Hawaii, Part1

HAWAII!!!!!!!!

All of us had been looking forward to this vacation for months and months!! And we were all completely excited when the day finally came to leave for the beautiful island of Kauai!

Our family actually left on the morning of Christmas, which was a little hectic, but also worked out very well. We did our own little family Christmas that morning, packed everything up in the car, and left for the airport. :) The kids were beyond excited to ride on the airplane and get to the sunny islands of Hawaii. And Teage and I were really excited because not only were we getting to go to Hawaii, but we also got to ride first class on the way there! Woohoo!! And let me tell you, it was beyond amazing. I think we are spoiled forever! :)

The boys were amazing on the plane, but Emery had a really hard time unfortunately. I was so thankful to be in first class considering she was a wiggle worm the whole time! She was just completely overtired and would not sleep for more then about a half hour during the whole flight. She was cranky and off of her schedule, it wasn't a pretty picture. :) I was so thankful for the boys though, they were fan-tas-tic!

Once we got there, we got our rental car and began driving to our "Hawaii home" for the week. We were admiring the beautiful scenery and all of a sudden Lucas shouts out "Dude....I am in KAUAI!!! I am Kauian!!" Hilarious!! All of us were a little tired and cranky, but we were all so thankful to be there and trying to just take it all in. Our house in Hawaii was perfect for all of our family. Grammy and my siblings were in the main house, and my little family had a cottage house on the same property, with a pool in the middle. FABULOUS! The cottage was great for our family, it had a little kitchen, a few bedrooms, and even a washer and dryer, which was extremely helpful! And of course it was in Kauai (what could be better???)!!!!

We are here!!! Our awesome hammock right outside our door!

On our first full day my little family went on a walk down the street (right next to the ocean!) and explored some of our surroundings. The house was right across from the ocean, and just down the street was some sand and a gorgeous view! The boys threw some rocks, and Teage and I just stood in the sunshine for as long as the kids would let us! :)

After walking back to the house the whole family decided to go together up to Waimea Canyon in the center of the island. What an amazing view it was! We were able to not only go to the main look-out point, but also the one further up that was a lot less crowded and had an amazing view of the ocean as well. The higher viewpoint was also one of wettest spots on earth, though it was not raining while we were there. The view was absolutely amazing! On one side you could see a huge cliff down to the ocean, and on the other a dense rain forest, completely green. It was gorgeous and we all loved it.

On the way down the mountain we stopped at a little local restaurant and had some lunch, then went home and played together in our pool while Emery took a nap. That night we just rested and all watched a movie together, had dinner at the big house and went to sleep! :) What a great day!