Hundreds of children, seemingly oblivious to danger, dashed headlong into the fierce Hurricane waters in Kapolei yesterday, trailed by their smiling parents.

The youthful swarm braved bubbling lava tubes, six-story cliff dives and mountains of free-falling water.

Hurricane Bay, The Cliffhanger and Volcano Express — not to mention prizes galore, free soft drinks, food and tons of fun and games — were all part of the Foster Family Programs of Hawai'i annual summer picnic at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park.

In the running for most global foster family at yesterday's festivities were the Hydes of Mililani: Stephen Hyde, 48, a surgical scrub tech from Rosewood, Australia, his wife, Paula, 40, a nurse from near London, England, and son, Joseph, 3, who began life in Eyebye in the Marshall Islands.

After marrying and living in Arkansas and North Carolina, the couple accepted hospital job offers in Honolulu a couple of years back. Because they were unable to have children of their own, on Feb. 6, 2006, they became foster parents to Joseph.

They later became U.S. citizens because, as Stephen put it, "We wanted to be Americans." As such, they were able to adopt Joseph, which they did this Feb. 14.

"He's our Valentine," said Paula. "We hit the jackpot with him."

The crowd included newcomer foster folks and those who have been at it a while.

In the latter column was Dani Ruiz of Makakilo, who showed up with eight children, ages 1 to 14 — "three my own birth kids, one I have guardianship of, and four foster kids," said Ruiz, who has been a foster mom to numerous teenage girls and has done emergency sheltering.

Standing nearby the Ruiz clan was Luci Nakamura — Ruiz's mom — an accidental foster parent who got into it when her daughter's home became almost too crowded to handle so many foster kids.

Nakamura took one off Ruiz's hands and then another, ended up adopting both of those, and then took on another foster child. She was hooked.

Foster mom Susan Szabo of Kailua and her former foster child and now adopted daughter Kira, 12, worked the crowd streaming through the gates for loose change. With their help, this year's "Pennies from Heaven" theme generated buckets of coins and bills for three lucky charities: River of Life Mission, Ohana Ola and Hawaiian Humane Society.

"We're doing pretty well — got one $50 bill, and lots of $5s — but we could do better," said Szabo, who sported an umbrella adorned with dangling dollar bills. "I just want to turn some of these people upside down and shake them."

Linda Santos, president and CEO of Foster Family Programs of Hawai'i, said prior to yesterday organizers had shaken down businesses and individuals for all sorts of gift goodies.

"We have donations of boogie boards, and movie tickets, and soccer balls, and bicycles, so a lot of these foster children will be going home with a very nice little gift today," she said.

According to Santos, an estimated 85 percent of kids in foster homes are there as a result of drug- and alcohol-addicted parents. The number of kids in foster homes at any given moment in Hawai'i exceeds 2,700, she said.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.