the currents. I think that was the worst part of it, because you had to use your wobbly weak thighs to keep you stabilized for the next step. Buddy fell 3 times and I kept having horrible visions of him being swept out into the angry sea. Thankfully, he was so good and kept himself in place till he could stand again. Sheesh, who knew a  river crossing could be so dangerous???? Well, other than pretty much anyone whose ever done a dangerous river crossing! We're planning to return when it's sunny, which gives us at least a few more months for my toes to recover, than we are totally back at it. I figure if it was that much fun in the rain, it's got to be even more fun in the sun! So all in all a super fantastic, I love my boy so much, day!

Waimanu

Buddy and I just returned from our butt-kicking backpacking trip into Waimanu. For those of you who don't know, look it up, this is a serious trip and the hike is rated difficult.....I just wanted you all to know how awesome we are! The plan was to hike in one day, explore the valley the next and then hike out on the third day....which means we needed to take stuff to survive.....lots and lots of stuff! Buddy's pack ended up weighing 19 pounds and mine was thirty (next time I'm forgoing all clothes and bringing the weight down to a much more tolerable 29 pounds).

Thankfully Buddy looks cute in his pack, which totally makes up for the weight! The hike up was strenuous to say the least, since you are basically climbing up the side of a valley, then you go up and down through multiple valleys until you reach Waimanu.....

Thankfully, they had signs to warn you....

And encourage you every few miles that you were almost there....

There was even a shelter along the way....

When we got there I had to kick a group of college kids out of our reserved camping spot, because seriously, who wouldn't want this view....

Plus, that river behind it was perfect for hours and hours of this....

(That would be throwing rocks.....which happened basically nonstop for the first 5 hours after arrival....pretty certain there are no rocks on that riverbank anymore).

Buddy was sure to pack in his hammock....

and his good attitude....

But, he usually packs that everywhere he goes! I love this boy so stinking much! Unfortunately it rained pretty much the entire time we were there and my phone got wet and stopped working so I couldn't take any pictures after the first night....thankfully, I was able to snap a few pictures of my gnarly toes and the inevitable fate of my toenails that are about to fall off....but I'm trying to keep my blog family friendly, so I'll save those pictures and send them to Shane when he makes me mad so I can exact my revenge!!! Hahahahahaha! At one point the whole group of us were headed to the huge waterfall in the back. Of course that was the same point that my phone started acting up so Buddy and I lagged behind a little too long and got separated from the group and couldn't find the trail anymore. Buddy, the fantastic scout, was sure to tell me it was unsafe to just be walking willy nilly if we couldn't find the trail, so we went back towards camp. Fantastically, we decided to walk out to the green/black sand beach and it was AWESOME!!!!! It was, of course, raining so the ocean was dark and angry looking and with the black sand it was quite ominous looking. We played and played, the whole while I was waiting for the sharks to come and gobble us up. Sadly, I wish my phone worked so I could take pictures of the sand for Buddy to remember! That was his favorite part of the beach. When you stepped in you sunk at least 6 inches, which was really cool, we had running and jumping competitions on the beach to see who could make the deepest sink hole.....he won! Anyway, we're back and I couldn't be prouder of my boy. He didn't utter a negative word the entire time.....he did emit a negative stench  though that even the river couldn't wash away!! Haha! In other news, Buddy's trying out a new look for church....

I think this look will go over well! So all in all a very super fantastic, ready to go again....but maybe not for a few more weeks, day!

Preparations.....

Buddy and I are getting ready for our 9 mile backpacking trip into Waimanu Valley. If getting ready means doing this for a few hours every day....

Pretty certain we've got the best training regime EVER!!!!!! We're pretty set....well, between the nonstop circling and the 6 mile hikes with weighted backpacks we've been doing every night! So all in all a super fantastic, hoping a hurricane doesn't come and spoil all of our fun, day!

Testing the waters....

