Aloha!

Since Danny returned home in July, the closest thing we had had to a date was going running and buying running shoes while visiting my mom.  Not that I don't like new shoes, but we really needed some time alone (away from the boxes I left for us to unpack together) to process some things.  So, when Danny came home and asked if I would like an inexpensive trip to Hawaii I said, "Absolutely not!"  Just kidding!  I said, "Sign me up!"  Many people who travel to Hawaii start planning the trip months in advance.  Not us.  I hardly had time to pack! We found out about this trip ten days before the plane left the ground.  Thanks to my wonderful husband and sweet, sweet family we were able to make the trip a reality.

Technically, Danny had a chaplain training on marriage enrichment by Dr. Gary Chapman.  Perfect topic, huh?  The training ran Sunday to Wednesday, but found that flights were cheaper if we added a day on each end.  Don't mind if I do!  So, we rode to Georgia, dropped the three big boys off with family, loaded up Benaiah, and away we flew!  Oh, and just in case you were interested - Kauai, Hawaii has a Walmart!  How else would we get enough diapers?

While I am sure you are much more interested in the conference material, I am going to share with you the adventures we had during our free time.

Friday: 4am we left for the airport.  Silly me thought that Benaiah would sleep the eleven hours to Hawaii.  Nope.  Two cat naps totaling an hour and he would only stay quiet in Mommy's lap.  By the time we got to Kauai I was too tired to even say Aloha!  We found some fish tacos and forced ourselves to stay up until at least 9.

Saturday:  I was up by 3am.  Lucky me.  Even Benaiah caught on to island time faster than me.  After an amazing bread pudding for breakfast, we headed to the Napali Coast.  Benaiah had never hiked for any length before so we started with a four mile hike to see a beach.  Unfortunately, the view was beautiful but the ground was covered in ants.  Benaiah got hungry, but I couldn't sit down to feed him in the middle of all those creepy crawlies!

We made it to the beach, and I fed him with this view.

After the hike, we visited the oldest calm-shaped lighthouse.  It is also on a wildlife preserve.  The only wildlife there were four types of birds.  Funny enough, apart from some crusty frogs, a small lizard, and a million roaming chickens, that was the only wildlife we saw during our entire trip.

Sunday: This time we headed southwest to the Waimea Canyon.  On the way we saw the remains of a Russian fort.  Danny insisted on climbing a tree and taking a picture to show the boys.

Then, we started the slow climb up to see the canyon.  Saying that I panicked would be an understatement.  I do not like heights, and I felt like I could fall off the edge with a slight turn of the wheel.  Danny was a patient soul.  We made it to the lookout, finally.  It really was beautiful!

Thumbs up for the view!

Once we made it down (Whew!) we had fresh mangoes from a roadside stand.  My favorite fruit!  So delicious!  Danny also snagged some mandarin oranges - not canned mind you.  Just take my advice and never try them.  They are like lemons on steroids.  No wonder we package them in sugar water!

Then, we stopped for a tour of the Kauia Coffee Plantation.  Neither of us drink coffee, but the tour was very interesting.  We also thought that maybe fresh, local coffee would taste better.  Not so.  Still needs tons of cream and sugar . . . and basically not taste like coffee for me to drink it.  :D

Our next stop was my favorite hike of all.  We hiked the Lithified Cliffs trail.  It starts at Shipwreck Beach and goes along the tops of cliffs.  At this point, I was very glad I wasn't watching three little boys while on this hike.  It was hard enough to keep Danny away from the edge!

How cool is this little find?

On our way back to the hotel, we drove through a tree tunnel, stopped to see a waterfall, hiked a short section of a trail closer to the hotel, and walked/ran on a beach walk.  Whew!

Here are some pics of my cute boy before we went for dinner ;)

Monday: We NAPPED!  All the activity had worn us all out!

Then we went to the beach to let Benaiah put his feet in the Pacific.  The beaches on Kauai are quite rough, so we stayed on the shore and watched the surfers.

Right before he let us know what he thought about it!

Tuesday: We went for a morning run on the beach walk we had found.  It was a beautiful morning running right by the ocean.  Shortly after starting our run, we passed a man with an umbrella in his back pocket.  I made a comment about how silly that was seeing that the sun was coming up beautifully.  Not two minutes later it started raining on us!  That man must have been a local.  Kauai is also the wettest place on earth - we found out later.  Then, two more minutes and the rain stopped!  We got a beautiful rainbow to finish out our run!

That afternoon we went back at it hiking the Sleeping Giant trail.  It reminded us so much of the Georgia mountains.

Best napping spot!

Stopped at the top to enjoy the view!

After hiking we took a swim in the pool.  Benaiah even learned how to kick! :D  Too cute!

Wednesday: We decided to go back to the canyon.  This time I read aloud to Danny to keep my mind off the edge-of-the-cliff ride.  We hiked to a waterfall and then ate more mangoes.  It was amazing to hike through a forest that at times looked like a jungle, at other times looked like a desert, and at other times looked like the forests of Dahlonega.

My puddle jumpers! :D

Hiked all that way for this waterfall :/

Why did the tree choose this spot?

For dinner we found a small outdoor diner run by one cook and one waitress.  It was delicious local grub.  Yum!

Thursday: Our flight was not until 10pm but checkout was much earlier that day.  So, we spent the morning swimming and sliding down the water slide.  Danny and I raced.  One would watch Benaiah sleep and run the stop watch while the other tried to speed slide!

Sleeping Handsome!

After checking out, we found more mangoes (Have I mentioned they are delicious?) and shopped for souvenirs.

Our flight went so smoothly.  Benaiah slept the whole way home!!!  He won best baby award on the plane!  The only bad part is that a baby sleeping on you means you can't get up, barely can move, and you get very hot!  I'll take it over a screaming baby.

It was a wonderful, relaxing, fun-filled trip with my biggest and littlest boys.  However, I was super excited to see my three amigos.  Now, I am refreshed and ready to take on . . . well, at least another week.  :D