Hawaii 2011

We are super lucky in that Kirk's parents have a couple timeshares in Kauai, HI, and they like us to come on vacation with them. This Hawaii trip had been planned for the past year, but we hadn't planned on going until about a month before, when Kirk realized that ALL of his family was going to be there, except for us. So, we made a deal with our good friends, the Jones', who are going to Hawaii in a couple months, to swap kids for the trips, and we jumped on the bandwagon. In the few weeks that we were getting ready to go, Kirk kept asking me what I was most excited for. I was too stressed trying to get kids packed up, figuring out preschool stuff, dealing with Marissa breaking out in a rash all over her body the day before we left, to get too excited. But once we were on the plane, I really got excited. A lot of my excitement went to the anticipation of eating at Duke's (pictured above) where they have the amazing Hula Pie.

Any time Kirk and his four brothers get together, it's an ongoing game or contest of some sort. It was fun watching them compete and do these adventures together.

One of the fun things we did this time was go to a waterfall that you can cliff jump or swing on a rope swing into a pool of water. Here's Kent, Hannah, Kam, Amy, Kirk, Dani, Ty, and me.

The hike back to the waterfall was pretty awesome. I felt like I was on a lion hunt. (I'm not afraid...)

If you look closely you can see Kirk swinging out on the rope right before he drops into the water. I was super impressed with the tricks the boys pulled going off the rope. Who in their right mind does a back flip from 40 feet off the ground?

One morning Kirk and I went on a jog/hike up the coast. We were up on top of some of these cliffs when all of a sudden a lady comes running and waving us over. We thought that for sure someone had died, until she asked if we had our cameras, then we thought that there must be something amazing to see, like a beached whale or something. No, she just wanted us to see these cave things that are hollowed out under the cliff, and I think she wanted to talk to us...for like 30 minutes. Thanks Martha.

One fun thing about Kauai is that there are chickens and roosters all over the island. They are protected by law, so you have to be nice to them. So, we had many rooster friends - when we were laying out on the beach, eating at Puka Dogs (yum) for lunch, or hiking through the jungle.

One of the days we went on a hike up the northern coast of the island. It's a two mile on a skinny muddy trail with a steep mountain on one side and a sheer drop to the ocean on the other. We hiked to a secluded beach that you can only get to by foot.

On the way to the beach you pass this sign severely warning you to not touch the water or you will die. It has tally marks telling you that 82 people have died in the water. We were a little nervous, we for sure didn't want to become a tally mark!

Here's Kirk's sister, Tiffini, Dani, Ty, Kent, and Hannah hiking along.

When we got to the beach there were hundreds and hundreds of cairns, or stacked rocks. It was an amazing sight!

Here's everyone sitting and resting on the rocks by the beach before heading back. The beach was super pretty, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it. I think we were too distracted by the couple having some private time, not too privately. Yikes! From the beach there is another two mile hike back to a huge waterfall that we had planned on going to, but we got a late start (due to rain in the morning) and didn't want to be hiking down the precipitous mountain in the dark. So we put the waterfall on the list for next time, for sure.

The beauty that we saw was amazing. Everywhere you looked, it looked like a picture from a calendar.

Besides hiking, eating, and hanging out on the beach we didn't do too much. We did try paddle boarding - which we thought was over rated. We also snorkeled a ton, we saw lots of colorful fish and even swam with a sea turtle. It was a nice relaxing vacation, where you're ready to come home at the end. I also missed our girls and was ready to get back to them.

We almost didn't make it back, though. The airport in Kauai is tiny, so we thought being an hour early would be plenty of time. When we pulled up and the security line looked like a Disneyland line, I started to get a little nervous. As we waited and waited in line, watching the minutes pass by, I started to panic. We got through security at the exact time our plane was supposed to leave, so we sprinted to the gate. When we got there, the door was closed, and they said we had missed our flight. I just sat down and cried. Maybe the door guy felt some compassion, or maybe just pity, but he radioed the pilot and he let us on. We were a little embarrassed as we walked down the aisle to get our seats way at the back of the airplane, with everyone glaring at us as we passed. But hey, we made it.

Right by the airport there is a sign made out of flowers and plants that says, Aloha, come again. So, Aloha Hawaii, we'll see you again hopefully soon!