And now, the rest of the story... (trip)

Wednesday Oct. 7
We mostly just played on Wednesday at the beach and drove around to see more sites. But the fun part was Wed. night, we went to the Smith's Family Tropical Luau- I know "Smiths" doesn't sound real Hawaiian, but that's what you get when a man from England marries a hawaiian woman! But they put on a great luau, that's for sure!


They took our picture with some native hotties right when we entered. Then we got to tour the gardens before the luau actually began. It was beautiful!

Of course, there was an abundance of chickens, roosters and peacocks!


The Easter Island statue- otherwise known by my kids as "Dumbdumb" from Night at the Museum... it looks like he sneezed us out!


Another "local" hottie!






Some more of their garden area...




We couldn't pass up the photo opportunities in this gorgeous place!


The luau was a blast and the food was awesome! The shows were cool, and we had a great time!

Thursday Oct. 8
We decide to try to find this cool place Jenn had heard of called Ki'Pu Falls. It was only a short drive from our hotel and we were told a five minute hike off the road to the falls... so we took off early morning after breakfast. Well they were right about the drive- about 15 minutes... and the hike was right off the road, it was probaby a five minute hike too- but what they left out was it was a five minute hike with sugarcane slapping you in the face and towering above our heads the hold time! Talk about claustrophobic! I was just about to call it quits when we came to this clearing and saw the most beautiful sight so far!!! And the best part is- we were the only ones there for about 30 minutes! Then the crowds started showing up.

It was like walking in to a move scene! There was lava rock all over the place, with a stream cascading down into these huge falls that flowed in to a gorgeous pool!

Two different views of the falls, the first was what we saw when we got there, the second is from the view by the rope swing, after crossing the stream (jumping from rock to rock, trying to not fall off the falls!)

I swear it was like the scene from Swiss Family Robinson! The trees were huge and felt so smooth we thought they were fake! And then, much to our delight, there was a rope swing about 30 feet above the pool that we could swing out and land in the pool! Mitch and Buzz of course didn't hesitate, and we just happened to be wearing out swim suits! :0)

Mitch trying the rope first- surprise, surprise!


Buzz was short to follow- they are so much fun!


I was a little more leery- I am such a chicken! Twenty years ago- maybe even ten, I used to jump off cliffs higher than that at Lake Powell, but something has happened to me to make me a scaredy-cat! but, I eventually jumped- I won't post that video of me! It wasn't the most graceful moment of my life, but I did it and I'm glad! The water was cold, but refreshing and not salty for a change!

Here we all are, posing in the stream before taking off- it was getting crowded and our camera's were both out of batteries- dang it!


We had so much fun! We didn't want to leave, but we had other things to do and we wanted to get some shopping done that day too.

While out shopping, we decided to go see the Spouting Horn- Kauai's blow hole. It was cool, but not as cool as Old Faithful in Yellowstone!


It was cool to see how strong the waves would hit and create a big spout or a small one.

Friday Oct. 9

We had to check out of our hotel by 11:00 a.m., but our flights home weren't until late that night... plus, it was pouring rain! We just drove around and splashed through puddles, then we saw a sign for Waimea Falls- so we went to take a look... it was foggy, but still pretty! I can't imagine how these would look on a sunny day.

Then, much to Mitch's delight, the weather finally cleared at around 3:00 and we hit the beach one last time- well he swam, I didn't want to test my luck with sharks- we were told they like to swim closer to shore when it has been raining because the water is murky. Mitch said "bring on the sharks, baby!" Tough guy!

Here is a far picture of Mitch in the waves, trying to act like a teenager and body surfing, where he about broke a rib and knocked himself out! I don't think he needed to worry about sharks, just himself acting like a goofball!

We had to say goodbye Friday night and get on our planes for the long flight home! That's the great thing about Tylenol PM... we slept the whole night and next thing we know, we are in Seattle and on our way home to our -very homesick for mommy and daddy- kids! They were so excited to see us, but more so to see what we got them! We were excited to see them, but both Mitch and I said later that we definitely could have stayed another week and been just fine!

Good to be home, can't wait for the next trip! Hee hee, I think we're hooked!