KAUAI Final Day

On Sunday it was hard to believe our vacation was on its final day, but we had a wonderful time and were also looking forward to getting back to our kids again. We enjoyed another wonderful week at the branch in Hanalei.

After a yummy lunch, we went for a walk down to Queen's Bath that was about a mile walk from the condo. The ocean was still pretty calm, so the water level was pretty low and so clear. It was beautiful to see. We were a little bummed we couldn't swim, but it was still fun to see it. We saw a bunch of turtles as well. We knew it was time to head back when it started to rain.





Sunday evening after we finished packing and loading up all our luggage, we were able to visit some of the Forman's friends from church, the Isoms. They just returned from serving a mission in the Mexico City Temple. It was fun to see their beautiful home and listen to some neat stories.
At 7:30pm, we headed to the airport and were finally on our way home. The red-eye flight was a little rough- it was freezing cold, and we were on the non-reclining seats right across from the lavatory. We were excited when we finally got to Phoenix because they have airport chairs with no hand rails, so we were finally able to lay down & sleep before our next flight. We got home around 2pm and were so excited to see our cute kids! It was a wonderful, magical vacation and we were so happy that we were able to go- but we were so excited to be back home with our kids again!

Random thoughts about KAUI:

1- Hawaii definitely isn't the place for a great hair day. The humidity pretty much turned my hair into a big poofy frizzball for the whole trip. I only used my curling iron/straightener twice during our 9-day stay there & you couldn't tell anyway. The good news was that you didn't have to spend much time getting ready! I would pretty much wash my hair and pull it back out of my face. I definitely loved the quick & simple!

2- Sunburns cause swelling. I was pretty good about the sunscreen-but I hardly ever put it on my legs. Normally it's not a problem, I don't really burn, but the sun in Hawaii is strong! My legs were pretty swollen for the whole week- the swelling finally started to go down the last day. I wasn't loving the 'cankles' look. :) Next time, apply more sunscreen to legs! Another note- sunburns also cause cold sores.

3- Kauai is covered with CHICKENS! Apparently back during a hurricane, chickens were blown all over and to this day they are everywhere! Seriously! They're at every beach, and even at the top of the Waimea Canyon! The roosters are beautiful, and the baby chicks are so cute. At church, they told all the visitors- "do us a favor, take home a chicken!". It was pretty entertaining to watch them all over the island.
4- I've heard many other people say it, and I agree- Kauai is my favorite Hawaiian island. I know I haven't been to all of them, but Kauai is the least populated so there really aren't tons and tons of people. There is so much to do-even with 9 days, there was still a ton of things we didn't see and do. And the entire island is absolutely gorgeous- Waimea Canyon, Napali Coast, I could go on and on. I sure hope we can go back some day, I would love to take our kids!