Surf Girl

The last day in Kauai, Bluet (and her cousins Thane, Lila and Nate) got to try some surfing. They all took to it pretty fast, surfing into shore like pros by the end of the lesson. It looked really fun. 

Exploring Kauai

Most of our time in Hawaii was spent on the Island of Kauai; an island that has two main roads, one going North to South up the East coast, and the other up the west. So a lot less developed than Honolulu. Kauai is the furthest out from the 'big island', the one with the volcanoes that made the larva that formed all the other islands - so no volcanoes for us to see, but plenty of beaches and other things. We had 2 houses for all 16 people, next door to each other and a short walk from the beach. 

Our biggest expedition was to see a canyon described as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Here you can see:

1. Wilder stopped for lunch

2. The 'wettest place on Earth' (it rains a lot)

3. The Canyon - that waterfall is the same one seen at the beginning of Jurassic Park

*These photos are going out of order - this is at a Russian Fort built in the 19th Century by some schemer who wanted to make money getting the Russians to take over Hawaii, or something.

4. More pictures of lunchtime

5. Back to the Russian Fort

6. Some cool old Volvos, same day as the fort in the town of Waimea nearby where we had lunch

7. Here is the view of the wettest place on Earth - note the clouds

8. That waterfall again

9. Russian Fort

10. a phone in Waimea

11. Lunch at the canyon

12. Lunch in Waimea

Return from Hawaii

So here we are back from our epic trip (Missouri then California then Kau'ai in Hawaii, then Honolulu in Hawaii, then a 10h flight home). We got back Tuesday and are more or less recovered - the top picture is Wilder eating dinner Tuesday night at the normal time. More will follow, but in the meantime, on the day we were in Honolulu after a week on Kau'ai, Wilder was talking about all the things he remembered from the trip. The highlights for him were:

1) 'bibi cryin' (his cousin Thad is a baby and did some (not an exceptional amount) of crying

2) 'Oatmeal' (instant oatmeal (porridge) was available for breakfast)

3) 'More slide' (we went to a swimming pool where there was a water slide which we took Wilder down many times til we could take it no more and had to leave. Wilder would've done it all day. And night.

4) 'Happ B'day Wilder' It was Wilder's Birthday while we were away, and he got cake. He also loves the happy birthday song.

Honolulu on the final day

'Mama Buppy'

Back home playing together quietly and happily

Ilona demanded I take this photo