DID YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING???

 Nothing like meeting the locals face to face.  THIS my friends is a centipede.  I was up at 4 am ... not the same 4 am as California.  I was washing my face when I felt something on my bare foot.  Nothing will make you scream louder than having this guy run onto your foot, and hang on, but I had to be quiet so as not to wake Cyndae.

My watch says my heart rate went from 48 to 111 in two seconds.  No kidding Sherlock.  The problem was, how do you get one off your foot without it biting you.  I'm guessing he was maybe sick from the bug spray he probably encountered, but he held on with every single foot.  I could not get him OFF!!  I finally grabbed my comb and COMBED him off onto the floor.  SO lucky he didn't bite me.

He quickly made his way under Cyndae's luggage.  Nope I didn't go after him.  He was quite lively when Cyndae finally got up and took care of him, as in sent him swimming down the toilet.  I'm now super paranoid.  I watch every step I take.  What a GREAT way to start the day!

This was my view an hour later when the sun finally came up.  No bad critters to speak of out here.

Just this beauty!!  When they see us on the porch, they come running.  

Now THIS is MY kind of critter.  She's not exactly happy I wandered into her territory and she quickly ran away.  By the way, I've seen Kitters on the patio looking for me.  I feel terrible.  I'm hoping SHE doesn't run away.

And so we were finally off, two hours late to the party at the beach.  We were looking for calmer waters.  It's been very windy with whitecaps all across the ocean as far as you can see.

Too rough ... so we went on an adventure down narrow un-signed public access to find calmer waters.

Chang Beach was very nice, but not calm enough for Cyndae's paddle board.  This was the view when we got to the bottom.  It being Saturday when EVERYONE goes to the beach, this little area with no sign to say where it is, was quite empty.

But we didn't stay.  We went instead to Makena where the water was not TOO bad, but pretty surgy, making it hard to put on new water shoes, which I bought yesterday because my old ones were shredding. We had stopped at the dive shop because with my big fins, you have to have some kind of boot or shoe.  $$$.  

While Cyndae aired up her paddle board with a compressor (pretty cool), I tried out my new underwater go-pro type camera.  Of course there are no directions, and I had no idea what I was doing.

Into the water we went.  None of the buttons I pushed on the camera worked as expected.  So I swam out until I was getting exhausted.  I'm out of swim fin shape times two.  The visibility was terrible and I saw not one fish.  Back to the beach I went.  It didn't help that without my glasses, I can't read what the camera was saying.  I spent the next 15 minutes figuring it out and finally got this picture.   

When Cyndae got back a few minutes later, we loaded up and headed for the pool.  I wore my fins and did laps until my legs hurt.  I'm sure I'm going to be walking funny today.

We stayed there for a couple of hours before heading back to the apartment.  I'm pretty beat up, so there will be lots of aspirin floating around the room tonight.  Tomorrow we will be back at it at 6:30, hoping for calmer waters.  Wish us luck!

This is my all time favorite picture of my kid.  He just pushed his ball off the chair onto the floor, where I am required to pick it up.  Isn't he the cutest!!!!!