Vacation in Paradise: Part 7 of 8

Hula Shows and Sunsets were another highlight of the trip. We made it to a couple of different hula shows. One night, the family split up to partake in different activities. I, along with Maddie, Seth and April, and their 3 girls, decided we wanted to take a walk along the beach to see the torches light up at the nearby Sheraton Hotel. Additionally, we were going to take some pictures of the sunset, which was stunning. At the end of our walk, we stumbled across a Luau show that was taking place right alongside the public beach. Just our luck! We didn't have to pay the $100/person price for the show; we simply stood on the public beach and enjoyed it from the side. It was awesome!

We also went to The Grand Hyatt Hotel (which you really should check out online for yourself) for a fun Hula show. Brant was one of the lucky guys in the audience who was selected to learn how to hula. He was a great sport and got into it, shaking his hips and all! We all loved it, and secretly, I think he did too!

My favorite new picture of these two.

The setting was indescribable.

Wohoo!! Look at him go! He's such a good sport, and the cutest one up there! He didn't need to bring his baby girl up there to shake his hips, like the other guy in front of him. Ha!

Lastly, we went to a hula show put on in a local shopping mall. I jumped at the opportunity (along with two of my nieces) to learn the hula. I wasn't as cute as Brant, and let me tell you, it is a LOT harder than it looks!

Its all about the hips. Okay, and maybe the feet..and your core, too. Its hard!!

And, SNAP!!

My biggest fan...she thought I was THE BEST!! :)

Vacation in Paradise: Part 6 of 8

One of the best parts about being in Kauai is being there with your sweetheart. :) Brant and I thoroughly enjoyed being together in paradise, and even managed to get away from Maddie for an evening to ourselves! Below are an assortment of "Brant and Jackie Pictures," so if it is too much for you, I give you permission to skip ahead to the next post. But seriously, they are sweet and cute, so I encourage you to browse through anyway! And truthfully, there are still a few pictures in here with our baby girl as well...we did travel all the way to Kauai with her, after all!

Vacation in Paradise: Part 5 of 8

Besides spending time in the ocean, we spent a wonderful amount of time by the pool. The landscaping around our condo was lush and pristine; absolutely perfect. There wasn't a single weed or flower growing out of place. Everything was manicured to perfection, which made it even more desirable to play at the pool.

Maddie wasn't in the water too often (many times it was nap time!), but when she was, she enjoyed herself! The pictures explain themselves...

Vacation in Paradise: Part 4 of 8

We took some amazing drives to all ends of the island, including some hiking, although this was minimal due to the lack of any sort of baby back-pack, and 3 other children in tow. But we made the best of it, and enjoyed some beautiful sights!

One of our favorites was Waimea Canyon. The colors in this canyon were unbelievable. We were lucky to have seen the canyon at all, as we were told that often times, it is hidden behind clouds.

Funny story; as we were taking our pictures, seen here, Maddie was in her stroller nearby with Grandpa Dale. We finish taking pictures and look over in her direction, and there are 5-6 Japanese tourists surrounding her stroller. They are smiling and waving to her, as she is politely responding with smiles and waves. They are making several gestures to each other about her cute little hairstyle. The next thing we see, is one of the women kneeling beside her, putting up a "peace" sign with her fingers, and getting her picture taken with Maddie! Ha! It was too funny! Dale felt quite proud of his internationally famous granddaughter! :)

(Yes, he is proud to be awesome. Yes, he is awesome. And, yes, I did buy him this awesome shirt.

We took a little nature hike during lunch that the visitor center told us would be easy for children. Well, it was more than easy. It was only 700 ft long! :) We made the best of it and enjoyed the nature along the way

We drove a bit further, to a destination that was supposed to be the grandest on all the island. We were going to be looking over the Napali coastline, out into the Pacific Ocean, seeing as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately for us, the clouds took over, and we couldn't see a thing. Only white. This picture looks fake, but I kid you not. There is a steep, steep, steep cliff on the other side of Seth and Brant and it took your breath away as you tried to peer over the edge!

It was still a fun trail. The rain showers have eaten away the trail and molded it into this beautiful landscape. We hiked about 1/2 a mile down the trail, even though it went for 9 miles total. There just wasn't anything to see!

Hiking within the clouds!

Another fun destination we made it to was called, "Spouting Horn." This was only a few miles away from our condo on Poipu Beach. This is similar to Old Faithful at Yellowstone, only in the ocean! The waves come up underneath the rock, and spout up and out through a hole in the rock. Pretty cool!

We also made it to one of Kauai's waterfalls. We didn't get any closer than this, but it was still pretty to see. They have been in a bit of a drought, so the waterfalls have not been "up to par", as far as hawaiian waterfalls go.

