Friday - North Shore

On Friday, we all (except for Donna, who rested and swam at the pool) took a road trip to the North SHore. We visited a cool waterfal tucked behind a cemetary that was used as a filming location for Lost. Next, we stopped at a lookout along the old Pale road - we walked aways down the road and enjoyed the beautiful vistas. After lunch in a coffee shop, we drove along the North SHore, taking in the sights along the way, including Laie Point, town of Laie, Turtle Bay (We passed one area of the beach with a turtle right up on the sand!), Along Faarington Highway (with a stop at a playground once Geoffrey woke up to give us a chance to stretch our legs), past YMCA Camp Erdman (Dharmaville!) to the very end! We saw lots of beautiful and varying scenery!

After such a long day in the car, and with the Olympic Opening Ceremonies coming in TV, we decided to have dinner at the condo. Grant and Geoff shared pizza and Gary, Donna, and I got the Hawaiian place at the Ko Olina station center, and we enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies! GO USA!

Thursday - Beach Day

On Thursday, Donna and Gary headed for the ER - Donna's back was not getting any better from our boat trip along the Na Pali coast, and with our 6 hour flight looming in the near future, she decided to bite the bullet and see a doctor. Turns out she has a compression fracture on her vertebrae. Ouch! So she's supposed to not sit too much (ha ha) and take it easy, and it will hopefully heal in 4 - 6 weeks.

While they were gone, Grant, Geoff, Kate and I went to the beach here in Ko Olina. We had fun playing in the ocean and then at the pool, but towards the end, Geoffrey gave me quite the scare by jumping in the pool without his vest on (little stinker - he was mad because he had just gotten off time out and was NOT in a listening mood. He kept backing towards the pool even when I told him to stop, and then gave me his defiant look and jumped in.... sigh... he has been TESTING us this trip!)

Up in the room he went straight to nap (he was very over tired!) and fell asleep within five minutes. Donna and Gery came back while he was sleeping, so Gary, Grant, Katelyn and I went for a walk while Donna rested and Geoffrey napped. We walked over to the JW Marriott, where we found a cool pond with sting rays and hammerhead sharks in it. Next, we walked through Aulani and went to the open house to see their DVC villa on Open House. Cute, but small, in traditional DVC fashion. The Open House room had a lovely view of the pool area, though, so we got a clearer picture of the snorkel area, kids splash area, and the water slides.

We arrived back home just as Geoffrey woke up from his nap, and we headed out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. After a quick stop at Target, we headed back to the condo, dropping Grant and Geoffrey off at the JW Marriott to show Geoff the sting rays and sharks. On the way back, they stopped at the Mickey Mouse hotel and bought Geoffrey a Disney lollipop! It was some nice daddy/son time!

For dinner, we went to Outback steakhouse and then just relaxed at home.

Wednesday - Dole Plantation / Luau

On Wednesday, Gary, Grant, the kids and I headed to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Yup. Tourist Trap. But still, fun. The gift shop was annoying because of all the clerks calling out to you - "Come get a key to open the box and win a prize!" "Want your name in Hawaiian?" etc. The train was pretty fun, it was certainly interesting to hear the history of the pineapple on Hawaii. They had a huge pineapple hedge maze that was insanely awesome - It was hot so we only spent about 45 minutes in it, and we found 3 out of the 8 check points. We had lunch at their grill, which was okay, and finished off, of course, with Dole Whip Floats! Yum!

We went home to get Donna and change clothes and then headed to CHief's Luau at Sea Life Park. THr drive over was pretty, alongside the green mountains, through tunnels,  and by the gorgeous coastline. When we first arrived, we got to do a mini tour of sea life park - visiting the shark tank, the turtles, and the dolphins. Going into the Luau, we got leid, and then participated in some of the pre-luau activities. We made frond crowns, I got an airbrushed tattoo of a sun on my back, Geoffrey gathered sticks, and we watched the pig coming out of the ground ceremony... (ha ha, I can't remember the name!)

