Kauai Sunshine Makes Us Happy!

Ben and I took a trip to Kauai last week and left Maria in the good care of our friends and family (thanks Lindsey and Mark, Gma Lesli and Papa Art). It was very good to get away and was so much fun to explore the island and do so many of the things that we love to do while traveling. People kept asking us if we were on our honeymoon, and then were shocked to find that we were working on 9 years. I guess it was pretty obvious that we were having the time of our lives.

Some of the trip highlights:
--late night hottubbing at the hotel and swimming in the huge heated outdoor pools and watching the stars in the sky...and listening to the waves crash...pretty much like Heaven (I hope)
--eating fresh local fruit and fish and shave ice
--hiking up the Na Pali Coast on the Kalalau Trail to Hanakapi' ai Beach (only accessible by boat or helicopter or hiking trail) then blazing the treacherous (and REALLY MUDDY!) trail and crossing back and forth over the river to reach the falls at the top
--falling asleep on the beach in the SUN (ahhh, I can feel the warmth now!)
--snorkeling with the sea turtles at 'Anini beach
--looking for shells
--helicopter ride (This was amazing. Ben had a smile on his face the whole time!)
--kayaking up the Wailua River to then hiking to the falls and being chased (literally) by the rain, that won and caught us
--rope swings and cliff jumping --eating at open air and/or beach front restaurauts like Olympic Cafe (we ate there 3 x), oh and their Kuaui Hula Pie - just imaging a piece of pie that is about 8 inches tall made of layered chocolate and mocha or Kahlua-type ice cream, chocolate fudge and caramel loaded with coconut, and then topped with whip cream and surrounded by a thick oreo crust. It was better that I can even describe!!!
--seeing the dolphins and the majestic and beautiful Napali Coast from the Zodiac boat
--all the beauty of Kuaui!!! the flowers, and vines, and beaches, and trees and water - breathtaking, all of it.

To top it off, we had some extra good fortune on the trip (minus the rain, which follows us apparenlty) too, like making it to the airport on time and getting upgraded seats (for frizzle), getting a room upgrade from our one bedroom to a huge two bedroom (no one beds left, instead we could have brought 4 extra adults and they would have had a bed to sleep it), being given delish local fish from some people staying at the hotel people.

Like most of our other traveling adventures: We can't wait to get back and do it all again (this time with kayaking up the Napali and camping...anyone interested? We could child swap!)