Prices do Kauai

Boy we had been looking forward to (dreaming really) 

of taking the kids to Kauai for what seemed like forever. 
We had studied our "Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" and had quite a bucket list including
 hiking the Na Pali Coast trail, Waialua Falls, see whales on a Catamaran ride along Na Pali Coast, kayak to Secret Falls, check out the Waimea canyon, find amazing Hawaiian shaved ice, snorkel at Lydgate beach, see Olpaka falls, visit Kilauea lighthouse, Surf at Hanalei Bay, hike down to Queen's bath, wiggle our toes at Po'ipu beach, check out the Spouting Horn, see a Luau,
and of course have a great time TOGETHER!!

The night before we left, Andrew asked me if this is how it feels when you look forward to something for a long time and when the time comes, you can hardly believe it's here.  

Yep, this is how it feels!

We had an early flight to Los Angeles where the kids got to check out the
cock-pit, the pilots and all those buttons.

We had joked for quite a while that they were so excited about flying we could have just flown to Reno and they would have been just as excited!

We arrived safely (hungry and excited) and took our first photo on the "Garden Island".

 First stop was to pick up our rental car, minivan of course, and then straight to Costco for an early dinner.  We ate and then shopped to fill our pantry.  

I expected the prices to be much less than the island stores, but was pleasantly surprised when a few things (cheese for example) was less there than at home in CA.

After that we drove to check out timeshare, the Westin Prineville - Kauai Beach Resort.  

 We were so excited about this resort and especially our beautiful ocean view off the back patio.  

The kids immediately claimed one side of our unit (we had two which were connected meaning two kitchens and two washers/dryers...score!) and then were in their swim suits before we knew it!  

 They were anxious to get to these Hawaiian beaches they heard so much about and we only had a small amount of day light so we headed out to the beach at the neighboring resort,

 St. Regis on Hanalei Bay.  Gorgeous spot!

Super tired and super excited about our week we crashed that night :)

The next day was Sunday.
We had a wet morning and headed out in the rain for an early church meeting at the local Hanalei branch.

Here is it on a sunny day:)

 I so love my church and that ANYWHERE in the world it is consistent.  It is the same.  I can count on the same manuals, lessons, and gospel principles being taught.  The chapel was full and it went well into the gym, but only about three rows were actual local members of the branch!  The rest were visiting tourists.  It's always a great experience to send my kids off to Primary with new faces and for them to experience the gospel somewhere else, besides home.
Afterward, we packed our lunch and headed towards Waimea Canyon.
What a gorgeous drive that was! 
We were quickly learning that there was a reason this beautiful island is so green...it's so wet!!!

We went through Kapa’a, Wailea, Lihuie, all the way to Waimea. On the way, we had heard about a great place for shave ice called “Jo Jo’s”.  We found it in Waimea and stopped off for some. It was so delicious with sweeten condensed milk on the top and macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom. We bought 3 large ones and shared them. Seriously, it was so delicious!!!

While we are here, let's just take a closer look at the "Hawaiian bands" Aubrey
 chose for her trip, turquoise, orange, and lime green!!

We then continued up the canyon about 15 miles to the Waimea canyon lookout. It was spectacular and so beautiful. It’s known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. We stayed up there and took some great pictures and then continued further up the road. We stopped off at a few lookouts and the Waimea canyon museum. 

 I loved how GREEN it is!!

The girl's wanted to pose with lots of waterfalls.

We stopped and hiked around at many of the view points and everyone was GORGEOUS!

  We then continued to the top of the road and took a short hike to try and get a nice view of the Na Pali coast. While we were hiking it was very cloudy, very green, very wet and muddy trail.

 The clouds were thick and we knew we were close to the coast, but the sky wasn't clearing.  Right before we left this cute Asian family began squealing as the clouds cleared and this AMAZING view became clear!  We felt so blessed we were able to see it!

 Another thirty seconds and it was gone, completely covered in the clouds again.
One last hike where the kids got a great view.

 We loved Waimea Canyon!
Our third day is Kauai we started off playing at the resort.
 The kids LOVED the fun kid's area and had the place to themselves!!

After lunch we headed out to the Lidgate beach.  It was a perfect spot for the kids to learn to snorkel.
And, since Tyler loves to snorkel, he is the perfect teacher.

 There is this nice sheltered area full of fish, it was great for them!

 I LOVE watching kids walk in fins :)

Matthew wasn't really interested, unless he was on Tyler's back.

He was all about the sand.

I'm not sure what deep conversation these two were having, but they sat here for a long time getting warm on the rocks and solving the world's problems.

 I LOVE watching my kids play together!!

They were having so much fun, Tyler and Matthew had to go get the car and hope they would be ready to go when they got back from the long walk to the parking lot.

We then went to check out the beautiful,Wailua falls.

