Our Hawaiian vacation in a nutshell

Since I wasn't able to blog much about our time in Kauai, I would like to say that it was AMAZING! Kauai is such a beautiful place and we loved spending time together just the three of us as well as with the Carpenter/Gilstrap clan.

The 10 of us (6 adults, 2 preteens, 2 toddlers) rented a house just steps away from the beach near Princeville (the Northern part of the island). We managed to squeeze in some snorkeling, sun bathing, hiking, shopping and a 4 hour ATV tour of the island (25 mile round trip!). So many things! I really don't know where to start, so I think I will just post some of our favorite shots (click any picture to see it larger).

[Flowers of Kauai]

[After everyone had left for home we rented bikes along a 6 mile roundtrip trail. Gorgeous views of the coastline]

[Great times at Poipu beach. We snorkled and saw 2 turtles together! Sweet]

[These ones are from our 4 mile roundtrip hike of Kalalau trail - gorgeous!Do you see my muddy feet? Evidence of my inability (there wasn't any room!) to pack "real" shoes for hiking. The trail was soooo slippery/muddy and I seriously almost died many times. My feet kept sliding out of my shoes. I am grateful to have escaped with my life.]

[At tunnels beach. We couldn't have asked for a better day!]

______
I also uploaded some shots to my facebook (you don't have to be signed up with facebook to view these, so check them out!). They are mostly of our ATV tour. This was probably one of the best things we did while we were in Kauai. 4 hours on an ATV (a 4-wheeler for you Oregon folk - that's what I used to call them, anyway!). There were 12 people on the tour and NINE of us were from the great state of Oregon. Small world. Our tour guides were so hilarious and made the whole thing the awesome time it was. We even stopped for lunch and swam in a waterfall. Keith acted like a little kid the whole time, breaking the rules and riding all over the path - trying to get as muddy as possible. He had a blast! But who would have thought Keith of all people would be the troublemaker of our group? Not me!

We created so many good memories with our family on this trip. From our Black Chevy Trailblazer we named "Black Magic" to the awesome beach days to the crack head meth lab/truck we bought shave ice from (did we seriously wait 45+ minutes for these? And they were freezer burnt and did not have enough syrup - what?!?) from to our seriously old school-ghetto hotel shared with the G-Straps our last 3 days (Kauai Sands, baby!), we will cherish the days spent on the island. Keith said it was one of his favorite vacations of all time. He LOVED Kauai (so did I and Cam!). Mahalo to God for creating Kauai and to you for looking at our pictures. :)

PS - We are here now in Oregon. Keith is attending the Central Oregon Teacher (job) fair tomorrow from 12-6PM. Please pray that he would do well. We would really like to move to Oregon this summer and without job security we won't be able to (DOY!). The economy in Oregon is in the crapper - especially education - so getting a teaching job just might be easier said than done. We will keep everyone posted!