Water Fun

Fun with cousin Mary

Botanical Gardens

Banana, Avocado, Apple, Papaya, Bread Fruit, Sugar Cane

Pineapple 

It's my party

For my birthday, I asked to go on a helicopter ride.  It was amazing.

Mary and Larry about to board their flight.

Taking off from the airport.  We flew in a doorless helicopter, and sat in the front seat with the pilot.  We flew over the sugar mill and the sandstone cliffs we had seen earlier in the week.

Waimea Canyon

Napali Coast (really want to hike this someday) 

Waterfalls everywhere

Lava pools at Secret Beach

Dinner at the Beach House

More Hawaii

I am sure everyone is sick of seeing photos of hawaii... and I am sick of going thru them all, but feel like I need to document.  And I have other fun things to blog about!  So I will try to get through as best as I can -

So family time!  The rest of the gang went off to ride some inner tubes down irrigation canals, we stayed back and flew a kite!

And play on the beach.

 Afterwards we drove around Koloa, and went by Kauai's first sugar mill.  BTW - There is no longer any sugar grown in Hawaii.

Later that evening, we went to a hula show (because Tessa and I missed the luau)

and then went to Kamalani Playground to burn off some extra energy from the show 

Hawaii Day Four - PM

Later that morning/afternoon, everyone headed out to Wiamea Canyon.  Wiamea means reddish water in Hawaiian, and it does remind me of Sedona - but with more humidity.

The three of us headed out on the Canyon Ditch Trail... which is exactly what it was, a trail to the old ditches that in the 1870, Chinese workers dug by hand to get fresh water to the sugar cane crops.  We went about 6 miles round trip, and at one point we turned out on a narrow trail to see some amazing waterfalls.  

I planned to carry Tessa the first part of the hike, but she fell asleep on the way back, so it was the two of us the whole way! (and yes... my heart was beating soooo fast while walking with her on that ridge!)

After we got back to the car, we drove the rest of the way up the canyon to the top, and took a picture of the fog.  Kauai is home to the wettest spot on earth (Mount Wai'ale'ale) and it gets an average of 400 inches of rain per year.  The warm ocean air hits the cliffs and rises rapidly... causing it to cool fast... making RAIN!  As we drove down, you hit the shelf of clouds... and it leaves you with a sunny beach!

Tomorrow - Family Fun!

Hawaii Day Four - AM

At the tide pools

Hawaii Day Two/Three

The rest of our stay was spent at the Waiohai Beach Club in Koloa.

our view (being on the first floor was great!)

We shared the condo with Scott's parents.  His Uncle Larry, Aunt Marcie and Cousin Mary stayed next door.

This was the best designed hotel room ever!  Why?  The pack n' play fit in the closet.  Tessa loved her room, and no, we didn't close the door at night.

We played at the beach in the morning with Grandma Linda

and hit up the aforementioned blowhole (sprouting horn) in the afternoon.

 A little history of this area - there used to be two blow holes.  The second shot sea water hundreds of feet into the air... and the spray would fall onto the sugar cane fields nearby, stunting the plants growth.  So the land owner (in the 1920's) had a worker drop an explosive down into the hole, hoping to make it larger.  He destroyed the entire lava shelf.  It used to be in the open rectangular area on the right.  I wonder if he worker lived.

Across the street is the entrance to the botanical gardens, which we visited twice during the week.

That evening the rest of the family went to a luau... but because of Tessa's early bedtime, we stayed behind and went on a quick evening hike along the lithifield sandstone cliffs by shipwreck beach

 This point was used in the film six days seven nights.  Looks scary to me.

Tomorrow - Waimea Canyon