More Hawaii

This is in Laie, Hawaii at The Point. This is really close to where my dad lived

Dad, pointing to his old house (which has since been torn down)
It was so fun to hear him talk about his childhood/teenaged years of living here, and all his crazy experiences. When he lived there (over 50 years ago) there weren't many "white folks" so he told us of having to gain respect amongst the locals, and also the fun and crazy things the locals taught him. He sure loved his few years there, and it was so fun to see this side of him.


This was the only turtle we saw! The tide was so high while we were there it made snorkeling tough.

This is Dad's high school. He graduated class of 1958 and was there the week before us for his 50 year reunion.

Before we left Oahu, we took a trip to Pearl Harbor. I've always wanted to visit there. I still can't believe what a sad day that must have been. It was amazing to walk through the museum and read letters, see pictures, and gain a better understanding of what happened that day. What a sad day!

This is our first official day in Kauai. We went to a place called "tunnels" to hopefully snorkel, but the waves were just too crazy, so there were signs everywhere and lifeguards who wouldn't let us in the ocean. It looks calm from where we're standing, but there's a better picture a couple down that put the waves in to perspective.

The whole family took a hike along the Nai Pali Coast. It was so beautiful! I LOVED all the scenery, the smells, the flowers, shrubbery, EVERYTHING! This was probably one of my favorite things about this trip. It was so incredibly beautiful, I can't even begin to describe. I'm glad we all were able to do it. My poor mom needs knee replacement surgery, so the way back was really challenging for her. She did amazingly well though, four miles round trip! Way to go Mom! It was raining pretty heavy on the way in, which was awesome! It added to the fun I thought. I don't think I'd rather do it any other way. It just magnified the green, and the yummy smells. Every few hundred feet, I'd get a wif of something yummy (some yucky too), but it smelled like fruity chap stick, maple syrup, cinnamon, bread (or more like rolls rising...like yeast or something), and many other smells I couldn't quite figure out. It was so dang awesome. If I weren't pregnant, I would have wanted to do the 10 mile hike that takes you way far back along the coast to where all the crazies live. From what we've been told, there are people who've lived back there for over 30 years!!!

Isn't is so green!!!

Just one of the beautiful views along the way

Here are a couple pictures of some of the waves...due to the large reef NO ONE was allowed to get even a toe in the water. If you did, you quickly had lifeguards buzzing their horn at you. I guess the day before this some tourist died thinking they'd be safe out there.

This picture is taken right outside our door to our condo. We had the most amazing view of the ocean! It was seriously such a beautiful resort. It is only a couple years old, so everything seems so new and modern.



Matt hates spiders, so I was shocked to see this picture. I asked how he dared to get so close to it, and he said it was easy, he just zoomed the camera in. Technology these days!

We had all gone snorkeling this day. I didn't last too long out there though. The waves were pretty crazy and it made me a little nervous. I'm a baby! We saw some cool fish though, some were huge they kind of scared me! We saw an eel which was kind of scary too.

We went to dinner one night at Duke's, and so we made everyone pose for the camera. We had some locals sing to us a song I think called "The Hawaiin Wedding Song" that sounds wrong now that I typed it out, but anyway, it was really cool, and made a lot of us a little emotional.

Dad and Mom


My brother Brian and his wife Julie

My sister Joan and her husband Chad

My brother Steve and his wife Mandy

My sister Carrie and her husband Jason

My brother Roger and his wife Susan

My brother Eric and his wife Katie

Matt and me of course

This is a Monk Seal that showed up on the beach of our hotel Friday morning. Isn't that cool? We read afterwards that you're supposed to stay 100 feet away from them...oops.

Here is a picture of just one of the beautiful sunsets

This is our last adventure before we took off and headed home. We went on a helicopter tour of Kauai Saturday morning. It was so beautiful, but unfortunately I got SO sick! I luckily didn't barf, but I was sure I was going to. It didn't make it as enjoyable for me, but I've enjoyed looking at the photos Matt took during the tour.

Here we are, 24 hours after our helicopter tour home with the kids. They loved their souvenirs. I was so glad to see them! I missed them so much. It's amazing how much patience I had the week that followed. I have a whole new appreciation of how much we actually NEED vacations from our daily routine. I was surprised how happy our kids were too. It seems in trips past we truly paid for the time we were away, and our kids "punished" us for being gone. But it was really the total opposite. They were so happy and loving and couldn't have been cuter!