Kauai: Days 1-3

DAY 1:

We decided to take a family vacation to celebrate our upcoming 10 year wedding anniversary. So when some friends of ours asked us to go to Kauai with them we were all in! We booked it for the week of Nolan's Spring break (plus a few extra days).

The boys and our plane

We had a great experience at the airport, we breezed through check in and security which allowed us enough time to grab dinner, play in the kids zone and work a bit of energy out of the kids. The first half of the flight was pretty good but Miles decided that 3 hours was long enough and started getting antsy. Let's just say the rest of the flight made me seriously consider taking a boat back home. :(

But we arrived late at night and promptly went to bed and woke up before sunrise the next day. Since we were sharing the house with our sleeping travel companions we took the kids out for a sunrise walk to check out the island. It was already a balmy 70 degrees so we went in short sleeve shirts and bare feet, it was amazing.

A few hours on the beach and we headed back home for breakfast and to pack up for our first day out. We headed to Poipu Beach just down the street from our house.

Within a few minutes of setting up our stuff, we had a visitor.

A Hawaiian Monk Seal, which are endangered, but you wouldn't know it by our trip as they were everywhere! We had to move our site since this one decided to hang out there instead. She was later joined by another seal as well.

On the other side of the beach Nolan finally got to try out some real snorkeling. He has been practicing at the pool for a few weeks so actually getting to see some fish and coral was a huge surprise.

Miles wasn't a fan.

He preferred cuddling on the sand.

Guess what else happened?! Totally unprompted Nolan made a little booty trail down to the water. Look familiar?

Nolan booty scooting his way to the water in Maui 5 years ago!

The boys did great together on vacation, they played together and didn't bicker as much as they do at home. Nolan was happy to do what Miles was interested in and vice versa. Here Miles was interested in covering himself head to toe in sand.

And throwing some sand to help get Nolan covered too. It was a wonderful start to our trip!

DAY 2:

For the second day we decided to do a little hiking in our neighborhood. It didn't hurt that our neighbors were one of the nicest resorts on the island!

There were all these paths leading to the beaches or the resort. The grounds were so beautiful!

Shipwreck beach in front of the Resort. see the person standing on top of the rock? They were jumping off of there day and night, it was terrifying. 

These birds (and lots and lots of chickens) were everywhere! I especially loved seeing them in the bushes. 

Our neighbor, no biggie!

Keep walking past the resort and there is a trail through the lava beds.

Which led to that rock kids were jumping off and some amazing views.

Back down the cliffs for a picnic where Nolan pulled a coconut out of the water. 

During Miles' (and Pat's) nap, Nolan and I checked out the pool, we had the whole place to ourselves and I got to read an entire magazine in one sitting! 

After nap time, we went to Bubba's Burgers for dinner. The onion rings were so good!! But the kids weren't feeling especially patient.

While there, we checked out the nearby farmers market as well. The boys enjoyed the live music and tried 2 new fruits, apple bananas which really do taste like a green apple but are a banana and lychee fruit. Where has that stuff been my whole life?!

The kids were feeling a bit antsy after dinner so we decided to drive up to Waimea Canyon or the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". I've never been to the actual Grand Canyon but Pat said this was just as impressive.

We went right before sunset and the shadows were starting to take over but we could still see the waterfall.

The kids were cold so Pat took them back to the car while I did a little extra exploring.

There were a ton of trails (with no guard rails) that I followed and found some amazing scenes. Above is a waterfall carved into the red dirt. and Below the trail ends right at a huge drop off. Definitely not a hike for kids.

Our official tourist family photo. This was our busiest day I promise!

DAY 3:

Day 3 was super easy. We packed up the kids, the gear and plenty of food and drove an hour north to Tunnels Beach. This beach is all over pinterest and I can definitely see why. Lots of shade to relax under, calm water, snorkeling, towering cliffs as a backdrop and happy kids made it my favorite day of the vacation.

I couldn't keep this guy out of the water so most of my pictures are of Miles. Nolan was content meeting people on the beach, snorkeling with Pat and boogie boarding with me. 

Miles even got in the water a lot at this beach!

But still preferred to surf on dry land.

  

The boys made up a game called crystal hunter where Nolan snorkels around the lagoon and finds Miles pieces of coral that he pushes around on his boogie board. They did this for at least 2 hours.

More cuddling in the sand.

Sunburned and exhausted we headed home. Nolan said this was his favorite day too.