Vacation in Paradise: Part 3 of 8

It was amazing how you would wake up in the morning, throw on your swimming suit, and truly be able to wear it until you went to bed that night, if you wanted to. It was so comfortably warm!! Here are an assortment of pictures from the various beaches we went to. They were all so different, varying in landscape, wave sizes, sand textures, snorkeling, kid friendly, and crowds. We really enjoyed them all thoroughly!

Hang loose! April and I, enjoying the easy life in Kauai.

Our 4-year-old niece, Zoie, loved to play in the sand!

Her cousin, Maddie, just loved to eat the sand! This is a rare picture of her not attempting to shovel it into her mouth!

This is the Napali coastline, and the mountains behind me (yes, they were directly behind me on the beach), are all a part of a larger backdrop to a mountain range, where scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed! Beautiful!

The Himes' crew, all getting splashed by the enormous waves!!

Look at how blue that water is! (Not to mention the hunk of a man in that blue water!!)

Our little beach baby.

Vacation in Paradise: Part 2 of 8

Many people have asked me what a typical day in Kauai was like for us. Truthfully, each day was vastly different, but as I describe them to others, they do sound a bit similar. I guess you would have had to have been there to really experience the differences in beaches, scenery, activities, etc. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking from this point on, with only a little commentary from me!

It is tradition for me to take a picture hugging a palm tree whenever I find the first available one in a climate such as this. It looks like I'll be taking a few more pictures like these when we head to California next week!

This is the pool at Poipu Kapili, the place we were staying at.

We had the left two units (top and bottom floors) pictured here. The accommodations were fantastic! Each unit had 2 master bedrooms, all with full baths, full kitchens and living spaces. We were able to keep our screen doors unlocked and move from unit to unit, no problem.

Our view from the patio. Nice!

Ahh, paradise, you are so sweet!

Vacation in Paradise: Part 1 of 8

Aloha! We are back from our vacation in paradise! We spent 10 days in glorious Kauai, Hawaii with Brant's entire family, and the vacation turned out to exceed our expectations, hopes and dreams. In other words, we had a fabulous time!! I'm so excited to blog about our trip, but to be perfectly honest, I'm also a bit overwhelmed at the thought. I have over 250 pictures to sort through and pick out the very best for the blog, and I just can't do it very well, but I'm going to do the best I can!

Brant, Maddie and I woke up in Princeton, NJ at 3:30am, on May 25th. It was terribly early, but we had enough adrenaline pumping through the veins to get us moving! We caught our first flight without a hitch in Newark, heading to Seattle. This was going to be my final exit from the east coast, and it was very fitting that while gaining altitude, we spotted the Empire State Building peeking through the clouds and glistening in the sunrise. Wow! What a way to say, "So long!"

Maddie had a great first flight, making friends with everyone she possibly could. For waking up so early, we were convinced she would snooze on the 5 hour flight. Wrong. She was such a little ham! It was really cute, but also kind of disappointing, because we were hoping to catch some naps in ourselves, in order to make it through our big travel day. She loves to play peek-a-boo (love is actually an understatement. She ADORES to play peek-a-boo!), and she was flirting and playing this game with a gentlemen sitting behind us. We could overhear him tell other passengers that it wouldn't be too long before she ended up in the seat with him. We took him at his word and passed her back! The two of them were SO happy to be together, and she didn't seem to notice that I was even around. He held her in his lap for about 45 minutes, letting her pull the cords on this headphones, play (and chew) on his i-phone, etc. It was awesome! I would continue to tell him, "Let us know when you'd like to give her back. We don't want to bother you." His response would be, "No, you let me know when you would like her back!" Brant and I enjoyed the little respite from her constant motion in our laps!

We made it to Seattle, where we had about 6 hours of layover time before our next flight. Our dear friend Kelsie, and her daughter Isla, came out to the airport to spend a few hours with us. It was so, so wonderful to see both of them, and so sweet of them to come all the way to Seatac just to hang out inside the airport! After we said our goodbyes, we headed back to our terminal where we were soon joined by the rest of the Himes' crew. It was such an exciting reunion, full of Hawaiian anticipation! :) Brant hadn't seen any of his family members since December, so it was really special for us all to be reunited in this way.

Our flight out to Kauai was long (another 5 1/4 hours), but particularly long because we were all anxious to get to paradise!! It was a difficult flight for our little family, because our bodies were telling us that we were 6 hours later than what the time really was. When we arrived in Kauai and went to sleep for the night (only 9:30pm local time), it was 3:30am to us, which in turn meant we had been awake and traveling for a total of 24 hours. UHG!! Team that up with an 11 month-old baby and you can imagine what fun we were having!

To get 11 individuals from various locations in the country together in Kauai, at the same time, without a glitch, is an amazing feat in and of itself! We had set the vacation scene up for success!

Read on to my next posts for our Hawaiian adventures, and pictures, too!!