But let's get to the not so exciting part of the month first :) At the beginning of November I had the awesome opportunity to go with a girl from church to Bellingham to hear a lecture given by Noemi Ban, a holocaust survivor. She was in Auschwitz and lost her grandma, mom, sister, and baby brother. It was inspiring to listen to her story and hear her message of love and forgiveness. It was such a great experience. After, Andrea and I went and got some Thai food and I tried a new soup that I love (Tom Kha!
Rusty and I went scuba diving in the sound again! We just went to the same place because it was our first time on our own, but we stayed down there for a long time! The deepest we went was 37 feet. We saw all kinds of things like jellyfish, lots of crab, all kinds of different fish, and shrimp. I loved swimming in the little schools of fish and feeling like I was one of them. It is so cool to be able to go into that world! I love it! We had a couple of funny things happen and we surfaced once at a buoy to talk about what we wanted to do and we ended up just laughing hysterically about everything that was happening. It's so funny to not be able to talk and to see each other in that gear hahahaha. It's the best. Also, when we decided to ascend I wanted to practice hovering in place so I was trying to go really slow and Rusty blew past me! Eventually I got up to the top and he was just cracking up. He said that I was just staying right on the bottom kicking and not going anywhere haha. We had a good laugh about that for a long time.
We had a little mini-Thanksgiving before we left on our trip and it was delicious! It was Henry's first so that made it that much more fun. My parents were here which was really fun, too and my mom and I had to run to Deseret Book so the boys were in charge of finishing up the dinner! And they did a fabulous job! Woo hoo!
HAWAII! Oh man. This was such a fabulous trip. We spent a little less than a week in Kauai before spending a week in Maui. Kauai was during November so I'll talk about that one here.
Sunday, November 22
We had an early flight so got up early and got on the road! We made it to the parking place and then to the airport with no problems at all and ahead of schedule. Right when we made it to the gate they were offering priority boarding so we got right on the plane. Henry did SO good on the flight, I think I had a harder time than he did! He continues to flirt with every girl he sees, especially brunettes. There was a flight attendant that he particularly liked and she adored him. Henry didn't make a single squeak but was just so happy to play. Everyone commented on how good he was and that if their babies had been so good they would have had 6 more! Even the stupid teenage girls behind us stopped their stupid comments of how they were going to have to listen to a crying baby for the whole flight, and how babies drool so much because they don't know how to close their mouths after a while because they saw how good H was. I still wanted to turn around and punch them though.
We had an early flight so got up early and got on the road! We made it to the parking place and then to the airport with no problems at all and ahead of schedule. Right when we made it to the gate they were offering priority boarding so we got right on the plane. Henry did SO good on the flight, I think I had a harder time than he did! He continues to flirt with every girl he sees, especially brunettes. There was a flight attendant that he particularly liked and she adored him. Henry didn't make a single squeak but was just so happy to play. Everyone commented on how good he was and that if their babies had been so good they would have had 6 more! Even the stupid teenage girls behind us stopped their stupid comments of how they were going to have to listen to a crying baby for the whole flight, and how babies drool so much because they don't know how to close their mouths after a while because they saw how good H was. I still wanted to turn around and punch them though.
We landed and took the shuttle to the rental car place. It was a chore to move around with that much stuff haha! We got our car, a Charger, and right as Rusty was pulling it out there were a few chickens standing right in the road. I remembered that people said there were lots of chickens in Kauai, but for some reason I didn't really believe them I guess. And nobody told me how hilarious it is! Hahaha. I asked the worker why there are so many chickens and he said that a hurricane in 1992 set loose a bunch of fighting chickens and they just went everywhere! Now there are 6 chickens to every 10 people. Holy lots of chickens.
After we got our car we started driving to the resort. Dad put the address in his phone, but it took us to the middle of nowhere by some Healthy Hut place. So he called the resort to get directions and he couldn't pronounce anything. Each time he tried to tell the lady where we were at he would pronounce it differently hahaha. We were all dying! Eventually we got all checked in and were so happy to find that our room not only had a view of the ocean, but that you just walk right out and you're on the beach! It's perfect.
