Kauai 2014

The best thing about coming home from Kauai (trust me, I had to think for a long time about this) was that it was not 5 degrees when our plane landed. I told you I struggled to come up with something positive.

 

 

The miniature golf place was also a plantation of sorts that gave a ton of history of the islands and their formation. Brooke actually needed this for some of her make up homework. And anyone doubted I could turn a vacation into a learning experience.

 

In my opinion Kauai is a little piece of heaven on Earth. The lush green plants every where, the waterfalls, the hikes and mountains and ocean and beaches all so close together filled with a very laid back community makes this place amazing. I keep saying I'm moving there, however the opportunity has yet to present itself.

 

The last time we went to Kauai a few years ago, we wanted to see everything. We drove a crazy amount to make that possible. Before we even left this time I vowed not to be in the car that long. We stayed on the north side of the Island and we hiked, kayaked, played miniature golf, hiked more, played at the beach and let the kids play at the pool. Outside of our condo was a golf course, I decided running on the trail there (although frowned upon by locals I'm sure) would be fabulous. Miles and miles of trails that no one is using early in the morning.

 

This was at the bottom of our first hike, It is called Queensbath. Locals believe that it is very dangerous trail to get to and when the tide is high the waves can be scary. Therefor they had signs everywhere. Brooke and Tyler loved the hike, the scenery, everything. Just an FYI... Tyler was there the whole time, just so far ahead of me that I didn't capture any pictures of the boy. So apparently Brooke is all you get to see.

 

One of the waterfalls along the trail.

 

 

Another one. Amazing scenery!

 

 

 

This is the little shack where we rented Kayaks. The guy told us to go until we saw turtles, it will be worth it, he said...7 miles later I'm not so sure that my white skin and very weak shoulder muscles thought it was worth it. It was though, all my sarcastic comments aside, the river banks were beautiful.

 

 

The river that we kayaked meets the ocean. Brooke said she was going to jump out of the kayak if I even thought about going out into the ocean. I guess all my hope from last year that some of her fears had subsided were a little premature.

 

 

The fish that the kids fed every morning. I'm telling you, the mouths of these fish were so big they could have taken my foot off.

 

 

A friendly goat that the kids liked to feed. He must have had braces, his teeth were so straight.

 

Brooke made her own fresh flower lei...It was way more fun to make it than actually wear it.

 

 

Yes, there is a rum distillery. Yes, I found it. Would you expect any different from me? They taught me how to make the cutest Mai Tai ever!

 

 

Our first morning there. We were so happy to be away from the cold!