St. Patties

Happy St. P's Day. We did our tradition of spraying the boys hair green and colored the boys milk and oatmeal green. They were pretty happy!

Sledding

Our winter is slowly coming to an end so we had to hurry and use some sledding tickets. It wasn't the best of conditions but we don't care, we had a blast hangin with Grandpa Scott, and our friends. After ward we ate at a yummy Mexican Restaurant in Heber.

Disney On ice

We made our trip to the Disney on Ice show. Matt had mutual so he was pretty bumed he couldn't go ;) Kids had a blast. Grandma Judy, Amanda & Nate, Olivia and Kaelyn joined us for the fun.











The boys are all smiles after they got their $12 snowcone. Grandma Judy is a sucker for those things.

Kauai Video

Here is our video from Hawaii for those that are interested. A heads up, this video is 15 min long and contains some of the same pictures on our blog posts. So, to some it might be boring. Enjoy.

Kaua'i - Our Anniversary Trip

In June Matt and I will have been married 10 years. We've always wanted to do a Hawaii trip on our anniversary, so a couple months ago Matt surprised me with a booked trip to Kaua'i, Hawaii. We have some great friends, the Beckstrands that were all over the idea too, so they came with us to make it even more of a party! We arranged the sitters for the kids and we were off! Thanks so much to our family that helped with the kids - WE LOVE YOU!



We arrived in Hawaii in the evening and went to get our rental car. Matt and Brant went to get the rental car. Matt gave a warning to us that it was going to be tight because he reserved the cheapest car available - a Geo Metro or something equal. Well, the boys came to pick us up in a 4 door Jeep Wrangler - with the top down - What a way to start off the vacation - and yes it was totally worth it. The first stop was Costco, which Matt had researched before, so we could stock up on snacks and goodies. We then headed to the city of Poipu to our hotel The Sheraton.



First thing we did the next morning was wake up at like 4am. Yes we were a little confused with the time over there. It worked out great though because Matt and I headed for our daily run. Not knowing really where we were going, we asked the fellow at the front desk where we should go. He directed us to the Spouting Horn, which is a natural ocean blow hole. It was a PERFECT run. Along the beach road with waves crashing, bright stars and the fact that we were running at sea level was amazing.



The first day of our vacation we headed for the beach. Our friends had told us about a secret beach that not many people know about - only the locals. We headed over there. We felt like we were on our own oasis. We had to play mission impossible to get there (passed over some private property) but we made it there. One thing that is great about Hawaii is that there are no private beaches. No one can say a thing to you if you are on the beach. The water was a perfect temperature and very clear. We basically just chilled for the day. We rented some snorkeling gear for the week and covered a lot of ocean with it.





Kauai is known for rain. You're pretty much guaranteed to get some rain - depending on where you are on the island. Day 2 presented just that. We didn't let it damper our plans at all though. We cruised around the island in the jeep to get to know it a little better. We were amazed. We drove to a town called Princeville, on the other side of the island. This is where the famous Na'Pali coast starts. We toured a couple of hotels and went to our favorite one the St. Regis. It was beautiful. As we are sitting there looking around you can see whales in the distant ocean blowing water and breaching from the water. It was amazing. We rented a volley ball at the St. Regis and played volleyball for a while. We then hiked around the beaches and chased the crabs that were all over the place.



If you look closely in this picture you can see a whale in the distance that was breaching. Matt was lucky enough to get some shot of him.




Here's a picture of a local on his paddle board. They guys were loving the big waves.


This was one of our favorite grill/sandwich shops we found. We like it so much, we ate lunch here twice!


We then decided to hike up the Na'Pali coast to Hanakapia beach and then on to Hanakapia waterfall. It was a very rugged 8 mile hike. To make things worse, it had rained for most of the morning there so the trail was very muddy and slippery. We had to cross the raging Hanakapia river. This was kind of nerve racking because the water was to our chest at places. We made it just fine however - we even saved a group of people at the lower river. They thought they couldn't cross because of the river, but we helped them - they were pretty grateful.





We made it all the way to the top.


On day three, it was a little rainy again. We decided to head up to Princeville because we weren't able to see everything we wanted to. We headed to famous light house and then to a place called the Queen's Bath. Both places were gorgeous!