Costco was selling face snorkel masks.....so of course we had to buy one last night, which means we had to try it out today (pretty certain it's a law)! Buddy gives it two thumbs, or since we're in Hawaii, two shakas up! Seriously awesome, now we need to go back tomorrow to get me one too so I can rock the awesomeness! 

Thankfully, I have a connection! 

So all in all a super fantastic, snorkeled until Buddy saw a school of spearfish and got freaked out, day! 

Biding our time....

Buddy and I are hiking to Waimanu Valley with some of my old co-workers next Thursday. We are hiking the 9 miles in, camping for two days and then trekking back out. We've been trying to take long hikes at night when it's cooler to get our endurance up, we've also been trying to bide our time until Thursday. Filling our time with lots of time at the beach....

Doing our chores...

Taking turns getting shoulder rides (in case someone wants to volunteer us their shoulders...you never know)....

Playing games in the laziest way possible...

and taking advantage of an overcast day where the people won't be on the trails that the bikes aren't supposed to be on (shhhhh)....

Trust me, bikes only should really be on this trail, it's our favorite!!!!! So all in all a super fantastic, getting ready for our backpacking trip, day!!! 

The curse of the 10 hour beach trip.....

I took the Budster to the beach yesterday. We took the usual beach toys, which are pretty awesome....

But that never stops Buddy from wishing he had a motorized watercraft! Thankfully, he's got two legs and a bit of an imagination...

Just imagine this picture back  and forth for approximately an hour.

Then to occupy the other 9 hours of the beach the boys went fishing and caught a lot of fish....and when I say a lot, I mean one!

This fish included me paddleboarding in the dark on the ocean......needless to say, this must be one awesome fish because paddleboarding in the ocean after dark is soooo not cool, as in someone may or may not have been singing a song to themself to keep the boogie man (or sharks more likely) away. Yay to my horrible singing for the win! Also, I must note, that the boys cooked up the fish (that is only after the only person that was brave enough to gut it (me) cleaned it), and it was DELICIOUS!  So all in all a super fantastic, sun burned but had fun....

day!

Babysitting fees....

One of Shane's co-workers asked me to babysit for him so he and his wife could go to a wedding. He tried to pay me.....I changed the terms of our agreement to include letting me bring my family and shamelessly use the pool at the hotel they were staying in. I pretty much won the day....so did Buddy!

So all in all a super fantastic, Buddy would've been the best older brother, day!

How did this happen????

After I posted yesterday I looked back at my blog and I realized that I hadn't blogged about THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF THE SUMMER! Last year, after we had hiked the Narrows, Buddy asked if we could hike up to Angel's Landing. Thankfully, one of his cousins didn't want to go, so we all couldn't go (leave no man behind and all). Secretly I was excited she said no, because just between me and you (and the 6 bazillion people on the internet), I'm a little afraid of heights.....especially if the only thing keeping me at those heights includes a chain link grab hold and a very small path of sandstone....but maybe I'm just weird! It took me a year to get the courage, but we did it.....

I'm glad that the National Park Service felt like they had to post a picture of someone falling to their death, because I totally wasn't picturing that ALREADY in my head! Thanks NPS for thinking of us!!!! 

I want to say the view was worth it....but it was a little meh....

 Okay, this is the spectacular view I was expecting!!!

I'll be honest, the worst part was the hike back down. Well, the worst, other than the harrowing crawl/holding to the chain for your life climb to the top OR sitting on the top waiting for a breeze to blow me off the top to a very painful death, the hike back down was the worst.

Pretty certain my body wasn't very appreciative of the activity we did the next day...

Buddy definitely was....Especially when I let him do this to get back....

I'll be honest, I was a chicken momma and only let him do that when it was super calm, not as fun as the rushing rapids we had hiked up through.....but let's be honest, he totally owed me one for the Angel's Landing Hike! So all in all a super fantastic, I can't believe I forgot to post all about this, day!