Kauai - day 10

Today's update: With swimming workouts, running workouts, soccer workouts, an orthodontics appointment, and a cross country parent meeting, it was a busy day (but uneventful day).

Kauai, Day 10 - July 13
It's our last full day on Kauai, and our day of fun and adventure. My family and my nephew took a snorkeling cruise of the NaPali coast. We left on a pontoon speedboat from Waimea. We got held up a little a the missile range until we were allowed to pass(they were still shooting off missiles).
First, here is the sight that we woke up to this morning... A real Hawaiian Rainbow!
In this first picture you can see the beach we went to yesterday, Queen's Pond, in the background:

Isn't the coastline beautiful?



Can you see what these are? Spinner Dolphins! They started following us. There were hundreds of them! It was very fun! Occasionally, one would jump into the air and spin for us!



Can you see the cave behind my nephew?

Here we are inside!

Finally! Snorkeling!!!

But where are the fish?

There's the fish!!!!



Here's me too!


Here's more fish!

When we get back, the first thing we do is head for the shaved ice!

Then it's back to grandma's house, where it started to rain. This is our first rain on Kauai! I guess you don't need an umbrella if you're wearing your swimsuit...

Then it's family night... with a little HanaFuda...

... and some Hawaiian "Go Fish!"...
"Do you have a Lauwiliwili nukunuku 'ol'ol?" LOL!

That's it! Except for some packing... we leave tomorrow at noon!

Kauai - Day 9

Chris didn't make the cross country team... he still has one more try at it next week. He said he'll make it for sure next week. Good luck to him!

Kauai, Day 9 - July 12
Today is going to be a beach day. We planned to start at Barking Sands Beach (where the sand barks as you walk through it) and continue to PoliHale State Beach. Here were our directions to Barking Sands:
1) Take the main road, and turn before it dead ends into the Missile Base.
2) Take the first "Haul Cane" road.
3) Bear left at the Monkey Pod tree.
Uhmmm... Monkey Pod tree? Yep! There's a Monkey Pod tree!

After we get to the beach we need to walk about 1 mile down the beach to reach Barking Sands. BUT, we couldn't get there... the military had the beach closed because they were shooting off missiles that weekend. We did have some fun at Queen's Pond. See the island in the distance? That's Niihau (the Forbidden Island).





The kids discovered that rolling down the sand dunes is good fun!

Talk about sand everywhere!!! <



Sliding didn't work very well... the sand was way too soft.

Uhmmm... flying doesn't work either...


My brother in the mini-van, got stuck at one point and decided to turn back. Our rental car had all wheel drive, so we adventured on to PoliHale State Park. The people there call it the end of the world. This is it! The end of the road, the end of the beach, ... the end of the world...

After a trip to the end of the world, we must have shaved ice! Jo-Jo's 60 flavors!



Then it's lunch, back to Salt Pond Beach, and naps before... Bon Dance! We go for the food and the dancing.

I only danced a couple of songs. I get self-conscious when I don't know the dance... The kids don't mind. They just follow along. They danced the entire first set!





That's it for day 9! Only one more full day in Hawaii!

Kauai - Day 8

We'll start with an update from today... Cheryl is still practicing with the college soccer team. They played a scrimmage today, and the coach pulled Cheryl aside and told her not to stress out because she didn't start today. The coach told Cheryl that she is very impressed with what she has seen so far. Good luck to Cheryl!

Chris has cross country try-outs tomorrow... good luck to Chris. This is the first time his friends will see his new hair! Hahaha!

Kauai, Day 8 - July 11
Today we were invited to Auntie Tsurue's 3yr memorial service. Buddhists have special memorial services on 1yr, 3yr (and I think 7yr?... I don't quite remember) anniversaries of a person's funeral. We got dressed up and headed to the church where we burn incense in Auntie's honor.

