Sleeping Giant

     We hit three or four farmers markets during our week in Hawaii and it was so much fun!  Because of our great location in the north shore we were a bit isolated from any of the really good restaurants so the farmers markets made our food fun!  This was a giant fruit that Corey had to get a picture of.  The red fruit has a pit surrounded by a gel-like fruit inside that tastes pretty good.  Mostly we enjoyed the mango, papaya, lemons and avocados....yum. 
     After the farmers market we did the hike called the Sleeping Giant.  It was steep with beautiful views of the island. 

     
     There are very high cliffs on top of this spot where Corey is taking himself very seriously.  I, on the other hand would not stop for a picture on such a precarious place. 

     It's a little hard to see on the last picture, but there was a cool arch at the top of this hike.  I'm afraid of heights, but I braved it for the view which was totally worth it of course. 
      There is a crossroads near the top of the hike and we took the wrong one.  Once we realized it we turned around and started hiking up.  We ran into a man named Martin.  He was a retired guy who visited the island yearly and had a lot of knowledge about the island and convinced us to take the west side down so we could see the Cook Pines groves.  One of the best things about this trip was that it was just us and we could go where we wanted when we wanted to.  So we took Martin up on his offer and hiked down with him.  He gave us the job of finding the trail markers and told us all about the island along with all of his favorite jokes.  The Pine groves were beautiful and Martin gave us a ride to our car at the end. 

 

     We made our way back to the North Shore stopping at a beach or two on the way so Corey could play in the water and I could read on the beach.  Ended the day with a sunset off Hanalei Bay.

NaPali Coast Hike

     The most-recommended hike was the NaPali Coast Hike.  We tried to do this one the first day there, but it was closed due to flooding.  This was a perfect day for this hike.  We started off bright and early which I was greatful for...it got hot.  These were all the warning signs at the beginning...you'd think we didn't value our lives. 
     This hike is two miles to the beach and then two more miles to the waterfall.  It's pretty steep with a consistant incline, but the views are amazing. 

The water was high at the beach so it was rocky, but there was moss covering the rocks which made it really beautiful.  The water wasn't safe to swim in but fun to watch the immpressive waves. 

 

 

     Two more miles and you get to this beautiful waterfall.   Don't be fooled....it's gigantic!  I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing, too tall. 

 

 

     There were a few pools along the way that we swam in.  The trick is finding the sunny pools.  This is Corey looking like a Utahan in winter.  The rest of the day we spent beach hopping, snorkeling and body boarding at Hanalei Bay. 

 

 

East Shore Tour

  

      Did I mention that there are chickens EVERYWHERE in Kauai?  It kind of funny to look out your lanai at your tropical paradise view while listening to roosters crow.  We started the day off making our way to the East Shore of Kauai.  Just driving around this island is beautiful.  The "highway" is two whole lanes with a max speed of 45 mph. 
     Wiamea Canyon is refered to as the Grand CAnyon of the Hawaiian Islands.  The highway around Kauai isn't connected.  It has about a 7 mile stretch that couldn't be paved.  Many people see this as a blessing as it keeps parts of the island wild and unaccessable by car....I agree.  But there is a lookout from the east where you can see the north, that was our first stop. 

 

     Unfortunately this was our "amazing view."  Aside being known for its beauty it's also "one of the wettest spots on earth."  So we went down the canyon a bit and found a hike and we were lucky enough to have the clouds lift a bit so we could catch a glimpse of this amazing place. 

 

    

      As always pictures do no justice, but it was beautiful and very high!  This distant waterfall is the one we hiked to in the previous pictures.  There were helicopters coming in and out of the canyon constantly.

     The east shore is the farthest away from our condo as we could get so we made sure to take advantage of everything we could on our way back.  Hawaii is known for it's shave ice so we made sure to stop and get some of that!  By the way there is macadamia ice cream in the bottom of that!

