Hawaii One-0

Here are a *few* of the photos from our trip to Hawaii. We stayed in the jungle in Hanalei, Kauai for 8 days. It was magical. Gabriel's BFF, Olivia, and her family stayed in Hanalei on the beach. It was perfect! We planned this trip with the Green's back in February, and since then, we'all have had a lot of stressful stuff happen, so this was a much-needed break!

Arrival day: must touch the surf!

"Yay!"

Beautiful Hanalei Bay


Kauai Breakfast: eggs and toast ...

and pineapple!

The Green's

Sam (aka "...and Sam")

G giving Olivia some love.

The Three Musketeers?

Hmmm, the other Three Musketeers?
(note the coconut, our favorite drink -- the sweet coconut water direct from the source)

Another great source of water was this waterfall -- Secret Falls. Just a short kayak paddle and a short (um, long) hike to get there.

"Oh My Goodness! That's a long time!"

Brave family under the falls (in the cold cold water).

Yup, we're having fun now! Gabriel was so fearless about the water. it was great!

And fearless about climbing, all by himself!

He did get some help fording the river.

Aaah, all of the other days we sepnt on the beach, relaxing.

And boogie-boarding!

One night we had dinner on the beach. This is G and Olivia enjoying the waves.

"Whew, that wipeout was fierce!"

Boogie-boarding isn't the only way to get around.

Everyone clocked some time working in the sand.

Some were caught sleeping on the job.

Hard work on the beach was rewarded every day with Shave Ice. The favorite dish was Macadamia Nut ice cream with Coconut and Pineapple Shave Ice. We had some run-ins with the owners, though: "Cars have been known to roll...and it's not pretty!"

When we weren't eating Shave Ice, we were looking for local produce at the Farmer's Market.

Which did not last long for most of us (for a laid-back place, the people in Kauai get pretty intense about their produce).

"Yeah, but it's cool."

We did not actually cook at home too much. The night of our kayak trip we went to a fancy dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant. We told Gabriel there would be music and he said "like in Florida?" Yes, sort of. We were the only ones on the dance floor, but we would have made Grandma and Grandpa proud!

As part of our trip, we traded kids for a day. This gave Lennie and Megan a chance to visit their favorite towns (including Hanapepe, which is just really fun to say) and it gave us a chance to visit Waimea Canyon.

One of the most striking things was the red dirt, which covers the whole area. Noelani took this striking shot of a little river running along the road up to the canyon.

This is Waimea Canyon. 1 mile across, 3500 ft deep, and 10 miles long. It was stunning, but we enjyed the view from the Koke'e trail even more!

The trail must be a river in the rainy season (can you spy Noelani in this pix?).

If only we could hang-glide from here...

to the beach!

There was also a boardwalk through the swamp. It was lush, but there are ver few creatures in Kauai, so it was eerily quiet.

It was not, however, quiet at night in the jungle where we stayed. There we birds and geckos and toads. My favorite part of the whole trip was help Gabriel catch his first toad (see pix...it is in the middle). They only came out after 7pm (after dark) and they were as big as my palm. I taught Gabriel how to put his hand infront of the toad so that it would bump into it when it jumped, and then pick it up with his other hand. This is a life skill that I am sure will serve him well!

This is the view from our lanai. We would sit an watch the light change the colors of the hills...

as the sun moved behind the clouds and back again.

The house had some bright flowers. This one reminds me of a Bird of Paradise, but all in a row. G thinks it looks like the Hawaiian honeysuckle flower he tasted on our hike to the waterfall. Mmmmm.

This one was growing in a planter on the lanai.

Our daily adventures made for sound sleeping at nap and at night, for all of us.