Hawaii

We spent last week on our family vacation to Hawaii.  We stayed in Princeville on the Kauai island. It was beautiful-mountains, rain forest, beach, ocean and beautiful sunsets.  There was beauty in every direction.  It was very relaxing and great to spend time with family and explore the island. We were very busy, and the time flew by way too fast.

These are pictures near the Kilauea Lighthouse.  The water was so blue here.  After our trip to the lighthouse, we stopped in the little town for some shave ice. Delicious! 

There were many different beaches along the island, we were able to visit quite a few of them-mostly on the North Shore-Hanalei Bay, Aninini Beach, Ke'e beach, Tunnels Beach.  We found some great snorkel spots and saw lots of colorful fish.

 We loved spending time with Jackson, he did great on the plane rides, but had trouble adjusting to the time change. So we were up EARLY every morning.  Jackson and I got to watch the sun come up every morning-great memories.

Leanne and Ryan went on a long hike one day, so we took a trip to visit one of the plantations.  We took a train ride through the  plantation to see how all the fruit is grown. I didn't know pineapples grew on the ground! That was really interesting.  We also stopped along the way and got to feed the wild pigs, chickens  and goats. Jackson loved this part.

We took a quick detour on the way home to look at the Wailua Falls.  

We took a drive to the South shore of the island and drove up the Waimea Canyon, also know as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the veiws from up there were amazing.

We stopped in Poipu on our way down from the canyon to see the spouting horn-its a hole in the rock that the ocean water sprays out of straight up in the air. It was really neat. The beaches on the South shore were beautiful, I wish we could have spent more time there...maybe next time!

One of our favorite things we did on this trip was a sunset sail.  We went out on a giant sail boat, they served us appetizers and drinks and we got to watch the sun set over the ocean.  The captain of the boat took Jackson up and he got to drive the boat, too.

This is the view from an overlook on a walk that we went on a few times.

Jackson absolutely loved the water.  If there was water around he was in it within minutes. It was fun to watch him splash and laugh. The pools at our condos were really nice, a good change from the salt water.

We took a river boat to the Fern Grotto, and learned about one of the most popular wedding sites on the island. After the boat ride we went to the Smith family Luau-complete with a garden tour, Imu ceremony, feast, and an incredible performances from all the different cultures that make up Hawaiian history.

Chris and I spent one night out together, we watched the sunset from the St. Regis bar, then went to dinner at Fredricos's and had tacos, and listened to some live music.  It was a great night.

Building sand castles.

Soaking up the sun!

We went to the farmer's market and we tried lots of new fruits-papaya, mango, coconut, apple bananas, sugar cane and of course pineapple-my favorite.

ALOHA!!!!

Sunshine

 Today it was 86 degrees so Jackson and I played out in the water and worked on our suntan for Hawaii.  We played in the sprinklers and in his little whale pool.  I also spent about half an hour laying out in the hammock while Jackson took a nap. A beautiful day to soak up the sunshine.

Salsa Garden

Our first attempt at gardening is a salsa garden.  It consists of tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro.  We planted the seeds in the little pots and once they all started growing we moved them into a big pot in the back yard. I am hoping for lots of pico de gallo this summer!!!

We have also been growing a lemon on our lemon tree. There is one lemon in the tree and it has been growing for almost 6 months. In December the whole tree flowered and I thought we were going to get more lemons but all the flowers fell off.  Behind the lemon tree is a Bing Cherry Tree.  After we planted it we realized it needs another cherry tree to pollinate it in order to produce fruit.  So we need to go buy another cherry tree, and hope the bees get busy pollinating!  Maybe the lemon tree needs to pollinate, too.  A lady a work with told me to get a water coloring paint brush and next time the tree flowers to dab it in each of the flowers-maybe pretending to be a bee. I'll give it a shot..  

We also planted a few pots of flowers, its amazing how a little color can brighten up the whole back yard. 

Spending time with Jackson

Yesterday, Chis and I went to the Rockies game, we had a great time together! Jackson stayed home and had a sleepover with Grandma.

It has been so nice out, and we have been spending a lot o time outside playing, planting trees, flowers and vegetables.  Jackson got a new water table, he loves to put things in it, make big splashes and get soaking wet!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter in Cheyenne this year with hris's family. Grandma Donna had a whole day planned for little Jackson.  We died Easter eggs, which Jackson had more fun trying to eat the eggs than color them.  But we all got some good laughs!

The Easter bunny came and brought Jackson lots of fun things, one thing he got was a kite, he loved flying his kite with Daddy and Grandpa.

We had a very nice supper with all of Chris's family, and after we ate Jackson went on an Easter egg hunt.  He liked looking for all the eggs once he found out there were cookies and cheese puffs hiding inside!!

It was much different celebrating Easter without my family and I missed going to the Easter church service.  I was continuously reminded that the weekend wasn't about me or what I wanted.  And just because things were different, we were still celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior.