Belated.

So... remember how it was Kennedy's birthday a while ago? Well since she's still young enough where getting older is a GOOD thing, we had a party for her. And I decided that I should probably blog about it.

Although it was nowhere near as extravagant as last year's princess party, it was still a party. A Spongebob party.

First, we made puppets. Because making inanimate objects talk is awesome.

And they posed for the camera.

We played "Pin the Pants on Spongebob." Because we can't have him walking around in his tighty whities. SO inappropriate for a kid's birthday party.

And what is a birthday party without presents? I'll tell you. A lame one. Luckily ours was far from lame.

And what is a party without cake? I'll tell you. Not as fattening.

Please try to ignore the tacky brown light switch and 70's countertop and backsplash.

Ya know how last year's cake took a bazillion hours? This one only took about 5. So luckily I didn't feel like a piece of my soul was being sliced apart when we cut into the cake.

After the fabulous guests left, our nephew Kaden stayed over for the night. He was a good sport and put Kennedy's make-up on her.


Happy belated birthday post, my love. And thanks to all who came to the party!

How I love thee.

In our seven years of being married, we have lived in seven different residences. Houses, basements of houses, apartments, duplexes... and one may understandably assume that dishwashers are fairly common, here in Utah.

But you know what happens when you assume...

Yes. In the last seven years, I have had a dishwasher for a mere 6 months. SIX MONTHS. And do you know where we lived during those six months when I had this lovely dishwasher?? Texas. So sure- it's hotter than hell and you're away from all of your loved ones, but here- have a dishwasher.

So that means that for nearly 7 straight years, I have been washing all of my plates, bowls, pans, cups, tins, tupperware, silverware, etc. with a sponge and dish soap whilst weathering my poor dainty hands which now look like wrinkly old prunes.

Earlier this year as we were looking around to buy a house, one requirement I had was (you guessed it) a dishwasher. And this house has a dishwasher. But don't hold your breath, folks. This dishwasher doesn't work. And as an attempt to make up for that atrocious fact, the nice sellers said "Oh, sorry about the dishwasher. Here- have our old lawnmower." Come on! Justin can use scissors to mow the lawn. I need my effing dishwasher.

However. Being the adaptable person I am, I accepted this fact and happily (begrudgingly) continued to wash all dishes by hand.

But earlier this morning, Justin and I were downstairs, and I heard a very unfamiliar (yet very welcomed) noise. I rushed up the stairs to see where this marvelous noise was coming from. The supposedly dead dishwasher had magically sprung to life and started it's "High Rinse" cycle. Kennedy hadn't touched it. I hadn't. Nor had Justin.

Must have been the house elves.

I was so happy that I danced a merry jig.

Whoever it was? Thank you. Now bring on the dirty dishes. If any of you have some, bring them to my house. I will be happy to let my dishwasher clean them for you. He's wonderful.

Kennedyisms

The rest of my Hawaii trip will have to wait. And it will all be summed up in one more magnificent post. Later.

But for now, it's the moment you've all been waiting for (or not):

Kennedyisms.

K: Mom, why don't you like mustard?
M: Because I don't like how it tastes.
K: I don't like mustard, either. That means we're best friends.

She runs up to me, just sobbing
M: What's wrong, honey??
K: *sob* Kaden said he was going to [*sniff**sniff*] tattle-tale on me!!! *sob*
M: ... hmmm... well, do you know that you are actually tattle-telling on him?
K: B-b-b-but he was going to tell on me!!!

Dad: I feel like a big fat loser because I can't lose any weight.
K: Dad, you're a winner. Not a loser.

M: Eew. I'm all sweaty from running.
K: I think I still love you even if you're all gross and sweaty.

K: When you and dad love each other, do you have big hearts in your eyes?

M: Wow, Kennedy. You are so smart. You must get it from your mom, right?
K: No, I don't.
M: Oh. [trying not to feel insulted] Well where do you get it from?
K: Nowhere. I just think. So that makes me smart.

K: When I grow up, I want to be a camper.
M: What does a camper do?
K: She camps, you silly!!


K: I'm so big! I'm 5, now!
D: Did you know that every year you get older, I get older??
K: Yep.
D: I don't want to get older.
K: [caressing his face] It's ok, dad. When I'm as old as you, you'll be a grandpa. And when you die you'll go to heaven. And then when I die, I'll go to heaven, too. So we'll see each other again. It will be ok.

Day 8 - Kyakkkking.

There are many rivers to kayak, on the magical island of Kauai. We chose to venture along the Wailua River.

One might argue that I was insane to go back on the water the day after I hurled at open sea. But when have I ever claimed to be otherwise?



Lucky for me, rivers don't usually have big waves.

See? Nice and calm. *sigh* It was so serene.

After a while of kayaking, our arms started to get tired. Because we're wusses. So then we parked our boat and hiked to a waterfall. I made sure that this one wasn't 4 freaking miles away. It was only a mile in. Definitely not as arduous as the last one. I could handle that.

The hike was way pretty. It was super jungle-y.

But not very flip-flop friendly.

And Justin was a good sport and posed whenever I asked (told) him to.

We saw a miniature waterfall along the way.

Aaaaaand here it is. Secret Falls.

Although it was obviously not TOO secret, since there were two other lovers frolicking in the water.

We hiked back down to our boat and started rowing away up the river. When our arms started getting sore again, we parked our kayak and walked on over to the Fern Grotto.

This picture is just for you cat lovers (you know who you are). There are many stray cats just roaming around the island. This one decided to make his home at the Fern Grotto. Although he didn't look too happy to be there.

