What a wonderful time we had in Kauai, HI. From preparation to the final late night arrival it was well worth the trip. Our family absolutely loved Hawaii. To share a few moments we begin with the departure routine. It was a great thing that I decided to fly a short flight with Ty to Seattle for the Thanksgiving break because I learned a lot! One, don't have your son wear a coat, hat or shoes while going through security because you will have a screaming kiddo when you are trying to remove all items mentioned above to put on the security conveyor belt to be screaned. Two make sure you have thought of everything (don't forget items). Finally, make sure you have the discussion well in advance and over and over again of what to expect throughout the travel day. Knowing that from one thirty to forty minute flight truly prepared us for the not one but two flights and travel of about an entire 8 hours of a day.
We arrived at PDX airport and were dropped off early in the morning, checked our one bag had two and half carry on items and truly made it through security in probably 5 minutes or less. Ty was a trooper. He followed his daddy's lead taking off his shoes and putting them on the belt while I took care of the carry on items, electronics and the like. Ty actually walked through the beeper machine. Forgive me I am having a prego moment and can't remember the name of it at this time. WHEW. So we made it and now to get breakfast and wait at our gate to get on the 5 and 1/2 hour flight to Honolulu International airport. The first flight was truly uneventful (which was great). We had three seats together in the middle of the plane where Ty was able to lay down and nap almost the entire way. Once we landed at Honolulu airport we ran into a few familiar people Aunt Amy and Uncle Bob! What a surprise (not) it certainly was planned to spend a little time with our family together in Hawaii.
Ty was super excited though. We spent a little time at that airport with a little more heat than we would normally feel at PDX, a few birds flying in and out of the gated area and then boarded our plane a smaller plan that would fly only 37 minutes to the island of Kauai. Again this flight was uneventful except Ty was so excited to see Amy that Byron and Amy were asked to switch seats.
Once we landed we made our way towards the baggage areas where a lovely Hawaiian woman provided us with lei's. Each one of us! Though Ty was not having any strange woman place a lei around his neck. Good stranger danger awareness, I guess. In anycase we collected our baggage and headed out to the rental car agency where we spent a few minutes getting the suv we were prepared to have for 2 full weeks. Once there Amy and Byron directed themselves and the car with the rest of us and cargo to our Condo at Waipouli Resort and Spa! It really was a seemless trip over there.
I won't go into great detail about the two full weeks on the island but I will say that Byron, Ty and I spent a ton of time on the beaches there, exploring the ocean, playing in the sand and just relaxing to the breeze, ocean sounds and smells. We swam in the lovely river pool at the condo which was equiped with waterfalls that you could swim under into caves, two slides and a toddler rock/sand bottom pool that was shallow enough for any toddler to swim, stand and jump into. We took many drives to the southern part of the island and Northern part of the island spending time in shops, eatting puka dogs, snorkeling, swimming with turtles and sipping on coconut milk. We spent time with Amy and Bob finding the Secret Beach (the most picturesque beach ever), Queens Bath, Spouting Horn, Lava Pools for snorkeling, and trying many different places to eat. What a great time!
I believe we all enjoyed the time on the island and were truely sad to leave. We spent Friday the 29th traveling home. Ty again was great on the trip home considering that we arrived to our house at 12:30 at night. Byron was smart to take the following Monday off, however I was the glutten for punishment and only had Saturday and Sunday to recouperate from the trip. Work again on Monday morning.
We take away from the trip wonderful memories, wants to enjoy the next time we go, and above all two weeks of much needed vacation. It truly was nice for Byron and I to be unconnected for two full weeks. I believe we only used our phone a few times and the iPAD was to pay the bills we were missing. We made it a point to not work and it worked we were relaxed!
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