Water Fun

The kids and I are spending some time with my parents this week while Judd is in Beijing. I was able to see both of my sisters and their husbands this past weekend. Sally and Jacob stayed for a while to hang out with us. It was great to have the cousins spend so much time together.

Haircut

While I spent my morning on Saturday with Charlotte visiting Drena and her darling new baby girl, Judd took my darling baby boy to have his hair trimmed.

It was a little shocking at first, but I'm getting used to this little man running around my house. I mean, really, he could have no hair and would still be darling - just look at those eyes.



After the above photo was taken this evening, Max played peek-a-boo behind the curtains in our room for a while. These next shots are technically horrible - they are so out of focus - but I'm in love with them.







His expression in this one! If there is one picture I ever wished were in focus, it would be this one.

Kauai Day 4

We woke up pretty early on day 4, Saturday. We didn't have any real plans and spent some time drinking coffee and taking in the view in our room. After reading through the guide book, we decided to get the car and drive to one of the waterfalls that was listed as something not to be missed.

We took a detour on the way and stopped at Queen's Bath. This is another lava rock pool. The walk down to the lava rocks was very nice and there was a beautiful little waterfall along the way.





We weren't really planning to swim in Queen's Bath, but if we were, I'm sure this would have made us think twice about it.



We took a look around and explored. We just sat for a while watching the waves crash against the rocks. It was really beautiful - but, so is everything there!



After Queen's Bath, we walked back up the trail to the car and made our way to the waterfall. Judd explored a few side roads and we took our time. We stopped at a Farmer's market and had a frosty at Banana Joe's fruit stand.

These things are amazing! They are just a frozen banana and pineapple squeezed through a champion juicer. It turns into this amazing treat that feels just like ice cream - but way better for you.



We got to the waterfall. I don't even have a picture of it if that shows you how awesome it was to see from the lookout. Not really that awesome. But, across the street we saw an old Hawaiian Village that you could rent kayaks to paddle to the Secret Falls (a waterfall you can only get to by kayaking and hiking). We decided to see if they had any left to rent. We were in luck. We put our money down and went to get a bite of lunch before we headed down the river.

After some mediocre fish tacos from a hut in a shopping center (that had rave reviews from some people we met) we loaded in our kayak and headed out. They gave us a "map" to use to find the Secret Falls.

This is the river we kayaked.





We kayaked to the landing, it took about 5 minutes. There were tons of kayaks docked there. We started out on what we thought was the trail to the Secret Falls. We kept passing people, so we were feeling confident we were on the right path. We gave up on our map, it was pretty useless. We passed grandmothers, children, a man with only one leg. So, this gives you an idea of the trail - pretty easy going. We just kept going and going. Eventually we started passing fewer and fewer people. The trail's elevation began to get a lot more tricky and the footing was slick. Judd almost fell down the side of the mountain. At that point we figured that this wasn't the way, and if it was, we weren't going. We made our way back and found the turn we were supposed to make, but we didn't. Finally we arrived. It was breathtaking.

You can't tell much from this picture, but you can see people swimming at the bottom of the falls in the background.



Unfortunately, a group of rednecks drinking wine out of the bottle decided to crash the party. Our serene spot looking into the waterfall pool was now blocked by 4 bleach blondes and their much older male counterparts. It was getting late, so we decided to start the hike back. We had a much easier hike back.

We got in the kayak and went over to the Fern Grotto. It was peaceful.



Then, we kayaked back to the Hawaiian Village to return our kayak.

After a run to Wal Mart, because my phone charger broke, we headed back to the resort. We showered and changed and went into town for dinner. We ate at a nice little restaurant, Postcards in Hanalei. It was delicious. A great end to a really great day.

We woke up the next day feeling good, but a little tired. We hadn't spent a day just lounging on the beach or by the pool at the resort, so we decided that Sunday would be our day to do just that. We took our time getting ready, drank our coffee, enjoyed the view, read the paper - then we headed out to Common Ground for brunch. It is a farm that has a restaurant on the property. You can walk through the veggie patch while you wait for your food to cook. All of the ingredients are whole food, local, organic ingredients. It was really yummy.

The rest of the day was spent reading at the pool. Doesn't get much better than that.

When we felt a few rain drops in the late afternoon we went up to the room and got cleaned up for dinner. We watched the sunset from the St. Regis lobby and went back to Hanalei for dinner. We heard about a good pizza place, so we put in a take out order. While we were waiting I walked around and did some shopping.

We ended back in the room eating pizza and watching Netflix. A pretty good night if you ask me - a fitting way to end a very relaxing day.