We unpacked for a little bit and then we went and had delicious lunch at the Olympic Cafe (recommendation by a worker at the Shave Ice place). I think that we all thought we had gone to heaven as soon as we put those coconut shrimp into our mouths. It got even better when we got our food. Dad and I had Kalua pork sandwiches and Rusty had the kalua pork burrito, and Mom had a salad. Then for dessert we had macadamia nut pie! Oh my heavens. So good. We walked around downtown a little bit too.
Then we went and checked out the beach. Henry wasn't in his swim suit but he wanted to go in so badly he took his first steps towards the water! We let him play in it and get a little wet and he was ecstatic. Rusty and I thought that he would love the beach, but I feel like we really underestimated it. He was STOKED. After we put Henry to bed Rusty and I took a walk on the beach at night. It was so nice to be out there all by ourselves. That beach was never busy at all. On our way back we saw this crazy dancing lady who was all over the sand. We just walked really quickly past her haha.
Monday, November 23
This morning we woke up really early, the two hour time change was a little problematic for us, and saw a big lightning storm coming in off of the ocean. We decided that since we wanted H to stay in and have a low key day (and my parents wanted to stay in too) it would be a good day for Rusty and I to go do our Hanakapi’ai Beach hike. Everything we had read said that this was a pretty intense hike so we knew that we didn't want to take H on it. And after doing it I'm really glad we didn't! It's not the worst one I've ever done, but it was really muddy and slippery, and at times there's not a trail at all really. Right before you get to the beach you have to cross a stream by jumping from stone to stone. None of that would have been good with H on our back! But the hike was awesome. It was 4 miles round trip, and although it was a little cloudy we still got to see great views of the Na Pali Coast. And the clouds really helped to keep the temperature down which we both appreciated. :) We got to the beach and hung out for a little while enjoying it before turning around and heading back. I had read that you definitely cannot swim here because the currents are so strong that you will get pulled back. And let me tell you: they weren't kidding. Rusty and I just walked in the water up to mid-calf and we had to get out because it was making us lose our balance! Holy cow! I've never been in anything like that.
After our hike we got a shave ice from Jo Jo's, the best place on Kauai. Seriously. Only go there. We also got some lunch from a little chain there called L&L Hawaiian BBQ. Then we drove back home and took Henry so that my parents could have some time to themselves. The three of us went and walked on the path that ran parallel to the beach and then went swimming at the beach right by our place. Henry went crazy! This was the first time we really let him in all of the way, and he was splashing and kicking and squealing like crazy. It was such a wonderful thing to get to see that! Oh man. It was perfect.
This morning we woke up really early, the two hour time change was a little problematic for us, and saw a big lightning storm coming in off of the ocean. We decided that since we wanted H to stay in and have a low key day (and my parents wanted to stay in too) it would be a good day for Rusty and I to go do our Hanakapi’ai Beach hike. Everything we had read said that this was a pretty intense hike so we knew that we didn't want to take H on it. And after doing it I'm really glad we didn't! It's not the worst one I've ever done, but it was really muddy and slippery, and at times there's not a trail at all really. Right before you get to the beach you have to cross a stream by jumping from stone to stone. None of that would have been good with H on our back! But the hike was awesome. It was 4 miles round trip, and although it was a little cloudy we still got to see great views of the Na Pali Coast. And the clouds really helped to keep the temperature down which we both appreciated. :) We got to the beach and hung out for a little while enjoying it before turning around and heading back. I had read that you definitely cannot swim here because the currents are so strong that you will get pulled back. And let me tell you: they weren't kidding. Rusty and I just walked in the water up to mid-calf and we had to get out because it was making us lose our balance! Holy cow! I've never been in anything like that.
After our hike we got a shave ice from Jo Jo's, the best place on Kauai. Seriously. Only go there. We also got some lunch from a little chain there called L&L Hawaiian BBQ. Then we drove back home and took Henry so that my parents could have some time to themselves. The three of us went and walked on the path that ran parallel to the beach and then went swimming at the beach right by our place. Henry went crazy! This was the first time we really let him in all of the way, and he was splashing and kicking and squealing like crazy. It was such a wonderful thing to get to see that! Oh man. It was perfect.
