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! ^^ 

Hawaii, part two

There's going to be a lot of "parts" to these Hawaii blog posts if I continue at one post per day...! I never regret taking too many pictures though and love that I have our families best moments written down. So... Monday! 

 ^^  Judah's first flight and first "sleep somewhere other than my own bed" trip and he did amazing. Truly, such an angel baby! He continued to sleep through the night despite the time change, location/bed change, schedule change and teething. Counting our many blessings with this one! ^^

 After Stephen started the morning with a run, we packed up and headed out to the Waimea Canyon. We drove straight to the top to check out the view and hike around. While we were greeted with clouds, the view was still pretty spectacular. 

Canyon views from both sides of the trail and abundant greenery - it was beautiful! We headed back to the car once the trail got too muddy for the kids (thanks to the rain the night before) and drove back down the mountain a little ways to do some kid approved hiking through the woods. 

Shaded from the sun, protected from the previous night's rain, lots of cool plants (including wild ginger!) and perfect for the kids! We had the trail all to ourselves! We just did an out and back through the trees and finished with a picnic lunch by the car. 

 Continuing our drive back down the canyon, we stopped along the side of the road to get a "below the clouds" view. Talking to the photographer set up just past the road where we walked to, this was the best view point on the road, no need to stop at the marked ones! Lucky us! And what a view...! Several little waterfalls through the canyon and so much untouched wilderness. Uriah said "hiking" to this view point was the best part of his day! 

 ^^ An out the window shot as we neared the coast again coming down from the hill - I'll never tire of an ocean view! ^^

When we made it back to the coast we stopped for some local approved shave ice and headed to Salt Pond Beach, another local approved spot. Great for kids, as there is a natural barrier to the open ocean, the kids happily swam around played games running to and from the surf up the sand. Judah Budah was offically becoming a beach babe! 

We made it back just in time to throw a frozen pizza in the oven and run down to our secret spot for another sun set just Stephen and I. We really got the best of both worlds on this trip - time as a family with little chances to sneak away as husband and wife. So grateful! 

Hawaii, part one

We made it to Hawaii! In Lieu of our annual spring trip to Fairbanks, we opted for something a little warmer this year. While we hated (hated!) that this meant we wouldn't get to see Stephen's siblings, Stephen only gets two vacation blocks each year, so if we wanted to take a family trip, we'd have to sacrifice something else. We'd been wanting to take the kids to Hawaii since the two of us were able to go in 2016 and it did not disappoint! And as a bonus, we were able to convince Stephen's parents to meet us there! It wasn't too hard to do ;)

We were on a plane early Saturday morning, the day after Ezra's birthday, and had a direct flight from Oakland to Kauai. Stephen and I had gone to Maui on our "honeymoon" trip and we would have happily taken the kids back, but we decided to check out a different island just for the fun of it. Stephen has been to all the islands but I'm a new Hawaiian island vacation convert and had heard amazing things about Kauai and it's greenery - it's not called the garden island for nothing! - so decided to give it a go! We did a little research before booking our stay and ended up on the south shore in Poi'Pu.
Firsts things first, we went to the beach! After checking in we walked down to Shipwreck Beach, taking a ten minute walk through a lava rock path along the water to get there from our place. (The kids would have been satisfied with that - lava rocks and lizards and a view of the ocean!) We found some tide pools, tried to catch some fish, splashed in the ocean and (I) nursed a babe in the sand, which was all I wanted to do on our trip! It was heaven! The kids were ecstatic and content to do nothing else.
Eventually, our tummies called us back "home" and we made our walk back for an evening swim in the pool and dinner on the deck (ocean view!)

After breakfast on Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Poi'Pu beach, just a two minute drive from our place. Perfect for kids! There are two natural inlets at this beach that are protected from big waves and shallow enough to Ezra to stand up in. After crab hunting through the rocks and fish chasing around the "pool", Uriah ventured out a little further with Stephen for his first swim in the ocean. We built sand castles, splashed, swam, ate and even saw a sea turtle and a monk seal.
We very quickly learned on this trip that our children, Ezra in particular, were made to be island babies. They are already mostly naked babies at home, running around in their underwear, which is perfectly acceptable on a Hawaiin beach. I think we brushed Ezra's hair twice on our trip...? They naturally gravitate to the outdoors - animals, bugs, plants, water...no need for toys, just building and playing with what they find. They were made for this and it was so fun to both watch them soak it up and be able to enjoy it with them, no distractions.
After lunch we headed back to our place so the kids could take a nap. We weren't planning on keeping a normal home schedule our entire trip, but the time change was still working it's way through the kids so a nap was a good choice ;)
Stephen and I took that chance to head to Costco just the two of us and gear up for the rest of our stay. We may have snuck in some shave ice, too, but it wasn't Thursday so don't tell the kids! ;)
While the forecast prior to our trip suggested rain and thunderstorms our entire stay (I was not happy about that!) Sunday evening was the only rain we saw until the morning we left! Praise the Lord! Stephen and the kids went swimming in the pool to get "double wet", followed by dinner and a long enough break in the rain for Stephen and I to sneak down to the water (at our "secret spot"!) to watch the sunset.
Not a bad way to start our vacation if you ask me!