Our final day in
Hawaii - we had a plan in place the night before - YIPPEE! and Hallelujah! We
ate a quick cereal breakfast, loaded up on sunscreen (I loath having to deal
with sunscreen!), made lunches and packed enough snacks for the day and headed
to Anini Beach to snorkel. Katie was pretty hesitant with the whole snorkeling
concept (face mask, breathing apparatus, etc.) so Justin and the three oldest
headed out to snorkel with all the turtles.
It was shallow
enough that we were able to walk out with Katie and Drew later and let them see
the turtles from the surface. Apparently the largest they found was about 4
feet in diameter! The kids enjoyed digging in the sand since the beach was so
calm. Especially Carly, she had a sand-digging plan in mind and the kids were happy
to dig in and help her - each time the water came in and washed it away they
would jump right back in. It was such a enjoyable moment seeing all five kids
getting along and working together that I had to go to the van to get my camera
to document the moment.
Darn, those waves kept rolling in and wiping out their hard work
The kids actually
got along really well during the trip, but we had some long days and everyone
was getting less sleep than they usually would so there were times that they
definitely got on each others nerves during the week, but overall I think it
went great and the kids enjoyed having time together away from the busyness of
our various schedules at home.
After snorkeling
we had to get in more boogie boarding so we headed to our favorite beach -
Hanalei Bay for the rest of the afternoon.
Drew enjoyed some
holiday Oreos in route
Abigail stayed
out in the waves the entire time we were there. She enjoyed feeling like she
was showing me the ropes out there and I loved being out playing with my kids.
Carly spent most
of the afternoon in the waves, but discovered she loves to dig around the sand
as well.
Jason is fearless
and would often end up on his own down the beach. We didn't have enough boards
for everyone. When it was his turn to be boardless he'd still be out in the
waves body surfing. There were many times I thought he'd been toppled over and
beaten down with sand but he'd pop right back up for more.
Our biggest
surprise was Katie - she may just have caught more waves then any of the rest
of us. At first we made her play in the water down by the beach, but she proved
she could boogie board with the big kids. She knew just when to catch a wave
and could ride it all the way to shore. She loved it and always had a huge
smile on her face.
Drew got over his
dislike of walking in the sand, but much preferred to be out in the water than
on the shore. He enjoyed being out in the water with the rest of us and loved jumping
over the waves. He'd ask for more and more and more.
We had a fair bit
of rain during our trip and it would suddenly hit when you'd least expect it.
The rain rarely lasts long, but it comes down in buckets. I went to the car to
get some more drinks and it started to downpour. Carly was on the shore with
Drew and Katie and apparently Drew did not like sitting in the rain so she
created a little den for him. He was quite content in there.
After a final
treating of shaved ice (our first repeated location - JoJo's), we cleared out
our fridge that evening for dinner - quesadillas, cookies, chips and salsa and
reluctantly packed up for our flight home the next morning. Worth noting
perhaps that Justin and I grabbed a bite to eat later that night at a Bar
Acuda, a tapas bar in Hanalei. Very good, but "small plates" aren't
really our style.
Thus concludes
our vacation to Paradise. The only thing missing was the delicious white
chocolate macadamia nut pancakes found at The Gazebo in Maui. I dare say as
much as I LOVE Maui (and those pancakes), I think Kauai may be my new favorite
island.
Our flights home
were uneventful. Drew wasn’t interested
in napping until we started our decent into Seattle at 10pm – go figures.
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