After foregoing a vacation for the last two years (having a baby in 2013 was enough and it just didn't happen in 2014), it was exciting to have a vacation planned for this year. Although not extremely adventurous, Kauai proved to be the perfect location for our first family vacation.
We were fortunate enough to be able to travel with our good friends, the Sauras. We went back and fourth about whether traveling with kids was going to be worth it. Were we going to feel relaxed? Were we going to feel tied to the condo with naps and bedtimes? Was it just going to be a bunch of money and work to do regular life in another location? In the end, we agreed that it was worth it. Sure, it was a different kind of vacation than we've done in the past but it was still a week away from our house with our whole family and even if it was similar to everyday life, it was still in a gorgeous setting with fantastic weather and lots of quality time with our friends! It was worth it.
This was my first time to Hawaii and Blake's first time to Kauai. Given that it was spring break, I was surprised that it didn't feel like, you know, 'spring break'. It didn't seem like the island was that much busier than it usually is (I'm guessing).
Kauai was a pretty laid back island, not much for night life and no busy streets, but it was perfect for two families with little ones. We did a lot of beaching and some shopping and plenty of eating.
Our first (long) day was April 7th. We flew out of Seattle at 8:45 and six hours later we were in Lahue, Kauai around noon. The kids did great on the flight. Lincoln is a seasoned air traveler but this was Emerson and Stella's first flights. Emerson was great, she read, colored, napped and just started getting restless as we began our descent (Stella did great too).
After we got in and got our rental cars we had some time to kill before we could check into our condo so we did some grocery shopping. First Costco near the airport. After shopping and dinner we were pretty wiped and ready to settle into our condo. I did run around to some of the other grocery stores near our condo and got the lay of the land though once we had checked in.
Excited about a week together.
Wednesday morning we were up pretty early as the time change was working its magic. What a sight to be greeted with though.
Rockstar with her box. This box was our best 'purchase' from Costco. It provided both toddlers
with hours of entertainment throughout the week.
We spent the morning at the condo, swimming and lounging. After naps we spent the afternoon at a culinary market in the Kukuiula Shopping Village.
On Thursday morning we went to a beach called 'Baby Beach', off the beaten path but very appropriately titled. It was protected from the rough surf and had a little tide pool of sorts.
Emerson: 'What? What camera?'
Jason was the best at finding (and catching) live creatures to show us all.
They're so cute together... or as cute as two toddlers can be whilst constantly declaring which
toys are 'mine' and telling the other 'no, no, no' (mostly Emerson).
I think this was a crab.
Loving it!
In the big water with daddy
She just couldn't get enough of the water!
Love the backdrop. Baby Beach was hidden in a little private neighborhood, surrounded by houses.
I can't even imagine living here! *sigh* We sure enjoyed it for the morning though.
A little momma's in action shot, since we tend to get lost behind the camera.
Big camera selfie with my girl
Stella preferred to snooze in the shade most of the time, but she did get
to enjoy the water and sand for a little bit.
Under this tree was our parking spot while we where here and it had the cutest little swing!
After naps we cleaned up and went to a brewery in Lahue that hosts food trucks on Thursday nights. The beer was good and the fish tacos were fantastic. No pictures to prove it so you'll have to trust me.
Friday we trekked up north to Hanalei and spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon on the beach. What a difference scene the northern part of the island was. It was a little busier but not annoyingly so. It's more of what I expected Hawaii to be like. Locals, tourists, surfers, shops etc. I also found my favorite smoothie place there and a great health food store. We did some shopping and had a decent sit-down dinner as a family and meandered our way back home just in time for bed.
She did most of her water play with daddy this time. I was trying to keep my shoulders
covered to keep a slight sunburn from getting worse.
Seriously, she loved it. Especially the waves.
Watching a surfer.
Family big camera selfie
This ended up being the best smoothie I had all week, and this sweet girl drank most of it!
Saturday was a fun day of sight seeing. We had planned on going on a quick little hike to see Wailua Falls, but it turned out there was no hiking and it was really just a roadside view point. Pretty nonetheless. After that we went to the Kilohana Plantation and took a train tour of it, fed some animals and the guys did some rum tasting.
Feeding the pigs
I was surprised she was willing to let it eat out of her hand.
