"Mommy, I was hit by a turtle"

Wren woke at 6.45am, Seattle time.  Unfortunately, that was 4.45am in Kauai.   The roosters had been crowing for a while but it was a lovely tepid black night.   I brought Wren into our bed and showed him that it was still night and he could sleep in our bed.  He lay there, kicking me and stealing our sheets.  After a while he said that it was like a flower with ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR-FIVE petals.  I didn't know what he was talking about until I realized that his eyes had been open and staring up at the big wooden ceiling fan which did, indeed, look like a flower.

I said "SHSHSHSHSHS" loudly but he couldn't.  So we got up.

A few hours later, as the shadows retreated and the first sun struck the coast, we arrived at Poipu Beach Park armed with our boogie boards and snorkels.

The snorkeling was fabulous.  I saw (and identified) eleven species of reef fish, including the famous humuhumunukunukuapuaa — also known as the rectangular triggerfish - the Hawaiian State Fish.

Frost and Wren eat icecreams in Honolulu airport

Wren 'climbs' a coconut palm at Poipu Beach Park.  Shortly
after I took the picture he plunged to the ground
and hit his head on the park table.  The long shadows are the early light.

Run, rooster, run!  Wren chases a chicken with his
chicken bazooka.  The roosters are EVERYWHERE. 
Josh has been making "why did the chicken cross the road" jokes
which are funny because they are so topical.

 After Frost, Mum and I had snorkeled for a long time we walked to the next beach, a small cove called Brennekes.  There, Josh and Frost entered the water to boogie board.  Poipu beach park has three swimming areas (a tiny Baby Beach protected by a rock wall, a snorkeling cove and another beach over the headland where there was some surf.  Brennekes was almost empty with a few boogie boarders risking the larger dumping surf.  Josh and Frost caught some waves and Frost was dumped by an equal number.  Thankfully he enjoyed it.

After a while, Mum entered the water to give him some advice on catching waves and going UNDER large breaking surf rather than simply getting slammed by it.  While we watched the guys in the water, we saw a number of sperm whales moving along the coast.  A large group of people were set up along the raised shoreline looking out to see and it was easy to spot whales by their spouting.   I saw another breaching and diving with the binoculars.  They really are huge and amazing.

Frost had his own sealife experience while boogie boarding with Granny.  Mum starting waving and gesticulating at me that there was a seal in the water right in front of them.  Turns out, it was a huge sea turtle.  Frost, Granny and the turtle were swimming together when a large wave came and caught Frost and the turtle and dumped them together.  Frost was wearing goggles and saw the turtle underwater.  It was swept into the wave with him and hit into him as they were dumped.  He said its shell was very hard and hurt his foot for a while.

When they both came up in front of Mum she said the turtle's shell was covered in sand from the churning in the shallows.

Frost rushed out the water and told me that he had been "hit by a turtle and really touched it!"

Later, I told him there was a $100,000 fine for touching or interfering with a turtle!  He was alarmed.  I don't think he was at risk of a fine.  Really, the wave interfered with both of them.

The large toad is burping in the dark again and the dishwasher is burbling the dishes which we used for the grilled fish, tofu and eggplant curry we had for dinner.

After our morning swim and some breakfast we went on a drive to Waimea.  Driving along the 'highway' is a slow process.  Even short mainland distances (25 miles) take an hour due to the variable speed limits and endless road works.  We spent a while at the Waimea fair, narrowly missing enrolling Frost in a junior ice-cream eating contest.  Both boys enjoyed their first shave ice.

This evening we had another swim boogie / snorkel and I saw even more fish including some large unicornfish.

We are all a bit sun-pinked and vow to avoid driving further than Spouting Horn tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is our 10th wedding anniversary and we hope to have dinner at a Grand Hyatt restaurant.