Hawaii Day 6 - Waimea Waterfall and Flying Home

We were sad to be on our last day. Usually at the end of a trip, I'm ready to come home, but we all agreed that we could stay another week. The kids were ready to move to Hawaii. (Notice the bowl of fresh pineapple - so good!)

While we were there, Jeff's kids taught us how to make earrings out of banana leaves. We learned that a banana tree only produces fruit one time and then it dies. I had no idea! Jeff's kids are working on a project to do something with the leaves so that they don't just go to waste. They are starting with earrings and may later expant to other items like key chains. The cool thing is that every pair is unique.

Baylie modeled the pair she made. Isn't she beautiful?

For our last day, we decided to go to the Waimea waterfall. We stopped on the way for one last taste of Ted's Bakery. These two were my favorites.

The waves were unbelievably high so we stopped to get a look.

Pictures can't show how impressive the waves were.

The hike to Waimea falls is so beautiful. It's a botanical garden and everything is just beautiful.

Taryn and her kids joined us along with a friend who was driving their car back so we wouldn't need to. Jalen and Hailey became such sweet friends. He called her "my little cousin" and she called him "my cousin." He was so sweet with her.

Garden boxes made of lava rocks.

First view of the falls.

We donned life jackets and swam at the foot of the falls. It was pretty cold, but not unbearable.

At the bottom of the falls.

We couldn't stay as long as we wanted to because we had to make it back in time for our flight.

On the way back to the Christensen's we stopped for lunch at Kahuku Farms. They grow all their own food and it is AMAZING! This was grilled banana bread. So delicious!

The farm pizza was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life.

The kale in the garden was almost as tall as Baylie!

And then it was over and we had to go to the airport. We had received notices that because of the weather, our flights might be impacted. They suggested we change our flights, but we stuck with our original plan. Miraculously, we made both our flights without any problems and even got to sit together.

Jalen watched movies the entire time and never slept from Hawaii to Washington, D.C.! He just watched movie after movie.

Layover in D.C.

We were all exhausted! Everyone was asleep but me.

We were so excited to get home, but also sad that this perfect trip was over. It was such a great time to be together and we made many wonderful memories.