I'll bet you thought I was done posting pictures from Hawaii. You were so wrong.
It was fabulous spending time with my mother on this vacation. Not only because she's super fun and wonderful, but also because it's like I have my own personal professional photographer following me around everywhere. Kind of like the paparazzi. Except not annoying or invasive. And (as far as I know) she doesn't submit any incriminating or embarrassing photos to magazines. (I just have to make sure I don't piss her off - because she definitely has quite a few of said photos...)
Anyway, here are some of the pictures she took while we were there ("some" because I'm sure I'll post more, later, when I feel like it.):
Playing in the water at Ke'e beach. *Sigh. So beautiful.
I love that smile.
Snorkeling at Anini beach.
(this picture makes me giggle every time I see it)
What are you going to do once I stop posting every day? Cry, probably, huh? Well, here's the good thing- maybe now you can stop wasting SO much time perusing through my blog and you can finally get on with your busy life. It will be a difficult adjustment, but I know you can do it. I believe in you.
Until then, here's another "Gratitude" post for you.
I'm thankful for Kennedy's teacher. We have lucked out each year (so far) with having incredible teachers.
I'm thankful for my own education. I'm also thankful for all of my past teachers who actually put up with my incessant social-butterfly-ness (which I may or may not have passed on to Kennedy...).
I am thankful for my dad. He is such an outstanding person - a wonderful example to me of honesty, love, realism, humbleness, kindness, acceptance and knowledge (among many others). I am excited to spend Thanksgiving with him, tomorrow. :)
I'm thankful for Justin. He is such a great dad to Kennedy, and loves her more than life, itself. She sure loves her daddy.
I am thankful for my health (physical, mental and emotional). ... (Although some people might question the state of my mental health, on occasion).
Finally, I'm thankful that tomorrow is Thanksgiving (which is the whole reason I made this stupid goal of writing "thankful" posts on my blog, every day) (ok, not "stupid," but time-consuming) (and I guess I did benefit from it, at least a little bit) (so I'm thankful that I could be thankful all month long). Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
(And I'll leave you with some pictures, because I have so many to share.)
Here we are at the Kilauea Light House. We sure make a cute little family, don't we?
And this IS the Kilauea Light House. Apparently it's a great place for whale watching... if' it's whale watching season. Which it wasn't.
We went to Hideaways Beach to look at the very cool tide pools. We saw quite a few little fish and a LOT of sea cucumbers.
Shortly after this picture was taken, I was super awesome and slipped on a mossy rock and sliced open my foot. Ouch. (I had to remind myself that, even if the blood-smelling sharks found me, they can't swim in tide pools.)
Oh look! Cute moorish idols! Don't worry, little fishies- the sharks won't get you here.
Here are the cute cousins in front of the renowned Hanalei taro fields.
And behind me is the beautiful town of Hanalei. *Sigh... I miss that place.
Today, I'm thankful for the fact that I am comfortable enough in my own skin that I can make a complete a** of myself in public. For example - my brother and I made up a dance. It's called The Unconditional Love Dance - meaning that a person who loves you unconditionally should continue to love you even after seeing you dance like this (thanks for the video, mom):
That would be some true love, right there.
I'm also thankful for cameras/pictures. I love the fact that we can capture moments of our lives on film, so that we can later reflect back and reminisce about those many meaningful moments (such as the one previously mentioned).
Speaking of pictures, here are a few more marvelously memorable moments from my trip for your viewing pleasure:
One of the days we were in Hawaii, we went snorkeling at Ke'e Beach. I was amazed at how many fish I saw- and also how vibrant their colors were. I also saw a sea turtle resting under a rock, which was pretty dang cool. The water was vividly blue. It was gorgeous. No pictures of that, sorry.
Emily and Kennedy did some boogie boarding in the ocean.
Marie watched them from the side lines.
We saw a beaching Monk Seal. It was so cute :)
This beach is at the end of the road, on the northwestern side of Kauai. Right next to the beach is a trail head where you can start the hike to see the Na Pali coast (which is one of the most spectacular sights I've ever witnessed- see this old blog post). Since we didn't have hiking shoes with us, and the trail was muddy, we decided to just go up a little bit so that we could see the first lookout. We left the kids back at the beach with their grandma (and with the soon-to-be-hungry baby...).
This was our first spectacular view. Um... wow? Yeah. If you look closely, you can see our three little girls playing in the water.
See? ( I was testing my camera's zooming capability. I was impressed.)
Here is the view of the Na Pali coast. Beautiful, eh?
And this is my sweeter than sweet sister-in-law, Jen :)
At this point in our hike, baby Aysia was hungry and wanted mommy. So Brandon and Jen ran down the trail as quickly as they could to relieve our mother of the screaming infant... Sorry, mom. :)
Which reminds me- I'm thankful for my mom. This really deserves its own separate blog post, but for now I will just say this: my mom is such a wonderful person. She is extremely loving, kind, caring, smart, funny, creative, supportive, accepting, generous, beautiful, compassionate, talented, etc... and, above everything else, she still loves me after seeing me perform the aforementioned dance.
