Our Kauai trip was a dream. We had so much fun. The kids stayed with Aunt Kristine and some dear Palo Alto friends. We were gone 6 nights and loved every second of it.
This picture is from the Princeville Hotel's hammock right on the beach. We didn't stay there (it's about $400/night), but we did eat dessert there and snuck down to the pool and beach area and found the perfect spot for cuddling and listening to the waves.
Here's a run down of what we did:
Wednesday: Flew there (loved the plane ride with no kids :) rented our sweet car, found a farmers market, bought groceries, found our condo and watched season finale of American Idol.
Thursday: Snorkeled at Kee Beach, hiked to Queen's Bath, jumped off cliffs (we ran into the surfer girl that got her arm bit off by a shark there), played in a waterfall (we got sunburned the first day...stupid), ate at Bubba's burgers and walked around Hanalei.
Friday: Drove to Opekaa falls, drove to Wailua falls, hiked down a fun trail to the bottom and walked up the river to the bottom of the falls, drove to Kipu falls where we had so much fun jumping off cliffs (I even talked Kent into it) and swinging into the pond from the rope swing, then drove to Poipu where we saw the Spouting Horn, snorkled, and layed out...getting even more sunburned, drove around Koala and got a shave ice.
Saturday: Snorkled Tunnels. It was awesome, tons of fish and really cool coral and rock formations. Hiked the first leg of the Napali trail, 2.5 miles each way. The views of the Napali coast were spectacular. Princeville Hotel and sunset.
Sunday: Hideway beach in the morning, church, Fern Grotto, Lighthouse and secret beach and lava pools.
Monday: 17 mile ocean kayak along Napail Coast. Incredible. The most beautiful site we've seen in our lives. No pictures of that yet, we had our water camera. Highlights included: Kent throwing-up, 10-15 mile/hr head wind that made for a tough paddle, sleeping on the beach during our lunch break and my arms killing me by the end of the day. It was totally worth it.
Our sweet Pontiac G6 GT Convertible that only had 15 miles on it when we got it.
O.K. so you're probably thinking "why the random picture of a rooster?" Well, actually I could have taken a thousand pictures of roosters or chickens. They were literally everywhere that we went. Kent has a million dollar idea which he called the "Cockbusters" He said, "If your Cock is crow'in, who ya gonna call? Cockbusters!" He figured he would help slim down Kauai's out of control chicken population out by charing $5/head.
The Muir Woods was beautiful. It is about 20 minutes north of San Francisco. The kids loved walking along the path, getting side-tracked by things like spider webs, the wood railings, and each other....everything but the trees :) Jack was so excited when we saw this deer. 
Jordan actually fell asleep in the car driving from the Muir woods to the beach and surprisingly transferred to the beach. We laid her down on the blanket and she slept another hour. It was a little chilly when we got there, but it warmed up and we even got in the chilly northern California water and played in the waves. 
Jack LOVED this cement slide. You ride down on a piece of cardboard. He went down it over and over and over. It is located in this great children's park area of Golden Gate Park. I definitely want to take the kids there again. There is a great old carousal that we all rode on as well. 
Our Kauai trip was a dream. We had so much fun. The kids stayed with Aunt Kristine and some dear Palo Alto friends. We were gone 6 nights and loved every second of it.
