June 11: Black Forest Fire

Another year of fires in our town. This fire destroyed more than 300 homes and was a few miles from our home. Several friends were evacuated for weeks during the fire. A few friends lost everything in the fire. It was a sad time for the entire town as we felt so out of control. In the end, we bought a whole bunch of food and water and gatorade for the firemen who were exhausted. And we walked evacuated dogs in the shelters.

End of Vacation: Goodbye Hawaii

Our time in Hawaii was over. Our last sunrise in Kauai as we headed to the airport. It was a wonderful time.

We had a 3 hour layover in Honolulu and decided to check out the USO at the airport. This nice lady helping out was a wonderful local auntie that was soooo sweet to the kids. She kept giving them food and toys. Later, she pulled Lisa aside and prayed over here. What ALOHA spirit. It was such a wonderful way to end a great time. It was so hard to leave, but it was time to get back to reality.

Here was the meal that Hawaiian Airlines served to us. We kept telling the kids that when WE were young, this was typical food on the planes. This will go away with casettes and 8 tracks one day. They served us: chicken teriyaki, guava pineapple juice, chocolate mac nuts, salad. The big people felt like kids again.

Vacation: Hawaii Day 15, Tuesday Josiah is 7 today

Our last day in Hawaii, and we celebrated Josiah turning 7. He was happy with a simple day. He couldn't figure out what meal to eat, so we helped him by taking him to eat some nice local food.




First, checking out Wailua Falls..



Then the every popular Fish Express



It was a deli/take out with great tasting local food.



Paxton wanted to order fish tacos....so some fresh fish.




Fish with seafood mix and wasabi sauce. Delicious.




The kids wanted spam again, so here was their last local meal: spam, sausage, chicken, rice balls.




And Gobi Fish cake. Very tasty!!!

 Another trip to the lighthouse to check out the birds and the scenery.

Hope spent a lot of time chasing birds all over the island. Here she is chasing the Nene...

 A special treat for Josiah. His  very own shave ice that he could eat all by himself...and he can choose his own flavors. He chose: lime, rootbeer, and Li Hing powder. 

Paxton and Lisa shared Passion fruit, Li Hing, Mango with Mac Nut ice cream. This was probably the tastiest shave ice on the island, so we went a few times.

 Hope used her own money to buy Josiah a sling shot. What a sweet sister...

 She also wrote a card for her little brother...

 A little gift from relatives. He LOVES word games. This was perfect for him...

 Josiah is still unable to swim, but dad found a way for him to enjoy the pool. Josiah had a blast sitting on dad's back. It was a great birthday for the little boy.

Vacation: Hawaii, Day 14, Monday Memorial Day

With only 2 more days left in Hawaii, Paxton asked Lisa what she most wanted to see/do. Her only request left was to naturally swim with a turtle (some people pay boaters to take them to turtles but we wanted to find them on our own). It was a tough assignment for Paxton, but he did his research and we headed out early enough to check out two beaches. We asked the Life Guards how great the chances were to see sea turtles. One Life Guard at Kee Beach said not too good. He suggested that we go back to Tunnels Beach and ask those Life Guards.  Sure enough, when we asked those Life Guards, their answer to us was "If you don't see any turtles today, you weren't looking".  On a mission, Lisa asked every snorkeler to point her to a turtle. Thanks to all the snorkelers: 

...we saw two turtles swimming in the reef.  

So thankful for a waterproof camera. And so grateful to be able to swim with one of these gentle animals. Our quest was done. We could go home now...

Paxton was able to video tape the swimming. Lisa was afraid of getting too close. One can get fined big time for getting within 3 feet of a turtle. We did not want to be fined...

Next stop, lunch. We visited a popular food truck that was so busy that it ran out of food. (One of the problems in Kauai is that the restaurants are either closed or out of food). This was not the first time we had to go with Plan B.  Lisa decided to ask the Food truck lady where THEY, the locals, go to eat, and the lady recommended the Village Snack Shop and Bakery. So glad for that advice...

Paxton is waiting for lunch...

