Kauai = paradise

This is a long delayed post but I finally finished uploading my pictures and found enough time to write about our trip....

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We left early pearly on Friday 5/22 to catch our flight to Kauai. We've done this trip before, but it's very different when you have TWO little ones instead of just one. The flight was l-o-n-g. Nora couldn't sit still and Evie wasn't feeling well and was whiny and cried several times. This was easily Evie's worst plane ride ever because she's usually a really easy going kid, especially if you bribe her with videos on the iPad.

Don't be fooled by this picture. This was 5 seconds of happy f
ollowed by 5 hours of not happy.

We landed, rented our car for the weekend (a minivan!), grabbed a quick bite to eat at Bubba's Burgers and headed to our home for the next 4 days: Hale Liho Liho in Princeville. The house was nice - fairly new (built in the 90s) and right on the 2nd hole of the Makai golf course. We had neighbors but the owners did a good job with planting trees so it felt pretty private. Plus, the golf course in the backyard made for a very pretty spacious lawn to play on.

Despite the drizzle, we needed to try out the pool

Our home away from home: Hale Liho Liho.

Ultimate Frisbee champ!

Later that evening, I picked my parents from the airport. For the next 4 days, they joined us on as we returned to our favorite beaches on the island. If you ask Evie what her favorite beach was, she'd tell you Tunnels. If you ask my parents though, I think that was probably their least favorite because it was a little inconvenient to get to - we were lucky enough to snag parking but then you still have to walk quite a ways to get to the nice shallow part of the beach. For me, I liked them all. :)

Coping a squat at Tunnels Beach. At least we found a shady spot!

Little girl and I at Tunnels.

Evie making a sand angel

Another Tunnels Beach shot, with Bali Hai in the background

Shallow, clear, warm water at Tunnels!

Annini Beach: no one here but us!

Ke'e Beach - where the hike to the Napili Coast starts.
It was a cloudy day so the pictures didn't turn out so well.

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to the North Shore and headed down south to our new home, Hale Ohana in Poipu. Evie was SOOOO excited about this because we finally got to meet up with cousin Ian, Quinn and Cade! She was literally jumping around because she couldn't contain her excitement.

Hale Ohana was the perfect house for our family gathering. It was pretty spacious (4 bedrooms plus a loft, all en-suite) with a huge grassy lawn perfect for kids to play on and was right on the water. We could walk from our lawn straight into the sand of "Baby Beach". We couldn't tell if it was called Baby Beach because it's small or because it had a really nice area that was blocked by natural rocks that made for the perfect size wading pool for kiddos.

Of course, we tried other beaches too just to see what else the island had to offer! Poipu Beach was a quick 5 min drive with a great little sandy beach area for the kids. Lydgate Beach was a bit further but was probably the calmest of all the beaches because it's completely surrounded by a rock wall that prevents the big waves from coming too close. The kids didn't really care much which beach they were at - they just had fun playing with one another.

The best part of the trip was really being able to hang out and relax with family, and watch the kiddos all play together. It warms my heart to see how much they enjoy each other and for the most part, play well together. I'm crossing my fingers that this continues forever!

We've gone to Hawaii now 4 years in a row and love it there. This year was no different and in fact, we're still not tired of it yet! We can't wait to go back. Who's in?