On the plane and ready to take off! Excited to say the least!
Our good little man watching WALLE on his new portable DVD player (our savior on 3 flights each way- a total of 8 flying hours and many more spent in airports! Thank you Grandma!) now, if only mama had handled the flights as well- WARNING: Pregnancy and flying DON"T mix! Especially if you are already prone to motion sickness! I left the contents of my stomach in many a paper bag- awful!
Roman and I at our poolside breakfast the first morning in the rain! Jer and his parent's went ziplining on the northside of the island but Roman enjoyed our low-key first day together exploring the groungd of the resort and looking at the ocean!
The view from our condo- yes, you can see the ocean over those buildings! It was beautiful! Our bedroom slider opened out onto our balcony and we left it open every night to listen to the ocean! So peaceful!
All gussied up for church (he is pretending to play a remote like a guitar)! We attended Kauai Christian Fellowship where some friends of my in-laws go. It was a nice service and Roman did great in the children's ministry. We went in to introduce him to the teacher before service but told her we would like to keep him with us during the worship. She told Roman it was pretty rock'n'roll and asked if he would like that. His response (with a completely straight face): "I like to move it, move it." It was priceless!
First time dipping our toes in the ocean (Grammy/Jodie my mother-in-law is the one next to Roman).
A night out! My in-law's treated us to a date night that was lovely! We had dinner at the Beach House at sunset- an AMAZING restaurant with service you can't imagine! Oh, and my 14 week baby bump was finally starting to show!
The view of the sunset from our table was breathtaking! You could literally watch the son slip beyond the horizon!
We also went to the Spouting Horn that evening (or the Sprouting Horn as my father-in-law refers to it). The water shoots up from a hole in the rocks 20 feet or more!
Here we are on a boat tour up one of the rivers to a place called Fern Grotto. The tour was cheesy (hosted by some guy who was in Blue Hawaii with Elvis in the 60s) and it was filled with a busload of elderly people from a cruise, but hey we got to see a few movie locations and it was just one of those tourist experiences you have to have!
Here we all are and the Fern Grotto is behind us.
Diggin' in the sand at Poipu Beach!
There were frogs (well toads I guess) and geckos everywhere in the evening hours- much to Roman's delight! He never wanted to touch them (thankfully) but he loved looking at them! I actually partially stepped on one one evening as we were heading back to our room, right after I had told Roman, "Watch for frogs!" I screamed! It was comical! The other thing in large supply on the island were wild chickens! EVERYWHERE! Crazy!
I spent an AMAZING morning at the Grand Hyatt Anara Day Spa! It was like nothing I have ever experienced or probably ever will again. Service you wouldn't believe and amenities to completely leave you in awe! This was the garden bungalow I had my massage in. From there I went for a pedicure and manicure in the salon- it was bliss! Merry Early Christmas to me!
The pool at our condo was great- you could wade in like walking into the ocean. The hot tub was also more of a luke-warm-tub so although it frustrated everyone else I was happy because I was actually able to go in! One evening they set up a large screen next to the pool and played Kungfu Panda- Roman loved swimming and watching one of his favorite movies at the same time!
One of our favorite restaurants was Duke's Canoe Club- they had suculent fish dishes, a great salad bar and Hula Pie to die for! They also had huge koi fish which Roman loved! My in-laws took this picture of us the night before they left.
Thanksgiving day we drove up the West Side of the island and found this amazing beach in the Polihale State Park- it is 17 miles long (the longest uninterupted beach on any of the islands) and has been the site of many a movie, including South Pacific.
From the beach we headed inland a bit to drive up to the Waimea Canyon (quite possibly the most curvy road I have ever been on in my life, which once again didn't help out the motion sickness!), but it was beautiful! Oh, and by the way, Roman is showing off his muscles in this picture!
Thanksgiving dinner was a fun luau at the Grand Hyatt, complete with shell leis and fire dancing! Roman loved the show and the food was delicious!
Here is Roman sticking a flower from his punch in my hair- yes, his idea!
Our last day we drove up to the Northside on the island where we found an amazing fish taco restaurant (they made their own corn tortillas to order- they were incredible!) along with a few caves...
...and waterfalls. It was a nice drive, even though it was pretty stormy, and it gave Roman a chance to nap since we had already checked out of our room.
We arrived at the airport at about 6:30pm after our final dinner at Duke's and awaited (or dreaded rather) our 9:30 flight. I was literally ready to either move their or swim home before boarding another airplane (I have found that my fear of sharks is far less than my dread of aerial decent while pregnant!), but I was told that that option was not viable so I eventually, and reluctantly made my way onto 3 more returning flights. We flew all through the night and got back around noon on November 30.Our trip was wonderful- much needed and long awaited... and we can't wait to go back!
