Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Boy-oh-Boy, Look at all those GIRLS!!!


    My brother's little girl and my sisters little girl were here at the same time this summer so I took the opportunity to get "cousin pictures".  It made me realize just how many girls are in the family. Poor Caden, surrounded by so man girls. My sister is expecting, We're keeping our fingers crossed that it is a boy.






One with Grandma Waggoner













Thursday, June 23, 2011

10 year Anniversary trip to Kauai

Muddy Legs
To celebrate ten years together, Scott and I decided to take a trip to Kauai. We've been to Oahu before, but never to any other island. a lot of people suggested that we try Kauai because we love to hike. I am so glad because it was AMAZING!!!!! we easily could have stayed a few more days (sorry kids).  
We spent almost every day hiking through rain forests to the most beautiful water falls. We would come home in the evenings to our really nice resort with MUDDY LEGS and shoes. 
We had a blast!!!



These chickens were hilarious! they are part of the scenery in Kauai. Several years ago a storm set them free and they have been roaming free since. They can be seen EVERYWHERE!



























Napali Coast Hike
We went on a 4 mile hike along the Napali coast. It was amazingly beautiful. Never having gone there before we packed our snorkel gear. Before starting on the trail the life guard stopped us and told us to leave that behind because there was no way we could swim at the beach once we got there. Here is a sign at the end of the hike, right before you get to the beach.

A cave at the beach. It was beautiful.


Good thing we didn't pack our snorkeling gear with us.



It was really cool to see all these rock formations on the beach


A sign pointing to the bathroom leads you to this creepy place.  












Scott takes my shoes out to wash all the mud off while I relax. He's so great!!!



Pina colada, YUM!!


No matter where we found a crab, it matched the sand color, or what ever it lived on, perfectly.  The kids will love trying to catch these when we take them.




Scott was on a constant search for coconuts to take home to the kids.




We saw this beautiful water fall where fantasy island was filmed and wondered  how we could get a closer look. So we asked a local guy selling jewelry.  He said, " Just go down the street to the guard rail, jump over and climb down. BUT, make sure you take plenty of bug spray and good shoes!" 

We got to the guard rail, could this really be the place? We ignored the sign and went for it. 


There was a really nice guy (looked like he was living out of his back pack) selling coconuts.  We didn't have cash so he gave us on in exchange for several water bottles we had in the car. He opened it up for us and gave us a straw. Said we'd need refreshing coco water for the long hike ahead.  

View of another waterfall from above the canopy of the rain forest. (we wondered if  we could also hike to that waterfall)

Only wild life we ever saw besides chickens! It's kind of weird to not be nervous that any animals might jump out at us. 


We finally made it down the VERY steep trail to the bottom. We see a very wide river with a cliff wall against it. So how are we supposed to make it to the falls?

Oh, scale the side, of course! 

We really almost didn't make it. We turned back because I didn't want to get stuck out there  and not be able to get back because it was dark. Luckily we saw a couple come back that said to keep going because we'd eventually get there and it as worth it. 



We finally saw this! Just a few more boulders, and spider infested log piles ( Which I did get bit by spiders) to climb over. 

Then we finally reached this!  And since not many people know about this, we were the only ones there.


Scott is trying to walk behind the falls, but I tell him I need someone to help me scale the side of that cliff, so NO!


Snuck this picture of Scott making his way back, and I  LOVE it!



We saved the coconut to eat on the way back. It tasted delicious after the long hike!


Kayaking adventure
We went on a 4 mile kayaking/ 2mile hike to see secret falls. This was our favorite activity.  The river was beautiful and the falls were great too. 





The funny thing about this was that we went with a  tour group. We usually don't pay for and go on excursions because we like to do things on our own, but we could not pass this one up because it was at such a discounted rate and we didn't know how to get there anyway.  When we got there we had to introduce ourselves and receive instruction on how to kayak properly with two people.  When we announced that we were there celebrating 10 years, all sorts of teasing took place about putting our marriage to the test as we tried to getting sink with each other in maneuvering the kayak.  I have to admit, I got a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to get it down. Well, I'm going to brag just a little and say that we blew everyone out of the water. Yes, there was defiantly some tension among the group because people were having trouble working together. We didn't really notice though because we were 100's of feet ahead waiting for everyone to catch up!!!! ( am I totally a snob?).
Really it is because ONE, I have such a buff husband, and TWO, We have always been really good at working together. I'd say we are the perfect match!!
In the above picture I am waiting on the shore while my helpful hubby helps the rest of the group make it to shore.




Secret Falls. And of course a chicken is there to greet us. 
















Picture I took as we were laying in the hammock

Picture from our balcony









We also saw some turtle while we were swimming one day but didn't get a picture of them. 
































Beautiful Napali coast sunset cruise
Everyone had suggested to us that we see the beautiful Napali coast. The only way to really see the whole thing is by plane, boat,  or an 11 mile hike. We decided to take the boat rout and booked a sunset dinner cruise.
The most exciting thing about that is that we were told that chances of seeing dolphins in the evening were only %50  because they mostly come out in the morning. So this was very exciting. 








Because Scott was so sick he had to sit at the very front of the boat. The conditions were so bad that no matter where you were at on the boat you got wet, but it was especially bad at the front of the boat. scot was soaking wet. I felt so bad for him. He (and several others) got really sick.






The sunset was amazing! (too bad Scott was so sick to really enjoy it)