Kauai

[July 29 - August 4]

We realize that the world trip is over, but we had another post to add from our travels - Kauai! Dean's dad had a business meeting there and offered to pay for everything but the plane tickets. Dean's Mom is also from the island and has lots of family there, so it was an offer we couldn't refuse. And yes, we were just there last year too (see the post).



As a special treat, cousins David (11) and Michael (9) Nishikawa flew over from Oahu for the weekend. David was reading the new Harry Potter book a second time. Michael spent a fair amount of time running away from our cameras. We played some tennis, went boogie boarding, and ate a lot (a typical family vacation around there). Our favorite treats are Lapperts ice cream, large bags of macadamia nuts, shave ice, dried squid, Hamura saimin, and preserved mango. All consumed separately.



At the beach, I had fun making a crab sand castle with Michael and just sitting around with Lynn. The boys were into the boogie-boarding but I opted out and just took my floatie mat out past the waves to lounge around in the water. There were at least five turtles around the shore near me, swimming very close to everyone.



David was also boogie-boarding and paddled out towards me. "I think you're too far out. You know, one strong current will take you and then you're gone," he warned. I felt completely safe, and a bit silly to be taking advice from an 11-year old, but he was a bit of a Hawaiian local and probably knew better than a "haole" like me. So paddled in a bit to make him happy. But then, five minutes later, he paddled out to me again. "You're still too far out. Those waves, you know, they will smash you into the rocks." So I decided to just come back in. Later on, Dean's grandma was telling me that when the turtles come close to shore, they are there to avoid the sharks. Then Daniel told me that the other boogie boarders out there were referring to me as "shark bait." After that I decided to stay in a little closer to shore.

Some of our beach activites included building a big sand crab castle to bury Michael's feet.



Another morning we played some tennis. Mark is the pro and gave the boys a good lesson. Daniel decided that it would be fun to sit in front of the net and try not to flinch when the ball came at him. We were greatly amused by this activity!



We also had a stretching session to loosen those hamstrings. Everyone tried the wall stretch technique and I ran to grab the camera.



Sitting around was almost just as fun. One day we did nothing but watch TV and play our favorite card game "Oh Hell." This was our Croatian favorite taught to us by Greg and Ashley.



In an effort to make something of the vacation outdoors, we took a hike in the Waimea Canyon area. It was a nice trail down to the Napali coast line. We didn't see the same views that Dean and I had seen last year, but we didn't want to do the entire hike.







One evening we went to a luau at a local hotel with Dean's family and Sam's business partner's family. We had a nice spread of food and saw so many South Pacific and Hawaiian-inspired dances. As a fun coincidence, my Dad's coworker Tammy was there with her family too. Surprising to see other Forest Grovers!



Dean was even invited on stage to practice is booty-shakin' moves!



On other days we went to the town of Hanapepe to visit Dean's grandparents, Grandma Ayami and Grandpa Larry.



They made us some tasty dinner and took us to the local Obon dance. This is a traditional Japenese dance to celebrate the life of your ancestors.



The whole event is free and they even provide food for the dancers. Other booths sell shave ice and corn dogs. Mmmm... corn dogs....



Dean's grandma outfitted me in her very own kimono. A professional kimono folder helps out in a back room to twist the bow around our waists and fold it into a flower shape. It was quite tight, but didn't fall out during any of the dances. I think I was the tallest person there in a kimono.





Dean and I had to leave the vacation early to catch our friend Ian's wedding the next day. Ah, the leisurely life of the jet setters finally comes to an end!