Our Summer AKA "The Blur", Part 1

This summer was pretty darn awesome.

Since I actually have a job now that requires me to be at a computer each morning, I hired in some help this summer. Our lovely and talented cousin, Mariel dutifully watched my children each morning. They played, took walks, went to the park, crafted, and baked. In the afternoons, the kids and I would hit the pool, run errands, or hang out.

We spent every morning of the first week of June at VBS. We had a great time learning about God and how he can work in our lives. We sang songs, danced, and played. Charlotte said the closing prayer in front of 300 kids and adults on the first day! It was a great week.

The rest of the month of June was spent thinking about and being in Hawaii! We left on June 15th for a 10 day adventure on the island of Kauai. We had our first flight to LA, spent 2 hours in LA, and then flew to Lihue. The kids did WAY better than we anticipated on the flights. By the time we got to our rental house, it was 3AM our time.

We stayed right in the middle of Hanalei bay. We had the bottom story of a two story house. The backyard was the bay. It was amazing to say the least. The first morning came early - like 4:30AM early. The kids were up and at 'em. They crawled into our bed and we all tried to doze off, but it just wasn't going to happen. Each day got a little better, but we were up and going by 6:30 or 7AM each morning. Judd and I took turns in the morning going for walks on the bay.

Our vacation was spent exploring the different parts of the island. We found a great kid's beach that we spent time in a couple of days. We rented kayaks and hiked to the secret falls. We stopped and tried different restaurants. We ate lots of shave ice and Mac Nut ice cream. We spent time jumping off of the Hanalei Pier. We played on many different beaches.

From our house, we could walk about 100 yards down the beach to where a river came into the ocean. This was a wonderful spot for Charlotte and Max to play. The water was a lot calmer, but Judd and I could watch the kids while sitting on the island between the river and the ocean and put our toes in the ocean waves. The kids loved jumping off of the sand cliff that the river made. We loved how tired they were afterwards. We spent a few afternoons here.









It was seriously beautiful. That mountain behind Max in the last picture would have 3-4 waterfalls visible depending on the rainfall for the day. We would leave our house and all look up there to see how many waterfalls we could see.



I actually forgot about these pictures. I didn't have the big camera with me much. It is just too hard to take when you have small children and LOTS of sand everywhere. I happened to throw it in the car on the morning we went to a little beach, Anini Beach. We were the only ones there. It was a beautiful morning and very peaceful. We searched for tiny seashells. After that, we tried to find the perfect rocks for skipping. (Judd won) We took some pictures. Then, Max fell asleep in my lap, Judd took a nap under a tree, and Charlotte built a sand castle. It was silent for almost 20 minutes. It was a moment that I can still feel as I type this - pure contentment.









Our last night on Hanalei Bay, we gathered a bunch of driftwood, spend $30 at the store for smores supplies (groceries are SUPER expensive), and had a bonfire. It sounded good in theory, but it started to rain and then Max peed in his bathing suit. So, about 10 minutes in, we had a very smokey bonfire and a naked boy. Charlotte didn't care, she had a smore in her hand.



Our last morning, just before we packed up:



After our 7 nights on Hanalei Bay, we drove South and stayed on the South Shore for 3 nights. We had a very nice condo which had a wonderful ocean view. We were a lot closer to "civilization" down there. It was a very nice 3 nights, but Judd and I both agree that our hearts are on the North Shore.

On our last day we were able to play on the beach and use the hospitality suite at the condo complex to shower before we headed to the airport. We boarded the plane around 8:45PM. The kids were AWESOME the whole way home. They slept on the red-eye to LA. Then, Max slept most of the way from LA to Atlanta while Charlotte watched TV on the iPad.

It was a family vacation that Judd and I certainly won't forget. I know the kids probably won't remember much of it, other than the parts from the stories we tell them, but I hope they'll remember the fun. That and the fact that they have two parents that want to show them so many amazing places - I hope that this is just the start of lots of summers of adventures.

If you want to see more of our adventure, my Instagram feed is full of pictures of our trip.