Aloha Christmas

This year Christmas in the Loveridge household came a little bit early. We tend to do things a lot more off the beaten path than most people, and this is how we like it. We had such a blast last year in Hawaii that we couldn’t resist going back. I think everyone in our family agrees that this might be a tradition that will stick. Forget all of the holiday madness that most people deal with; we have opted to do away with gifts (for the most part) and spend time hanging out somewhere awesome, with family instead!

We spent eleven days in Hawaii, and if anyone thought there would be time to sleep in, or lie around and be lazy….they would be sorely mistaken. We had things to see and do from the minute we stepped out of the airport, starting with Costco dogs. For anyone who knows Mike and Dan Loveridge, they would know that these two brothers have a special talent for building great adventure plans and finding the unknown hidden treasures, when it comes to entertainment and finding original and memorable things to do.

A lot of our time was spent watching surf competitions, one of which is the rare, BIG wave, Eddie Aikau competition. This is rare because the conditions have to be perfect, and the waves have to be monstrous for this event to even go down. On average, these stellar conditions only occur about every seven years or so in Waimea bay, and this year it was on! Soooo for the first two days of our “vacation”, we were up at 4:45am to witness the Eddie, and it was well worth it! It is awe inspiring to see men on surfboards drop off of 40 foot waves, some even in the 60 foot range.

After the Eddie, which lasted one day (the first day was a no go), the Pipe Masters was on. More big waves, and more jaw dropping action. A huge part of Pipe Masters is seeing how much free schwag we come away with, and this year it wasn’t easy but Creighton and Karac rocked it. 60+ cans of Rock Star (for Dan of course), 30 Rock Star and Vans hats, 10 pairs of sunglasses, shirts, wallets, stickers, and the list goes on! Each of the boys even brought home half of a broken surf board from pro’s surfing in the competition. The best part of it was knowing that while we were on the beach in about 85 degree weather, it was a bone chilling 9 degrees at home.

We also got to go on a few amazing hikes, and hiking in jungle has such a different flavor than what we are used to, which made it all the more adventurous. Mike, Jonna, and I did the infamous Stairway to Heaven which consists of somewhere around 3,992 steps up the side of one of Hawaii’s steep mountains. It is a little bit of a rush because it is not open for public use because of the dangerous conditions, so you have to sneak in early before the guard gets there, and you do some serious bush whacking and scaling tall fences topped with barbed wire, that stand atop a very good sized ledge (some may call it a cliff), just to start the ascent.

"The stairway was originally built for the U.S. Coast Guard to allow access to the LORAN radio antenna on the top of the mountain. But the later termination of Omega Station operations also led to the cessation of stair maintenance. Because of this, the stairs became terribly worn and dangerous. So the state later officially closed the stairs to the public in 1987."

We spent some time snorkeling at Sharks Cove, swimming in some smaller waves at Waimea bay (which is the boys favorite swim spot). We also had to pay our respects to the buffet at the PC along with seeing the IMAX and catching a couple of mini shows that are put on during the day. The PC (Polynesian Cultural Center) and Pearl Harbor, ended up being about the only touristy thing we did. We didn’t leave the North Shore but once, and we didn’t regret it.

Hawaii is always a good time, but hanging out with Dan, Jonna, and little B, made it that much better. They made sure we had everything we needed, to have the best time possible, and that we did. B worked especially hard making sure we were constantly entertained when we were at the house or in the car. She is a riot, and we really miss her sweet little smile and silly personality. We covered so much ground in the span of our eleven days in Oahu that writing every detail would take pages, so I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.