East Shore Sights - Kauai, Hawaii

We left the gloomy northwest for Kauai. This set of pictures is from the East Shore where we stayed in a house with Sarah’s parents and sister Nif’s family. It ended up being a great spot for us to stay. We were up in the hills on 3 acres where we had a sliver of an ocean view and were surrounded by natural Kauai. For the most part we had a lot of cloud coverage (which was a good thing after being out in the sun all day at the beach), but several breaks of sun and clearing. We missed sunsets, but had beautiful sunrises.

Being somewhat remote, we found lots of wildlife. The green bug met its maker (we think pesticides got him), the kids found the centipede creature drowned in the pool, dozens of white birds hung out on the lawn (Kindel enjoyed watching the neighbor mow and how the birds would follow for bugs), there were several geckos in and around the house, a lovely (and large) spider made its home outside the laundry room, and of course there were chickens everywhere (see Wall Street Journal article)! Nif kept pretending she was trying to hit them with the car for dinner and to “make the boys proud.” So when Trask, Hildi and Sarah were out and saw a dead rooster on the side of the road, they couldn’t resist bringing it back. And did it smell! Kindel also found a toad. Hildi enjoyed that a bit more.

We got into a daily routine of hitting some sights during the day and coming home in the late afternoon for some (cold) pool time and to hang out and let our boys cook for us. We loved how Hildi’s dress matched our car. Nif loved how they cut off old power lines (now trees are growing out the tops) where they put in new power lines. You’ll see the picture we took for her cruising up to our place between power lines. On one of the routes to the house we passed Opaeka’a Falls and up Wailua River. It was a very pretty place, but watching the honeymooners take pictures of each other in front of the falls was almost more entertainment than the falls themselves.

Lydgate State Park was close and one of the first beaches we hit because it has protected pools for the kids to practice snorkeling. At first the water was a bit cold, but once you got used to it, we all had fun. Even Mom in her 70’s glasses. We were good about taking pictures of treasures like the fossil rock Trask found, rather than taking the treasures. Some things like the “horns” Trask found we couldn’t resist. Mornings Mom and Dad had a routine of walking the East Shore at sunrise. Trask, Sarah and Hildi joined one day and spotted some whales. Another day we hit Kalapaki Beach for boogie boarding. There was a little fresh water stream there (like many beaches in Kauai) were the kids enjoyed playing and watching small fish swim. The bigger kids enjoyed the waves for boogie boarding. Adults enjoyed bobbing in the waves. Mom and Dad decided to rent a kayak and you’ll have to get a play by play story about how Mom got bashed by the kayak on the beach. Look close and you’ll see Sarah got knocked to her knees (after going under the boat) too.

Back at the house we had fun. Finn would draw. Hildi would bootie shake. Kindel would pop cold medicine (poor girl was sick). Trask would not leave the pool (except to get a Pepsi – notice how it camouflages with his suit). You’ll have to get through lots of shots to see Trask’s Parachute Jump. Steve also taught him the “Enema Jump.” As you can see Sarah was busy taking pictures and the boys cooked up lots of trouble in the kitchen. Nif had her share of mischief too. One night she decided to park Mom and Dad’s rental car in the garage (that we never used) after dark. When they got up to leave, we’ve never seen Dad shake so bad thinking his car had been stolen. Mean, but funny indeed. Maybe not as funny as Mom playing the ukulele or the time Steve served ice cream with big spoons.