The Kauai part of Hawaii

We left O'ahu on Sunday after church in the historic Honolulu tabernacle.  Seriously an awesome building with an impressive giant tree in the front yard.

The kids were pretty worn out.  This is them when we unloaded them out of the rental car.

And then put them on the shuttle, and got dropped off at the airport.  We had to get them up so we could check their seats.  I think they would have slept through the whole flight.

We stayed in Kauai with cousins and aunts and uncles and Grandma and Grandpa!  It was so fun to have the trip refreshed half way through with other people to talk with.

Monday we went to Waimea Canyon, which is a pretty impressive canyon for a small island.  There, we stopped at some lookouts, and did the #1 muddiest hike of our trip.

Make of this what you will.

Grandpa and Eliza (or, as Eva calls her, Maliza)

Grandma and Maliza.

Aunt Emmy with the grabby-fingered Myra

Ben grew out his beard!  Eva wouldn't kiss him.Myra couldn't let go of it (see above)

Ben took that picture with the girls, and so I saw Clark over playing with his finger animal in the dirt (hold your index finger straight out and point all the other ones downward, its an elephant with his trunk--thanks, Rowans) and I said, "Clark, I need a picture with me and my boy" and he thought for a minute and said, 'Well, just go get Eva." and I said, "But you're my boy!"  "Well Eva's your girl".  So I scooped him up and took a picture.  It's an even cuter story if you can pronounce it like him.  "Wheaw, dust go get Eva" "Wheaw, Eva's your giwl"

There are chickens everywhere in Hawaii.

This is the lookout from the muddy hike, this is the Napali coast (more to come later)

Anna's hair with hydrangea in it. (Anna is Toni's daughter)

Thad and Eva enjoying a moment in the grass.

This was part of our big hike.  It felt like 4 miles, but it was only two.  But I think when you forget water and snacks and it is ankle deep mud, distances should be flexible.  The kids were pooped by half way.  But they perservered. Word to the wise, the first lookout on that hike is the best one.  No need to go to the top.

The next day, I dropped Ben, Emily, Thad and my Dad off at the end of the road on the North Shore, where they embarked on an overnight backpacking trip along the Napali coast.  Unfortunately, they got caught in the rain for most of it and ended up going only 6 miles up and camping, instead of 11.  They had a great time though, and no one slid off the cliff into the ocean.  Success.

On Thursday, my parents were good enough to take the kids so that we could go on a little river kayaking adventure.  All the big kids went, it was fantastic.  Actually, this was my favorite day of Hawaii.

First we paddled up to a swimming hole/rope swing.  Emily and I were the brave ones to try the rope swing first, and we didn't have the strength to hold ourselves up past the low point of the pendulum.  We inhaled a lot of water.  Without any sort of grace . There are no pictures of that.  But then, we started jumping off of this cliff, and that was F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C!

Ben was good at the rope swing though. 

Then we got back in the kayaks and paddled up a different fork in the river to a waterfall hike.  That was super fun too.  This is Emily and I on the trail up to the main waterfall.

Whenever the footing was unsure, Thad would grab someone's hand and say "Lets be a Centaur!" instead of "let's hold each other up".

In the main waterfall. This is by far my favorite series of pictures from the trip. 

Most days found us down at the resort's pools for some period of time.  Eva hated the beach, but she loved the pool.  Here is Grandpa and Myra Jane.

The final day of our trip, we went to the Magical Kipu Falls.  Magical is my adjective, not the proper name.  But I put it in there because it fits.  There was perfect cliff jumping and rope swinging into a super deep pool of water.  You had to climb a rickety 15 foot aluminum ladder that was sort of bolted into the side of the cliff to get back up to the swing or the cliff.  But I figure, if you fall backwards holding on to the ladder, at least you're falling into a pool of water, so no worries.

Grandpa Bus taking on the rope swing.

The next day, Sunday, we got on another series of planes, got to Bridgette's house at midnight, and lazed around all the next day.

Tuesday morning, we left Jordan and Natalie Nelson's house at 6:00 am (thanks, Nelsons!) and drove ALL the way until 1:00 in the morning when we finally got back to our new house.  Dora was the patron saint of that drive.  Dora and Goldfish. Bless them both.

Okay, phew.  Now I have to start going to bed during normal Texas hours and stop staying up all night blogging.