That night mom and I stayed at home and watched some TV and relaxed while the boys went grocery shopping. They came home completely shocked by how much everything cost! And after we saw it we were too. Ouch.
Tuesday, November 24
Tuesday we were up early again, about 5 because that's 7 our time. It really wasn't too bad though because we were all in bed by around 8 every night haha. Rusty, Henry and I went out to watch the sun rise on the beach by our place. It was so beautiful. I haven't seen as many sunrises in my life as I would like to, but many they never disappoint.
Then we all got ready and went to Tunnels Beach! This was something that I really wanted to do but because it is on the north side of the island I wasn't really sure if we would be able to. During this time of year the waves are so big there that you often can't go in the water. So I checked the ocean conditions and it seemed ok, and when we got there I asked the lifeguard. When he said we would be ok to snorkel there I was so happy! Tunnels has tons and tons of lava tubes and it is just amazing. It's a great scuba diving location, but they don't take anyone here in the winter. And while we did get to go out, we didn't go very far so we really didn't explore the vast majority of it! It is definitely something that we want to come back and do. It was so cool to see the little canyons that we did see though. The highlight for me was definitely seeing a sea turtle! My main goal for Hawaii was to see a sea turtle, and while we were at Tunnels I looked up and saw this shadow coming at me. And it was a turtle! I got so, so excited and just started swimming next to it. It took all of my control to not touch it. It was wonderful!We saw tons of fish, cool coral and lots of these tube fish that swam right by our faces. I think one of the best things though was watching my mom and dad get in the water with their snorkel gear on haha. Oh, and Rusty fell in! YES. We are pros.
Henry played in the ocean again here and went nuts. His arms and legs were flailing around and he was squealing and having so much fun. He seriously loves girls so much though that he stopped playing to look up and smile at two girls as they walked by and then started playing again after they left. What on earth will I do with him when he's older?
We got out and had to go back home because we had a helicopter flight! Woo hoo! Rusty surprised me on our way back and bought a big coconut drink. It looked so cool, but neither Rusty nor I were super sold on the taste. It's just so rich! But Mom bought one and drank her whole thing and then helped to polish off ours haha. She loved it. We raced home, showered super quickly, and went straight to the helicopter place. The helicopter ride was insane! It was better than any of us had imagined it would be, and Mom and Rusty got the front seats! And of course, H did great. The first half he spent looking out the window and the second half he played with some toys. When we very first got up we saw a humpback whale and then we just went straight up over these mountains. The pilot loves motocross too so he pointed out some track to Rusty, who was thrilled and turned around and mouthed "Let's move here, K?" We went and saw Jurassic Falls and then dropped down into Waimea Canyon. Holy cow! So incredible! We also saw Wailua Falls, the Na Pali Coast (and the beach we hiked to yesterday!!), Tunnels Beach, and the wettest place on earth in the center of the crater! Not too shabby! The pilot took us back into Warrior Canyon and we got so close to the walls of the canyon right next to a waterfall that we all got super nervous. Mom even tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out the window haha.
Dropping down into Waimea Canyon
Jurassic Falls!
The Na Pali Coast
These colors are unreal!
Waterfall in Warrior Canyon
The Na Pali Coast again... this was my favorite thing
Tunnels Beach
The wettest place on Earth: Waialeale
After our amazing helicopter we went and got dinner at a little food truck called Al Pastor. I got the Ahi tacos and Rusty got shrimp tacos and we traded so we both had one of each. I don't think I have ever had a better fish taco. Ever. It was so fresh and delicious, light and not oily or fatty. It was so, so good! And it just tasted like the fish was caught right off the beach where they were parked. While we were eating we saw this guy come and start unloading these big, giant tunas that he had caught for them! So cool.
