The sea was angry that day, my friends...

So the ocean here at the hotel is rather animated, and has a tendency to be very wavy -- meaning it's not exactly the calmest water. After venturing into the water a couple days ago and being knocked over by a few waves, I haven't had the inclination to go back in... not when there are so many pools full of calmer water around here. In fact, the last two days the water has seemed even MORE agitated, with large, fast-moving waves overtaking anyone brave enough to move close. Yesterday, I think everyone went in except me and maybe Debbie (and mom, who refuses to give the ocean the time of day -- ever since it tried to mow her down over on Maui...). So Debbie and I sat on the beach, watching everyone disappear under frothing water and then reemerge laughing and gasping. And Rick, whose eyes have been very sensitive to light ever since he had LASIK, decided to risk wearing his nice pair of sunglasses into the water. Amazingly, after being hit with several huge waves, the glasses remained firmly planted on his face. Debbie even commented on how Rick was the only person in the water with a pair of sunglasses on his head. And no sooner had she said that than a straggling little wave washed over Rick's head and claimed his sunglasses as its own...

Yes, we lost some good sunglasses out there yesterday... a moment of silence, if you please...

And now some pictures from the last couple days:

This was the "spouting horn," which is just down the road from our hotel. The ocean water runs underneath these rocks and is forced out like a geyser -- they have signs posted to keep people from walking too close, but as you can see, Eric D. is a rebel...

We went to a luau last night, which we've actually never done any of the times we've visited Hawaii. It was pretty cool -- there was lots of purple food. Seriously -- purple rolls and purple sweet potatoes and purple cauliflower. I had no idea they loved purple so much here! I need to come back more often. Anyway, I believe this was Rick's favorite dancer... (I had a favorite, too, but I don't think I got a picture of him... darn it... :))

Eric D. gets a hula lesson...

This guy was cool -- he was twirling these flaming batons and perching them on his feet and somehow managed to NOT catch on fire, even though he was wearing lots of grass on his legs... maybe it was flame-resistant grass...

Today we drove up to Waimea Canyon, which Mark Twain called the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." And it may not have been quite as impressive as the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but Arizona doesn't have an ocean...

More of the canyon...

Me at one of the canyon overlooks...

A picture of dad taking a picture...