Kauai

Just about two years ago Collin entered a college basketball pool. Randomly he chose Michigan State and no one else in the pool did. Michigan State ended up making it to the finals and Collin was the big winner. With his winnings we purchased a two bedroom timeshare at The Point at Poipu in Kauai. It's an even year timeshare so we booked our week for the last week of October!

The view from our balcony. We are supposed to be in a garden view room. Luckily they just chopped down all of the trees making our room a beautiful ocean view room instead!

Another view from our balcony. This is of the resort itself.

All of the chopped down trees!

We invited our friends, the Simcox family, to join us. We were so excited for this trip. It was our first family vacation and Kauai is one of our most favorite places to visit. After working really hard to pack us, we hit the airport. Our first flight was to Honolulu. Tyler did very well on the plane. He slept for a couple of hours and we had no crying the entire flight! We then had a layover before we took the 27 minute flight to Kauai.

The Simcox did not have the easy flight we had. After a 7+ hour wait at the airport they finally got on their way and Collin picked them up late Friday night.

Saturday we headed to the pool first thing in the morning. The resort had a fun sand entry pool. The water was comfortable and the kids had fun running around in the water. Tyler got tired really quickly so we took him up to the room for a nap. We then went to Poipu Burger for lunch. It was delicious! We also wandered over to the Hyatt Resort that was next door. What an incredible resort that is!

The Hyatt

The lobby

Our family

That night we made dinner for the kids and put them to bed while the adult dinner finished cooking. It was so relaxing to eat a meal without bouncing or chasing our little ones around. We played a few games that evening and truly enjoyed our first night!

Tyler and Emma playing on the balcony

Tyler loved Emma's grass skirt! 

Daddies were on bath duty that first night

Sunday morning we headed to Poipu Beach. They have a wonderful protected area where the kids can wander in the water and not worry about getting knocked over by waves. Tyler was a little cautious about the water. Turns out, he also needed a nap. After falling asleep on my lap on the beach, he was able to get a solid hour snooze in. By the time he woke up, it was time to go. Collin's cousin Sarah also came to visit us at the beach. She is a kindergarten teacher on the island and has lived there for almost two years. What a lucky girl! It was great to catch up with her and for her to meet Tyler, even if he wasn't his normal happy self. That evening we got some pizza and had another night in, playing games and drinking fruity island drinks!

On Monday, we decided to let the kids take their nap and then we would head out for the day. Although they got good naps in, we didn't hit the road until 1pm. We headed to Kapaa for lunch. We got there a little after 2 only to discover that most of the restaurants closed at 2. We found a place to grab lunch and then hopped back in the car. We made it to Kilauea Lighthouse at 4:05...they closed at 4. We decided that after strike two we'd just head to a little ice cream shop we'd heard about in Kilauea. Turns out, even though they were supposed to be open, they weren't. What was happening? Our planned day was just not working out the way we had hoped! We carried on though and headed to Tunnels Beach on the north side of the island. The tour guides all say this is one of the best beaches to find sea animals and we were definitely on the search for animals. Well, that didn't work. We never found Tunnels Beach but we did discover a very cool cave and then drove on to the end of the road. How lucky were we to find Ke'e Beach! The boys were able to snorkel and by this point, the sun was almost setting. Tyler was cautious about the water and sand again but Emma loved it! She stripped down to her diaper and we couldn't keep her out of the water!

The random cave on the side of the road

It was really dark. I don't know why Daddy needed his sunglasses!

The family in the cave

Playing at the beach across from the cave

As we walked along the beach the coastline became more and more spectacular. This beach is where the NaPali coast begins. It was an amazing sunset with a beautiful rainbow and everything!

Emma is ready to hit the water

Tyler is checking out Emma...she is brave!

Maybe I'll go join her!

Getting closer to the water

In the water with Emma and Kim

So brave!

The start of the NaPali Coast...magnificent

A rainbow while waiting for the sunset at Ke'e Beach

Sunset

A beautiful sunset!

We stopped in the little town of Hanalei for dinner. We went to a great restaurant called Kalypso where we ordered a number of appetizers to share. The kids were well behaved and had fun playing in the booth and eating all of the different foods we had ordered. The drive home was a quiet one as the kids fell asleep quickly!

On Tuesday we decided to keep it a little more low key and headed to Lydgate State Beach. They had a giant wooden structure we checked out first. The daddies took the kiddos down the two slides! Hilarious!!! Listening to them groan and complain as they got stuck in the swirly slide and watching Andy miss the end and land on the ground of the long slide. We had lots of giggles!

We then headed over to the cove that was just made for our kiddos. Tyler was tired so I put him to sleep on the beach. Not until we had seen all of the chickens though! They are everywhere and Tyler just loved them! The daddies went and grabbed lunch and then the moms got to go snorkeling. It was my only time to snorkel the whole week. It was a bit choppy but I still saw some beautiful fish and corral.

After our beach morning, we headed to see a waterfall. We found one near Kapa'a. Since we couldn't walk any closer, we just left the kiddos in the car and took some pictures.

Then we headed back toward Poipu. Since Emma and Tyler were sleeping we headed over to Spouting Horn. Tyler woke up once we got there so I took him out. He loved watching the water shoot up through the rocks. 

That evening we went to see a hula show. Unfortunately we got there a few minutes after it started and it began to pour rain so they ended the show early. The kids loved what they did see and we were able to take some pictures with the beautiful hula dancers. 

On Wednesday we visited another beach called Salt Pond Beach. Tyler really enjoyed this beach. I think we hit it at just the right time. He played in the sand and the water. This was probably the only day he did this. I was so happy to see him enjoying my favorite part of Hawaii - the water! Afterward we headed to Hanapei for lunch. We found a fun food truck and had a great lunch followed by some shopping! It was a great relaxing day. That evening, Kim and Andy went over to the Hyatt for dinner while we stayed with the kids. It was a nice night for us and for them!

On Thursday, we headed back to our favorite beach, Poipu Beach. It was a bittersweet day. We knew it was going to end soon so we just had to enjoy our last day there. That night Collin and I headed out for an adult dinner while Kim and Andy watched Tyler. It was so nice to go out to dinner on vacation by ourselves. We enjoyed walking in the rain and enjoying the beautiful Hawaiian nights! 

The Koi watching us eat our dinner...waiting for crumbs! They were crazy!

Friday morning we all got dressed up and went to take family photos around the resort. It was really windy but we got some cute pictures. The kids also had fun playing on the statues and running around the lawns. It was sad to leave the resort. We headed to Kapa'a for lunch at Bubba's, which is one of our favorite places to go. The kids loved their burgers and talking to the roosters that like to walk around the restaurant deck. 

 

 

 

On the way to Bubba's

Daddies up front, kiddos in the middle, Mommies in the way back. Gotta love the minivan!

 

 

 The Simcox family dropped us off at the airport where we flew to Oahu. We had one more night in Hawaii. We had an easy flight and car ride to our hotel in Waikiki. That night we went out walking. Tyler met his first guinea pig - a surfing guinea pig at that! He even got to feed it grass. 

On Saturday morning we walked over to the beach for one final time to touch the water and the sand. It was fun to see all of the surfers before we had to head back to the airport.

Waikiki Beach

Checking out the view from our balcony in Waikiki!

Lovin being up so high!

It was a fantastic trip! The kids loved playing in the condo. The parents actually got to relax a little and enjoy some alone time. It was a great mix of family fun! I cannot wait to go back in two years.