Most of the dinner was quite good - I would say with the exception of the instant mashed potatoes, everything was great! The show was awesome, too - excellent music, songs, dancers, and our host, The Chief, was very funny, but also cared that we knew about his culture! We had a great evening!

Wednesday - Dole Plantation / Luau

On Wednesday, Gary, Grant, the kids and I headed to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Yup. Tourist Trap. But still, fun. The gift shop was annoying because of all the clerks calling out to you - "Come get a key to open the box and win a prize!" "Want your name in Hawaiian?" etc. The train was pretty fun, it was certainly interesting to hear the history of the pineapple on Hawaii. They had a huge pineapple hedge maze that was insanely awesome - It was hot so we only spent about 45 minutes in it, and we found 3 out of the 8 check points. We had lunch at their grill, which was okay, and finished off, of course, with Dole Whip Floats! Yum!

We went home to get Donna and change clothes and then headed to CHief's Luau at Sea Life Park. THr drive over was pretty, alongside the green mountains, through tunnels,  and by the gorgeous coastline. When we first arrived, we got to do a mini tour of sea life park - visiting the shark tank, the turtles, and the dolphins. Going into the Luau, we got leid, and then participated in some of the pre-luau activities. We made frond crowns, I got an airbrushed tattoo of a sun on my back, Geoffrey gathered sticks, and we watched the pig coming out of the ground ceremony... (ha ha, I can't remember the name!)

Most of the dinner was quite good - I would say with the exception of the instant mashed potatoes, everything was great! The show was awesome, too - excellent music, songs, dancers, and our host, The Chief, was very funny, but also cared that we knew about his culture! We had a great evening!

Anniversary Dinner at Roy's

Plantation Ice Tea

Sushi Roll

Prix Fixe Menu:

Appetizer Sampler (rib, spring role, sashimi)

Entree (We both chose macadamia crusted fresh fish - mine ca,e with an essence of lobster accompaniment)

Dessert - Chocolate souffle

Plus an "Happy Anniversary" white chocolate mousse dessert.

 

Tuesday

Today was a nice easy day. We went down to the lagoon in front of our unit. The lagoons they built here at Ko Olina are very nice. Calm, clear, and beautiful. Grant and Gary did some snorkeling and said it was pretty good! We played in the water and in the sand, and then dried off under the palm trees.

Next, we went in the hotel pool for a bit to clean off the salt water. The pool was nice, a comfortable temperature, and had these built in rafts that you could lounge on.

We had lunch from McDonalds that Gary picked up for us, and then Geoffrey and Kate took naps, while Donna and Grant went to get groceries. We had dinner at Chili's and now we're just relaxing. Busy day tomorrow - Dole Plantation and a Luau!

P.S. Plantation Tea - Like an Arnold Palmer, but with pineapple juice instead of lemonade. Discovered this at Marriott in Kauai when the waiter accidentally got me one of these instead of an Arnold Palmer. Yeah for happy mistakes!

Sunday and Monday - Kauai - Oahu

Sunday was our last full day on Kauai. First we brought Geoff over to see Spouting Horn. Of course, he spent more time chasing chickens!

Next we grabbed lunch at a burger place, and then headed for the Hyatt to swim in their pool. While I was getting ready to get in I stepped on a bee and got stung! Ouch! Apparently, I am not allergic though as there was no swelling or anything. Just uncomfortable for a day. (Also, I didn't mention that I am broken out in hives. It started about a eek ago on my left arm and has spread to both arms, legs, lower back, and chest. ITCHY!

Anyways - the Hyatt. We started out swimming in the salt water lagoon and then went through the lazy river - it isn't a loop, it goes one way, but it was pretty with rock walls and waterfalls with caves behind them. Cool!

Back home Geoffrey napped and then we went to the Italian restaurant across the parking lot for dinner. It was ok. THen we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset and check for sea turtles.

