Christmas in Kauai and 13 months old

We had a really amazing last day in Kauai, which also happened to be Christmas.  We had dinner and found some lights outside around our condo on Christmas Eve and on Mayson's 13 month birthday, and then woke up in the morning to go on a long hike along the coast, starting at Shipwreck Beach and heading toward the beautiful eastern mountains along the golf course.  After a great nap (Mayson), and some sun time for us, we all had a fun time at the pool and headed out to see some of the other beaches along the coast past our stopping point from our hike.  We drove along a dirt road to get to the beautiful hidden beaches, but since the gates closed at 6:00, we headed over to Shipwreck Beach to see our last sunset of the trip.  Mayson loved crawling around in the sand and charming the other sunset viewers.  We had to get one last look at the Hyatt, so we stopped in on our way home to see the tiki torches, holiday lights, and hear some Christmas music. 

We felt so lucky to have such an amazing trip together.  Mayson did an incredible job traveling and seeing all the sights.  She had fun roaming around our condo, and loved going on hikes in her backpack.  She laughed and smiled at all the new people she saw, and loved being adventurous in the water.  We feel so lucky to have such a smiley, happy girl who loves to explore and is flexible to go with whatever schedule we give her(as long as we sing to her in the car).  What a fantastic way to end 2011!

 

Hyatt and Shipwreck Beach

One of our favorite things to do was to get up in the morning and go for a long walk.  Our top destination was the Hyatt so we could look longingly at their pools and grounds and pretend we were living large.  We checked out their fish pond and parrots and took a walk along the cliffs near Shipwreck Beach outside the hotel.  We'll stay there one day :)

Waimea Canyon

We made the most of a rainy Waimea Canyon visit and loved seeing the rainbows as the clouds cleared!  We drove up to the canyon lookout and were blown around by the wind, so we had a picnic in the car instead.  Mayson loved her apple-bananas that we found at all the farmers markets!  We drove down lower and found sun and a great lookout by a military base that looked out between an amazing canyon to the ocean.  We had a little hike down into the canyon for about a mile and then celebrated the workout at Jo Jo's Shave Ice.  Keri recommends the coffee flavor. 

Polihale Beach

We have had some great sunny weather, but you never know when a serious rain shower is going to happen, as we found out the hard way during our Monday morning walk.  Totally sunny one minute, then us running along the street soaked to our skin trying to find a tree for shelter.  Later, we found incredible sun at Polihale Beach at the end of the road on the west side of the island.  Incredible beach below the Napali coast cliffs!  Amazing.  We found a little side beach so Mayson could play and she loved every minute of the water and sand.  On the way back we had a great happy hour at Kalipaki Joe's right next to our condo.  Mayson charmed the people around us by waving and doing her "yell" where she does a round of quick screams/grunts.  Keri taught her that.  Anyway, if they let us back in, I'm sure we'll be spending many more evenings there before we leave.

Exploring the South Side

After a fantastic morning sitting in the sun (during nap time) and stocking up on supplies in town on Friday, we spent Saturday checking out the pool, nearby beach, and driving west to Hanapepe.  First, we started off our dream day taking a jog toward the Hyatt near Shipwreck Beach.  We hiked around some of the lava cliffs and then had a great breakfast before naptime.  Later, Mayson loved playing in the pool with Keri and her floaty toy.  She screamed and laughed like crazy while Keri swung her around the pool.  I have never seen her that excited for such a long time period.  She loved the water!  Then when we took her down to the beach by the condo at Poipu Beach Park, she loved that even more, if possible!  The park is a quick 5 min walk from our condo and has a great shallow swimming area for kids.  When we arrived, people were in the water checking out a gigantic sea turtle.  Mayson jumped into the water and wanted to keep diving in.  She had no fear!  She was crawling all over the beach and wanted to head into the ocean.  We called it good when the rain came in out of nowhere, and spent the later part of the afternoon driving west to a beautiful look out near the tiny (and sunnier) town of Hanapepe.