After that we headed to the memorial lunch on the Japanese side of Wong's restaurant in Hanapepe. I can't remember the name of the restaurant either... I'm not doing too well today... ;o) Anyway, here are some photos from lunch:



After lunch my brother's family headed back to the house to rest up for Grandma's 90th birthday party. My family headed to the beach. What's a day in Kauai without a trip to the beach? Here are some photos from Ledgate Beach.



A day on Kauai is not complete without shaved ice!

We were just in time to meet up with the rest of the family at the cemetery to visit my dad's parent's graves. The kids lit some incense and put it in the ground in front of the grave to honor my grandparents.

Then we headed to Wailua River for my mom's mom's 90th birthday party! Happy 90th Birthday Grandma K!!!

Here are some more photos from the restaurant.






All in all, a very family day... but then that's the fun of going to Kauai... visiting with lots and lots of family!!!

Kauai - Day 7

First an update on today...

Cheryl made dinner tonight! She chose the menu, the recipes, and did the marketing. She made stir-fry green beans, a teriyaki salad, and egg rolls. That's a lot of green for a girl that doesn't care for veggies. It tasted great, and was greatly appreciated!

Jim went in to see the doctor again about his hand. They put him in a thumb splint last week, and today told him to take it off for short periods to "exercise" his thumb. He goes in again next week.

Kauai, Day 7 - July 10
Didn't I say we were going to relax once we got to Kauai? LOL! We started with a trip to Glass Beach. The beach gets its name from all the sea glass that washes ashore here from an old rubbish dump adjacent to the beach. There isn't as much glass here as there used to be. I remember when you would have to dig down through 6" of glass before you could find the sand.




You can also find pieces of smoothed pottery; and just around the corner, in the tide pools, you can find old rusted engine parts.








Walking on the lava can be tricky, as my hubby found out... He stepped on a rock that rolled, and he skinned his arm, leg, and jammed his thumb. I took him to the emergency room for x-rays. It's not broken, just a bad sprain.


Well, since it's not broken, it's not holding us back... We only have a short time on Kauai, so we decided to skip the tourist stuff (waterfalls and overlooks). But after the emergency room, we went to Spouting Horn (for the shopping, hehehe!).


After Spouting Horn, we went on a hike to Hanapepe in search of Shaved Ice!


After we've had shaved ice, it's on to the Sunshine Market, which is where the local growers come to sell their goods.


Here is my niece explaining to my dad that when my mom told him to put the flowers in water, she meant for him to use a vase. Hahaha!


NO WE'RE NOT DONE! Next it's on to the Salt Pond beach for a swim!


Stopping by to say "Hi" to Uncle Martin:


Here's my husband on the beach taking it easy after his fall this morning.


After cleaning up from the beach, it's dinner at Grandma's house!


Say "Hi" to TJ!!!


That's our first full day on Kauai! And a full day it was! We also found out that Galaxy tied Chivas. We would have never lived it down if Chivas had won...

Oahu to Kauai - Day 6

I found this recipe on BethieJ's blog.... Strawberry Muffins!
We must have picked more than a gallon of berries since we got back from vacation. This was a great recipe to use them up... yummy too! Thanks for sharing, Beth!

Oahu to Kauai, Day 6 - July 9

Happy Birthday, Mom! I remembered now, even if I didn't remember then...
Today is a traveling day. We say aloha to Oahu, and aloha Kauai!


We got to Kauai in time to grab a bite to eat before doing our round at the relatives. We stopped at Uncle Shoso's and Auntie Betty's, but they weren't home. We stopped at Uncle Tom's and Auntie Mary's where we met up with my mom and dad. To Cheryl's delight, it's mango season! There are mangoes everywhere... in the trees, on the ground, everyone is giving them away to each other... it's mango overload! My mom said that she can hear the mangoes falling from the trees during the night, LOL!


We are staying with my Uncle Willy and Auntie Geri. We stopped by there to drop off our suitcases and pick-up Grandma K, then it's back to the airport to to meet my brother and his family. They will be staying with Uncle Tom and Auntie Mary.


We all made it! YAHOO!!!