Kauai Vacation - Day 5 (Wednesday, December 2)

Slow start this morning as we settled into our new place. We cooked breakfast burritos and then went to search of a great beach. We first tried Tunnels Beach but it was closed due to rough waters. We ventured into the Maniniholo Dry Cave across the street for a bit.

Then, since we were already near the end of the northern road we ventured further up to Ke'e Beach - also closed due to rough waters, but we did see that there was a hike there that we'd like to do (Kalalau Trail) - unfortunately we only had flip flops with us and we know those won't be of any use on muddy trails.

We went back to Hanalei and when we saw the beach there we knew we'd found the perfect spot to spend the day. I don't think I've ever seen a prettier beach in my life. Luscious cliffsides with cascading waterfalls. Green everywhere. So, so gorgeous. And the waves were perfect.

A picture I shared on Instagram

My Beach Buddy – Drew insisted on buying the hat at Costco the previous evening. 

   

It was today that Drew fell in LOVE with the water - or "poou" (pool) as he called it. He wanted to be playing in the waves the whole time. He still wasn't much of a fan of the sand - funny kid.

As we were leaving is started to rain. And when it rains it really rains. We rinsed everything off the best we could and loaded up the van - boy do those rental cars take a beating!

While we loaded up Drew put on some snorkel gear

We stopped at Shave Ice Paradise for a treat

Katie borrowed the pink hat from the beach supplies at the condo – she sure loved that thing :)

I loved seeing Katie holding Drew’s little hand as we walked back to the car – doesn’t happen very often.

And then it was back the condo to check out the pool and give Drew a chance to rest for a bit. This pool is a lot smaller than the place we stayed in the south. Justin had talked it down so much that the kids were pleasantly surprised that it was still an OK pool.

There’s a bend in the road as you travel from Princeville to Hanalei that we stopped at several times to marvel at the view.

We tried to find a place to watch the sunset that evening, but the sun sets in the winter along the Napali Coast so we didn't get to see too much.

We picked up a redbox (Cinderella) and had a family movie night (minus Drew who was already down for the night).