Wednesday, November 25
Woo hoo! Wednesday was our day to go scuba diving. Rusty and I were all set to do two shore dives from Koloa Beach. The wet suits were a lot thinner than the ones we have here, and were made differently so both Rusty and I ended up putting ours on backwards.... whoops. That's embarrassing. Well, we got down for the first dive and I remember just being shocked at how great the visibility was! It really was like being in a swimming pool again. It was so light and clear! We started going and saw all kinds of cool coral that was pink, orange, and purple. We also saw tons of different fish like cornet fish (some were four feet long!!), frog fish, scorpion fish, a porcupine puffer fish, and a few eels. There were some sea cucumbers, a big giant green sunburst sea star and some nudibranchs, which are neon sea slugs. They were super cool! One of the ones we saw was called Scrambled Eggs. And, we saw two sea turtles :) It was awesome! The second drop down there were these huge long cornet fish and a sea turtle just hanging out right there, I didn't want to leave! We did so good on air consumption that our dives were really long and he said we got to go further than most people usually do. It was really cool to be able to look up and see huge layers of reefs with all of that life. Such a cool experience.
Woo hoo! Wednesday was our day to go scuba diving. Rusty and I were all set to do two shore dives from Koloa Beach. The wet suits were a lot thinner than the ones we have here, and were made differently so both Rusty and I ended up putting ours on backwards.... whoops. That's embarrassing. Well, we got down for the first dive and I remember just being shocked at how great the visibility was! It really was like being in a swimming pool again. It was so light and clear! We started going and saw all kinds of cool coral that was pink, orange, and purple. We also saw tons of different fish like cornet fish (some were four feet long!!), frog fish, scorpion fish, a porcupine puffer fish, and a few eels. There were some sea cucumbers, a big giant green sunburst sea star and some nudibranchs, which are neon sea slugs. They were super cool! One of the ones we saw was called Scrambled Eggs. And, we saw two sea turtles :) It was awesome! The second drop down there were these huge long cornet fish and a sea turtle just hanging out right there, I didn't want to leave! We did so good on air consumption that our dives were really long and he said we got to go further than most people usually do. It was really cool to be able to look up and see huge layers of reefs with all of that life. Such a cool experience.
After that we all came home and the boys took a nap while Mom and I went to the beach and then got shave ice from the place next to our condo (definitely not as good as Jo Jo's) and ate it at the Koi pond.
Thursday, November 26
Today was a really cool day, and something that was pretty different from what you think of when you think about Hawaii. We got up early (still on our time so we just left after we woke up haha) and drove out to the west side of the island to go see Waimea Canyon. We stopped at the town before the state park and got lunch at L&L BBQ again, but this time we got the coconut shrimp and that is definitely the way to go. It was so good! Anyways, we drove out and stopped at a few lookouts. It is so incredible! It's called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and I can see why. The walls are sheer and the dirt is red with lots of green vegetation growing everywhere and waterfalls sprinkled throughout. It is so gorgeous.
Rusty and I did a little hike at one of the look outs as well. Mom and Dad went for a little bit and then headed back while we continued on for a little ways to a lower lookout. The place we really wanted to get to seemed to be quite a few more miles than we had anticipated and Henry was sleeping so we thought it would be best just to head back and not keep my parents waiting. It was fun to hike somewhere so different and to see some of those views!
After our hike we hunted for two more lookouts we really wanted to see, but we couldn't find them and we thought we were going to run out of gas haha. So we had to turn around. That night we looked it up and we were only four miles away when we turned around! Darn it! But we stopped and got delicious shave ice at Jo Jo's with macadamia nut ice cream at the bottom and sweetened condensed milk on top... JO JO'S FOR LIFE!!!!!
Today was a really cool day, and something that was pretty different from what you think of when you think about Hawaii. We got up early (still on our time so we just left after we woke up haha) and drove out to the west side of the island to go see Waimea Canyon. We stopped at the town before the state park and got lunch at L&L BBQ again, but this time we got the coconut shrimp and that is definitely the way to go. It was so good! Anyways, we drove out and stopped at a few lookouts. It is so incredible! It's called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and I can see why. The walls are sheer and the dirt is red with lots of green vegetation growing everywhere and waterfalls sprinkled throughout. It is so gorgeous.
