Hawaii, part four

^^ On Friday morning, Uriah and Stephen headed out for an early morning run, just the boys. When they got back we were all ready to head to Poi'Pu Beach! We spent the morning building sand castles, swimming, spying on monk seals, feeding the fish, unsuccessfully snorkeling (Uriah) and playing on the playground. We came home for lunch, naps and a fun family swim! ^^

^^ In the evening, we ventured back out to the Spouting Horn - a famous south short blowhole. Apparently, it is the best south shore sunset spot, but the clouds weren't giving way to any sun. The kids liked the blowhole all the same and we practically had the place all to ourselves. 

As we were leaving, on our way to grab some tacos to go, we saw a flock of parakeets take off from the woods to the beach. It started as a small flock and just continued to grow - in size and volume! There were thousands of them and it was quite a site! Apparently, it's a daily sunset ritual (that causes a lot of problems for the home and hotel owners on the coast, as well as the farmers in the woods) but was a crazy sight to see for us visitors! 

Oh, and the tacos were yummy! ^^

^^ A pretty accurate representation of the majority of our trip: lazy, cozy mornings playing Uno, reading books and generally just being happy being together ^^

^^ Saturday: We started with a hike along Maha'ulepu Heritage Trail - through forests and over shale rocks while paralleling the ocean up on the cliff. There were some breathtaking views! There was also a bloody nose.... Ezra... ;) We came back to Shipwreck beach where the trail starts and, after being at the top of the cliff watching others jump off, Stephen decided to take the 30 foot plunge! The kids were so nervous for him and thought him a little like Superman for doing it! And, not going to lie, I had all the heart eyes watching him come out of the ocean after that jump! What a stud! 

We stayed on the beach for awhile after, playing in the woods building teepees, forts and pretend fires. Uriah was in heaven! 

We had saved our Friday Pizza Move Night for Saturday so we snuggled up with some pepperoni and a showing of Lilo and Stitch! ^^

^^ A stop at Glass Beach on Sunday to sand comb - we walked away with some pretty great treasures and the kids loved it! Lots of wave chasing, too! ^^

^^ Another afternoon at Salt Pond Beach. The swimming was perfect, the sand castles were big and the naps were cozy ;) The rest of our Sunday was spent doing laundry and hunkering down for an early bed time, gearing up for our travel day home! It went undocumented, but I'm pretty sure there was a swim and one last amazing sunset at our secret spot. Gosh, this trip was so good! ^^

^^ And, that's a wrap! Judah is a dream travel babe and the flight home went off without a hitch. 

We had four days after Hawaii before Stephen went back to work - to be seen in an April blog post! ^^

Hawaii, part three

^^ A morning whale watching! Ezra and Stephen went for an early morning walk, being the first two awake, and shortly after when Judah woke up, I strapped him in and headed out to look for them. Instead, I made it down to our "secret spot" with a warm cup of coffee and a baby strapped to my chest, the place all to myself, just in time to watch a couple whales swim past...! We eventually found each other and grabbed an awake Uriah to come outside with us to watch them spout, splash and jump out of the water! An ideal morning if there ever was one! ^^

^^ After a lazy morning playing games and an early nap for the littles, we spent an afternoon at Keikei Cove - another south shore local spot, perfect for the kiddos. And so beautiful! (Turns out, Judah's not a fan of sand (though we initially thought it was the water)) Lots of sand combing, castle making, coral collecting and wave riding. 

Toward the end of our time at the cove I told Stephen I wasn't feeling well - I'd felt it slowly coming on all day. By the time we got back to our place it was obvious I had mastitis. I spent the rest of the day laying under every blanket we could find in the place, shivering, crying and trying to sleep, sensitive to the slightest touch. I was in pain! The rest of the family had breakfast for dinner and after enough medicine kicked in, I was able to walk down to our secret spot to watch the sunset with all three of my boys. 

What a joke - getting sick on vacation! The last time I had mastitis it passed in 24 hours, so we decided to wait at least 12 before calling in a prescription - see if it started to get better and pass on it's own. And, after a shout out for some healing prayer requests!, I woke up feeling significantly better! ^^

^^ Waking up 30! And what a place to celebrate...! Stephen and I took our coffee on a walk and landed on some lava rocks to watch the sunrise. It is crazy how much he has accomplished in his 30 years and what a joy and honor it has been to be a part of this last decade! Cheers to the many more to come! ^^

^^ Stephen chose a walk to Shipwreck beach for his birthday. Shortly into our morning, Ezra got a pretty significant cut on her foot and had to be walked back to our place to get doctored up by dad (and to think I teased him for bringing Durmabond on our vacation...!) They eventually made it back in time for lunch and the kids continued to attempt to catch fish and collect coral. Stephen got to go for a good swim in the ocean and Ezra got scared to death by an eel! Exciting afternoon for Ezra ;) ^^

^^ When we made it back to our place, Stephen and Uriah went for a swim while I played on the porch with Ezra and Judah and made birthday cake.

Naps, lots of books and games, avocado bacon burgers for dinner, presents for Stephen, sunset at our secret spot with the whole family, dessert and finally, bed! I felt bad that I still wasn't feeling 100% on Stephen's birthday - I pray he felt our love and gratitude through all the "extra" he had to do that day. He sure is something special to us and I'm so glad we got to celebrate him with this trip to Hawaii! ^^

^^ Another beautiful morning! Jeff and Sherri took off around lunch time, after Stephen and I snuck away for one more sunset just the two of us, and the kids played another 100 rounds of Uno with them. It was such a treat to have them with us for part of our stay! ^^

^^ The five of us hit up a Thai food truck for lunch and had intentions of spending the afternoon at Ludgate beach. The beach had, unfortunately, become the dumping sight for tree debris after storms the week prior, but, fortunately!, had an incredible park/playground! We spent a few hours playing tag, hide and go seek and follow the leader before we decided we were too hot and sought out the air conditioning in our car! ^^ 

^^ Before coming home for a family swim (Judah's first!) we made a stop at Wailua Falls. I think there are more waterfalls on Kauai than any other island, but so many are inaccessible - this is one of the main ones you can see up close! There, we befriended a local who was making and selling baskets. Turns out, he loves Jesus too! When we asked to buy a basket, Ezra made the exchange and he said, "Oh for you? For you I had a rose and a bird and a fish, in case the bird gets hungry. Any body else want this much decoration I charge them double. But for you? Oh, no, never for you!" Needless to say, she was proud and feeling loved!

We finished off the evening with dinner overlooking the sunset and several chapters of Harry Potter. Loving that island life and sweet, sweet family time! ^^