Relaxing Day

This morning I woke up about 7. I was thinking about the kids and realized that Mattina Ann was probably home alone; so I called her. We talked for about 40 min. We miss the kids but all of us are having a great time.
At the beginning of the week I read in a magazine about a Ukelele festival happening today. It was about 1/2 mile from our hotel so we went. We went to the tents and saw many people selling the Ukelele's. I didn't even check the price. One tent was offering a free 5-10 min. lesson. Aaron sat down and picked it up quickly. He loved it. Now we have a few pieces of music and the chord sheets so he can learn more. I guess he has some Ukelele's at school he can practice with and maybe teach the students. I think this made Aaron's day.
We then sat on the grass and listened for about 1/2 hour or so. To me it's very relaxing music. It was fun to see little children playing as well as older people. We had a great time. On the walk home we saw Art on the Fence of the Zoo. It made me think that I want to get something together with plumeria and hibiscus and have Marilyn paint it.
We went to church at 1:00. I had a really hard time staying awake. They had a missionary farewell for 2 boys. The boys sang with 3 missionaries and 2 younger boys. It sounded awesome. I could listen to that all day. We found our way to Sunday school and again I tried to sleep. Something just came over me I guess. Then I went to Relief Society. That has to be my favorite meeting. They gave all the visiting sisters a crochet lei and we had to introduce ourselves and say where we are from. There was a whole family there from Gunlock, Veyo, and St. George. We didn't know them but what a small world sometimes. Anyway, they were having a hard time finding someone to play the piano so I volunteered. I'm grateful I have that talent to share. The church house has outdoor hallways and is really "hawaiian" if you will. We got a nice picture of it.
We tried to go to Diamond Head after church. We took our dinner but when we got there we found we were about 45 min. late, so we decided to try our luck at Monoa Falls. Rita can't find Monoa Falls so we decided we'd try to find it on our own. Rita found the University of Hawaii for us and then we took over. We drove straight there. We hiked up a slippery and very rocky trail. Slippery because it had been sprinkling and there was a lot of muddy spots. The scenery was beautiful though. Bamboo trees and many other kinds too. We don't think the pictures will do justice but they might come close. The fall was just beautiful. I have seen pictures of falls in Hawaii and really wanted to see one; which is why we went tonight. It was so long, tall, and beautiful.
Aaron and I talked about what we learned in Relief Society and Priesthood on the hike. He was asked what he would say if he knew this was going to be the last time with me? (He said he knew this wasn't the right time to talk about this due to the fact we were on a slippery trail) He was also asked to remember what it was that made him think "This is the girl I have to marry!" We had a really nice conversation on the trail.
We made our jokes about the signs (we heard a radio announcement yesterday talking about how some signs shouldn't be necessary and yet they are)and then back to the car. We made it back just in time for it to be dark. We then ate our dinner in the car.
After we got to the hotel, Aaron wanted to go down to the beach. He would be a great beach bum if we lived closer. He complained that we haven't been to the beach enough this trip. We sat on mats and just listened to the waves. It was so relaxing and peaceful.
Now we are headed to bed because the next 2-3 days are going to be very busy. Thank goodness we had Sunday.

Photos of our day:


Manoa Falls