    
     Then we went through the industrial part of Kauai to see this glass beach.  It's right by the garbage dump (romantic right??) but because of that all the glass that's gone into the water breaks up and washes up on this beach.  The beach is completely covered in this "glass sand."  It was really beautiful and interesting to see.

 

    We also stopped at Opeaka Falls which you drive to a lookout to see.  We were so fortunate to be here right at the end of the wet season when all of the waterfalls are at their most beautiful.  The Waimea River was on the other side of the lookout.  Beautiful.





Six Beaches...One Day

     We started off the next day with a run to Hideaways Beach.  It was a beautiful secluded beach, fun to explore.  I went back to start breakfast while (my never-ending-energy husband) Corey went on to Queens Bath. 

 

     It was the wrong time of year for the "bath" part as you can see above...not safe.  We went to the Hanalei Farmers Market that morning and bought papaya, salad greens, lemons, avocados, radish sprouts, etc.  All fresh and super yummy.  The farmers markets really made our meals fun! 
     The rest of the day we dedicated to snorkeling.  It was so much fun!  We had a huge selection of beaches to explore and we couldn't choose just one.  We snorkeled with sea turtles at Anini Beach.  Corey wanted to body board so we went to Hanalei Bay.  When we got to Tunnels Beach there was a seal napping on the beach.  It was really cool to see.  The snorkeling there was our favorite.  All the fish seemed to have fluorescent colors and the drop off in the coral was really fun.  Like every beach we went to in Kauai the views were breathtaking.  When the tide started to roll in our seal friend woke up and we got to watch him playfully go back to the ocean.      
     Between beaches we stopped at anything interesting including a light house, bird refuge, and the coolest old churches and cemetaries.  It was so fun to go where the wind blew us.  Corey was determined to play until dark so we visited Ke'e Beach last and watched the sunset.  Not a bad day eh?

 

    

 

15

    Corey & I were married on January 2, 1999.  It was the perfect time to get married when you're in college.  A wedding over Christmas break with time to spare for the honeymoon.  What we didn't think of (or likely we were to love-struck to care), was that our anniversary would be hard to celebrate that time of year.  After we had kids and a few years of weak anniversary celebrations we started celebrating later.  Not too much later, but just enough past Christmas to catch our breath.  So last fall we started talking about "15" and Kauai was the place. 
     We had the benefit of having three of Corey's siblings come here last year so we took all their advice, itineraries, etc and planned away.  We flew in at night so we didn't see much until the following morning.  It had rained all night (with flash floods on the other side of the island) so we woke to mountains covered in waterfalls...welcome to Kauai!!

    We decided to do the most recommended hike on the first day, but because of the rain the Napali Coast Hike was closed.  We spoke to a local park guy who directed us to a safer hike.  Because of the rain we were the only ones on the mountain.  It was wet and muddy and amazingly beautiful.  There were steep parts on this hike that had ropes by them to help you get down "rappel-style."  The whole time I kept thinking..."we're in Hawaii!!!"  It was super misty through the trees and then clear once we got above on the ridge.  The canopy of trees was breathtaking!  We got a few pictures of wildlife to send to our kiddos. 
     Our condo was on the north shore which I fell in love with for it's rugged beauty.  The closest town to us was Hanalei.  It was a great little town with a grocery store, a few churches and a strip of shops.  We spent the afternoon checking out the town and picking up groceries for the week. 

Pre-school

     Just a little proof that we did some fun pre-school activities with these two!!  K is for King.  We read "King Bidgood's in the Bathtub," by my favorite author/illustrator team Audrey and Don Wood.  I thought it would be so fun to have them eat lunch in the tub like King Bidgood, but Brecken didn't go for it....luckily I have twins and Avery thought it was fun. 

 

     L is for laundry.  They ate up hanging 'laundry.'  It's been fun having my babies home for one more year...

 

Father/Son Bake-off

      Anyone who knows Keaton knows that he is Corey reincarnated so this was a no-brainer....super-biker cake!  Nice job boys!