They had quite the assortment of animals.
Wild chickens. They were EVERYWHERE! They aren't really annoying and it's kind of fun but
really amazing just how many there are.
Killing time during the rum tasting.
And then everything was a flower worth smelling
I had to stop and take a few pictures of this road. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. About a quarter mile stretch is lined with trees, making a tree tunnel. Fantastic.
Sunday we braved the popular Poipu Beach and found it wasn't too crowded, we even found a spot in the shade. It was a great beach, complete with snorkeling, turtles and as we were arriving a seal that kept us out of the water for a bit (apparently, they can get aggressive). Incidentally, despite our frequent sunscreen efforts, all of us adults got fairly sun burnt during our time on the beach. At least it was the last half of our trip and we had indoor plans for the next day or two. Ouch!
This large guy or girl was sunning when we got there and then drew a crowd as s/he decided to head back out.
Watching the turtle find its way out to sea
This is her preference for playing in the sand, from the towel.
Love her!
They really do like each other, they're just two and almost two and very much still learning the ins-and-outs of sharing.
(see video below)
This cracked me up, all eyes on Stella, well deserved though. She is the sweetest!
Our second turtle arrived just before we left.
Taking it all in.
My budding photographer.
While Emerson was napping we snuck away for a little day date. Happy Hour at Brennecke's, right up from Poipu Beach
We had dinner at the famous Bubba Burgers. Grass-fed Kauai raised beef patties!
This one was in the same shopping area as the culinary market.
Sweet Miss Stella all glammed up for dinner
A little stroll down the coast in front of our hotel at dusk.
A difficult feeling to capture but it was just so fun to see her absolutely loving life and
loving being the center of our attention. At this moment she was on top of the world.
I just loved watching her blissfully leading us on, hand in hand.
Monday was our last full day in Kauai. We were still pretty sun shy though so we did some meandering through shops most of the morning and had the farmer's market experience of a lifetime at noon. Then for dinner we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out with an incredible view, right during sunset.
She was in heaven with all the chickens
Blake found some crumbs for her to feed them. I can't believe she let them eat out of her hand!
Finally her own smoothie (and I could actually enjoy all of mine!) while we waited for the market to open.
The crowd 15 minutes before the market opened. It was the craziest market we've ever been to!
We just happened to be early but as it turns out, it's a good thing we were.
You'll see from the video that it's a very organized farmer's market. The crowd grows, we're allowed in, buying begins and then there's a mass exodus. I guess things sell out really fast. We had to leave the next day so we weren't trying to score major produce but it was really fun to pick up some Hawaiian fruits (mountain apple and cream apple) and got an amazing pineapple.
The light was so lovely and she was so cute sitting there.
When I asked to have a crayon. This face and her answer: "No mine own".
Such a gorgeous view.
Basically the whole restaurant got up and went out to take pictures during sunset.
Emerson's take on the evening.
Tuesday we had a red eye flight out at 10:45 pm, so we really had the whole day there, but had to check out of our condo at 10:00 am. Thankfully Whitney had the good idea to save our driving day for this day so we could be comfortably killing time in our cars instead of on a beach or at the mall.The canyon was a gorgeous drive and incredible views from the top. I just wish we could have done a bit more hiking around there during the week but that would have been hard with the littles. Before we headed up the canyon we stopped at the Spouting Horn blowhole and at a little beach referred to as Glass Beach. Apparently they dumped a lot of glass in the ocean several decades ago and it all washes up on this beach, nicely smoothed and pretty. After the canyon we made a few more stops and had dinner before turning in our cars and heading to the airport.
A lot of brown glass but the occasional blue, green, red or purple.
And then we head up into the Waimea Canyon and I took a LOT of pictures. You've been warned.
Eventually this rain caught up with us
Sweetie Stella and her sweet mama
At the Puu Hinahina Lookout
We hiked down this trail a little ways. It was just so enticing,
every bend just begged you to come see what was around it.
Filtered through my sunglasses ;)
and through Blake's
The best way to hike ;)
A little run down the hill before we start the trip back down.
Several hours later, waaay past all our Hawaiian bedtimes, we boarded the plane. Sad to see our vacay end but man was it fun!
