Day in the life

This is paradise, right here.

One of the first adventures we went on was up into the mountains a ways to pick kukui nuts. These little guys have been used by Hawaiians for years as a food source ( more on that later), and the oil can either be burned or used on your skin. So when the kids were all kinds of excited to get up the mountain, I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, how exactly does one pick nuts? * I KNOW there's a joke there, but I'm trying to tell a story here*  Well, it apparently all starts with buckets. Lots of buckets. and a white knuckled drive up what looked like a deer trail over some boulders to the kukui grove. I guess I thought we'd be sending the kids up the trees to shake the nuts down? But no, picking nuts means exactly that, you're picking them up off the ground. 

Those are not pebbles, those are kukui nuts. 

We had 6 five gallon buckets to fill before we'd be done for the day. Oh sure, you're thinking. Find a good spot, plop down and start shoveling them in, right? Wrongo!! Cuz not all of them are good, see? You have to check them before you throw them into the bucket. Also, watch out for centipedes!  And some of them aren't ripe yet either. You can peel them, but it's really gross. Those look like this: 

Unripe kukui held by Kekai,. 

Now might be a good time to introduce y'all to Uncle Joe, hub's mom's brother. He's like...well..he's....ok. Imagine a dude that's good at everything outdoorsy, is wickedly funny and a wise-ass, has enough personality to make a tornado back down and goes hunting in board shorts. That's a bare bones, basic idea of what Uncle Joe is all about. He hunts, fishes ( with nets and spears), dives and manages to get the kids all riled up all at the same time. He's amazing, and he's hub's inspiration I think. I can see a lot of Uncle Joe in Hubs. 

Hubs, Uncle Joe and the dogs.

We spent all day in the woods, and I got filthy and had unidentified gunk under my nails and I loved every second of it. At one point, the dogs heard some deer in the area, so Hubs, Uncle Joe and myself all take off after them with the rifle. I missed a great photo op on that hike, a shot of both Hubs and Uncle Joe in profile, both looking off into the distance...I tear up a little remembering that moment. I could see the bloodline of Hub's family stamped on their faces and it was beautiful. 

Tiny mango.

I've got tons more pictures of the forest, but in the interest of moving on, here's the end of our day. 

6 buckets of delicious. 

When we got home, we saw this rainbow. I was excited.....no one else was. I forgot, rainbows happen everyday on Molokai. 

Home at the end of the rainbow.

We ended up filling all the buckets by mid afternoon, but by then everyone was so tired that we basically went home, got cleaned up, ate and were in bed by 6pm! The only downside to such an early bedtime though is waking up at 2AM fully refreshed. Fortunately, the weather in Hawaii is vastly superior to New England, so it's possible to be outside at 2AM and be happy about it. Hubs and I went fishing on the wharf, where I learned to cast, and that being on the floating dock makes me really dizzy. 

Molokai Moon 1.

Hubs teaching K the finer points.

Hubs, and the island of Lanai.

Later on that morning, we took our niece K with us fishing again. While we didn't catch anything ( well, I got a sunburn, YAY!!! No really, I got the best tan ever after that burn!) we did have a bunch of fun, and I got to see Hubs interact with children, which I love for obvious reasons. 

More on Monday! Enjoy the weekend everyone! Aloha!!