On Sunday we flew over to Oahu. THe airport was hot and hectic. THe flight, quick ( Gary, Donna, Katelyn and I flew first class - $50 upgrade and that included two bags so that way we didn't have to pay for the bags) and we headed over to KoOlina. We are staying at the Beach Villas right next to Aulani. Ko Olina is awesome - beautiful bays and a few hotels along the strand. THis area will be built up like a Hawaiian Vegas - empty lots just waiting for new hotels to be built.

Our new unit is on the 9th floor. It has three bedrooms. We have a great view of Aulani out the window and from the balcony a view of our bay.  On one side of the main family room / kitchen is the master bedroom and bath where Donna and Gary are. To the left is another suite where Grant and Katelyn and I have one room and Geoffrey has the other.

Donna and Gary watched the kids while Grant and I went out to Roy's for our 7th Anniversary dinner! Dinner was DELICIOUS! We had a great time - just the two of us, talking together. Much needed.

Since the kids were both sleeping, we walked through Aulani before walking home. It is a beautiful resort. Very themed. The pool area is awesome and it felt magical just being at a Disney property. I don't know why but Disney just gives me tingles. It feels special...

What a fantastic anniversary!

 

Saturday - Poipu Beach

On Saturday we had another easy beach day at Poipu Beach. I did some snorkeling with Gary and Blake and Grant and the kids played in the water and on the playground. We had some shaved ice and enjoyed the late morning sunshine. Have I described Poipu Beach? Walking from our condo, the beach right in front of us ALWAYS has sea turtles. They

We had lunch at the condos, and then Geoffrey took his nap.

For dinner, we went to Tapas. The meal was delicious - lots of neat plates to choose from. For desert we went to Laperts and got ice cream.

All in all, a nice, relaxing day.

 

Saturday - North Shore

Wow! The days are just SAILING by! I can't believe it!

Today we went to the Hyatt just east of us here in Poipu to check it out. It is beautiful! The pool is amazing with lots of little coves and water falls. Past the pool they have a salt water lagoon. Katelyn was sleeping so she and I sat on a lounge chair while Grant and Geoffrey went on a floating tour around the salt water lagoon which was quite large. It even had kayaks on it! Gary met us there, having walked, and he tried out the hammocks while we waited for the boys.

Back at our condos, we had lunch over at Donna and Gary's - hot dogs, pineapple sausage, chips, Blake's homemade guac, beans, fruit, potato salad. Delicious!

Next, we all piled into the van and headed for the north shore. We timed this drive for Geoff's naps and this worked perfectly! We drove up to the Kiluaea lighthouse, Geoff and Katelyn waking up just as we arrived, and had some shaved ice while we were there. After our snack, we went to do Miniature GOlf at the Golf and Botanical Gardens. A beautiful course and lots of fun! Geoffrey had fun actually hitting the ball this time - although he walked his ball right up to the hole and then hit it in! The course was awesome with lots of waterfalls and lush plants all over!

When we finished golfing, we went to dinner at the Postcard Cafe in Hanalei, and had delicious fresh fish. The drive home was pretty easy because there was little traffic, but we were all pretty tired when we got home!

Thursday - Poipu Beach Day

I can't believe how fast time is flying! Today we just stuck close to home and played right here at Poipu Beach. Geoffrey likes the name Poipu because it sounds like Boy-Poo.. Really, this beach is awesome. THe baby beach lagoon is shallow the whole way - no more than 2 feet deep in the whole area. Just past the baby lagoon there is a small beach with bigger waved that Geoffrey liked to play in. Past that beach is the tombolo - or sandbar - and on the other side of that is a big beach with amazing snorkeling! We played in the water and took turns snorkeling and watching the kids. Katelyn loves sitting on the edge of the water and having the waves lap up to her feet. Here she could easily sit in a few inches of water and she loved it. Gary and Blake gor lunch from the Koloa food truck that we wanted to try - I had garlic shrimp that was delicious. We walked over to Brennikie's and gor some shaved ice with macadamia ice cream. Then Grant and Geoff went to play some more while Kate took a nap on me.