"Stop taking your damn picture and give me some food. Stupid human."

And this is the Fern Grotto. Apparently it use to be quite the spectacle until a hurricane came through and destroyed it all. But it was still cool to see.


We rowed back to our car, shopped at the local farmer's market, ate some food, relaxed, whatevs.

And that was the end of THAT day.

p.s. Incubus concert? Awesome. Just...awesome.

Drool.

Guess where I'm going tonight.

Ok don't. I'll tell you. I'm going to a concert.

Which concert, you ask?

It doesn't really matter. All that matters is that this beautiful man will be up on stage. Singing.

Ladies and gentlemen- this is Brandon Boyd. Lead singer for Incubus.

His voice melts me.

Mmmm. My keyboard is covered in slobber.

Day 7. Na Pali Puke

Yes. I skipped Day 6. Why? We were so freaking sore from our Day 5 hike that we could barely walk anywhere. So we chilled. I don't even remember what we did at all. We probably hung out at the beach or something totally awesome like that. Because we're totally awesome. Like that.

Day 7 was incredible. Yet also incredibly vomit-inducing.

We went on a zodiac/boating tour of the Na Pali Coast.

One word: breathtaking.

But first, some freaking cuteness. Dolphins!

On the way out, we saw this pod of about 30 Spinner Dolphins, just swimming right alongside our boat.

Our guide told us that they were actually probably sleep-swimming. Crazy, eh?

Aren't they so adorable? I think some of them were obviously awake, since they were jumping up in the air and spinning. Because if I were going to be up in the air and spinning, I'd definitely have to be awake.

About an hour into our ride, we get our first view of the oh so UH-mazing coastline.


And since it's my M.O., I took loads of pictures.

I know, right? Just gorgeous.

And Justin was looking super cool his Top Gun sunglasses. I kept calling him Maverick.


And since I have, like, the best luck ever, earlier that week there had been an unusual storm swelling in the north, which means that this particular day there were freakishly large waves tossing and turning the boat from side to side. And front to back. And then side to side again.
And this is about the point where I started feeling ill.

As we started heading back, we kept slowing down to look at pretty things. Like this.

Which made me vomit.

And oh look! A cute little sea turtle!! Let's stop. *vomit*


He was so cute! He (or she- I didn't care to check) hung out right next to our boat for about 10 minutes. *side to side*... And I was trying to ignore the swaying. *back and forth*...

But I put on a happy face for a picture. A happy-super-pale-puking-face.

The 10 other people on the boat were luckily very understanding. Two others actually hurled, as well. It was a BAD day to be at sea, apparently. But we made the best of it and had our little puking party.

Then it was time to get out of the boat and snorkel for a bit. Whew.

The snorkeling here kinda sucked compared to our first snorkel adventure, but it could be due to the crazy waves. Who knows. But I remained unimpressed.

The tour included going in this really cool open-ceiling sea cave.

But the waves were so bad, the guide decided not to risk all of our lives. So we just admired it from afar.

The ride back was treacherous. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to be on land.

However. Even with all of the aforementioned disgustingness that was my bile, I truly enjoyed this excursion. It was totally worth it.

But I think next time I'll check the wave reports.

Here's one more pretty picture to leave you with:

Day 5: The hike.

Tuesday we decided that since we're totally out of shape and neither of us has been hiking or doing anything of the sort for such a long time that it would be such a great idea to go on an 4 mile strenuous hike up to a waterfall. And then back down. Another 4 miles. So 8 total. Cause we're so smart. But even though I felt like I was going to pass out and die, I did get some super awesome pictures.

The hike starts at Ke'e beach. And this picture was taken about 1/2 mile into it, where you can turn around and see the safety of the beach you left behind. Not really knowing, yet, what you've gotten yourself into.

And here's a gorgeous view. Maybe 1 mile into it? I don't know. I honestly lost track. But we were still feeling like we were as healthy as 18 year olds, at this point.

Then we had to cross a river. We had to cross a few of them. This one sucked. Especially if your shoe slips on the moss and into the water and then your sock is all soggy.

This is definitely 2 miles in. I know because there was a sign. We were half way there and already completely exhausted, so we stopped for a snack-a-roo.

After the food, we were on the trail again. And at this point, we felt like we were about 30. But still kind of healthy 30 yr. olds.

I like bamboo.

I called this the tree of enchantment. Because it looks like it should be so named.

This was another river we had to cross. This one was a bitch. I had to actually leap from one rock to another one. It wasn't a pretty sight. Age 45.


After 4 miles and some length of time that felt like 10 hours, we finally arrived at Hanakapi'ai (Han-uh-cop-ee-eye) Falls.

We were tired, gross and sweaty. Age 60. Ish.

So we hopped in (well, Justin hopped in and I slowly crawled in) to the ice-cold water and swam to the waterfall. I felt like my leg hairs were going to turn into icicles and fall off.

(And no- we're not in this picture. We were dumb and forgot to ask anyone to take a picture of us in the water. By the time we thought about it, we were already out of the water and there was no way in hell we were getting back in.)

I felt good for the first 1/2 mile of the way back. So I took some pictures of some nature.

Like more bamboo.

So at about mile 6 I got a headache. Mile 7 I felt super hot. Mile 8 I was totally nauseous and felt like I was going to hurl. Luckily that was the end of the hike. Justin drove us back to the condo where I gulped down about 5 gallons of water and laid down on the bed and had the blessed a/c on full blast. Luckily no puking ensued. But I felt like I was in as good of shape as your average 80 year old.

Needless to say, our activities were pretty low key for the rest of Day 5.