The Beautiful Island of Kauai


We were invited by my sister Nicole and her family to stay with them for a week at a house they rented in Kauai (that's the northernmost island in the Hawaiian Island chain, also called the Garden Island - for good reason). All we had to do was get there. Thank goodness we got our plane tickets quite a while ago - they ended up more than doubling in price as gas prices skyrocketed! (they still weren't cheap, but hey - we couldn't just pass this up!) We left the kids at home with my mom (thanks Mom!!!) which was hard because we had only been away from Jolie for two nights when she was little and not a single night from Bronson. He took it really hard.



After wading through airport security and a layover in L.A. ......



We arrived in paradise! This is the house the Masons rented - FABULOUS! There's literally a river rushing by about 15 feet away on the other side of the house! Check out the banana trees in the front yard. The weather here is so perfect that half of the house is only screened in with no windows. No need for central cooling or heating. There's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of a river and the occasional rain.

The scenery here is so awesome I just had to pull over and snap some photos, much to Amberly's dismay. Hey - you can never have too many pictures!

Ke'e Beach at sunset. Also one of the best snorkeling spots on the island.

The Waimea Canyon Lookout. It is known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

Sorry about all the sunsets -- they're just so spectacular they are begging to be documented!

We went on an 8-mile hike along the North Coast on the Kalalau Trail and up a river valley to Hanakapi'ai Falls. This is at the mouth of the river as it pours into the ocean.

The trail overlooks Ke'e Beach. You can see the reef in the water below.

The beautiful Hanakapi'ai Beach. Incidentally one of the most dangerous beaches on the island. Crazy undertows or something.

We took a stroll along Lumaha'i Beach where the movie South Pacific was filmed.

A sea turtle taking a break on the sand. After he was all sunned out, he decided to head back out again. Me, brother-in-law Brian, and nephew Jake all swam out with him to the edge of the reef.

Snorkeling fools. I seriously couldn't stop snorkeling. I think I did it for 7 straight hours one day. Way too much fun! Now we need to go back to explore the rest of the beaches we didn't get to. My sister Nicole took this picture, which is posted on her fabulous blog. I would tell you to go check it out, but after you see her pictures, you won't come back.

Larsen's Beach

We thought we should check out one of the less-populated beaches on the island to kind of have the deserted island experience. This one takes a little hike to get to it, and we only saw a couple of people there. We beachcombed for a while until we think we saw a guy off in the distance that evidently thought it was a nude beach or something. That was enough for us. As beautiful as it was, we probably won't be going back.

Kilauea Lighthouse juts out on a peninsula with gorgeous views all around.

We went back later for another of my many sunset shots. This is a view from a lava rock shoreline looking at Kilauea Lighthouse.

Huge thanks to the Masons for letting us crash their family vacation and giving us the opportunity to get to know one of nature's most spectacular treasures. And thanks to my Mom, who allowed us to have our vacation kid-free (although we're already talking about bringing them the next time we go -- yeah, in like 10 years).

In the Kitchen with Jolie

On the 4th of July (Happy Birthday America) Jolie is here in the kitchen making her all-time fav.

STARMALLOW SPARKLERS!!

(say that 10x fast) It wasn't easy for Jolie to poke through all those mallows without poking herself. It was worth all the pain cuz they're so scrumdiddlyumptious!

Soup-tacular !!

Jolie and Bronson had some cousins come up to visit. Jolie decided to help Zane make "Soup-acado" out of the local plant life.

Taste testers welcome.

Gus and Bronson very cleverly utilize the pool water to fill up their watering cans. Too bad they use it to water the dirt instead of the plants.

Future Paleontologists Discover Dinosaur Bones in Local Backyard

Hmm, they look remarkably like sticks...

But then again, I'm no expert.

A Day At The Pool!

My kids love to swim. Even though Bronson doesn't know how to swim on his own, he wants to really bad. When he gets into the pool he wants to do his own thing. If I try to help him or hold him in the deep-end he gets mad. He thinks he can swim just fine and do whatever he wants. Well...he was in so deep his nose was barely above the water when he lost his balance and fell under the water. I grabbed him and pulled him up. As the water was running down his face he yelled "I SWIM!"

Unfortunately, drowning is not swimming. As for this summer we are definitely working on his swimming skills.

FaThEr'S DaY

We love our Daddy!

My kids always love making things for Ben on Father's Day. Jolie's favorite thing is baking in the kitchen. She really wanted to make him a cake. I dont know if she liked making it or eating it better.

Bronson inhaled his cake. Here he is asking for more cake. It was the funniest thing to watch him say cake while is mouth was full of it. He's our little comedian.

House Update

As of now Ben is done with the framing, rough plumbing, roof, and AC. He is currently working on the electrical and will soon have the siding on the outside ready to go on. It's been a really long project for Ben and he is getting closer to the end every day. Hopefully it will be done before school starts in the fall...but you never know...it might be December.

The Front

The Back

New

(to us)

Furniture

Last week Ben and I ventured down to Mesa to pick up his sister's old family room set. They were getting a new sectional and had no need for the stuff they already had. They offered it to us and there was no passing it up. So we rented a U-Haul to bring the couches and tables back. It was a long day but well worth it. Anyways here are some before and after pictures of our family room.

Boring

Comfortable

Mis-matched

Welcoming!

There is a totally different feeling in the room now. We can actually have the home teachers over and not have to sit on the floor!

WaTeR FuN In OuR BaCkYaRd

Almost every day Jolie & Bronson play with the hose in the backyard. Bronson is without a doubt the controller of the hose and Jolie is so patient with him. Jolie has mastered the art of trading toys with Bronson. For example...if she wants the hose she will get some golf balls, line them up, get a club, and start singing while hitting the balls.. "look at me Bronson...this is so fun...I can hit the balls...can you?" Then when Bronson drops the hose to play with the golf stuff, Jolie will run and take the hose. She's very clever.

Bronson loves to drink the water from the hose. This shot is to show his Pre-water belly.

Drinking....

Drinking...

Check out the water gut!!

Jolie loves to smile for the camera.

Bronson is my little cuddle bug. He always gives me hugs.

FaThErS & SoNs

I was suprised when Ben told me he was going to take Bronson on Fathers & Sons. But there was no way I was going to talk him out of it. We've been camping before and Bronson has always loved it. The difference is that I was not going to be there to help out and watch him when Ben is busy. You know like when he's setting up the tent or cooking dinner. When Ben got home he was a little frazzled but said they had fun.