At the end of June, Washington state banned all campfires because of the extreme heat and dry conditions in our state (and YOU think it rains here all the time.....)
We had to get creative with our marshmallows.
Camping without a camp fire is really not very much fun.
So, we packed it up and headed to the surf line to watch the sunset.
Katie climbed a big tree.
(Mikey also climbed said tree)
The sunset was totally worth it.
It was only a one night trip.
Before we left, we headed to the beach.
It was Ralph's first trip to a beach.
He was not impressed.
He didn't like the smelly seaweed, he didn't like all the rocks he had to walk on and he wasn't so sure how to even walk on sand.
"Pooey."
He's hiding in the shade next to the tree stump.
We hiked back to the car and headed home.
While at home, Mikey's other front tooth became really loose.
He could stick it straight out of his mouth.
A week and a half later it was.....
MIKEY'S BIRTHDAY!
He woke up, ate some brekkie and opened presents.
"I love Minecraft Spider. He's so squishy."
"YYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!"
After present opening we, including Ralph, hopped in the truck and drove ourselves down to the Oregon coast for camping with the neighbors.
We got there in time to set up, have some taco dinner and dessert.
Mikey and two of our neighborhood dads all had birthdays that weekend.
We sang Happy Birthday to them all and Mikey got the honor of blowing out all the candles.
Mikey even got some presents.
He got some cool Star Wars card games and this gem.....
A fart gun.
He put it to use alllllllllllll weekend.
Movie night!!!
Katie chose to miss part of the movie to enjoy some marshmallows as Oregon had not put up a statewide ban on campfires.
Did I mention that Oregon's beaches are beautiful?
A lot less rotting seaweed (like none), no rocks - just sand, and big waves.
Especially at about 6:45 in the morning when there is virtually no one else on them except campers that just can't seem to sleep in tents no matter how cushy their crash pads are and their dogs.
When Ralph and I got back the kids were still asleep.
Not surprising.
It was about 7:45 or so.
After breakfast we all headed to the beach before it got windy.
The beach there tended to get VERY windy in the afternoon.
So windy that the sand stung you when it hit you.
It even broke our kite.
Mean wind.
Huzbend decided to let Ralph off leash for the first time.
He LOVED it.
Both being off leash and being on the beach.
He may look sad in this picture,
(actually he spends about 90% of the time with this look on his face)
but he's really not.
"Mommy. Beach water tastes bad. Yuck.
But miscellaneous stuff I find on the beach is super fun to eat!"
Ralph ate so much sand that he was pooping sand.
Really.
The kids busied themselves burying each other.
The rest of the day was spent bike/scooter riding and playing this cool Swedish game called Kubb. You can read about it here.
Our team could not beat the team that Katie was on.
She was their secret weapon pulling out seemingly impossible hits whenever they most needed them.
That night, during dinner, we had a visitor.
He was so tame that one of our party hand fed him hotdog roll.
Deer should not be that NOT afraid of people.....
After an awesome spaghetti dinner it was piñata time!
Notice the birthday crown.
Notice the helmet.
She wore it ALL day.
The next morning, Ralph and I were up early (as usual) and headed back to the beach.
This time, I let Ralph off leash.
He ran and ran and ran.......
.....and found an injured shore bird.
Ooops.
Pardon us.
Ralph went back on leash after that.
We headed back to camp to pack up.
All the neighbors kids were up, had breakfast and were breaking down camp.
Tired of school, tired of being sick, tired of life in the good ole state of Washington......
"Maybe we should change things up a bit, " they pondered. "Hmmmm.
Somewhere tropical sounds nice! Except lets go further west instead of east."
After arguing if parents could come along (it was decided we could, just this one time), they packed up a weeks worth of stuff, some of them cashed in a few time share points
and we all hopped on a plane.
Destination.....
Kauai!
What can I say?
The kids have good taste.
Welcome to our first tropical vacation, readers.
It wasn't our idea really.
I've got this friend, see?
She has kids that are EXACTLY the same age as my kids.
They practically grew up together.
