One zillion photos from Kauai.

(I'm sorry if this post makes your computer scream bad words at you. Brevity has never been one of my strong points.)

We went to Kauai! This month! Which means I'm being a super awesome blogger & staying on top of life (sort of). It's still May! 

(I still have yet to do anything with our Europe photos from last summer. I guess I haven't hit my year mark on that one yet, so there's still a chance? #overwhelmed)

We had been thinking about a Spring 2012 just us trip for a long time. We felt like we were due, with Quinn a year & a half old, & us wanting-slash-needing some time away after what had been a really, really busy year for our family. When we decided that April / May would be good timing to go, it turned into a seven year anniversary trip! And then we found out that it would be a Babymoon Part Deux sort of trip. Happy reasons all around.

Q stayed home (I only cried once), enjoying lots of quality bonding time with Grandma Jan. We've thanked her in a half-dozen ways, & it still doesn't seem sufficient (especially since Q got his first-ever stomach bug 48 hours after we left, which meant middle-of-the-night-vomit-clean-ups, extra-icky diapers & trips to the pediatrician - enough to make the strongest of us cry uncle. Of course, she was cool as a cucumber & never once complained. We didn't worry for a second, although we did feel guilty). 

We loved Kauai. L-o-v-e-loved Kauai. It was just a lovely place to visit. So much less crowded / touristy / developed than the other Hawaiian islands we had visited (separately) & it was just laid back. We loved the pace & how nothing felt busy.  The people were incredibly friendly, we found some really delicious food (sea food, sea food, sea food!), & were so happy to have stayed on the North Shore. We loved the beaches, the lushness of the forests, & the dozen rainbows we'd see every day. We even liked the passing showers that came & went in between bursts of sun. 

A few friends recommended the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, & that proved to be our biggest & best resource while we were there (with the iPhone app, too!). Some of our favorite things we did during the week: 

We ate! A lot! Puka Dog (South Shore) had the most perfect hot dogs & fresh lemonade. I have an issue with hot dogs when I'm pregnant apparently, & these were so amazing with their pineapple & mango relishes + lilikoi sauce (not to mention the lemonade - lemon juice from half of a large lemon, lots of ice, lots of cold water & a whopping 1/4th cup of sugar. I've replicated it at home & it makes me so happy on a hot day). We liked Lappert's Gourmet Ice Cream (Princeville), & took advantage of the frequent opportunities for shave ice on many occasions (although I sort of don't get all of the hype - it's good but not life-altering). As passionate as people get about their favorite spots, we found good places all around the island (with Ono Ono Shave Ice being our first stop off of the airplane).

We really liked Wake Up Cafe in Hanalei for breakfast (the macadamia nut cinnamon roll was delicious), & The Dolphin in Hanalei was great enough that we went back twice (the best fish tacos I've ever had). We had a really interesting (healthy.) meal at The Garden at Common Ground amongst the beautiful scenery & all of our hippie friends, & loved their fresh juices & walking around the gardens from which they get their produce. Duane's Ono-Char Burger (south of Princeville) had a really fantastic burger (terriyaki sauce & fresh pineapple, of course), & eating at their concrete tables next to their shack just added to the... charm. We really loved Small Town Coffee in Kapaa for breafast bagel sandwiches & smoothies, & the nicest people worked there. I wanted to hug all of them before we left, except for the man who actualy made my breakfast. He was slow, & our helicopter was about to take off without us. 

Basically, 68% of our vacation planning is around food. I'm not ashamed.

But we really did do lots of other things! 

We went to the Hanalei branch for church on Sunday morning (the northernmost branch in the Hawaiian islands) & then set out to walk on Tunnels Beach (North Shore beyond Hanalei Bay). The rest of the week was spent doing various things - We loved Shipwrecks Beach (on the South Shore), & had fun watching (stalking?)  the girl who had her arm bit off by a shark surf (& jump off of a really big cliff!). The waves were beautiful, it wasn't crowded, & we could hop off the beach & walk around the Hyatt's beautiful pools. Driving through the eucalyptus tress that make up the Tunnel of Trees (to Poipu from Lihue) was really beautiful, & we the views walking around he Kilauea Light House were really spectacular. 

We napped on Ke'e Beach after doing the rigorous (cough, cough) 20-minutes-in hike on the Napali Coast trail (the full 22 miles is on the agenda for our next trip, when I will not be pregnant!), hiked down to Secret Beach, explored the Kukui'ula Farmer's Market, drove up Waimea canyon where we saw one zillion rainbows two feet in front of us, had a great anniversary dinner at Kauai Grill, enjoyed spectacular sunsets from our resort every evening, woke up way too early every day thanks to our internal clocks never quite getting switched over, watched & re-watched all of the little videos of Quinn that my mom would send, & went on a pretty spectacular helicopter ride around the island (an open-door helicopter - I'm not sure how Mike talked me into this, but it was so amazing). 

I'm so happy that we got to go. We really missed our little boy & kept talking about how much he'd love certain things. It was hard to break out of the How does that work with nap time? mentality, & my eyes were always darting to find a high chair when we walked into a restaurant. But it was freeing, & relaxing, & really wonderful. As much as I loved nursing Quinn for 14 months, I'm already just a little bit excited for the fall of 2013 as the next time we (I) can get away (gulp!!). I've also kindly requested that the next time I not be smack in the middle of the terrible chubby stage of pregnancy with two girlfriends the size of watermelons. Ugh.

Photos! I took a zillion, couldn't really narrow them down, & didn't have the time / patience / energy to do much of anything with them (including organize or caption them). Oh well! 

Aloha! Mahalo!