Koko Head Botanical Gardens

6:38:00 PM

Kids climbing one of the largest Plumeria trees I've ever seen

One of the things I love about hiking is seeing the beauty and splendor of God’s creation. Today we visited Koko head Crater Botanical Gardens and every plant was a marvel to behold. The different shapes, colors, sizes, and designs always amaze me. What is cool about this garden is it is all dry desert plants. We live on a tropical island but we can still see and appreciate cacti and strange looking plant life from Madagascar. It’s so interesting to so see these strange almost alien looking plants. I can see where Dr. Seuss got his inspiration from.
Dr. Suess looking tree

It looks like there's a door in the tree


The Gang posing in front of these cool cacti


Trees from Madagascar
Some of the trees have some serious thorns all over their trunks and branches. The thorns are similar to cacti thorns but way more dangerous. If you tried to hug one of these trees you would get seriously hurt. I guess in a desert this is a way for the trees to survive and keep animals from eating them.

This looks like a normal tree but it's trunk and branches are covered in sharp thorns
Close up of the thorns on the trunk of the tree
My son enthralled by the thorny branches
When people tell me that there is no God and that the world and life was created by accident I can only shake my head. Look around at the amazing plant and animal life. Every one of these plants and animals is wonderful and deeply complex. Plants, animals, humans, and our eco system are all interconnected. If you get rid of one, it wreaks havoc with the design and things do not run smoothly. 

If for some reason a native plant or animal becomes extinct from the area, there is a chain reaction that involves all the other animals and plants in the area.  I saw this cool documentary about wolves and how they used to live in Yellowstone National park and when they were hunted to almost extinction there was a huge effect on the land and animals in the area. When the wolves were re-introduced to the area the water and trees all started coming back. This is a great example of how complex and wonderful this world is and how much thought went into its design. Here is the video in case you want to watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

Cool looking cacti
Another example is our bodies. The human body was designed to be the perfect machine. We breath in air or oxygen (that comes from trees) that goes into our lungs and somehow we subtract that oxygen from the air for our body to use. Our heart then pumps blood that flows through veins in the body delivering oxygen and other nutrients to different parts of our body. Then we exhale carbon dioxide which trees use to live. Humans and trees are basically coexisting, supporting one another. It is an amazing design and not something that evolved by accident. There are too many intricacies for any of this to be an accident and with all great designs there must be a designer. Anyway, just some food for thought. With that I will leave you with some of the pictures from our hike. Enjoy! 
My husband and I
Kids playing with the cactus

Nike Commercial?
One of the largest cactus I've ever seen
Kids swinging from the tree
Look at that view!
The bark on this tree was similar to a guava or eucalyptus tree it was multi colored.
Aloe Vera Flowers?
Gnarly roots and branches
On the trail
To bad I couldn't capture the whole tree in all it's glory
Family Photo
Just around the bend on the way home

That is some serious rock

Checking out the surf




Kaniakapupu Ruins and nearby waterfalls

8:11:00 PM

First glimpse of the Kaniakapupu Ruins


What is left of King Kamehameha III's Summer Palace

This was a place of relaxation

Peaceful place surrounded by waterfalls

Yoga at Lulumahu falls

Relaxing in the crystal clear water

Beautiful bamboo forests
Perfect spot for meditation

Adventurers


Ok, so I have been absent for awhile. Life happened and I have no excuses but I'm back. I won't even try to catch up on all the things I didn't blog about as it's just to much. So this morning I went on an incredible hike to the Kaniakapupu ruins. We also stumbled upon 3 different waterfalls. Lulumahu Falls, Jackass Ginger Falls and Luakaha Falls. Luakahu was by far the most impressive but I did not get any pictures as it is on private property and I only saw if from above looking down. This was a fairly easy but muddy hike. I would love to come again.

Rock Climbing at the Rock Gym

10:23:00 PM

A friend invited us to go rock climbing with her family this Sunday at the nearby Rock Gym.  I've never gone rock climbing but always thought it looked fun so I was pretty excited about this outing. My husband, son and nephew accompanied me on this adventure.

Me climbing my first slanted wall
When we got to the gym I looked around and thought yeah this will be a piece of cake can't wait to start climbing. Well, let me tell you rock climbing is much harder then it looks and you use muscles in your body you didn't even know you had. I'm pretty sure I will be super sore tomorrow. After I climbed a few walls my arm muscles literally became numb and felt super weird.
Husband coming down from his climb
My hands got all red and sore from gripping the rocks so I kept having to apply chalk to my hands which helped a lot.
Nephew climbing
Even though it was very challenging I'm super keen to go again. I think after a few times my body may adapt and I can try some of the more challenging climbs.  I did a bit of research and discovered that if you climb for an hour straight you can lose up to 500 - 700 calories. That's way more then 90 calories from cardio so that's also great motivation.


The kids had a lot of fun. When they got tired there is a small climbing wall that connects to a slide that they played on for ages. 

Manoa Falls Hike

10:06:00 PM

My nephew is staying with us for the week so we decided to go adventuring. Manoa Falls is one of my favorite hikes to take kids as it is very beautiful but quite easy. The hike is about 1.6 miles round trip and the trail is well maintained and kid friendly although it can be muddy and slippery in places.
Boys being boys
Entering into a different dimension
One thing I love about the Manoa Falls hike is just how beautiful the area and trees are. I feel like I've stepped into a movie set for Avatar or Jurassic Park it is so unreal.
Vines climbing the trees

Gorgeous views
There is a creek that runs on the right side of the hike and a few small bridges to cross. I've been on this hike 3 times and each time it rained so bring an umbrella if you don't want to get wet. We never brought an umbrella and actually enjoyed the sprinkle. The trees provide a natural umbrella and you don't get soaking just a little wet which is nice and cooling as it can be pretty hot and muggy. There are a lot of different types of trees like bamboo, tall eucalyptus, pine trees and big ferns on this hike.
Little bridge to cross the stream
Well maintained path with man made steps  


Pretty bamboo
Beautiful tall tree

If you look carefully you can see the waterfall in the distance

Pretty pink flowers growing in the trees

This is a great spot to take pictures. This picture doesn't show how massively big these trees are.

On this particular day the falls were running pretty dry but I've been here when they are flowing beautifully


Pink flower petals strewn everywhere

Sun glimmering through the trees

The trail

Going through the bamboo forest

Natural Tree arch

Trickling stream

Boys climbing up the side of a hill

Little monkey's resting at the end of the trail

 After our fun hike we had lunch at this cute little cafe. It was delicious. The boys sat at their own table in this beautiful yard surrounded by papaya, mango and lemon trees.
Boys waiting for their orders and just chilling.
I got the kalo falafels which were delicious. My son and nephew got the avacado and grilled vegetable burger. I was a little skeptical of this menu because everything has a lot of vegetables and I wasn't sure if the kids would like it. My son was a bit scared to try his burger and even asked if we could go somewhere else. I asked him to just please try it and if he didn't like it we could have pasta at home. Well, he did try the burger and said was the best he had ever had. He even ate the roasted vegetables. My nephew also loved his and even ate the salad with large slices of carrots and beets. We will definitely be coming back. We want to try the portobello mushroom burger the other boys got. It looked very yum! 
Kalo falafels. Yum!






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