Fall Break: Part IV

We started the next day hanging out at the hotel pool. Our resort had three pools, but the main pool was under renovation. That's ok because the view from this smaller pool was amazing. You could see the ocean from beyond the pool.

In the afternoon we headed to the beach so the kids and dads could take surfing lessons. This was a lot of fun to watch and Amber and I took plenty of photos and videos. 

Everyone did their best and I believe they all got up at least one time. Some got up more than others, but this was a hard sport to learn.

The next morning I cut up our local Hawaiian fruit that we bought earlier in the week at the farmer's market. I cut up star fruit, dragon fruit and guava and Max ate it out on our deck for a morning snack.

Here's the view from our deck.

We then went back to the beach and rented surfboards and boogie boards for the kids to spend the afternoon in the ocean. 

The last day was spent in the pool.

After a few hours at the pool, we headed into town for some souvenirs, fresh poke and we had to get one more shave ice. 

The shave ice was such a treat. We found the best shave ice on the south side of the island where they used fresh pressed fruit juice and topped it with fresh fruit. The ice cream at the bottom of the bowl was so good too. I don't think any of the other shave ice places that we had (and we had quite a few) could beat the south side location.


It was such a fun framily Fall break. It was time to head to the airport for our overnight flight back to Phoenix. I love the memories we are making with our kids. They will always remember these times together. I know I will! 

Fall Break: Part III

 The next day was supposed to be a strenuous hiking day to a beautiful waterfall. Andy woke to having stomach problems so it was a no hike day for our family. Our friends went on the all day hike while we went to Anini beach next to our resort.

This was a very quiet beach and it was another beautiful day. 

Max and Andy snorkeled for a bit. Andy said it wasn't very good snorkeling so we lounged on the beach and took a nice nap.

We packed lunch and plenty of snacks to tide us over for the day.

Shortly after we woke from our naps we noticed baby crab all around us. They kept popping up out of the sand and moving about. These little guys were super fast and blended in with the sand.

The next day we headed to the south side of the island for a boat tour of the Napali Coast. Of course, Mr. Max fell asleep on the way to the other side. This kid can sleep anywhere.

We had matching shirts for our framily. We were supposed to wear these on the difficult hike, but since we all didn't make that hike we wore the shirts on the boat tour. Unfortunately, I do not have the group photo to share, but here is the three of us. 

I was looking forward to this tour due to the beautiful pictures I saw online. The best part was that we booked the boat for just our framily. None of us enjoy being on a tour with a bunch of random strangers. Notice the beautiful blue water.

On the way to the snorkeling site, the driver noticed a group of dolphins jumping and playing in the water so he sped towards them. They were all around our boat just swimming and playing. 




The kids and dads snorkeled for a bit and saw a turtle. Max said that was the highlight of his trip. I was all excited about snorkeling, but with the water temp at 75 degrees, I didn't make it longer than two minutes. I can't do cold water so I stayed on the boat with Amber and took this cool photo. 

We got back to the boat launch as the sun was going down. It was gorgeous. 

It was just another couple of days in paradise.

Fall Break: Part II

We started the day off with breakfast at this five-star resort and the views were amazing.

I even captured a rainbow over the ocean.

Besides the view, the food was also really good. I ordered the gluten-free lemon ricotta pancakes. It was so good and probably the best breakfast I ever had. The guava mimosa was also fantastic!

After breakfast, we went for a walk to check out the beautiful beach. 

We found some swings while we waited for the cars from the valet.

We had our first excursion this day where we went on tubes through the plantation tunnels and the adventure ended with a picnic lunch. Even though this excursion was with other random people and the water was refreshingly cold it was a lot of fun.

On the drive out to the tubing site, they stopped to show us the filming area for Jurassic Park, or at least that's what our guide told us.

For dinner, we went to a local pizza joint. They seated us at the counter where we watched them make the pizzas and small plates. This was the highlight of Max's day. He was so into watching the food being prepared. He kept asking us to go back there for dinner. 

Fall Break: Part I

 For Fall break this year we traveled to Kauai, Hawaii with our framily. It was a direct flight from Phoenix and about a 5.5-hour flight. It felt very long, but we arrived and were excited to start the vacation. Once we got our bags we waited a long time for the dads to get the rental minivan that we always get for the framily, but Andy pulled up in a convertible Camaro and surprised Max. Since all of us could not fit each family rented a Camaro. Max was super excited. And this kicked off the start of our vacation.

The first morning Max and I woke up and walked to Starbucks for drinks, fruit and a beautiful view of the sunrise.

We rented the kids' boogie boards and headed to the beach.

On the second day, we went to the local farmer's market in the morning where we got some fresh fruit to try later in the week. Max also got some Hawaiian BBQ pork on a stick amongst some other snacks.

We headed to Tunnels beach for the afternoon. Now this beach was beautiful and Andy said the snorkeling was good due the reef. 

As you know, Max can sleep anywhere and that includes Tunnels beach. We had to move his head from one side to the other while he was sleeping so his face wouldn't get burned. 

We had family pictures that night and you can see a sneak peek of the pictures on their blog here: 

https://karmahill.com/koechel-kauai-family-portrait/   

Since we were all dressed up we headed to the Bistro for dinner. I will say this was the best meal I probably ate all week. It was the catch of the day prepared perfectly. We also had prosciutto and goat cheese balls for the appetizer and bacon-wrapped scallops. It was so good. Plus their drinks were great too!