We just got back from an amazing Spring Break in Hawaii! I have finally recovered from all the fun in the sun and the jet lag, and finally have time to catch you up on our amazing adventure.
But first, we actually had an awesome weekend with the Heidt family - Mama & Dada's best friends from college. They live in San Diego and came up for a weekend visit to Napa. The grown ups went out for dinner one night, but otherwise, we all hung out and caused mayhem. We even enjoyed a day hike in Skyline Park!
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| Keaton, Jonah, Declan &me "holding up the tree" |
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| Declan Hercules, age 7 |
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| Keevah Nyx, age 3 - check out the wildflowers in Skyline! |
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| The family at Skyline, overlooking our home - an amazing combination of burnt trees from the recent fires, with lush green grass & wildflowers! |
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| Analeah, Mama, Dada, & Ian with me! |
We couldn't get enough of the marble tower!
Because I want to get to the good stuff from Hawaii, here are a few of the "pretty" pictures from the trip - where Mama made us stand around FOREVER (according to her it was 15 minutes, but she can't possibly be telling the truth!) with threats and bribes to smile nicely!
We started the Hawaii trip by waking at 4am for a flight to Kona on the Big Island. Declan and I did so good - even though we refused to sleep at all the whole day! I have been asking forever to go on an airplane again - one of my favorite games is to play "airplane" where I line up all sorts of chairs and hop on board with my animals. So, I was excited to get on the real thing! We flew to Kona and immediately drove 2 hours to the Volcano House on the rim of the Kilauea Volcano. Brother & I couldn't believe our eyes at the amazing view from our bedroom window of the huge volcano crater! Despite waking at 4am, flight, and driving...we immediately went on a 2.5 hour hike along the crater rim to "Steaming Bluff" and the sulfur flats. So cool to see the ground literally steaming all over the place...though the stinky sulfur flats evoked many off-color jokes! We ate both nights at the restaurant at our hotel overlooking the crater, and were graced with a lightening show one night! On day 2, we did three separate hikes (and I did 5 of the 6 miles all by myself!). We hiked to the crater floor thru the rain forest - truly amazing how the rain forest ends abruptly in barren lava rocks! A second hike took us to petroglyphs - rock carvings by ancient Hawaiian people...and a third took us along the old crater road to where the road fell into the crater during the earthquakes & eruption last year. We were all drop dead tired after that day, but we got to eat dinner in our PJs and blankets, so it was all worth it! We also got to pick out special souvenirs from the gift shop: Declan got an hourglass filled with volcano sand, and I got a kona wood carved turtle necklace.
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| View from the hotel with Kilauea crater in background |
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| Overlooking Kilauea crater at Steaming bluff |
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| Checking out one of the many smaller craters |
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| hitching a ride through the rainforest! Gleeful! |
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| Crater floor - checking out the "cold lava" |
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| Crater floor |
running on the boardwalk around the petroglyphs
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| Petroglyph hike - we kept running ahead and then "resting" while waiting for Mama & Dada to catch up! |
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| Sea Arch at the bottom of Kilauea volcano |
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| Beautiful greenery thrives on barren lava rock |
After our brief stay on Hawaii, we flew to Kauai to meet Gee & Grandpa, where we stayed for another week. Most days were a combination of the awesome warm pool and trips to the beach. Declan snorkeled a few times, while I perfected the art of digging to China with Mama. We made some cool sand castles and sculptures like a dolphin & a t-rex dinosaur (my favorite!) Gee was the genius of the trip, having brought a little fishing net that Declan used for hours each day trying to catch teeny fish (and one big whopper!)
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| Chicken fight! |
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| family stacking! |
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| sailing between Grandpa & Dada |
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| I'm KEEVAH!!! |
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| Declan & Dada snorkeling |
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| Sand Castle city with moat |
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| T-rex with shells & coral for teeth |
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| Grandpa & Declan catching fish |
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| Declan's on the move! |
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| All his fish! |
check out his fishies!
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| Snuggling & warming up with Gee |
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| We all fit in the hole I (read: Mama) dug to China! |
We found a sea snake... Gee was NOT amused!
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| Boogie boarding with Grandpa! |
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| Whole family enjoying Poipu beach |
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| Three generations of crazy ladies! |
We spent one day hiking 6 miles at Waimea Canyon, and my long legs carried me most of the way again! There was an amazing waterfall at the end as a reward!
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| Waterfall at the top of Waimea Canyon hike |
Declan and Grandpa also rebuilt his fort on the bluff overlooking the ocean again with driftwood - though Mama, Gee & me all helped too!
I spent a morning with Gee for our special time, while everyone else went ziplining! I can't wait until I'm old enough to go - though everyone who knows me understands that I'm ready RIGHT NOW! Grandpa, at age 81, upstaged the entire group by ziplining UPSIDE DOWN AND BACKWARDS! Declan came back so excited that he did most of the lines on his own, and even did a "flying" pose.
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| Declan goes flying! |
Grandpa upside down & backwards!
As a special super cool Mama thing - Mama took Declan out on an ATV on our last day, while I played with Dada. They were super dusty, but they had a ton of fun...even swimming in a waterfall!
Alas, it had to come to an end...but I'm back to enjoying my school, and Declan loves his. We got a brand new nanny this week: Miss Andrea, and we are loving her! She is super fun, and Mama is happy that she's super organized! She's even dealt with my recent cold and my jet lag without losing it!
So, a few random photos too - Declan's school auction had a 80's theme. Check out Mama & Dada's outfits - including Mama's ROUS!
And, the day we landed back home at 5am was Easter Sunday! Somehow, the Easter bunny had been to our house, and eggs & baskets were ready for us! Thank you Easter Bunny! Declan & I each even found a golden & a silver egg!
