The Weather Is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful

The weather is ugly today, and only planning to get uglier. Here's my backyard in the last hour:

First sleet...
...then snow!

See why I miss Hawaii? Let's go back, shall we?

Upon our arrival Tuesday night, Christine gave us the five minute tour of the downstairs unit of our beachhouse, with a few rules and safety precautions thrown in, and then we all trooped to the upstairs unit to see Grandpa Bob, Grandma Carol, Eric and Janet and enjoy the bbq pork steaks they'd prepared for us.

"Man, I wonder if we looked that bad when we got here," the ever-silver-tongued Eric wondered aloud.

The rest of the evening is lost in a blur...I know we ate dinner, and it wasn't long after that E3 announced she was ready to go to sleep. We went back down to our unit and began getting sleeping arrangements made - so befuddled was I that instead of pulling out the sofa bed for Christine, I just assembled blankets and pillows on top of the sofa. I'd realize my mistake around 5am the next morning and feel bad about it. Especially since the bed Rob and I got ROCKED - so much so that I wanted to take it home as my souvenir. Once the girls were settled in, Rob headed back upstairs to hang out with the grown-ups. I had a moment to think, "Bed?" before it was, " zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." I slept like a rock, unmoving, until about 5:30a.m. Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, after breakfast, Eric and Janet took off for a drive and everyone else was going to walk to the beach. At first, I tried staying at the house to catch a nap, but when sleep wouldn't come I trekked to the beach as well.
Later, we packed some lunch and then drove to Waimea Canyon

and then up above the NaPali coast.

Yes, I KNOW I posted pictures of these places already. I might just start posting them every day.

On our way back to the house, we stopped at SnorkelBob's to rent snorkel gear for Rob, E1 and I. More time was spent at Poipu beach before we grilled for dinner.

The roosters and chickens, they were abundant, as are the theories as to why they're all over Kauai. We saw them everywhere. Janet even got a picture of one walking past a Kentucky Fried Chicken sign - I got a picture of one standing on an un-used bbq grill and I've titled it Grilled Chicken.

Thursday, Rob, Christine, the girls and I headed out to Lydgate park to play in the sand and try some snorkeling.

We found a mermaid at Lydgate Park!

Did I mention that Flat Stanley was with us for a short time? He even managed to hook-up with a local before heading back to Cousin J on the mainland.

That evening we had dinner at Brick Oven Pizza, then sent the kids home with Grandma and Grandpa so we could go out to Tradewinds, possibly the only bar that stays open past 10 pm on Kauai. Janet had a Big Ass Draft.

Friday, we drove to a Opaekaa Falls and the menehune fish pond, then continued on to Hanalei. You know, where Puff the Magic Dragon frolicked.

Winter mists, as opposed to Autumn, but really it's all the same as Hawaii has no seasons.

We ate some burgers before driving down to Hanalei Bay in hopes of playing on the wide, shallow, beach. It had been overcast all day, had drizzled through lunch, and unfortunately, the sun still refused to peek out. We spent some time out on the dock/pier watching the surfers before we continued down the road. We DID see our first bicycle with a surf board rack here, which was amusing for us mainlanders, and we did venture out to a beach as the drizzle ended and Rob, E1, and E2 observed the waves.

After a quick stop at a flea market, we zipped home and got ready for a luau. Attending a luau was something I had wished we'd done on our last trip to Hawaii. We chose the luau at the Sheraton because it was the only beach-side luau on the island.

Once we figured out where we were going at the Sheraton resort, we signed in for the evening's events. We were treated to shell leis, and ushered to a small knoll for a picture. Christine said she was going to stay out of the photo so it would be just our family, and as I was unloading my bag and our jackets I nodded my assent. It wouldn't have bothered me either way...but then two complete strangers stepped into the photo.

If two Hawaiian teenagers can be in our photo, surely Aunt Christine can be as well, don't you think?

The luau was fun for all. E2 danced along, as best she could, on the sidewalk behind us. E3 claimed the pineapple bowl, when it became apparent no one else would be eating any fruit.

E1 enjoyed the mahimahi and generally just tried not to get snot on anyone. Rob managed to find a fellow Cardinals fan in the crowd, and he, Christine and I took full advantage of the all-you-can-eat-and-drink policy.
Saturday morning, the girls played Play-doh (it was at the beach house!) while I read and rested. I was the second in line to get the head-cold thing and it was beating me down. Rob, Christine, Eric, and Janet went on a river kayak & waterfall hike excursion (we cancelled my reservation the day before). After lunch, we ventured out to Salt Pond beach.
That evening we enjoyed dinner at Tomkats Grille and a little wandering around Old Koloa town before heading home to pack our bags for our Sunday flight to Oahu.

[Edited to add: This took me a lot longer than an hour...now back to our regularly scheduled weather.]