We walked back home and took showers and tried, unsuccessfully, to get Geoffrey to nap. Despite this, he was very good at dinner. We went to the Kalaheo Cafe. After dinner, we took a walk on the paths that wind through the community behind our units - there were lots of neat buildings in there, and a large grassy area with a beautiful path winding through it. Geoffrey was tired and Grant carried him part of the way home. We pointed up at the sky and told Geoffrey to look at the stars. He said. "Golly, look at all those stars!" So. Cute. 

wednesday - North Shore

On Wednesday, we drove to the North Shore to visit Tunnels Beach. It was about as far away as we could get! Katelyn slept all the way there, and Geoffrey watched iphone videos and games. They both di well for such a long ride! It took about 2 hours.

The beach was nice - it was overcast so it didn't get too hot. The beach was beautiful. Gentle, lapping waves, surrounded by lush green mountains - breathtaking. There was good snorkeling, with huge crevices in the reefs that were really cool. Geoffrey and Katelyn loved playing in the water. We stayed for almost two hours, until it started to rain.

We stopped in Hanalei on the way home and had lunch. The drive home went smoothly, too, with both kids sleeping all the way home. We stopped at a fruist stand on the way and got some fresh fruit and juice.

After showers and naps, we went to dinner at Keiki's Paradise, this time sitting out in the bar area. It was still rainy but we had a spot all huddles under an umbrella and except for a brief shower, the weather held off during our meal. I had delicious sliders - cheeseburger, crab cake, and khulua pork sandwich. Delicious! Katelyn slept through dinner. We've started asking Geoffrey how hungry he is {( little, medium, or a lot) and he has been pretty accurate so this helps us decide if we should order him a kids meal or not! THe rain really started to come down as we left so we went home to enjoy a rainy Hawaiian evening.

Tuesday

Today we headed out on a rainy drive to the Kauii Plantation railway at the Kilohana Plantation, and took a 40 minute train ride around the grounds. It sort of reminded me of "Living with the Land," because we got to see a bunch of different types of crops growing! Halfway through the ride, we got to stop to feed the pigs and goats. Geoffrey liked this part - he was pretty cranky today but this part he really enjoyed.

After the train ride, we ran a few errands and grabbed lunch before heading home... Geoffrey needed a nap today, for sure!

For dinner, we went to Merriman's which is in the same shopping area as Lappert's ice cream. While waiting for our food, Geoffrey played with some other kids. They gathered sticks to make an obstacle course / playground for the chickens. He didnt eat much and was still pretty obstinate tonight, but we survived!

Na Pali Coast

Today we took a boat tour along the Na Pali coast line. We used the tour group I had found that takes kids, Liko Kauaii. I was nervous about a 5 hour tour with Geoffrey, but he did great. TIme really flew, and we had fun!

The trip out took about 2 hours. We stopped in a pod of spinner dolphins who swam all around us - some of them even jumped and spinned out of the water! Amazing! Geoffrey LOVED seeing them! The coast line was breathtaking - dramatic cliffs, gorgeous colors. On the way out we were against the current and towards the end, the ride got really bumpy. Katelyn and I were sitting towards the back under shade, but Grant and Geoffrey were in the front, where it was the bumpiest. At first, Geoffrey loved this,  but as it got really bumpy, he started to get scared. They moved back to sit with us, but he was pretty nervous for awhile and ended up falling asleep on me. Katelyn did NOT like it when it was super bumpy, either. She was in my carrier and she squeezed with her arma and legs after each bump, and started to cry every once in awhile. I kept talking to her "b ump, bump, bump, weeeeeee - bump, bump, bump - weeeeeeee" and that calmed her down. Also, Donna, who was sitting up front as well, came down from one of those big bumps once and hurt her back - so we're all sort of concerned about what she is going to be feeling tomorrow! The fast, bumpy part lasted about 15 minutes, then we paused (during which time Geoff moved back to sit with me, and some others moved, too) and then another ten.