Katie and Logan since they were one years old.
Mikey and Sienna, well, since they were born.
They asked us if we'd like to join them in Hawaii.
And we gave a very resounding YES.
And, so there we were. Hawaii.
Wow.
It really is pretty.
And sunny.
And beachy.
And pooly.
And hot.
And, really, kinda fun.
The first day was spent flying over the Pacific ocean, getting to the resort from the airport, waiting for our rooms to be ready, hitting the pool and then trying to find dinner.
We ended up eating in the lounge of some place not at the resort.
And when they said lounge (noun), they really MEANT lounge (verb).
We ate on a coffee table.
Katie tried fish for dinner.
Her choice.
She said she liked it, but it was too peppery.
She was right. It WAS too peppery.
Too bad. Maybe she'll try it again sometime....
The next day was beach and pool day.
It was hot. The water was warm. The waves were splashy. The sand was soft.
The kids loved it.
Even the BIG kid.
It was all fun and games until a wave caught Mikey unawares and tumbled him over a couple of times.
Sand and Mikey are NOT friends.
"Blech. Pa-tooey!"
As the little kids were dealing with an atrocious amount of sand in their swim suits, the big kids were busy conquering the surf one Doom Wave at a time.
Soon, the accumulating sand in suits became so unbearable that the suits came off, towels went on and a couple of naked heinies went up to their rooms to shower.
After clean up it was time to head to......
Costco.
Yep. What's a trip to Hawaii without a trip to Costco?
"Uuuuuuggggghhhhhhh. Are we done yet?"
Don't worry. It wasn't all blah.
When we came back from our little shopping excursion we had not just food but pool noodles and boogie boards!
We had time to hit the pool one last time that day before dinner.
Hey. Did you notice something?
There are pictures of me.
Another reason to go on vacation with another family.
Again, pictures can't capture the magnificence of the view.
This is the best I could do.
On the way back to the resort we stopped at JoJo's for some shave ice.
It was a hit.
Katie did the best she could, but in the end it was just too much. She had a very interesting flavor combo: root beer, cotton candy and bubblegum, I believe.
Mikey, on the other hand, conquered the mound of shave ice that was just as big as his head.
He picked "Rainbow" which I think was blueberry, strawberry and lemon (or maybe banana).
Then, it was back to the resort for chicken fights!
The resort had a koi pond.
In it were lots and lots of koi.
They got fed at 9am.
CHOMP!
The kids got to feed them too.
Most kids threw the fish food into the water.
Katie had them eating out of her hand.
Then it was off to the beach.
Sense a pattern here?
Yes. I did enter the water.
To prove it to Huzbend (who keeps asking, "Did you ever even get into the ocean water?"), I have posted photographic proof below.
Mikey tried to work on his relationship with sand.
Katie became the California (but born in WA) Girl we always knew she was.
She learned how to boogie board.
It wasn't all fun and games this day.
Katie got wiped out by an extra large wave and somehow twisted her ankle.
With a little Children's Tylenol and an ace bandage (picked up from the resort sundry store for the paltry sum of a million dollars), all was made well.
You'll see the wrap in some pictures below.
After a long day of swimming and sun, it was time for dinner.
Look at those rosy sun soaked cheeks.
"Is it ready yeeeeeet? We're staaaaaaaarrrrrrving!"
Then it was off to see a performance of some modern hula.
First, a little re-lax-ation.
The performers invited the kids up to learn to hula.
I'm sure you already know who could NOT resist.
Yep. Katie.
Little did they know that she was already a Hukilau expert!
Her third grade teacher was born in Kauai and at the end of the year her class performed that particular hula at our PTA Volunteer Appreciation event.
See!
Here she is refining her skills....
Here is a complete performance, with accompaniment.
I'm impressed with myself. The first part of the song actually goes along with the body motions that Katie is doing.
The next day, we headed off to see the Spouting Horn: a hole in the lava shelf that is jutting out into the sea causes water to spray up with the incoming waves.
Again with the pretty.
Here's an unobstructed view.
