i like to camp

we went camping a couple times this summer. we're gonna go a couple more times before rainy season really hits. i really really really like camping... a lot. more specifically, i really really really like hawaiian style camping. basically you take your house to the beach and stay close to a grocery store.

this was our set-up:

 an ez corner that was eventually surrounded by 8 tents...

this was ward camp #2.

ward camp.

think girls' camp, or scout camp, but bigger. the whole ward comes! and their cousins. and aunties. and friends. people bring their couches and TVs, inflatable pools, beds, and kitchen sinks even! (true story.)

this summer we went to 2 ward camps: our current ward and our old ward. all i wanted for my birthday was to go camping... and whadya know our old ward was camping on my birthday weekend!! how perfect is that!!

why i love camping...

no schedule

play at the beach all day, don't have to wash off the sand afterwards

addi gets to run around and do her thang 24/7

the mornings

no chores

loads of friend time

late nights

card games

singing and playing the uke

campfires

tin foil dinners

having a cooler as a fridge

just being outside...

we found gwen's twin at camp... she's 1/2 hawaiian, believe it or not.

(i know you won't.)

the other 1/2 is swedish.

we had loads of beach time... and with daddy!

the girls and i go beach it quite a bit, but we hardly ever get daddy-O too!

and like i said, plenty of friend time and kajillions of kiddos

  

and then the last day there was a carnival for the kids...

i was so proud of little gwenner for actually hitting stuff with the bean bags toss games!

and addi...

well, addi was always gone.

riding her bike.

running around the field with friends.

telling me to leave her alone cause she was a big girl.

eating other people's food.

dancing.

playing soccer.

swimming.

i really never knew where she was.

true story.

and that's camping.

in a nutshell.

i like to camp.

day 2

note to self: when on a "weekend away", aka time without children, don't plan on waking up early. it's just torture.

today was moped day. we started at 7a. i've gotta say i love me a moped! i never knew. i was a little wary at first... the balancing thing, and accelerating thing... 35 mph never felt so fast.

sadly, no moped pics. but basically we looked like this, only on separate mopeds.

first stop: diamond head

yah, i only took pics from the top. let's be honest... i was dying. those were lots of stair with a 70% ankle.

and evidently i wasn't the only one suffering...

two people were choppered down... it was a hot day. and i think it's 282 stairs or something like that.

after diamond head me mopeded our way to hanauma bay.

via

it was fun enough. we were pretty much the same color as valentines m&ms by this point

the red ones

and there wasn't as much marine life to see as we had expected.

then we mopeded back to the marriot to get all dolled up

dancers danced while we waited to board... we were the very FIRST people on the boat, so we got our own personal serenade while we sipped our virigin mai tai's

a moped back to marriot and the day was done.
oh, except for that time we stopped for hot cocoa and pastries and some place by ward theaters.
WHOA to the pastries and cocoa! so delicious!


next time you're in waikiki, i highly recommend renting mopeds.

and starting your diamond head hike really early...

sailing

little known fact: i'm scared of water.

mostly the deep, naturally occurring kind. eg. the pacific ocean.

or bear lake.

lake powell.

the mississippi river...

ok, so basically anything but a swimming pool.

but here's the thing, we turned 5. our marriage, i mean. and i deemed myself as the 5th anniversary party planner.

so we spent a weekend in waikiki!

day 1: high-speed catamaran sail around diamond head.

it was so intensely, crazy fun!! we sat right up front, feet dangling off the edge, hanging on to the ropes white-knuckled for dear life. (okay, so maybe that was just me.) and the guy next to me, vacationing from washington state, had so much fake tanner on that i could smell the brown washing off of him with each mountainous splash of ocean waves.

that's how awesome it was.

cluck cluck

meet eloise.

she lives in our garage, where she sits on her eggs day after day.

eggs like these that we found in our garden,

without an eloise of their own.

which came first, the eloise or the egg?