We turned around at this point making it almost all the way up the coast. Heading back we took in more detail. We went inside TWO sea caves - so cool - and under a water fall! Geoffrey slept through this, but he had done so well in the morning, and had gotten tl see all of those dolphins, so we thought it would be best to let him sleep a bit. Then we stopped to snorkel - I did wake up Geoff for this. At first he didn;t want to get in, but when he did, he loved it. Grant snorkeled and towed Geoff around on a boogie board (Geoff didn't see anything but he just liked swimming.) I took Katelyn in. I used the infant life vest, but I didn't fit it very well and she HATED it. SHe liked the water but couldn't get comfortable and she did ok at first but couldn't get comfortable when Grant took her and so she started crying. She did grat when she got out and Darrel, one of the crew members, held her while I got out.

The crew - Darrel and Rob, by the way, were awesome and super helpful.

After snorkeling we had lunch on the boat and then took about 45 minutes to get back to our boat dock. This was windy and bumpy again, and Geoffrey was nervous again, but he held Nonna's hand and leaned on my arm and he was a real trooper! Katelyn slept for this part so she was ok, too!

After our trip we headed home and rested for a while. Geoff tok that nap on the boat so he didn't nap again, but he rested and played. Then Gary joined us for a little walk to see a sea arch near our unit. Then we all drove to dinner at a brand new restaurant - the Kauai Island Brewery, and then went back to Lapperts for ice cream for dessert.  Sooooooo tired....

Sunday Snorkeling

Today we went to a small beach north of Poipu just next to Beach House Restaurant. After a stop at Snorkel Bob's, we grabbed our gear and headed over. This beach had almost no sand - very short beach area - but grassy areas over at the side. THe waves were pretty big. but we took Geoffrey out on the raft we bought and it worked SO WELL. At first, he wanted to play on the raft - but after falling in a few times he settled in for a ride with his eyes on the glass and he got to see lots of cool fish, coral, and rocks! They went in but Kate was happy on the grass with Nonna and Grandpa and Uncle Blake so I stayed out awhile longer and just enjoyed the peacefulness of snorkeling.

We got lunch at Sueko's - a little window next to a grocery store in Koloa... I got a Hawaiian plate with shrimp and mahi mahi. We ate over at Gary and Donna's unit and then came over to our place to nap. Geoffrey didn't fall asleep until 4:45! Grant and Gary made dinner - we had bought opah and crusted it with macadamia nuts, with rice and veggies. Blake grilled some onions up sweet with sugar - they were really good with the fish.

After dinner, we watched Lilo and Stitch - which of course was appropriate since the movie takes place on kauaii!

Saturday - Waimea Canyon

On Saturday we took a road trip up to Waimea Canyon. So beautiful! The colors were just incredible - reds,oranges, greens, purples, blues - just breath taking. We stopped on our way up and took in the view from many different vistas. We stopped for lunch at the little cafe toward the top. It was really cool to see the colors change from the morning to the afternoon!

On our way down, we stopped at JoJos Shaved Ice - a perfect afternoon treat!

After naps, we went to TomKat's grille for dinner - Grant and I split a Mahi-Mahi sandwich and a Macademina crusted Mahi-Mahi dinner  with this delicious passion fruit cream sauce. SO GOOD. Afterwards we drove out near the old Koloa sugar plantation and find a geocache! SO FUN!!!

Friday - North Share

On Friday, we were greeted with rain. Still, we bravely headed out to find a North Shore beach. Gary, Donna and Blake did their own thing so it was just Grant, Geoff, Kate, and I. On the way, we stopped at subway to get some lunch.

We went, first, to Wailua Falls. It was gorgeous. Geoffrey really got a kick out of seeing it. There was a local there making things out of weaving fronds - hats and baskets and such. He had these cute fish hanging off of a fishing pole reed - and we decided to get one for Geoffrey - and the man gave us one for free! So awesome! Aloha!