What the shop is famous for: Chili Pepper Chicken with salad and brown rice. The chicken was really good and spicy!!!!

The kids wanted to try spam, so we got them some spam, teriaki beek, and fried chicken.

Another dish: char siu chicken, fried noodles, sweet and sour pork.  Again, note the lovely styrofoam!

Another famous dessert: Haupia Pie. We got the last one...coconut layered pie with vanilla pudding and cream. Mighty tasty!

A trip to the Kilauea Lighthouse to see Hawaii's famous birds: Red footed boobies, frigates, red-tailed tropic birds...

What Hawaiian vacation would be complete without eating a coconut. We had forgotten that the kids had not experienced a fresh coconut, so we figured we needed to stop by this little fruit stand to complete their Hawaiian trip.

The lady chose a large coconut for the four of us to share, but mom and dad wanted the kids to fill up on this nice fattening fruit!!! Who knows when they'll get this again???

Lots of coconut juice in this guy.

Then, the lady cut up the coconut so we could eat the meat.

Josiah is trying to look enthused. He is not a coconut fan. Lisa went back to the condo to blend up the rest of the coconut meat and add sugar for the kids to eat as a snack. Josiah still refused...his body is not fond of fat. He's related to Jack Sprat. Hope however loved the dessert.

Of course, who could resist Lychees? We bought 2 more pounds to chomp on. Notice the nice green bowling balls to the right of the lychees? Those were avocados...They were about 4-5 pounds and could have made enough guacamole to feed 10+ people. 

Vacation: Hawaii Day 13, Sunday

Off to church, this morning. We checked out: Calvary Church North Shore. It was nice, a little larger, and the pastor was very Biblical, but nobody came up to say HI. That was all right. Maybe we looked a little bit too "vacation-y". Glad they preached Jesus!

Near the church was a pretty well known "organic" farm/restaurant that served pretty tasty brunch, so we decided to go check it out. They also had a veggie garden where they picked their produce to use for the meal. Pretty fresh!

Again, no walls in the restaurant. It was so bright out and very beautiful, so the faces were dark. This was our table. We got to pick up our own food, set our own dinnerware, get our own water. Then, we bussed our own table. No waitresses to tip, and we didn't mind so much. The kids are used to setting and bussing the table, so we all chipped in and enjoyed the different experience.

The tasty food: Papaya with yogurt and granola and honey and bananas.  Gluten-free pancakes with tropical fruit on top.

Frittata: omelet with kalua pork, kale, onions, garlic, raw cheddar cheese, corn and wheat tortillas, side of pico de gallo

Huevos Rancheros: two eggs, beans, grain, kale, corn and wheat tortillas, pico de gallo. grass fed beef.

Later, we were perusing their book store and found some super new agey books. Well, their food for the belly was good, but the food for the soul...not so good.

Mom decided to take the day off and rest and read in the condo. Dad decided to take the kids to a new beach. It took them 30 minutes to climb from a cliff to the beach, and then, the sand was not so good, and Hope tripped and scratched herself up pretty badly.  Should have rested (he he). It was not a good day for the little girl.

Another lovely sunset from the balcony.

Vacation: Hawaii, Day 12, Saturday

Morning shot outside of our balcony...ahhh

Hanalei Bay up ahead. Sooo green!

Tunnels Beach. The background is Bali Hai where they filmed South Pacific, and that lady sings about "Bali Hai". Nice shot from the little girl.

Paxton on the prowl for some fish...

This is the Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apu'a

Or the Reef Triggerfish. It was apparently guarding something as it was pretty aggressive. Hope came out and had loads of fun being chased by this little critter.

In the outer reef, we found an eagle spotted ray. So graceful as it swam away from us.

For lunch, we tried an American joint, Hanalei Gourmet. We were trying to find fish tacos but ended up here...their fresh catch: Opah with wasabi sauce. We couldn't taste the fish or wasabi. Not very good, but pretty!

Roasted veggie salad. As expensive as the fried fish. Probably the best dish that we had there.

Fish burger

We needed something tastier, so this did the trick!!!!

Can't make the kids any happier than this: passion fruit, pineapple, strawberry