We spent 10 lovely and wonderful days in Poipu, Kauai.
Our plans changed early in the morning when our flight was delayed....by several hours. Needless to say....the girls got their first TAXI ride since our planned ride to the airport had to be to work by the time our flight was rescheduled to take off. At least Annalise was thrilled.....
I won't go into the details....but we spent a good amount of time at the Bellingham airport and FINALLY got on a plane to Maui.
(We were supposed to fly to Seattle, then hop on a plane to Kauai with Geoff and Robin....
:( unfortunately that didn't happen!)
The girls did GREAT!!!! PHEW! After the last plane ride with Annalise I was a little worried!!!!
We also had a long layover in Maui...then we hopped on an island jumper....when we left it was POURING down rain. Annalise still had Tilly by her side! :)
It was all soooooooo worth it when we got there!!!!!
Geoff and Robin beat us there and were able to get the mini-van and make a Costco run!
The house was AH-Mazing!!!!!
And our view....
We felt like royalty!!! In fact....Avery's "suite" was so far away from ours that she insisted on sleeping with Annalise all week. (Yes....it was THAT big!!!)
We spent a LOT of time at our INCREDIBLE pool!!!
We were there for Easter....
Did you know that if you plant magic jelly beans,
when you wake up on Easter morning, there are lollipops in their place?
We had a GREAT day!! We did an awesome Easter egg hunt in the yard....
We spent some time playing at the beach....
We took an after dinner walk....it was gorgeous!
The next day (April Fool's Day), the boys decided to take a surfing lesson....
we girls decided to hang out at the beach and watch!
Mark had a rough day....the board beat him up pretty good....
Then it was off to a luau at the Smith Family Plantation.....
We watched as they dug up the pig....
The food was great.....
And the show was pretty cool, too!
We were just getting a little tired waiting for it to start!
The story was easy to follow....the music was cool and the dancing was awesome!
The girls thought it was great!
Our next big adventure took us to the opposite side of the island.
Hanalei....to kayak the Hanalei River.
We took a short detour to check out Lydgate Park in Lihue....well worth the stop!
The park was super cool! And the chickens roaming freely was kind of crazy!
(Although....chickens are EVERYWHERE on the island!)
It wasn't the sunniest day.....and actually....it was a little chilly....but the kayak trip was SUPER awesome!!! Our guide, Gabe, was super laid-back!
We headed down the river and out into the ocean where we stopped for some snorkeling!
Avery was gung-ho to get her snorkeling gear on and head out!
She did awesome....only paused once for a minute when she realized just how far from shore she was...but she took a breath and just kept on going!
They got some GREAT shots from the underwater camera!!!!
They even saw a school of sardines!!!
The north side of the island was BEAUTIFUL!
I can see why they call Kauai the Garden Island! GORGEOUS!!!
Our house was just up the hill from the Grand Hyatt Kauai....we took a stroll through the resort.
It was pretty awesome!!!
And if we left our house and went in the other direction we were right at Poipu Beach....
A little further down from Poipu Beach was Spouting Horn.
Ancient Hawaiians believed this coastline was once guarded by a giant
mo'o (lizard) named Kaikapu. Everyone was afraid of the mo'o because it
would eat anyone who tried to fish or swim in the area. One day, a young
boy named Liko entered the ocean to outwit the lizard. Kaikapu attacked
him, but Liko thrust a sharp stick into her mouth, swam under the lava
shelf, and escaped through a small hole to the surface. The moo followed
Liko and got stuck in the lava tube. To this day, you can hear the
lizard’s roar and see her breath spraying from the blowhole.
(It was super windy while we were there so it's really hard to hear the "hiss"...
but you can sort of get the idea!)
We took an afternoon drive over to the west side of the mountain and headed to Waimea Canyon.
We had to stop along the road a couple of times because Annalise was getting carsick.
But...it was beautiful and well-worth the drive!
(Well...the adults thought it was worth the drive....
both Avery and Annalise wondered why we left the house and did we realize
we were missing out on quality "POOL TIME"!?!)
We had some great food....
And some YUMMY frozen drinks!!!
(Annalise tried a LAVA flow!)
And Avery LOVED the virgin pina coladas!!!
We had an AMAZING vacation!!!
We spent some good quality "hanging out" time! The island pace is definitely much more laid back than the mainland! We fit right in after a few days of unwinding!
We felt so relaxed and refreshed when we came back.
The spirit of Aloha stuck with us!
