Hawaii

 In December Matt and I went to Hawaii with some friends.  We went to the island of Kauai, also called the Garden Island because it is so green and rains all the time.  We stayed in Princeville at Kurt and Ashley's timeshare where we each had our own condo.  Seven days of paradise!  Ashley and I were both 7 months pregnant so while the others went on strenuous hikes we stayed back and relaxed. It was so much fun but by the end of the week we were ready to get back home to our kids!

 The first day we went to the farmers market and stocked up on yummy fruit, vegetables, and our all time favorite, "Sals Salsa."  I think Sal made quite the profit the week we were there because we kept going back for more.

Trying out the dragon fruit.

 Everywhere we went there was always a beautiful view.

 Here is our fun group: Kurt, Ashley, Matt, Lindsay, Cody, McKay, Natalie, Jimmy.

 There were chickens and roosters literally everywhere.  On the sides of the road, in the mountains, in our backyard, everywhere.  Here is Jimmy chasing one down.

 We went to this beautiful beach and climbed out on the rocks.

 I thought we were going to be swept away and dragged across the lava rock.

 

 We explored the dry caves.

 

 Pretty sure Cody wasn't ready for this picture.

 These baby girl cousins are due only a week apart!

 The boys couldn't resist trying out some Tarzan moves on the vines.

 

 McKay

 Cody

 

 The wet caves

 There was a rainbow in the sky everyday.  If you look close you can see this is a double rainbow.

 We went on a helicopter ride around the whole island.  We saw the waterfall from Jurassic Park, and flew into the heart of a volcano, which is the wettest place on earth.  It rains about 350 days a year! We were very lucky because the weather was perfect allowing us to go into the volcano.

 

 

 As we headed towards the Jurassic Park waterfall our pilot had the theme music from the movie on!

 

 I wasn't feel great on the helicopter.  It was an hour ride and every minute I felt more and more sick.  We had been in a helicopter before so I thought I would be fine but being pregnant just didn't go over well.  As we started our landing I reached for the barf bag and couldn't get it.  Matt got it and held it, thinking I didn't really need it.  I had one hand over my mouth and my other hitting him to give me the bag!  He handed it to me and right as we landed I puked!  I was so grateful that this happened at the END of the ride and I didn't have a bag of vomit in the tiny aircraft the entire time!

 

 Here is the only surfing that Matt did.  The real waves were CRAZY.

 One of my favorite days was when we went kayaking.  We kayaked up the river and then hiked to the "Secret Waterfall."  You have to look close to see this secret waterfall because it was more of a drizzle.

 

It rained everyday and we were wanting some sun! We were told that the West side of the island is ALWAYS sunny.  The island is only 28 miles across but there is only one two lane road.  The traffic is terrible through town so it took us about 3 hours to get there.  It rained hard the entire way and I thought it was going to be such a waste of time driving all the way there when there was obviously no sun.  About 5 minutes before we got there the rain stopped.  Blue skies.  Sunshine.  It really is always sunny on that side of the island!

 We had to drive on a dirt road for quite a while to get to this amazing beach.  It was worth it.  It was so beautiful and there was hardly anyone there.

 Matt spent about 20 minutes trying to catch this crab.

 Jimmy and Cody playing smashball.

 The boys rented boogie boards and braved the scary waves.

 McKay, Cody, Matt

 Ashley, Natalie, and I all bundled up.

 Cody and Ashley did some snorkeling.

 Paco's Tacos was our favorite place to eat! You would have thought we were in Mexico with all the Mexican food we ate!