Well whaddya know? I'm posting some pictures. But first things, first- my gratitude for the day.
- I'm thankful for FOOD. Man, oh man, I love to eat.
- I am thankful for my neighbors. They have been so helpful with picking up Kennedy after school when I have to work... I don't know what I'd do without them.
- I'm thankful that I have the ability to choose my attitude. Today I chose to be happy and optimistic. :) I'm thankful that I can also choose my reaction and how I respond to things. I am response-ABLE.
- And I'm also thankful for movies. All kinds- except horror movies. Those I am not so thankful for. At all.
Ok, now, on to the pictures!
Here we are, sitting at Bubba's, waiting for our delicious burgers. Kennedy obviously had more important things to look at.
She's such a poser. I have NO idea where she gets it from. *cough cough*...
Wow, right? I mean... just... wow.
She is such a monkey. A very cute monkey, might I add.
It's completely normal to pretend that a fruit roll-up is an extension of your tongue, right? Because people were giving us strange looks.
I finally have a few minutes (and access to my mom's computer) to upload pictures to share! Huzzah!
First, however, I will continue with my November daily thanks:
Today I am thankful for the internet. How cool is it that we have nearly all of the information in the world at our fingertips- especially if you have a phone with web-browsing capabilities? Pretty dang cool. Having an argument about the spelling of "ulterior"? Or do you want to know how the moon makes the high and low tides? Or what makes the sky blue? Just look it up. Now you're smarter. Good for you. It is crazy to me how accessible all of this information is- and so instantly. It is absolutely incredible.
I am also thankful for the people in my life who make me laugh. I have some pretty hilarious friends. I also have some dang funny family members. So- thank you to all of you who make me (or have made me) laugh. Please don't stop doing that. :)
And now it's time for a lot of random pictures from my trip (so far). I have quite a few more on my actual camera (these are all from my phone), but I will put those up with a later post. Enjoy!
To start off, here is the promised picture of the glorious rainbow I saw the other day (at least the left half of it):
...and here's the other half (it was so huge!!):
This is the beach I ran to that morning. Beautiful, right?
One of the beach days.
Eating dinner with my big brother :)
We made leis one evening, and Kennedy made this one for her head. And then she totally posed like this on her own... I'm in so much trouble when she grows up.
Another beach day.
We stopped at a "dry cave"...and Kennedy decided to be scary. She did a great job.
GORGEOUS Kauai sunset.
Kayaking this morning!
In the middle of our kayak adventure, we hiked up to this waterfall:
...and because the trail was so muddy, and the only shoes we had were flip flops, it was easier to just do the trail with bare feet. It was actually quite fun.
The moon was gorgeous tonight! Full moon tomorrow night...? I can't wait :D
Since my brother is all "smart" and "adventurous" and stuff, he lives abroad with his lovely family...which means, of course, that I rarely get to see them. Today, therefore, I am thankful for the fact that I am able to spend this time with them. Kennedy has been playing nonstop with her cousins, and I have just had a marvelous time conversing and hanging out with my brother and his wife.
I'm also thankful that he's letting me use his computer to update my blog, so that I can actually include a few pictures with this post. Thank you, Brandon.
And now for some pictures.
Kennedy actually slept on the airplane. Awww.
This is the view from Brandon's condo. Mine has no noteworthy view:
Here's my new niece, Aysia! She is the happiest little baby I've ever seen.
That is all you get, for now. I have quite a few more pictures, but I will save those for a later date.
I am not one to usually draw attention to myself and say "Hey, guess what! My birthday is coming up!" Because I think that seems a bit self-absorbed. However, I believe it is warranted, this year. So ... guess what! My birthday is coming up! Why am I justified in gloating, this year? I'm so glad you asked. It's only the most epic day of the century!! I mulled over how I should go about celebrating this day-of-all-days for quite some time. It is a very important decision. Party? Vacation? Disneyland? Buy presents for all of my blog-readers (I almost chose this option)? Finally, the decision was made. What better way to celebrate my BEST BIRTHDAY EVER (caps added for emphasis) than to be in my favorite place in the world with some of my most favorite people in the world? There is no better way, I do declare.
I will be spending 11/11/11 in the beautiful state of Hawaii! It will be Kennedy's first time, and she couldn't be more excited (nor could I). Although, as of right now, she thinks it's just the two of us who will be going. As soon as she finds out her cousins will be there (my brother's little girls), she just might pee her pants. If THAT isn't exciting enough, when she finds out her grandma is also going... wow. There may be some fainting involved. My fabulous aunt and her family will be there, as well- so it's going to be a huge party. Kauai won't know what hit them. But don't worry. It's just us awesome people.
So yeah, I just dedicated an entire blog post to myself and my birthday. Perhaps in my self discovery process I'll find that I'm a complete narcissist. Hm...
Whatever I find out about myself, I do know one thing: I sure love this little (big!!) girl.
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.