 Can you say "LUSH"?
Across the street is this beautiful view of the Wialua River we planned to kayak in too.

We went back to our time share, had lasagna for dinner, showered and got ready for our Luau.

It was a GREAT show at the Smith Family Luau.
These amazing "hip-swinging" Tahitian dancers were a favorite for all of us.

 Also these girls swinging the poi balls (with fire too) and the fire dancer (I didn't get any photos of him) were favorites.  Matthew fell asleep within the first few minutes and we were lucky it didn't start raining until we were leaving.  A great night and memory.

The next morning, after some pulling teeth homework time we started off for a wonderful day on the Waialua River.  We started off at the Kamokila Hawaiian Village where we got our kayaks and map.  

We parked our kayaks along the shore and took off for our hike to Secret Falls.
It was intense.  We crossed this swift, little river holding onto the rope.  It made the kids a little nervous.
It was just enough to get your heart pumping and about this time they started to take this hike serious.
As in, they started verbalizing "Prices do hard things".
It was awesome!

And really great since the hike got considerably harder.  
There had been lots of rain (probably always this time of the year) and so the trail was VERY muddy.
  The roots were extremely slippery, the mud was thick, and the trail challenging.  

 But it was a beautiful hike.

 We got pretty muddy.

We LOVED all the smaller waterfalls on the way.

 I mean REALLY, look how unreal this is?!?!

As if it wasn't beautiful enough, we reached the gorgeous Secret Falls (also known as Uluwehi Falls)!!

I was so proud of these hikers.

 This handsome guy enjoyed a cool swim, 

 And Andrew hiked around to enjoy the waterfall overheard.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in this BEAUTIFUL spot and loved it!

We hiked back to our kayaks and enjoyed a nice ride up the river to the Waialua River State Park, Fern Grotto.
Now closed, we caught the tail end of a tour which gave us more information and a Hawaiin dance to boot!

A quick stop for dinner and souvenir shopping for the kids finished our day perfectly.

Day five proved to be another fantastic day, one that we were all probably most excited for.

We had booked a reservation on hawaiifun.org to take a catamaran from the south side of the island to go whale watching and up the Na Pali Coast. We left early at 8:00 am and drove down to Poipu on the south side of the island. It takes about an hour even though it’s not that far. It was a little cool and cloudy in the morning so we stopped off to look at the Marriott Waiholai which was amazing and definitely a place we want to stay at in the future. We then went over to a near-by shopping center and Tyler bought a t-shirt and Rachelle got a cool Hawaiian rash guard.

 We then went over to the Poipu beach which is outstanding. 
We snorkeled, did a little boogie boarding, looked for shells, and Matthew enjoyed the sand.

After our picnic lunch, we stopped off and saw Kauai's spouting horn blowhole where the Poipu surf channels into a natural lave tube and releases a huge spout of water.  There was also a small shopping area where the kids bought a few souvenirs.
We checked into the Blue Dolphin and waited a few minutes. The captain came out and asked some questions and the kids correctly answered and won shirts. We then went to the pier and boarded the boat. It was beautiful and the sun was out making it perfect!!

 The kids were in heaven and the views amazing.

We then made our way west along the coast spotting whales along the way. As we approached the beautiful Na Pali coast the waves started getting rougher with up to 8 foot swells. The twins got sick and went downstairs and threw up in their barf bags. I was stressed, fighting back the tears, and may have even asked for a life jacket.  The coast was absolutely spectacular and I was so happy when we turned the boat around and in that crazy wind they put up the sails and we had a smooth sail back.

 We were the only boat the made it up the coast that afternoon, so we Tyler felt very fortunate:)

 Honestly, besides those scary 20 minutes (when I was swearing and
seeing my life flash before my eyes) it was glorious! 

 On the way, they had a really yummy dinner w/ Hawaiian pork and teriyaki 

chicken, pineapple, Caesar salad, and the best coconut cookies we’ve ever had. 

We laughed, smiled, ate chocolate, drank ginger ale, and enjoyed the scenery, sunset and each other.

This morning Tyler and I went on a beautiful run along the Princeville Golf Course. 

We then went back and made breakfast and headed out for a day on the north shore. 

On the way, we stopped at tunnels beach to look around and look at the tunnel inside the mountain. 

 Matthew also chased and caught a baby chicken on the grassy area. 
He was pretty happy about it since these chickens are everywhere!   

We then drove to the end of the road along the Na Pali coast and took a nice hike up the mountain for about a half a mile. It was a lot of fun and really beautiful. It was muddy, although not as muddy as the hike to the Secret Falls on Tuesday, but still muddy enough that we had to be careful.

 

  There were several small streams that crossed the trail we had to cross which is always fun. 

 When we got to the top we stopped at the half mile marker and had lunch and enjoyed the view of the Na Pali coast and beautiful ocean. It was such a pretty day. 

