From July 22.

An impromptu beach picnic in Utumea with my fiancé.

We just wanted to get out of the house and get some sun and salt on our skin, away from our home beach where there was a big family party ensuing. Our friends had invited us to hike to airport tide pools, but the swell was huge, and it felt like too much of a trek at the time, so we decided to go for a drive. It was near lunchtime, so we made our first stop at KS Mart and picked up a fresh hot baguette, teriyaki chicken, two bags of ulu chips, and ginger beer. We wanted to go somewhere new, so we drove west until we spotted this empty sandy beach in Utumea. There were a few dogs that trotted over from the house a little ways down to inspect us, and after a sniff test, we were deemed worthy. They accompanied us down to the beach where we laid out our picnic blanket and made teri chicken sandwiches and munched away on the crunchy ulu chips. The doggos chilled out in little sand holes they dug for themselves, and we all sat around enjoying the cool breeze of the seasonal tradewinds.