Here are some pictures of the family together. We had so much fun doing these! Our photographer was Spencer Hall, he lives in our neighborhood. Let me know if you would like his information!
We had some family pictures taken on my birthday. We went with someone different this time to save a bit of money. He did great! We took these down at the BYU Arboretum, where the duck pond is. Kaisa loved feeding the ducks (until they got too close!) and running around with mommy and daddy. She is such a fun, energetic child and we love having her in our family!
I have a lot more stuff waiting to be blogged, so I’d better finish this trip! Here is the rest of Kaua’i in a nutshell.
On Tuesday we did a zipline, hiking, & kayaking trip on Princeville Ranch. It was so fun! As you can see, I was a bit bummed that they didn’t allow preggies on the zipline. But I definitely had a good time otherwise, and the kayaking was really fun! I’d never done that before. Kaua’i is a great place to kayak, with all the rivers winding through dense, green jungle.
After the kayaking trip, we stopped at this lookout at the Kilauea Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge. It was so gorgeous!
Then, we visited this really gorgeous waterfall. Can’t remember the name.
Wednesday morning, our last full day on the island, we woke up early and did the 4 mile round-trip hike up the Napal’i Coast to Hanakapiai beach. It was a hard, muddy, slippery hike, but it was absolutely gorgeous and well worth the effort. When we got to the beach, there was a monk seal lying on the sand, sleeping. It was so neat to see that, since they are extremely endagered. There are only an estimated 1,500 left in the world. We didn’t swim here, because the surf is extremely dangerous. In fact, while we were in Kaua’i, 2 people drowned here.
And to end our trip, we took a drive down to Pui’po Beach on the south end of the island. This is supposed to be one of the best beaches in the world. I wasn’t super-impressed, mostly because it was busier and the surf was high, so I didn’t last long on the snorkel. But it was great snorkeling! Not so good for boogie boarding, though. Too rocky. My dad and Nathan rented boogie boards, so when we were finished snorkeling we took them back to the beach right by our resort, where Nathan did an awesome job at catching waves! Oh, and on Pui’po beach we saw our second endangered species of the day. A huge sea turtle came up right onto the beach in the middle of all the people. It was really neat!
All in all, a great vay-cay. I feel like I got to see the best parts of the two islands we visited in a short time, and I can’t wait to go again and see more!
On Monday we flew to Kaua’i, known as the Garden Island. And for obvious reason! It was so lush and green, much more beautiful that Oahu in my opinion. Lots of movies were filmed there, like “Fantasy Island,” “South Pacific,” and “Jurassic Park.” The first afternoon there we went to Lydgate Beach Park, literally feet from our resort. The surf was much larger than Oahu, and a huge swell had come in while we were there making swimming conditions somewhat dangerous. However, Lydgate had an area blocked off by rocks that provided the perfect swimming and snorkeling spot, so we jumped in! The guys (Nathan and my dad) made a giant mermaid-version of me in the sand. She was even pregnant! Here are a few pics of the afternoon.
Playing frisbee with dad.
Pregnant Mermaid Fiona, and her sculptors.
We spent our Sabbath on Oahu attending church at a ward in Honolulu, visiting Pearl Harbor, and hiking Manoa Falls. I enjoyed everything, but the hike was hot and wet and quite uncomfortable at times…and the waterfall was all blocked off so we weren’t able to cool off in the water. It was so beautiful though!!
Posing on the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.
Starting out the Manoa Falls hike…I had this weird urge to swing from a vine!
I almost didn’t post this pic because it’s so horrible, but this gives you an idea of how uncomfortable I was. Isn’t the waterfall nice? :)
We went snorkeling at two places on Oahu, Hanauma Bay and Shark’s Cove. Nathan isn’t a fan of snorkeling, but he did try it a bit (probably mostly to humor me). The reefs in Hanauma Bay were a little too close to comfort for me (I was hitting my prego belly on them) but I really enjoyed Shark’s Cove on the North Shore. I saw mostly fish and a few eels, nothing big or unusual though. The fish are so beautiful! Here are a couple of pics.
Tip for Hanauma Bay: Show up really early, like before 7am. We brought our own gear, and since the pay booths were not open yet (they open at 7:30) they let us go down for free! A free snorkeling trip! We also beat all the crowds…we practically had the place to ourselves and as we were leaving, tons of people were coming down.
Fighting the waves & rocks, trying to get in to snorkel at Shark’s Cove. My mom and dad are there with me, Nathan opted to sit out and man the camera. It was tricky getting in, but well worth it.
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