Aloha!

We'd been planning a trip to Hawaii since last October. It finally arrived. It was so long coming, and I can't believe it finally came.
We went to Kauai, known as the "Garden Island". It is very rural.
I was SO happy when I was doing some research the week before we left and found out that they built a Costco since the last time we were there! We strolled through the isles a couple times. Had to. Love that place.
We were dreading the plane rides. But out of a total of 5 planes, on all but one we had 6 seats for the 4 of us.
Oh, I didn't mention that, did I? Yes, we took both the kids. Turns out, taking your children on 'vacation' with you is not really a 'vacation' since you're still parenting - jut in a different location. In this case, one that is a 13 hour plane ride away and a 5 hour time change difference.
Still, we made wonderful memories and did enjoy escaping every day life.

Day 1 . . . We were awake at 4am. That is 9am EST. We all tossed and turned for a while. When we finally did get out of bed - we met the sunrise.
After breakfast we took a stroll around the hotel grounds and found a couple hammocks that we got to relax in a couple times.


The beautiful hibiscus were everywhere.


Off to Spouting Horn. It's volcanic rock that is formed so that when the ocean waves crash into it, a "Roar" sound is made. Brad and William decided that it isn't a dragon inside, but a "Chicken Lizard" that is caught under the rocks roaring.

If you click on the above picture, you can see in the turtle swimming in the ocean.

There are sooo many chickens that run wild on Kauai. Apparently, more wild chickens than people on the island. And William really enjoyed seeing how many he could chase.


Day 2 . . . Breakfast was in the hotel restaurant that had one entire side that opened up to the ocean facing the sunrise. I know these aren't the best quality pictures - but it gives an idea of the beautiful view we had at breakfast.



Pictures on the rocks. 100 yards from the lanai of our hotel room.


We drove an hour up Waimea Canyon. Beautiful views of the canyon on the way up. We even saw a couple waterfalls. If you click on the pictures you can zoom in on them.





Now hiking the Waimea Canyon. (See, we did use the backpack! And we had fun!)


The view from our hike. Not too shabby, huh? See why we did it?

Resting on the trail.
We just came down that . . .
And we're going down there . . .
It's hard to distinguish where the sky ends and the ocean begins.

Taking a break an hour into the hike.

Maddie fell asleep on the way back. Best seat in the house.

William was a very agile hiker.

Day 3
After hiking, William really enjoys climbing on the rocks. It is an adventure for him. He even brought his water gun for his adventure.

A family photo as the sun is rising.
Me and the kids.

William feeding the koi in the pond at the hotel.

Maddie taking a stroll outside our room.
Brad teaching William to snorkle. First in the pool, then we'll try the ocean.

Day 4 . . . Kauai Coffee Plantation. We toured the grounds and went through the maze made out of 10' coffee plants. Even sampled some of their different varieties and flavors.

Maddie strolling through the maze. I had to put this picture in b/c I caught her walking with her arm bent and her hand hanging so prissy like.

William playing in the coffee drying tents.

Me & Maddie.

Brad & William.

In the evening, hula dancers and a Hawaiian band were the entertainment during the Mai Tai party. William especially liked the little 8 year old hula girl.
Watching the hula dancers.