We headed to Moloa'a Beach  - which was on the north/east end of Kauaii. The beach access was far away from the good part of the beach, but we found another awesome entrance - unfortunately it was through someone's property. Their gate was opened so we went ahead and did it anyway. The beach was awesome - the sand was not too wide, and the edge was covered in trees, so there was plenty of shade (although it was overcast most of the day...) The water was fairly calm and Geoff and Kate both loved being in the water. While we were swimming, a seal  probably a monk seal, swam really close to us - maybe 15 feet away! Awesome!!! There were only like two other families on the beach so it was very private! Geoff also loved all the coconuts on the beach. When we left, that gate was closed, but we found another gate that was unlocked. Thank goodness!

On the way home, we researched boat tours of the NaPali coast that allowed infants. We found a tour that sounded great - left from the south at 8:15, accepted infants, didnt charge for kids under 4... but we were required to provide our own infant life vest. Um, yikes... we called 3 snorkel places and one rented them. We called K-mart and walmart but neither had them... so we put that on hold for now...

The kids slept all the way home and Geoffrey miraculously woke up in a great mood. We had dinner back at the Marriott, we had a prime rib and crab legs buffet... so delicious!!!

We stopped by walmart on the way home and they did have an infant life vest (glad we didnt rely on the phone call) so we're good to go!

Thursday - Lihue

Today we started with a ride on the Grove Farm steam train at the old Lihue Sugar mill. These tracks are slowly being restored. Although the train trip itself wasn't very long, it was awesome to hear the stories of what life was like on Kauai when the sugar mill was in its hey-day!

After the train trip, Geoffrey created his own playground on a stack of extra railroad tracks and did "work" by carrying sticks across the tracks and hefting them onto a flatbed. We stayed for a bit and then headed over to the Marriott where they had an awesome koi pond. When you fed the koi, they piled on top of eachother in a crazy frenzy. Geoffrey got to feed the koi and even pet them because they were so compacted together.

We walked around the grounds - the pool was beautiful and their stretch of beach was gorgeous. The NCL Pride of America was in port. We walked to Kalapaki beach hut and had burgers for lunch. They had a small seating area upstairs with high booths that you could sit in and see the view of the ocean from the restaurant. For desert we had the most delicious shaved ice - the texture was soft and velvety - perfect! 

After we walked back to our car, we drove out to Nanini Point - there is a cool lighthouse, as well as a 180 degree view of the ocean.... and a geocache! Yes, I remembered to look up some Kauai geocaches and I was excited to find one!

We swung by walmart and then headed home.

We had dinner at our condos tonight - we ate over in Gary and Donna's unit tonight. M academia mahi-mahi, sweet potatoes, rice, some raddishes we got at the farmer's market, and salad. Oh and fresh pineapple! Yum!

Afterwards we went out to the parking lot to try to fly a kite, and then took a walk down to the beach to look for sea turtles and throw rocks in the ocean as the sun set...

Wednesday

Today we celebrated Grant's birthday! We headed to Lydgate Beach and Park. This is a great family beach with a fun park. It is near the airport, and Blake flew in today. We played on the very cool playground for awhile, and then headed to the beach where we did some snorkeling and swimming. Gary and Donna went to get Blake from the airport and brought lunch back from a very Hawaiian spot.

We stayed at the beach through the early afternoon before heading home. Gary and I took the kids home while Donna, Blake, and Grant took a detour to do some shopping.

For dinner, we went to Brick Oven pizza - touted as both the best pizza on the island and the most expensive. We agreed with both assessments! We went to get ice cream for dessert and then headed home.

Just another day in paradise!

Poipu Beach

Today we had our first beach day! So fun! We walked to Poipu beach, which is just a short walk from our unit. The beach immediately in front of us is all rocks, and sea turtles often hang out there - we've seen at least one every time we've walked by. Continue west and you get a small section of beach with huge crashing waves and very little sand - people like to boogie board there, but the water is pretty rough... Just pass that is Poipu beach and park. It has a large grassy area with tables and a play ground, and then sand surrounding some beaches - One particular lagoon is surrounded by rocks and the water is shallow and super calm. We set up here and had some fun in the sun! Geoffrey could swim / wade throughout the whole lagoon easily - it was no deeper than his chest at the deepest. Katelyn spent some time in her raft, and LOVED it! I also put her in a sitting position just where the waves mostly lapped up to her toes and she sat there for, like, 20 minutes. She LOVED it! Beach baby, for sure!