Our favorite restaurant!


This was the Queen's Bath. It is said that the Queen used to used this area for her bath - hence the name... The waves were so huge and powerful.








We found a cute shack along the coast that rented us some bicycles. We headed up and down the trail - so fun - so relaxing.






Matt taking pics of Brant and Nikki


Picture credit for this goes to Nikki - Nice Shot!


The best thing about Hawaii is the sunsets - We took every opportunity to watch them...






A picture credit to Brownie (just so we don't get sued ;))

Whale Watching / Kaua'i Chopper Ride

Some friends recommended a certain whale watching tour and we were certainly glad we went. This was truly one of the highlights of the trip. Captain Chris has been running these waters for 10 plus years and it showed. We went out with a group of about 14 in a 36' zodiac boat. We headed out to the Na'Pali coast to explore its coast line by boat. This ended up being a white knuckle ride where all I could really think about was returning home to my 3 boys - ya I thought we were going to die. Winter in Hawaii means high tides, stronger winds and unpredictable weather. It got pretty nasty along the coast. As the boat would go between 15' swells alls you could see around you was water. Both Matt and I had never been on a smaller boat in the ocean, and while Matt was yelling 'YEE-HA!!', I was fearing for my life. Captain Chris said we had seen enough, as the trade winds weren't going to let up, so we headed for the other side of the island where seas were much calmer - and they were.



The captain led us right to the animals. We were first approached by some bottle nose dolphins but Matt wasn't quick enough to get his camera out for them. We spotted the whales and were able to drift right on top of them - literally! We were AMAZED beyond words. There's no way to describe the feeling. The whales were so friendly. It would be quiet and everybody would be looking around for a sign of them and then out of no where, a whale would surface and let out a huge amount of air - almost frightening. From that point it was a show. The whales love to perform. Matt took about 1000 photos and I was in charge of video - The video is amazing and that is coming soon...





















We were fortunate enough to get a 'spy hop'. That's when the whales come nose first out of the water slowly, just to get a peak at you and see what's going on. This happened to us twice and we were able to get video of it.










This was our potty break, where I was veraciously attacked by a jelly fish...


Believe it or not, dolphins actually like to hang out with whales. It wasn't long before these aerobatic spinner dolphins showed up. They were very active and fun to watch...








Since the weather was hit and miss rain, we watched the weather and saved our chopper ride for the day that we thought would be best. It happened to be the last day we were there. We woke up and it was overcast, but we soon learned that that doesn't mean much in Hawaii. The ride would be a 'game time decision' by the pilot. Matt was really reluctant because it wasn't a cheap ride and everybody really wanted to get their money worth. The helicopter company assured us that the pilot wouldn't fly unless it would be enjoyable. Well, we loaded up and the pilot was confident we would have some fun and get some good pics. Here is a pic of our doorless helicopter.









Brant and Nikki up front with the captain - clear for take off.


Well, the chopper company was right... and we ended up with some photos with luscious green mountains and Windex blue oceans. The ride was honestly nothing like we've done before. Breath taking and inspiring. The beauty is clearly a gift from God and we were so grateful we were able to enjoy it the way we did. This pic is from the famous Na'Pali Coast.


While Matt's smile was the biggest I've ever seen, I was smiling too but my hands didn't move the entire 1 hour flight. They were clutched to Matt's leg :)


Photo not in focus, but still cool :)


An interesting fact, when on a helicopter, rainbows actually do a complete circle around the aircraft. Very beautiful...


This picture is at the bottom of the canyon we hiked up to on the second day. It's called the Hanakapia beach. You can see the foot trail along the mountain side.


This is the coast of Princeville - a beautiful but 'snobby' town. It's where the rich folk hang out.


The later part of the ride went up the various canyons of the island. Many movies have been filmed here including Jurassic Park. Waterfalls are not faulting in Kaua'i, as you can see in some of these pics.


We learned that Kaua'i has one of the most unique ecosystems in the world. On one end of the island it is considered a desert - receiving only 20" of rain a year. The the opposite side is considered a rainforest and receives about 150" of rain a year. On the highest peaks of Kaua'i it receives 400" inches of water a year. That makes it one of the wettest places in the world. So these waterfalls are constantly flowing and that explains the lush green.