Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve

On Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve. One of Christian's co-workers had recommended snorkeling here, so we thought we would give it a try. Megan and Jabin tagged along with us to check it out. It was over an hour drive (over by Wiamea) to get there. We drove off the beaten path, through lava beds until the road ended. There was no real beach, but we made our spot on a small piece of "beach".

On our way to find the reserve.

 We arrived around 9 and everyone got their snorkel gear on except Landon and I. The plan was for Christian to go out with the older boys and then come back and switch with me. It got super windy after about 45 minutes of being there, making the water really murky and it hard for Travis to swim, so they all came back to shore. Landon and I had a great time exploring all the tide pools in the area. We saw quite a few fish, sea urchins, and star fish without evening getting in the water. Landon found shell after shell.

A little black and yellow fish in one of the tide pools.

Megan, Jabin, Travis, Carson, Landon and Christian getting ready to head out (well, not Landon)

It's hard to see, but in the center is a big star fish.

 The group swam out to a group of lava rocks to explore. They saw huge sea urchins with spikes like 12 inches long and lots of fish. They didn't see any turtles though.

Jabin, Megan, Christian, Carson and Travis headed out.

This was Landon's prized shell he found. It was so shiny and sparkled in the sun and had great colors. We packed it home and after two days of being home, it stared to stink up the bathroom. Come to find out, it still had a creature in it that finally died. Landon threw it outside somewhere. Maybe once all our snow melts we'll find it.

Carson and Jabin coming in.

The boys LOVED checking out the tide pools. There were some really cool things to see in them.

Jabin and Christian on our little piece of beach.

Exploring with Megan.

 After checking out the tide pools, we decided to walk along the path in the lava beds. It was neat to look up the mountain and see the paths the lava took to make it's way down to the ocean where we were.

We came to a spot where there was a neat rock formation.

Exploring the rocks with Jabin.

The boys found this crab while they were exploring.

 We walked for a ways down that path along the beach looking at tide pools as we found them and playing in the water. We decided around 12:30 to make our way back. We stopped and had some Hawaiian bbq for lunch along the way.

Wiped out boys! The only naps they got were when we were in the car driving to our next adventure!

 We hung out by the pool when we got back for a few hours. We went into Lahina that evening with plans to shop and then eat. Christian and I hitched a ride with Jason and Cassie in their convertible while the boys rode with Grandpa and Grandma in their's and Megan and Jabin's. We didn't end up doing much shopping, but we did eat at a really nice Italian restaurant that had too many fancy names that we couldn't read or understand what they were!

Travis cruising with Grandpa and Grandma.

Landon and Carson getting to ride with Megan and Jabin.