after the flood

After the floods, the rivers washed down lots of debris, especially logs. Under the bridges where lots of it was caught was especially impressive. This bridge was closed each night for the work crew to use cranes to lift it out and put it into a wood chipper. They were afraid that another rain washing down any more large trees would knock the cement pillars out and make the bridge unstable. Thankfully they got it all cleared away.

Ho'opi'i Falls

We took Brandon and Alicia (Paul's cousin) and their family on a hike to Ho'opi'i Falls near our house. They were here visiting for Camilla's wedding and we got lots time to have adventures with them. It was really fun. 

The first falls are the best area for jumping.

After a few a jumps, we headed to the second falls. On the way we hunted for some ripe strawberry guavas. Yum!

The second falls are HUGE and beautiful. There is an area for swimming, and a rope swing is there, and there is lots of space to sit and enjoy the view.  The falls are much bigger than these pictures let on. They were still pretty far away from me when I took the pictures, and the kids were closer to me. It was a long hike, and hot, but really worth it, and all the kids did great. 

floods

Our heavy rains in Kauai were not as bad in Kapaa as they were in other places. Our neighbors, however got a picture of the river that was outside our building... Wow! 

The dog was scared the whole time and mostly hid in Hawken's bed. The cat loved that and used the scardy-dog time to sleep on his dog bed.

crafty

Hawken was interested in learning some about weather patterns, wind, rain, etc. right around the time of all the storms in Kauai. Then he built this weather vane, and it worked. 

Poipu Beach

We headed to Poipu the day a few more of Paul's cousins arrived, and the kids got to play together. Of course, we saw a handful of monk seals as usual, and the cousins had fun playing together.

We befriended some chicks on the beach, much to the kids delight, and the shock of the tourists.

Then we played in the sand and the kids tried out their best tricks. Another fun day in paradise. Yes please.

cloudy beach day

Kauai was hit hard with rain storms in April, and that made the beaches on our side of the island, very murky, and dirty from the rivers. Plus, not much sun. We drove over to the west side just to get in the water. It was still cloudy, but much better. Stop at Lappert's on the way. They have the best ice cream on the whole island.

Then finally to the beach. Paul's cousins started coming in from Utah for Camilla and Kyle's wedding. Ryan was the first to arrive with his (then) girlfriend, now there engaged. They played with us in the waves and then we all went out to eat for dinner. It was a fun day!