Summer Bummer

It all started Friday afternoon. We received a call from the boys' school that Travis had fallen off a swing and had probably broken his arm. We took him to the ER as soon as the school nurse stabilized him.

Sure enough, he had broken both his right radius and ulna.

The emergency room went well, they weren't very busy and were very nice to Travis. The doctor put Travis out so he could set his arm. It took him a while to wake up, and he was saying the funniest things. I videoed part of it, but I couldn't get it to load on this post.

Travis spent the weekend icing his arm and taking it easy. He got a lot of people to sign his bandage at church.

Today was 5th Grade graduation. Travis was happy that he was able to make it.

Congratulations Travis!

Right after his graduation, we went to the orthopedist. Hanging out for 1 1/2 hours in the cast room with Travis and Marcus almost sent me over the edge. The doctor said that almost every other boy in the area had decided to brake his arm at the beginning of Summer.



Travis had his heart set on a camouflage cast, but he settled for a green one, and we will add brown and black spots later.



Even though Travis was happy to get his cast, he started bumming about spending 4-6 weeks in it. We cheered him up by letting him burn all his school uniform pants.

That made the Summer Bummer a little bit better.

Hawaii Part 2

Wednesday, May 4th

After spending the day before at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we decided to hit the beach again. Not just any beach, but one of the beaches on Oahu's North Shore. During the winter, the North Shore is famous for its wild waves with surfers.

Before going to the beach, we visited The Dole Pineapple Plantation. We entered the world's largest maze as a family and I lost everyone. I couldn't follow the maze map for anything! The boys loved it.

Marcus before he ran away from me.

After eating pineapple soft-serve ice cream, we drove up to the town of Haleiwa for lunch. Dessert is always better before lunch I think. I had Kalua pork again, I don't remember/care what anyone else ate. My lunch was delish.

We wanted to check out several of the beaches, but parking was hard to find. Bert finally dropped us off at Waimea Bay parked far from the beach (bless his heart!).



We thought that since May is almost June and June is Summer, that the surf would be calm. NOT! Travis and I were out in the water on boogie boards and it was great until we tried to get out of the water. I made it out by dodging the waves, but then I looked back just in time to see Travis be swallowed by a huge wave. I yelled his name, as he crashed onto the beach. It freaked us both out and Travis said his face hit the ground.

Nathan and Bert were the next victims. Bert got slammed and lost his wrist watch. He was done for the day. We then heard the lifeguards announce to everyone to keep their children out out the water.

The north end of the beach had the calmest surf, so we spent the rest of our time there. Though the surf was more than we could handle, it was a beautiful beach.



Just as we decided to leave the beach, the skies opened up and it poured on us. Bert had to hike back to the van (bless his heart again!).


Thursday, May 5th


We started the day with a visit to the Byodo-In Temple on the east side of Oahu. I remember visiting there when I was 11 years old, and wanted to feed the koi again.

The boys loved feeding the birds more than the koi.

They rang the gong for good luck.

It was a gorgeous day.

Our main goal of the day was snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We had heard that the parking lot fills up fast, so we had a back-up plan to hike Diamond Head. We were happy to find a spot to park, so we were good to go!

Bert, Nathan, and Travis LOVED snorkeling.

I have a phobia of swimming with any kind of critters, so I wanted nothing to do with it. Marcus and I enjoyed swimming in the sandy areas.

Buried Treasure

Hanauma Bay was a big hit with the Wagners!

Hawaii Part 1

When I talked Bert into taking the family to Hawaii on vacation this year we couldn't decide if we were the world's best parents, or the world's craziest.

Like last year, Bert's vacation was in May. Airline pilots rarely have vacation from their companies when other people do. This means family vacations at weird times. It has its pros and cons to be sure. The pros are traveling during off seasons and less crowds, and the cons are taking our kids out of school (though the boys don't see it that way).

We had the privilege of flying out of Bellingham to Honolulu. It was beyond sweet. We left around 5:00 in the evening, which was nice because we didn't have to wake up too early Sunday morning. We arrived in Honolulu around 8:00 at night, picked up our rental van (we learned our lesson last year)and drove to the Pililaau Army Recreation Center.

We were pleased with the two-bedroom cottage, though Travis had to sleep on the vinyl sofa the first night because we forgot to make arraignments for an extra bed.

Monday, May 2nd

I was the first one up at about 6:00 am. The three hour time change wouldn't allow me to sleep in. Marcus was up soon after, and insisted on going to the beach. The cottages are yards from the beach and we enjoyed a nice walk on the beach. Marcus was soaked by the time we went back to our cottage.

We had decided to take it easy the first day in Hawaii and hang out where we were staying. It was great. We ate breakfast at McDonald's and then went swimming.

We blinded the locals with our Washington skin.

The boys loved the ocean.

And the sand.

The highlight of the day was surfing lessons for Nathan and Travis.

Warning! Many, many surfing photos.

"Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world."

Wipe out!!!!

A big surprise

The surfing lessons were a big hit!

After the lessons were done, we drove up the west coast of Oahu, to the end of the road. We saw some beautiful beaches, and many homeless camps. We bought some groceries, the prices were high of course, $7.00 for a gallon of milk! After we got back to "our beach" the boys went swimming again. Bert was lighting our grill for dinner when it started raining. We ended up frying the burgers and watching an awesome storm. It was a great day.

Tuesday, May 3rd

Our fire alarm went off during the middle of the night, and was too high up on the wall to turn off, so we had to turn the power off to part of our cottage for the night. I still was the first one up and enjoyed breakfast on our patio.

We drove up the middle of the island to the North Shore and east to the town of Laie it was a beautiful drive.

The Hawaiian LDS Temple

We enjoyed the visitor's center at the temple.

We went to Polynesian Cultural Center as soon as it opened. Visitors can visit 6 different islands and learn more about their unique cultures.

Marcus and Travis trying not to hurt themselves long poi twirling in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

In Hawaii, the boys learned about Poi.

The Canoe Pageant was awesome, and I enjoyed the shade. It was really hot that day!

We visited all the other islands: Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, and Tonga.

We loved the lau that evening, and no, there is not alcohol in that pineapple!

The purple poi rolls were yummy, even Marcus liked them.

They asked all the couples celebrating their anniversaries in May to go to the stage for a dance.

After dinner, we watched the show, "Ha, Breath of Life". It was stunning.