Waimea Canyon
Henry's shark hat!!
H loved the leaves
Dad entertained himself by trying to take selfies haha
And mom mingled with the locals
Our last full day in Kauai finally arrived :( We had been so lucky Woke up, had breakfast, hung around, took a nap, then left for the beach. We didn't get going until about noon which was by far the latest for us for this trip! I drove to waimea where we stopped for some lunch, subway, before heading on to polihale beach. It's the longest beach on the island. You have to go through 5 miles of poorly maintained dirt roads to get to the beach. You can see the Na Pali coast right from the beach! We played in the water and tried body surfing. The currents were so strong that we were dying. We figured out that if you just floated you could go down like a lazy river. Mom and dad tried and did not do well haha. Mom rolled right up to this couple and then dad tried to jump over her and fell in. We knew the sunsets were supposed to be great there but didn't want to stay so long in case Henry got upset because we had a long drive home. We ended up stopping at s blank sand beach in waimea to watch the sun set.
Saturday, November 28
Saturday was kind of a sad day because we had to leave Kauai, but it was also a fun day because we got to go to Maui! We were so happy that we weren't going back home already. For breakfast we went to Kountry Kitchen and had fresh pineapple ginger juice, an omelete, and fluffy pancakes with coconut cream syrup. YUM. Then on our way to the airport we stopped at Wailua Falls and Opaeka'a Falls and they were so pretty! Definitely great stops to end our time in Kauai!
Saturday was kind of a sad day because we had to leave Kauai, but it was also a fun day because we got to go to Maui! We were so happy that we weren't going back home already. For breakfast we went to Kountry Kitchen and had fresh pineapple ginger juice, an omelete, and fluffy pancakes with coconut cream syrup. YUM. Then on our way to the airport we stopped at Wailua Falls and Opaeka'a Falls and they were so pretty! Definitely great stops to end our time in Kauai!
Wailua Falls
Opaeka'a Falls
Henry's Highlights
- He is moving all over the place! He rolls around on the ground, gets up on hands and knees and rocks back and forth, and can pull himself to standing (not very often, but enough that we moved the crib lower). I put him down on the ground and come back to find him in a completely different place! He is getting faster too, so I am having to think about things on the ground that he could get into. He's getting mobile!
- He loves the song Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We're Going to the Moon, loves to play the piano, and loves to eat! He eats everything we put in front of him except for green beans and avocados.
- Henry can pick up things to eat really well, and doesn't really like to be fed as much as he likes to feed himself now. He is eating cheerios now (which is for some odd reason a huge deal in my head for how old he is!) and loves to feed himself. He'll fight you for the spoon, but he mostly just plays with it haha.
- He loves to blow bubbles (sometimes when he's eating which is not fun), loves to stand with help, and still chews on everything. Henry also loves to watch the washer and dryer going.
- WE HAVE TEETH! He has two on the top and two on the bottom. The top ones and one of the bottom ones came within a week, and then the other bottom followed about two weeks later. I do miss the gummy smiles, but these toothy grins kill me. So cute.
- He still sleeps like a crazy rolling all over the place. He prefers to sleep on his tummy, just like Mommy!
- He loves to throw things on the ground and bang things on the floor or table. He sits in his high chair now, like a big kid!
First time
- He still babbles and does a lot of squealing. A LOT of squealing.
- He started to crawl! It's like a mixture between army crawling and a side winder thing, but while we were in Kauai he started moving! Woo hoo! This anxious mommy's heart feels a lot better.
- He also started to walk when we hold his hands. This also happened in Kauai. Our first night that we were there we took H down to the beach for his first time in a warm ocean and he got so SO excited that he started walking towards the water! Such a cutie.
- He still clenches his little fists like he is grabbing the air when he really wants something, usually when he is hungry and wants to eat what he is looking at. This is one of my favorite things that he does.
- Extra pictures because I cannot help it.
Fun day at the park
My little Henrrrrritttto!!!
Got a little tent for Hawaii and set it up. H loved it!
Off to church with my handsome men
My loves
But seriously I love them.
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