Reunion

Sadie was very happy to see her friends Panda and Shellie again. They live right across the street from us and Sadie is very attached. She often asks if she can sleep with them. YIKES...they sleep in a garage. It is definately true love. They are great dogs...older, slower, and perfect for little girls to love. The best part is that we don't have to take care of them. Although we do scoop up their poop from our lawn once in while.

A Crowded Day at Waiohai

The beach in front of the Marriott Waiohai is one the kids' favorites for doing boogie flips...the conditions are just right. It can get a little crowded, but we always run into friends when we're there. I guess you could say it's a lot of peoples' favorite.

A Close Encounter

A few days ago the kids were scooping small fish at this shallow, calm beach called Baby Beach as they have done many times before. This is a great spot to find lots of interesting sea creatures. All of a sudden Aidan screamed and dashed out of the water. He started yelling to Cole to come over to see a scary looking fish that almost bit him. The fish had already disappeared, but he described the fish as having little red eyes with a big horn sticking out of his forehead and pokies all over his back and two fins coming out of it's body. It had sharp teeth with the upper row shooting straight down and the lower teeth pointing in different directions. It has been very fun watching and listening as Aidan describes this scary fish in attack mode. Aidan is positive this was a poisnonous fish!

Raingutter Regatta

Cole's Yoda sailboat
Getting a few tips from Dad
And the race is on!
Aidan and Sadie made boats too

Farewell to the Schone Family

It was so fun to see our good friends the Schones before they returned to St. George after a month long visit to Kauai. The Summerhays had the Schones, the Herrs and our family over for dinner just before the Schone family left on the plane. Deborah was calm, relaxed and ready for the flight, as usual. We were all sad to see them go...it was so great being together again!

A few of the kids...there are 19 kids in all between the four of our families.

First things first....hiking Kalalau!

Rather than spend the first couple of days on the island unpacking and getting settled, we headed to the beach and went hiking instead. While Cole learned a few tricks from the pros at skatecamp, the rest of us joined our friends on a muddy, but beautiful hike up the Kalalau trail. This is the same trail that many of you, who have visited Kauai, have hiked. Maggie and I did the entire 22 miles there and back a year and a half ago. This time we just hiked to the first beach and valley, known as Hanakapiai.

Maggie, I found this question from a tourist and the answer from a so-called expert on a Kauai blog that I thought was funny after our experience on the trail.

Q: Do most fit hikers planning to do the full 22 mile out and back hike take two days, camping one night at Kalalau Beach ?
A: No, I think that is unrealistic. Only extremely fit people can go in and out in 2 days and still enjoy themselves (but they won’t enjoy Kalalau).

...Well I proved him wrong, because, A- I am NOT an extremely fit person, and B- I DID enjoy Kalalau even though we did it in a short amount of time.

It rained off and on while we were hiking in so there was a little mud and the trail was pretty slippery, especially for Jason in his "slippers" otherwise known as flip flops.

Luke Schone with a little mud

Kenya, Luke, and Sadie

Aidan excited to play in the waves at Hanakapiai Beach

Hanakapiai Beach and Valley

Aidan taking care of Sadie

River Crossing

The Cave