Ahhhhh...
The sweet sweet return to Hawaii.
Morning view from our Air BnB townhouse.
Tom and I have talked a few times about if we would ever buy a vacation home somewhere. We've always thought no, as we like trying out new places, and being tied to one place would make you feel obligated to go there all the time. But we love Hawaii, and as our family has grown, going back to the same place doesn't seem like such a far stretch anymore. Who knows? Maybe one day!
In the meantime, we've returned to Kauai! The last time we were here was two years ago when I was pregnant with Lacey! Now she's a rambunctious 20 month old, and we can't wait to introduce her to the sun, sand, fresh fruit and ocean.
Our flight to Hawaii marks Lacey's fourth round trip flight, but it was by far the longest we have embarked on with her. We weren't sure how she would do! To sum it up succinctly, Lacey did great!
We flew to Vancouver, and then on to Kauai with my parents, and Lacey had a great time swapping between seats with mom and dad and grandma and grandpa. Miraculously, both my parents and I had an empty seat beside us, in a very full flight, so there was room to spare for Lacey. We got her ready for bed by giving her milk and changing her into her jammies and she was clearly confused about what would happen next (asking us for a crib, please). But Tom got her to fall asleep on him, and then he rolled her into the empty middle sleep where she slept soundly for three hours. She would have slept for longer, but there was turbulence and we had to hold onto her and that woke her up. By then, there was only an hour or so left in the flight, and she watched some Frozen on our tablet.
When we landed in Kauai, Lacey announced that there was "No snow!" as we collected our luggage in the open air luggage carousel. We filed a lost luggage report for Lacey's playpen (ung), and made our way (without incident) in the dark to our Air BnB townhouse.
In the morning, Lacey saw her first "Daddy chicken", which was one of the greatest revelations of the trip. There are chickens running wild everywhere on Kauai. And pointing out mommy and daddy chickens everywhere we went became a favorite pastime.
We had told Lacey that we were going to a hot beach, but her only memories of a beach are the cold and misty beaches of Tofino, so she was both uncertain and suspicious when we arrived at the Poipu beach the following morning. However, it did not take long at all for her to warm up to digging in the sand, and wading in the water. Soon, "Beach? Dig in sand!" became a frequent request, occurring multiple times each day.
Beach bum.
My parents spent the first week of the trip with us. It was their first time on Kauai, so we hit some of the main tourist attractions, like Waimea Canyon, aka, the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.
We convinced my parents (who have never been big sushi adventurers) to try Hawaiian poke, and my mom promptly got a horrific bout of food poisoning. I think it's safe to say they will be steering clear of sushi for many more years to come...
We drove out to the North side of the island (we were staying in the southeast), and everyone enjoyed the change in scenery. The North side of the island receives the majority of the rain, so it is much more humid and lush than where we were staying. We stopped for some shaved ice on the way home.
We saw some surprising wildlife on the beach, including a giant turtle, and a monk seal. Lacey witnessed the monk seal sneeze, which made a huge impression on her. She asked for the seal to "Achoo" for weeks to follow.
All the activity was hard on Lacey. She played hard, and she crashed even harder. Mornings and afternoons were spent at the beach, sightseeing, or enjoying the pool that was part of the townhouse complex.
One of the bonuses of travelling with grandparents is... Baby-sitting! One morning, Tom and I managed to get away, and we headed for a hike (to follow in an upcoming post).We also managed to squeeze in a dinner out on our own!
The days with my parents melted away in a blur of beaches and farmers markets and good meals. Before we knew it, they were headed home, and we were relocating to a smaller condo on the east side of the island.
After grandma and grandpa left, the weather also took a turn. It wasn't terrible, but it was often overcast. And with no sun to add some much needed heat to the humid air, it sometimes felt a bit chilly. We tried to make the best of it. We went to a plantation with a kitschy train ride, that ended with Lacey being able to feed some farm animals (goats, pigs, chickens, etc.), and Lacey thought it was amazing-- don't let her sour expression fool you! Lacey had only seen a lot of these animals in books, so seeing them in person was a big thrill for her.
We found a pretty cool playground.
We explored tide pools.
And we managed to get one beautiful, hot day with blue skies, and barely a cloud in the sky.
And just like that, our last week in Kauai was gone.
Through some miracle, we had the nicest lady in the world sitting beside us on the flight home. Almost immediately after we took off, her took it upon herself to relocate her seat, so we flew home with an empty seat between us. Lacey was exhausted, and twenty minutes into the flight, she was fast asleep. And she slept the entire way to Vancouver, not even waking up when we had landed and the lights in the cabin came back on. She was fairly chipper in the Vancouver airport, and promptly fell asleep again on the connecting flight home.
All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better holiday!
Love you Kauai-- we'll be back!
