Last couple of days in Kauai

Our last day in Po'ipu was spent at Baby Beach... and I think it was my favorite day. The sun was shining all morning while we sat in the water, read books, and talked to each other. It was wonderful... and SO hard to leave.

Brent did a last little bit of snorkeling here even though the water is incredibly shallow here. He still loved it. Let's face it, this man LOVES to snorkel.

On our way to the north side of the island we stopped for some "shave ice". This is not to be confused with "shaved ice" which is something else entirely. Shave Ice has ice cream at the bottom, then shaved ice with 2-3 kinds of flavoring on top... and it is YUMMY! I was wishing we'd had it every day!

Something that deserves mentioning are the amount of chickens and roosters in Kauai, truly the number is astounding. These things are literally EVERYWHERE and they are not afraid to cock-a-doodle-doo all the live long day. You might expect one or two in the morning, but oh no, these roosters can be found making their call at 3 in the afternoon!

For our last night and day in Kauai we drove up to Princeville again and stayed at the Westin Resort. It was great and such a good decision. We were totally pampered for our last day there and the hotel kept our baggage safe while we spent our last day galavanting around. We spent most of the day in the wonderful little hut enjoying swimming and reading our Baby Bargains book and talking about Asher. We also went down to Anini Beach where Brent tried some snorkeling. But the water was murky and he was a little disappointed. So we went back to the pool and then used their wonderful "hospitality suite" to get showered and ready before our last dinner and then getting on the plane to come home. Home... we were not ready to go. Isn't that amazing, after 9 straight days together, we could have spent another week there. God is so good. We took the red eye home over night and my dad picked us up at 5am.

We are now trying to get back into the swing of things here at home. Brent is off this week but working his tail off on the baby's room. He is so great. The room is going to be awesome... pics to come. For now, here are a few videos from our trip that would not upload while we were there! Enjoy!

Announcement

We have been meaning to post this for a while, but we finally got our new computer and were able to get this video rolling. Enjoy!

Oh wonderful vacation...

Christmas Eve we went to dinner at Kintaro, a recommendation from our friends, the Jacksons. It was awesome sushi! Of course, there were many the I could not try... but I LOVED what I could eat. It was a great meal for Christmas Eve. We sat at the bar and watched the chef make those amazing rolls!

Christmas morning... was a little different this year. Instead of tearing into gifts, breakfast, and family time, we had a very peaceful morning. We opened stockings together and Brent made breakfast... mmmm! Pancakes and bacon!

Then we went to the beach near our house, just down the road. We spent another glorious day basking in the sun and enjoying some great snorkeling. This spot was much better even than the day before... SO many fish and all different kinds. It was like swimming in an aquarium. We loved it! Brent went searching for a sea turtle a little further out than I was willing to go, but no luck this time. Maybe at another spot!

Then we went to "Tidepools" for dinner on Christmas Day, at the Grand Hyatt Resort. It was tasty as we suspected and such a fun and romantic atmosphere. We had a table right near the edge, near all the koi fish and the sunset!

Mmmm... dessert!

Friday morning we got up before the sun in order to get up to Princeville for golfing. It was a rainy and blustery morning here, which brought on the most beautiful rainbows!

I had the best time riding along with my husband and getting to see him golf. He is amazing. And the views from that course were SO incredible, these photos can't even explain how gorgeous it was.

After golf we had a nice lunch and showers, then we went exploring along the coast. We took the road down into Hanalei and beyond...

... all the way to the end of the road - Ke'e Beach... wow! The road doesn't go any further than this because the Na Pali Coastline begins here and is untouched by any roads.

What a wonderful day... and an amazing vacation!

Mele Kalikimaka

Merry Christmas!

Brent golfing at the Po'ipu Bay Golf Course...

Dinner at The Beach House, just a 2 minute walk from our house.

Hiking to Kipu Falls... it started really raining when we got out of the car and onto the trail. The great thing about Hawaii though is that the rain is always warm and therefore really not bothersome much. I was soaked!

Brent jumping off the falls, about a 25 foot jump.

Dinner that night at Shells at the Sheraton... they had some yummy non-alcoholic drinks for me (and Asher)!

Watching the sunset...

Beautiful morning showers bring RAINBOWS!

We couldn't believe that this is where we found ourselves on Christmas Eve! It was a beautiful day at the beach near the Sheraton. The water was warm and we sat in the sun most of the day. We also did some snorkeling right off the beach and it was AWESOME! Brent went twice and was once again "The Eel Spotter" (as he was lovingly named the last time we were in Hawaii by our cousin, Aaron).

We did some reading while laying out...

A belly picture...

We watched the sunset from the beach, enjoying some real "porch time" as my dad calls it. Then we headed to Kintaro in Kapa'a for dinner... more later!

Merry Christmas... again!
We pray that all of you are enjoying a blessed day as we celebrate Jesus' birth!

Kauai

Here is the little house that we are renting near Po'ipu. It is a great house, and a great recommendation by our friends, the Saukkolas! Thank you!

Baby Beach

The beach at the Grand Hyatt

Our matching white hats. :)

Here we are at Scotty's BBQ, a great recommendation from Randall B. Simbro.

Brent's a happy man here after downing the Sampler #1 platter. The man ensured us before hand (with a "you've got to be kidding me" face) that we would be taking lots of food home. That did not happen.

Our little friend...

Merry Christmas everyone... from all 3 of us!