Sunday stroll

A couple of days ago, Mom and Dad went on a walk, headed down a dirt road and found this beach. It is right across the street, but we never knew it was there. Zig, Sela, Evan and I walked over today and took a peek for ourselves. A little trail leads down to the beach. Pretty spectacular view.

We love all the farms nestled up next to the ocean and we walked past a huge one on the way to this beach.

We still can't get over the flowers. They don't even look real.

Okolehao Trail

We met our friends, the Spencers, for a morning hike in Hanalei on Friday. When we reached the top we could see about 1/5 of the island, from Ha'ena to Anahola. Gorgeous and worth the burn from the unrelenting climb. We drove past these taro fields on our way. I love farmland of any kind and these taro patches are stunning. Zig, Chris,and Tiffany James and Josh picking some strawberry guavas along the way. Thanks to this fun family for introducing us to this beautiful hike and so many other adventures on the island! Brooke, Sela and Nina on the way down.

Gymnastics

Food may be 3 times as expensive here on the island, but at least I could save a few bucks on gymnastics if we lived here!

Tough nut to crack...

We've got some huge macadamia nut trees in our yard. One of the first things the kids do when we drive in is start gathering nuts.





















































































Unfortunately, the gathering is the easy part. We now understand why the nuts are so pricey. Cracking those little suckers is no picnic. Rollin gave it a valiant effort but the hammer he was wacking them with ended up crushing the insides....and I feared he might crush a finger at some point. The nuts are super slippery as well. We asked around at the Farmer's Market to see if we could get some info on how do this the right way and we were only told about an industrial cracker for $3000. Not really an option seeing as we aren't going into the nut business anytime soon. Later on in our stay when we were at Banana Joes grabbing some fruit, I saw some bags of unshelled macadamia nuts for sale. I asked again and the owner happened to have some really good nut crackers for sale. We bought one and Rollin was so eager to take a crack at it. And what do you know, it worked!! Best babysitter ever.















He won't let anyone eat the nuts that come out whole because he is saving them to dip in chocolate. Oh boy. How is it my kids  find a way to work a treat into everything?

Above the Clouds

We headed over to the breathtaking Waimea Canyon and Polihale Beach to celebrate Thankgiving. I discovered Mom has a fear of heights, or at least a fear of hikes with my kids running around! After driving "all the way" to the the west shore, we were richly rewarded with one of the most incredible views on earth. We also got to put the truck to the test on some deep sand and rugged terrain on our way to the beach. We made it home in time for the 4th quarter of the UT/A&M game and Texas won in a nailbiter! Happy Thanksgiving, Dad!

Sela's Sand Art

We stick together

In the past, my sister, Erin, and I have lovingly (and somewhat jokingly) referred to one of her children as "holdie." Well, I'm afraid I have a "holdie" of my own. Even though Evan loves Mom, he is still my attachment here in Kauai. He is getting easier, but he still would be much happier if I had a permanent pouch just for him. I've been lucky to have my parents here because it has afforded me the luxury to just sit and hold him more, and he is a sweet little cuddle bug. At home he is always commanding me to "sit." I sometimes feel guilty about that because I probably could slow down and just sit with him more than I do. Hopefully I'm making up for lost time here. He was so happy to discover the horses on the property bordering ours. He's also been the only one to get sick over here so he's been watching Flicka over and over. You couldn't force him to sit and watch a cartoon, but he LOVES his horsie movies.

Everybody's Learning How

They've caught the bug!

The kids have been surfing at the far end of Hanalei Bay where the Hanalei River empties into the ocean. The water isn't as pretty as the rest of the bay, but the waves were the perfect size to learn on.

Rollin is already trying to do tricks. He did two back-to-back 180s while riding a wave and didn't fall off the board. Not sure why catching a wave isn't enough, but he feels he needs to add tricks!

Nina got up surfing several times but I didn't have my camera with me, so her shots are coming!

Massaged Kale Salad, Kauai Style!

Imagine my excitement when I saw Massaged Kale Salad on the menu at Common Ground! It was amazing and the kids were fighting me for it. Kale, Bean Sprouts, Papaya, Macadamia Nuts, and a killer dressing. We devoured that thing!





I think this salad is a sign  Kauai should be my new home.

Shipwreck Beach (Poipu)

Dad, Nina, and Rollin met Jimmy down south in Wailua to go on another crabbing expedition, this time in the river for big, blue crab. The kind with big pinchers! They got up early and headed out. We followed later and went on down to Poipu, which is a little further south. Poipu is totally different than the North Shore. You start to see tour buses, people everywhere, more restaurants, shopping centers, parking is harder to come by, beaches are smaller and more crowded...it's just a different scene. Most people who come to Kauai stay in Poipu. It's very touristy. We went to the beach next to the Hyatt and hiked along the coastline. When we got back, the kids had fun fighting the waves in the surf. It was hot and beautiful and we wore ourselves out.

Shell Collecting in Anahola

The first few days we were here, our friends, the Fairbanks, were also in town. When we went to pick Sela up in the morning after a sleepover with Hannah, the girls were already down at the beach. We headed down and had a wonderful time looking for shells. While not a big swimming beach, this beach is gorgeous and ideal for beach-combing. There are tide pools, lots of little coves, tons of pretty coral, and it is rare to see anyone else on the beach.