Hawaii Days 1-4

So I have finally gone through some of the pictures I have taken here in Kauai so far. We got in late Friday night and were picked up by Mom, Dad, Bruce and Debbie (my aunt and uncle, my mom's brother). We ended up grabbing a bite to eat at this little hole in the wall noodle place that I would have never guessed even had a restaurant in it (I think that is what the locals like about it). They must have plenty of business because when we came and sat down it took another 15 to 20 minutes just to get their attention! It was good, I don't know if it was because it really was good or that we had just been on the plane for 7 hours with only peanuts and water.

We are staying at North Country Farms, which is a little organic farm on the north side of the island. They have a couple of little "cabins" that they rent out. It is definitely rustic but absolutely beautiful and a great location. The other great thing is that they have a whole bunch of different veggies and fruits that you can pick any time and as much as you want...yummy!!!!

There was a queen bed and pull out sofa inside and then this sleeping platform with very necessary mosquito net outside on the porch.

Picking lettuce for our dinner salad

Our first full day we headed to the beach, of course! This snorkeling spot is located at the very end of the road (yes the main road ends and does not go all the way around the island!) and is called Ke'e beach. We just enjoyed soaking up some sun and snorkeling around the very protected bay. There was also a botanical garden near by that had more plants than flowers but went through the different native and foreign plants seen on the island.

A view from the road of the some of the many beaches along the way

Getting ready to snorkel! Belly pic week 22 :)

I can't get enough of this water!!

A cave along the road to the beach

One of my favorite flowers, Bird of Paradise, that was at the gardens.


One really cool thing about Kauai is the dramatic cliffs that you see in the background. It may look a little familiar, many movies including Jurassic Park and 6 days 7 nights were filmed on this island.



My absolute favorite flower, the Plumeria....if only I could grow them in the Pacific NW :)

One evening we headed to a near by beach to get some sunset shots. As you can see from the pictures, the clouds were not cooperating in giving us any spectacular pictures but we still got some good ones :)

My uncle Bruce being his normal self :) He kept us laughing!



Sitting, watching the sunset

The next day we hit yet another beach; is there anything else to do in Hawaii? This beach, however, was a "play in the surf, wave jumping, boogie boarding" beach. And that is exactly what we did! :)

Debbie jumping the waves

Mom is getting so tan that she is going to start looking like she lives here!

The "kids" playing in the surf

Matt landing on the beach

After our wild day at the beach we got "cleaned up" and went to a Luau. Mom and Dad have been to this one before and I must say it was a lot of fun. The family that puts it on owns a huge garden and they open it up to everyone before hand. There was a huge buffet, a really cool international performance (they had dances from all the Hawaiian "cousins", ie. New Zealand, and Tahiti), and of course the Mai Tai cocktails, dad loves Mai Tais :)

They had a bunch of peacocks roaming around the gardens.


Bruce and Debbie

Me and Matt

Of course Mom and Dad...this was before Dad had any Mai Tais!!


The Boys


Bruce helping the poor statue out with its booger problem :)

No, this wasn't the "international" performance :) While we were eating there was a Hula demonstration and at the end they invited people to come up and learn on stage. As you can see Mom and Bruce were the only brave ones in our group!

Well, that is it for now. Michael and Eileen just got in last night (Wednesday) and Bruce and Debbie left, probably on the same plane! Be ready for more beach pictures :) On a completely different subject, Matt signed today with Digital Scirocco, a start-up in Seattle, so we are officially headed up north....I had better get in as much sun as I can here!!!