Kauai 2009
To celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary we decided to take a week-long family trip to Kauai, where we spent our honeymoon. We even stayed in the same condo complex that we stayed at those 10 years ago, The Cliffs. It was Tyler’s first trip to Hawaii and he loved it. We’re so lucky to have such a good little traveler.
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Day
1 – Arrival and Exploring
We arrived on the island about midday and after a little fun trying to find a rental car that wasn’t broken we started our vacation. We had to wake up at 4 am to catch our flight out of Santa Barbara and Tyler was exhausted. He promptly fell asleep during the 45 minute car ride to our condo in Princeville. After a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on food we hit The Hanalei Dolphin for dinner and then drove around the North Shore to see if anything had changed in the 8 years since we had been there. We then had to test the waters with a quick toe dip and officially kick off our Hawaiian vacation. Tyler was very excited about seeing the huge waves.
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Woo hoo! We made it! |
Tyler doing what he does best, being a goof ball. |
Jeep’s are not the best type of car to fall asleep in. |
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I think we have a similar picture from 10 years ago… |
The first dip in the ocean. |
The waves were really going due to the upcoming storm. |
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Surveying the waves. |
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Day
2 – Flash Floods
Yes, our first full day in Hawaii was marred with a flash flood warning and then actual flash floods on the North Shore of the island. The Hanalei bridge was closed which meant exploring Hanalei and points northwest was out of the question. After spending much of the morning holed up in the condo trying to decide what to do we decided to venture out during a lull in the rain. Alana thought maybe if we headed south the rain wouldn’t be so bad. Our first stop was Banana Joe’s fruit stand just outside of Kilauea where we picked up our first round of fresh fruit: a couple of pineapples, mangoes and lychee. Alana and Tyler were in fruit heaven. As we were leaving the stand the rain started picking up again. It wasn’t until after Lihue that things started clearing up. We actually had to stop at least once due to poor visibility on the roads. It was nuts! Before Lihue, in Kapaa, we thought we had beaten the rain and decided to try and see Opaeka’a Falls. We stopped and it was sprinkling, but just in the 5 minutes it took us to get from the parking lot to the Falls it started downpouring. Needless to say we didn’t see the waterfall that day, but Tyler got a kick out of getting soaking wet in the rain. Once we reached Koloa and Poipu it did clear up and we were able to enjoy some time walking around in the sun.
To finish off the day we stopped off in Kilauea to check out a local farmer’s market and pick up some produce for dinner that night. We also stopped off at the Kilauea Fish Market for some caught-that-morning ahi tuna. Back at the condo Bill cooked up the tuna for dinner which turned out superbly.
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The view from our kitchen window. |
One of the many roosters on the island that wake you up at the crack of dawn. |
Heading up to Opaeka’a Falls. |
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Tyler after getting soaked in the rain. |
Enjoying local fave Lappert’s ice cream in Koloa |
In Koloa. |
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Tyler absolutely loved Spouting Horn in Poipu. He didn’t want to leave. He just thought it was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. We did see a sea turtle right off shore here, but it swam off before we could get a picture. |
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Day
3 – Lihue and Kapaa
It’s sad to admit, but in order to get Tyler psyched up for the trip we told him there was a train ride on the island and that we would take him on it. Nope, spending time with Mom and Dad and going to the beach were just not enough for him. We were hoping he would forget about it, but to no avail. From the minute we stepped on the island we were posed with the question: Train today? Thankfully the rain let up enough for us to catch the train ride at Kilohana Plantation Railway. He was so excited about it that he dug out his own camera to document the trip. It was a fun ride. The guide provided some interesting background about the plantation and Hawaiian history for the older folks. The kids got a fun train ride and even got to feed some very hungry pigs that live on the plantation.
After the train ride we headed over to a close by shopping center to a sushi place called Genki Sushi. There was a conveyer belt delivering sushi and a machine that produces the rice balls for the nigiri sushi. I guess this is their way of making sushi fast food? It must work because there was a long line of people waiting for tables. Tyler was fascinated with all of the plates going by his seat and we kept having to stop him from grabbing something off of the conveyer.
After filling up on sushi for lunch we got into the Jeep again and headed into Kapaa to check out the Kauai Products Fair which we had passed a couple of times on our trips back and forth the past couple of days. It gave the impression of a sort of local craft market, but it was a little disappointing in that it seemed a lot of the vendors carried the exact same items in each of their stalls. I almost expected to pick up an item, turn it over and see a “Made in China” sticker on the bottom. They did have a little produce stand where we picked up more mangoes in order to satisfy Alana’s over-stimulated tropical fruit obsession.
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Tyler checking out the railway car. |
Bill being way too serious to be on vacation. |
Say cheese Mom! |
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I’m
not sure what they did with these pigs, but I think one may have ended up at
our luau. |
The railroad cars were named after the Kauai rivers. |
Mmmm, pineapples. |
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Choo choo! |
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A reluctant picture. |
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Day
4 – A Day at the Beach
After a couple days of sightseeing it was nice to finally just sit and relax at the beach. We picked the perfect day for it too. The weather was warm with a slight breeze that cooled it down just enough. We made our way to Anini Beach which was perfect for Tyler. The reef just offshore creates a very calm beach area with almost nonexistent waves and Tyler could walk out almost 30 feet and the water would still only be up to his chest. It was like a giant wading pool for him. That paired with warmer water temperatures than California made Tyler a happy boy.