THis beach has lots of cool wild life. Besides the sea turtles, there are many wild chickens roaming around. Also, this beach is a popular spot for the monk seal to come up and sun bathe. They are endangered and thus they are protected animals. There was one on the beach today - the lifeguards had surrounded the area with safety tape so people would leave it alone, but you could get within a few feet to observe the seal and take pictures. Very cool!

After a treat of shaved ice, we headed back to our hotel for showers and lunch. We tried to put Geoff down for a nap but he would have nothing of it. After an hour we gave up. Within 15 minutes he was super fussy and whiny. Arg! We took him with us to the Farmer's Market and he fell asleep right away. So Grant shopped while I stayed in the car (there were only about 6 booths opened when we got there.) We cruised around a bit, stopping at a scenic overlook, glass beach, and spouting horn, taking turns visiting the areas because the kids were asleep in the car. When we got home Geoffrey woke up after a two hour nap in the car. (Katelyn had napped on and off, too).

We went to dinner at Kieko's Paradise which was a delicious seafood restaurant. Geoff got over his fussiness pretty fast when he saw all of the water falls and tiki torches. Katelyn sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time and did pretty well as long as we kept a hand close by!  I had a delicious seafood risotto, and everyone else had Opah. Geoffrey was hungry too and ate half of his quesadilla. We shared a Kona pie for dessert which was like a mud pie but with macadamia nut ice cream. So good. (Even Katelyn liked it! heh heh)  We walked around the shops near by and Geoffrey burned off some energy running around d and dancing on the stage before we headed back home! 

Time Changes and Big Poops

4:00 AM. Katelyn eats as normal but is wide awake and won't go back to sleep. By 4:30, I decide to check her diaper again, even though I had changed it first thing when she woke up at 4:00 - and what do you know - HUGE POOP, through the clothes, on the sleep sack. Yesssssss... so using the flash light to clean it up woke up Geoffrey (who was sleeping with us this first night because Donna and Gary were in the other room. ) Geoffrey kept trying to sneak out of the room while I kept trying to get Katelyn to go back to sleep while trying to get Geoffrey to lay back down. He opened the door and saw Donna, who had woken up thanks to the time change - and all was lost. If Nonna was up then he could be up, too! Sigh. So I put Katelyn down at 4:55 and then went out and told Geoffrey it was nap time in five minutes. Worth a try, right? Sigh. I made him lay down with us from 5:15 - 6:30 when I finally fell asleep despite Geoffrey's kicking and hitting me with his blanket, and whispering. Once I actually fell asleep he got up and played with Nonna and Grandpa and I slept until 7:30. That last hour felt AMAZING.

Gary and Geoffrey walked down to the beach, saw some sea turtles, and played at the playground. They came back around 9:00. Then, Donna, Grant, and Gary went to Walmart and Costco. Meanwhile, Kate, Geoff and I hung out at the condo and walked around outside a bit. Katelyn was pretty fussy today and spent very little time playing independently - she wanted me to hold her almost all day. She is getting very close to sitting up for longer periods though and she was happy when I was able to sit her up on the couch. Still, she did so well on the flight, we were proud of her, and know that the thime change and being someplce new is hard to adjust to.

Once everyone else got back, we went to the farmer's market. I was expecting mom and pop, but I wasn't expecting it to be so small - so few booths! We got some sweet onions, carrots, ginger, mountain apples, and Gary got me a lei. A Hawaiian woman came up to talk to me about her children and grand children and held my hand the whole time she spoke to me. After we finished shopping, we went to a grocery store to get the rest of the stuff we needed for dinner.