Let's just take one more look at that Na Pali Coast line...gorgeous!!

And the other direction

 Every turn was gorgeous and SO green and lush

We then decided to hike back down the trail and go to a beach on the north side of the island since it was such a beautiful, warm sunny day. We thought about going back to the St Regis beach, but when we saw the Hanalei Bay and pier we decided it was the perfect spot to spend the afternoon. 

Hanalei Bay didn’t disappoint. 

We spent the afternoon walking on the pier, doing a lot of boogie boarding, swimming, jumping waves, and even tried surfing.  We rented a board and Andrew took a dry land lesson.  Tyler went out in the water and helped everyone get up!  The waves were perfect!!

 

 

We then decided to return back to the Westin, but on the way back we got stuck in traffic.  As in traffic came to a complete stop. After a few minutes, we decided to turn back and find a place for dinner and found a pizza place. While we were there, the staff said there had been a fatal accident and they can last 4-8 hours. Only a couple hours had passed, so we took our time eating dinner then returned to Hanalei Bay for a few minutes.  We walked along the beach, enjoyed the sunset and then headed back for the evening.  We had a great day on the beautiful north shore. It was the first day of sun we had this week on the north side and we can see why people enjoy it so much as it is spectacularly beautiful!

Day seven of Kauai proved to be another beautiful, fun day.   

We drove just a few minutes from the Westin and hiked down to Queen’s Bath. 

 It was quite a muddy and slick trail full of bamboo leaves and roots, but by now the kids are well used to Kauai’s muddy trails :)   When we reached the bottom it was a beautiful, black lava bed. 

 WOW, what a view!

 Let's take a closer look at those cute peeps I love so much!

 And these three cute girls!!

 It made me a little nervous to be near such drops to the ocean, but it was a wide area and the ocean was very calm.  We loved jumping the black rocks, listening to the ocean, and enjoying the gorgeous view of the coast line.  There were also large black crabs that were fun for the kids to watch.  Tyler decided to swim first and Andrew, Katelyn and Megan quickly joined him.

    On our way back up, Andrew decided to swim in and under the waterfall.  

He did it and was quite proud!!

 

Afterward, we made a quick stop at Costco for more snacks and drove to Poipu.

 It’s a pretty ride, especially through the Koala Tunnel of Trees.  

  We decided to try out the Poipu Beach in front of the Sheraton. 

 It had beautiful sand, clear water, and coral for snorkeling.  It was beautiful. 

 We made Megan and Katelyn into beautiful sand mermaids, complete with coconut tops.

   We enjoyed playing in the sand and water.  Matthew spent most of his time in the sand, digging around making volcanoes and tunnels and eating as many chocolate chip cookies as he could.   The girls did cartwheels and jumped the waves.  And when I finally got Matthew in to play, he about lost his shorts in the waves (don't look too closely at that photo, hehe!)  

 After a few hours we decided to go for a walk towards the Poipu Beach Park where we had been Wednesday.  Our walk took us through the amazing Marriott timeshare.  Tyler got me a delicious virgin Pina Colada, because of course a trip to Hawaii would not be complete without one!!  We walked to the beach area and saw that the swimming and boogie boarding area would be better there for Matthew and the girls, so we packed our stuff up and drove around the corner to that beach.  It was already a spot the girls and I loved for finding tiny shells.  We also spotted some whales playing around, breaching and slapping their tails – it was awesome!  Katelyn and Megan boogie boarded non stop and Tyler got in the best snorkeling of the trip.  

 We left at about six, returned our snorkeling and boogie boarding gear, and most importantly found a spot for shaved ice!  We ordered tigers blood and blue raspberry, pineapple and coconut, and passion fruit and guava.  We also learned what the yummy white “snow cap” is…sweetened condensed milk – no wonder it is so delicious!  

 The kids watched a movie on the way home, (Katelyn and Megan fell asleep) 

and we put together a dinner of leftover lasagna and teriyaki bowls. 

 It was about 8 when we got home and we were sandy, hungry, and tired.  It was a great day!

We spent the morning packing up and at the resort pool.   

They had a wonderful time on the kid’s slide and turtles, again trying to sneak as much time as they could in the hot tub. Tyler and Andrew got some ping-pong in too.   

 Soaking in the last of our down time and enjoying the kids!

We left our resort with one final good-bye from this gorgeous FULL rainbow!!

 On our way to the airport we made a few stops.  Our first was a pretty Kilauea lighthouse.

 Next, we were sure to not miss the beautiful, Waialua Falls. 

 This waterfall has a 173 feet drop (taller than Niagra Falls) into a 33 feet deep pool, one Tyler and I will definitely be checking out and hiking to on our next trip to Kauai!  Although hard to photograph from the side, it was a beautiful fall with a rainbow shining off the bottom.

That beautiful photo was the perfect ending to an

 amazing family vacation 

 we will always remember!!