Kauai Day 10

 The last time Matt & Lori went to Kauai they rented bikes and rode on the trail that goes right along the ocean. I've wanted to do that ever since I heard about it. They wanted to do it again too, so we all rented bikes for Wednesday late morning. They had a helicopter ride booked early that morning too, and ended up getting to the bikes a little late. The check-in process was pretty intense and we weren't able to wait to get our bikes until they got there, so we headed out without them. That was for the best though, because although I thought the kids would love riding bikes, turns out they did not! They always want to go on long bike rides at home, so I pictured this being a fun activity that we would all enjoy. Tessa and Damon didn't like the bikes they got, and it was hot. There were moments of happiness, but also a lot of complaining. 

We stopped at this lookout and watched a few turtles swimming around. We saw so many turtles this trip!

Tessa and Damon were both ready to be finished, so Paul said he would start riding back to town with them. 

Rockwell said he wanted to keep riding, so he and I headed up further for a while. I quite enjoyed the bike ride, so I was glad that Rockwell wanted to keep going.

We caught back up with Paul, Tessa, and Damon, and Matt and Lori actually caught up with us for the last little bit of the ride too. We were all hot, sweaty, and ready for a JoJo's!! We drove to the Coconut Market and enjoyed our shave ice in the shade!

I love that Tessa would use parking strips to get a quick beam practice in. :)

We let the kids choose what they wanted to do for the last afternoon of the trip. They all wanted to go to the pool, so that's what we did. Matt & Lori came too and we all had fun going down the waterslides. :) Matt brought his GoPro, and Damon had so much fun using that! All these pictures are compliments of Damon. Haha!

Here's Tessa and Lori waiting out the rain in the waterfall cave that was in the lazy river. :)

We said goodbye to Matt & Lori, glad that we were going to see them a couple weeks later. That always makes goodbyes not quite so sad. After the pool we walked over to Wailua Shave Ice. The reality that we were leaving in the morning was sinking in, and we wanted to soak in every minute of Hawaiian bliss, so we got our second shave ice of the day. :) It was a really good decision!!

We were so sad to go to bed because it meant we were leaving when we woke up. We had such an amazing time in Kauai! It truly is our happy place. I feel so blessed that we have been able to go to Hawaii three times now. These trips are our family's favorite times together, and favorite memories we make. 

Mahalo for now Kauai! We hope to see you again soon!

Kauai Day 9

We started the day at the pool on Tuesday.

After some lunch and arm wrestling, we headed out to Salt Pond Beach. :)

The waterslides wore Damon right out. He got a nice nap while we drove to Salt Pond.

Then he was ready to get in the beautiful ocean!

Our condo had a closet full of beach chairs, an umbrella, boogie boards, and other sand toys. It was so nice to have all that to use!!

We wanted to try Da Crack for dinner since it's pretty close to Salt Pond. We ordered it from the beach and then picked it up on our way home. I know the name and sign don't seem appetizing, but it was delicious!! Ha!

We went straight from there to Matt & Lori's hotel. There was a luau and fire dancing show overlooking the beach. The kids swam in the pool while we visited with Matt & Lori and drank Mai Tai's (virgin of course) until the show started. Rockwell and Tessa wanted to keep swimming, and would get out every now and then to watch bits of the show. Damon was totally into the show though and went down close to watch the whole thing with Paul.

The property at their hotel was gorgeous and the full moon over the ocean was just beautiful! It was another great day!!

Kauai Day 8

 Matt & Lori were in Kauai some of the same days we were, which was so fun!! Cody and Elena were both at FSY that week, and so Matt and Lori figured why not go to Hawaii while their kids were away. :) Rockwell and I met up with them at the Wailua River Monday morning. We rented a couple kayaks and rowed out to see Secret Falls.

It was a few miles of rowing, but gorgeous the whole way, and so fun to be doing it with Rockwell, Matt, and Lori!

After a few miles, we parked the kayaks on the river's edge and headed up on foot to the waterfall.

It was about a 20 minute hike to the falls. We passed a lot of tour groups and were glad we decided to do this adventure on our own. It was fun to go at our own pace and get to visit the whole way.

We all thought it was pretty funny that this waterfall is called Secret Falls, because it was very crowded. The secret is clearly out. Haha! It was very pretty though, and it's always fun to swim in a waterfall.

We swam around for a while and Matt, Lori, and Rockwell went all the way under the falls. Then we were ready to head back out.

We had one small rainstorm on the way back. My arms were pretty tired after rowing through the wind that came with that. But we had such a great time on this adventure!

Paul, Tessa, and Damon had a great time at the resort pool while we were gone. Paul said they pretty much had the waterslides to themselves and they went over and over again!

We picked Matt & Lori up and went to Poipu Beach for some dinner and snorkeling.

Lori and I set up some chairs in the sand while Tessa and Damon swam and Paul, Matt, and Rockwell went snorkeling. I love talking with Lori and am so glad she married my brother! 

We were able to see a gorgeous sunset while we were there.

Rockwell came and joined us on the beach when he got too cold. His lips were purple when he came out of the water!

We noticed a turtle coming up on the sand and so we headed over there to see it. More turtles kept coming out of the water one by one.

Matt, Paul, and Rockwell were standing out in the water and a couple of the turtles swam right by Rockwell's legs on their way in. It was seriously so cool to see!! By the time we left, there were 20 turtles on shore. It was just a really cool Hawaiian night!!