The second half of our trip was just as fantastic as the first. Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting at a local ward. It was a good meeting with really great speakers. After church we went to the pool and tried to catch a little sun. After Peyton's nap, we went to the beach by our hotel (Poipu beach). It had great waves for boogie boarding, and a really nice little beach for Peyton to play on. We stayed as long as it was sunny, then headed back home for dinner and games. On our way back, we stopped by this little shack for some shaved ice. It was amazing! It's not chunky like our shaved ice here- it's the same consistency as snow! Yum.
Monday we went to Waimea Canyon, dubbed by Mark Twain as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It's a 14 mile long, 1 mile wide, 3600 feet deep canyon in the middle of Kauai. It was beautiful! We were going to do a little hiking, but it was pretty cold and windy, so we chased the sun back to Poipu beach, where we stayed until dinner. We had dinner at home and rented a movie, then turned in early to rest up for our last day in Hawaii.
Tuesday I left Piper with Jade, and my mom took my sister, brother, Peyton and I on a GREAT excursion- we took a 30ft zodiac raft up and down the Na Pali coast. It was absolutely gorgeous! I can't wait to go back and hike it some day. On the way to the coast, we were followed by a pod of spinner dolphins! They were so close, I could have reached out and touched one. It was so cool. If there would have been more pods, we would have been able to get in the water and swim with them. I was more than a little disappointed that there was only 1 pod. I guess we'll just have to do it again sometime [soon]. On the way back, our boat captain spotted a breeching humpback whale, so he slowed down and let the whale (and its "escort" of bottlenose dolphins) come to us. Apparently they are really friendly and playful with the smaller boats, so they came to check us out. The whale kept a bit of a distance from us (about 200 feet), but the dolphins were all around us; jumping and flipping and popping their heads above water to check us out. It was a really cool experience. After the tour was over, we went back to the hotel to let Peyton nap, and then we went over to the beach and pool at the Marriott hotel. It was a great beach- next time we'll spend more time there. A monk seal had decided to go bask on the beach, so we got to check him out. He was so cute! Peyton really wanted to "go pet him", but she was smart enough to keep her distance. She also finally got her long-awaited pina colada, which was probably the highlight of her trip. That night we celebrated our last night in paradise with dinner at a great little local steakhouse.
Wednesday morning came all too soon. The flight was really long, and the girls were less-than-cooperative unfortunately. Somehow we made it through the 6 hour flight, and we were all VERY happy to be home.
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My little bug in her Sunday summer dress
(those sandals used to be my sandals!)
Kauai is known as the chicken island- there are millions of wild chickens all around the island. One of the locals told me that on Kauai they have chickens like on the mainland we have rabbits or squirrels. She was right! They were everywhere. This was a cute mom with her baby chicks.
Peyton loved being buried in the sand, and asked everyone to do it every time we were at the beach.
Peyton and daddy playing in the pool
My girlfriend Twink gave these to Piper- she said all the local babies wear just bloomers all the time. They are ADORABLE!
Her first time swimming!
Peyton did this hilarious game where she would get water from the ocean and pour it on her sand pile. She would get so frustrated when it would disappear, so she would go get more water. This continued for a good 20 minutes before she gave up. Lost cause, sweetie.
Peyton loves her uncle Jimmy
Waimea Canyon
That's me and Peyton on the front-right. There is nothing better than watching your kids seeing something amazing. All those dark blobs are spinner dolphins.
There were even a couple juvenile dolphins- about 3 feet long. I wanted to see a baby SO bad- they're only 12-18". No luck.
Our breeching whale
Bottlenose
On our last day there, Peyton met a friend- Peyton! The girls were only 4 days apart, too. How crazy is that? They were fast friends.
I wanted to kiss his face!
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