Kauai Vacation 2011!

At the end of December and the beginning of January my parents and my brother, Scott came to visit. After a few days touring around O'ahu, we hopped a plane for Kauai. This was our first chance to get to one of the other islands and we were so excited! My parents had an amazing place for us to stay and it was such a treat to get away from the busyness of Honolulu. Our kids were thrilled to get out and just run around for a few minutes and we were thrilled to not have to watch them every second to make sure they weren't falling off a cliff, drowning or getting hit by a car! We were staying on the North Shore and took a drive one day to the end of the road to visit the wet and dry caves and the areas where they filmed "South Pacific" and to take a 1/2 mile hike into the Na Pali Coast. It was a beautiful area! Derek, Dad & Scott got to get out on the golf course during the trip as well and enjoy a beautiful view while they golfed! With it being the winter, it's whale season and it was so amazing to sit on the cliffs above the coast near our hotel and watch the humpback whales spout and breach! We took a boat tour to see them and it was amazing! We didn't get to see them jump out of the water up close but saw plenty of their backs and tails flipping out of the water to be sufficiently awed! Bumpa & Grandmom had a day with the grandkids while Scott, Derek & I picked Christina up from the airport and took off on a small plane flight around Kauai. It was so beautiful from the air! The next day we took a long drive around to the other side of the island to see Waimea Canyon. It's called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and it really was a lot like the Grand Canyon- except much greener as well! What a wonderful time with my family touring the 2 islands and doing amazing things together! Kauai was both a time of relaxing and a busy touring time but all of it was wonderful!