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Aaaaaaaaah. Bliss. |
Coming back from checking out the tide pools. |
Just enough of a current to help push a toy boat. |
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Got coral? |
Building a river. |
Tyler trying to drown Daddy. |
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He was so proud of the cracker, ham and cheese sandwich he made. |
I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE the beach! |
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Happy camper! |
Lovin’ the warm water. |
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Day
5 – Hanging out by the Pool
Our condo was situated right next to complex’s pool which made it nice when we decided to spend the day at the pool. Every time we walked from our condo to the car Tyler would eye the little kiddie pool with waterfall that they have. Needless to say, he went straight for it. It even had the “dancing water” that kids seem to be fascinated with. It was a very family friendly set up. For the couples who didn’t have kids they even had an adults only spa off to the side. When Tyler got tired of the pool and needed a rest there was a little play area and play structure just outside the pool area. He and Bill would go over there, play for a little bit and then come back and jump back in the pool. What more could a kid ask for?
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Tyler and Daddy check out the kiddie pool and waterfall… |
And the bigger pool. |
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Checking out the play area. |
Faster than a speeding bullet! |
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Day
6 – A Boat Ride and a Luau
First thing in the morning we had a little bit of impromptu entertainment off of our bedroom lanai. The gardeners were scaling the coconut palms next to our condo, trimming them back and cutting off the coconuts. Tyler thought it was fun watching them drop fronds and coconuts from so high and the loud noise they made falling to the ground. Bill and Tyler spent the first part of the day playing at the pool while Alana enjoyed relaxing in the quiet at the condo. Then later in the afternoon we all piled into the Jeep again and headed to Wailua and the Wailua River. There we took the Wailua River boat cruise up to the Fern Grotto. Tyler loved waving to all of the kayakers we passed along the way. On the way to the Fern Grotto we were treated to a narrative about the history of the Wailua River Valley and on the way back we were treated to some Hawaiian music and dancing. When they asked us all to get up and try the hula with them Tyler wasn’t too thrilled about this and did not like Mommy and Daddy dancing.
After the Fern Grotto it was just a quick jump over to Smith’s Tropical Paradise, run by the same family who runs the Fern Grotto tours. There we took in their luau. During our honeymoon we had tried a luau that was just terrible. You were pretty much stuck in a crowded open-air room for both dinner and the show, so we were pretty happy to find this luau. The Smith Family Garden Luau is set in their 30 acre tropical garden and you have a chance to walk around and explore the gardens before you sit down for a great dinner while listening to some live Hawaiian music. Near the end of dinner they asked for a few volunteers to come up and try the luau. Hearing this Tyler turned to Alana and told her he didn’t want her going up there. Hm, not sure if it was because she’s a bad dancer, because he didn’t want her leaving him, or because she embarrasses him when she does stuff like that. It’s probably all three. After dinner we then walked over to their lagoon amphitheatre and watched a very entertaining show. Once Tyler got over his surprise from the little bit of pyrotechnics at the beginning of the show he was wide-eyed at all of the dancing girls. Bill was so proud. I guess it’s just more proof that we have a healthy, normal little boy.
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Nene, the official Hawaiian state bird. |
Just an ordinary day at the office. |
The sleeping giant from the Wailua River. |
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Heading towards the grotto. |
Not many ferns left after the hurricanes. |
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While waiting for them to take us back down river Tyler kept himself occupied by making funny faces. |
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They
played a wide variety of Hawaiian songs. You know, like the ones Elvis sang
in Blue Hawaii. |
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The gardens where the luau took place. |
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Uncovering the imu oven and the pig. |
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Mmmmmmmmmm, kalua pork. <insert drool here> |
Yes, we all had drinks for each hand. |
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Cheers Daddy! |
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Day
7 – Our Last Full Day in Paradise
Morning was spent lounging around the condo. We had told Tyler we would go to the beach again, but the weather was overcast and rainy again. We decided to pack up the Jeep in preparation for a trip to the beach, but as we left the rain started coming down again so we decided to just drive around the island to see if things cleared up later on. We drove into the Kapaa and Lihue area and decided to try and see Opaeka’a Falls again. This time we made it without getting sopping wet. Tyler was a little disappointed and kept looking up at the overcast skies waiting for them to open up and rain on us. After that we decided to check out Wailua Falls and there Tyler got his wish. We once again got drenched in the rain, but this time it was actually quite a bit cooler. When we signed up for Kauai we knew that there would be rain, but we said “Oh, it’s a tropical rain though and not that cold.” Well, we were wrong. It was downright chilly! I don’t know if we just became wusses after spending so much time in the sun or what, but it was not the warm tropical rain that we were expecting. It wasn’t enough to need jackets, but it was enough to say, “OK, let’s get back in the car, it’s kind of cold!” Back in the car we drove back up north and decided to check out some of the smaller neighborhoods up there. We called it research for our next trip to Kauai. Yes, we’re already planning for it. By the time we got back up to the North Shore the skies seemed to clear up just a tiny bit. Since Tyler had been so patient with us as we dragged him all over we decided to head to Anini Beach again. We were there all of a half an hour when it started to rain again. If the breeze hadn’t been so cold we probably would have stayed, but it just wasn’t warm enough. We felt so bad as we packed up everything into the Jeep again. So much for one last day at the beach!
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Our condo had a loft where Tyler slept. We were a little worried about him and the stairs, but it turned out not to be an issue. The first couple of days he was reluctant to sleep up there by himself, but by the third day he was all gung ho about it. Any time we would go up the stairs he would shout out “My bed!” |
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The view from the loft. |
Down the stairs to the kitchen. |
The living area. |
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The master bedroom. |
The living room lanai. |
From the living area lanai you could see the BBQ. |
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The view from the master bedroom lanai. |
Opaeka’a Falls. |
The Wailua River from above. |
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One last photo op outside The Hanalei Dolphin. |
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