Back at the condo Geoffrey napped while Donna and Gary moved into their unit which is right next to ours... too bad we have to go doen two flights then up two flights to visit each other now!

Grant made a delicious dinner of Macadamia Nut Mahi Mahi, Hawaaian Sweet Bread, and rice with carrots and onions, and fresh pineapple. Delicious!

After dinner, Grant, Gary, Geoff, Kate and I went for a walk. There is a little blow hole just east of our condo. We watched that for a while. Then we walked over to Poipu beach and park. There are wild chickens all over the park and we found them up in the trees for the evening! Geoff wanted to get in the water so we stripped him down to his underwear and he played and splashed and "fished" with his "fishing pole" ( branch) while we watched the sun set. There was this very cool sand bar that led out to a little island of sand and rocks that we walked out to as well.

Such a great night. Bavk at the condo we put the kids to bed and relaxer with an episode of Newsroom. Night!

 

Arrival on Kauaii

Hawaii!!!

We left for Hawaii on Sunday. We had an awesome flight. Our flight left about 1040 in the morning. Geoffrey watched TV for the beginning of it slept for most of the middle of it and was up for the rest for the last hour or so happy and playing. He didn't awesome job. Katelyn slept on and off for most of the flight when she wasn't sleeping she was pretty content to sit and play with her toys. I'm sure she would've liked to spread out, but the flight was packed - in our row for  four we had someone next to us, but he was nice and slept the whole time. Nonna walked around with her little bit and that was nice, but for the most part she sat with me and sometimes daddy and did a really good job. I was able to even able to watch two movies and an episode of glee.

We arrived in Honolulu on time and had about an hour and a half layover before the flight to Kawaii. At the airport there's a garden courtyard that we are able to break in while we were waiting for next flight. There were plumarias which made Donna and I very happy,  lots of neat birds for Geoffrey to see, and it was just nice to be outside in really made you feel like you're in Hawaii and just sitting in the airport. The fight  was quick up-and-down - Katelyn slept the whole thing. When we landed, I sat with the bags while Donna Gary and Grant and Geoffrey went to get the rental cars. We came back loaded up and headed out.

We arrived at our condo about half an hour later,. At this point Katelyn was tired and pretty fussy in the car seat. Got to our condo and check it out. We are three floors up so we loaded up all the bags and brought them up. Donna and Gary will be  in a different condo but there's is not ready till Monday so they stayed with us the first night. What kind of sucks is they have to go down two flights and up two flight to get to their condo so whenever we want to visit each others rooms it's going to be a little bit of a hike-  more than we anticipated since our condos are right next door to each other.

We're staying on Poipu beach. We headed into the small town, Koloa, just north of us and had dinner at a place called TomKats Grill. The town is quite small and there's just a little shopping area where the restaurant is. The restaurant is awesome - very open air with two separate eating areas (maybe three) with walls only on three sides and the fourth side open out to a really nice courtyard with plants and rocks. Donna and Gary called it the cat place because when they were here once in the past there were a lot of cats here. The waitress said there were four  there now and Geoffrey made it his mission to find them all. We found one, a white one called Snowball. It was perfect for dinner, because Geoffrey had a great time running around the courtyard finding pods, moving the rocks around, and just burning off some energy. The waitress thought he was a crack up. Dinner was excellent. Grant and  I went havsies on a mahi-mahi sandwich- so fresh, reminded Me of Bluewater Grill in San Diego- and a Hawaiian plate which had the traditional pork, some ahi poke, macaroni salad, rice and that kind of stuff. It was all delicious. Back at the condo we were pretty beat. We did some unpacking and went to bed.

Aloha!!!

Siri

Disclaimer! I have started doing some of my blogs by dictating them to Siri.. This way if I need to hold Kate I can still blog pretty effeciantly - but some of the blogs come out sounding kind of weird - it is hard to dictate in a way that sound natural in writing. So please excuse any odd explanations or run on sentences!