Next stop, an afternoon boat tour of the Na Pali coast.
Including some snorkeling.
"We're gonna ride that?"
The catamaran.
We had given the kids some dramamine before the cruise, just in case, and this happened.
Oops. Guess when they mean "marked drowsiness" they mean "marked drowsiness."
Don't worry, he woke up in time for snorkeling.
It got cloudy and rainy just in time for snorkeling.
Katie jumped on in with Huzbend and they were off and away.
Mikey decided that he wanted to enter the water first. As he was climbing down the ladder into the ocean he looked up at me and said, "Um. Did the Captain of the boat say that the fish had sharp teeth?"
I think he was a little nervous.
There were fish down there. Mostly big grey ones (with no sharp teeth) and one big yellow one.
It was a fun swim, albeit just a little chilly due to the rain.
We got back in the boat and moved on.
At one of the waterfalls, we met "Na Pali" the Goat.
Say, "HI!", Na Pali!
The surf was calm enough to let the captain move the boat underneath the waterfall.
The kids got soaked.
Well, the ones not hiding inside the boat from the rain, anyways.
Sigh.
So pretty.
Best part was, we got a family picture.
It was time to head back to port.
Dinner was served. And, in case you were curious, Katie was able to have salad and rice for dinner.
We made sure that we brought LOADS of snacks where ever we went to be sure the kids could eat.
Mikey said that this day was his favorite of the whole trip.
I have to agree.
The boat was really fun.
Captain Kauai (yep, really his name) made sure that each kid got a turn at the wheel.
As we made our way back, we were able to watch the sunset.
The pictures were taken by this guy below. His name was Joe and he was, like, 90 something years old.
He just hung out at the lighthouse asking if he could help people with their pictures.
After the lighthouse, it was time for a little friendly competition.
Mini Golf.
This was the first time that my kids had played mini-golf.
Yikes.
Jeez.
Who brought him?
That night we went to a fancy kid's luau dinner at the Grand Hyatt resort.
(No, that is not Mario in the background)
Although Katie had tried a few new foods throughout the trip, Mikey had been sticking with The Regulars (cheeseburgers, hotdogs, pizza and mac n' cheese).
I convinced Mikey and Katie to try creme brulee.
Katie only like the sugar topping, but Mikey ate the rest.
Yay for new things!
The next day it was time for Huzbend to get what he's been talking about since we first talked about this trip.
Surfing.
He wasn't the only one to try......
West Coast Girlz REPRESENT!!
Damn. She's awesome.
There they go. Out into the bay to catch some waves.
"MORE SAND, MOMMIES!"
"Phew.
I'm sooo tired.
But that was SOOOOOO awesome!
Can we move here?"
Time to hit the pool.
This was the biggest pool that I have ever seen in my life.
Huzbend said Vegas's were bigger and even Disney's Beach Club....but I disagree.
It was huge.
That day happened to be Sienna's 6th birthday.
We went out for a nice dinner.
Katie tried ribs, but ate mostly rice (with butter and salt).
The kids HAD to get a picture with the weather coconut.
One last hula show.
Traditional this time.
Wasn't quite as interesting at the modern hula show.
Afterwards, we kinda just hung out.
The hula twins.
Katie and Logan practiced their origami skills while Mikey and Sienna played chase with Huzbend.
Before heading back to watch a movie as part of the birthday celebration, the kids had an opportunity to get in a beach-side wand duel.
Shouts of "EXPELLIARMUS!!" could be heard clear across the bay.
Sorry, honeymooners.
After one last visit with the koi, it was time to head to the airport and go home.
It was a fantastic trip.
The kids got along great and our families had a lot of fun.
Thanks to our friends for inviting us.
It was really just what we needed after a hard end of the school year.
Here's a video compilation of some of the stuff we did....
The kids kept asking when we would be able to go back.
I know that Huzbend would in a heartbeat.
And, believe it or not, Anti-Beach/Pool Lady, would like to return as well.
But, for now, it was back to non-island life.
Mt. Rainier and the moon were there to greet us home.
