Kauai--the last post

On Tuesday of our vacation Anders friend, Tara, came for a few days. The boys were immediately smitten. And when I say immediately...she basically had to walk in the door. Actually, I think we were all smitten. 

We spent the next few days playing cards, making leis, exploring the botanical gardens (Kadyn's request), eating ice cream and shave ice (my, I mean, Kai's request), checking out the spouting horn, looking for crabs and sea creatures, and watching beautiful sunsets. To say we had fun is an understatement. 

 We only saw the entry of the Botanical Gardens...and what an amazing entry!

Kadyn thought this bamboo was hysterical and proceeded to tell me I have a Buddha belly for the rest of the trip. 

Grammy and Pops watched the boys so the 4 of us could go out to dinner. SO much fun. 

 "Sea Creature Beach" Though this year the tide was up too high. Kadyn still remembers the first year and all the starfish and sea slugs that he and Pops found. And all the fish he caught last year. Still fun to dig for crabs this year.

 The Spouting Horn

 Kadyn had such a good time checking out this sunset he asked to do a repeat the next night with Grammy, Pops and Uncle Anders.

 Kadyn also became quite the photographer while we were there. He took the picture below and many wonderful pictures in the botanical gardens.

 Every morning the boys have a ritual, they get to walk to the market at the resort and pick out a "special" cereal. It's special because it's chalked full of sugar...they do not get those at home! It's a highlight for them for sure. In year's past both boys would wear their jammies. This year, Kadyn always wanted to wear clothes. He's growing up.

 And boy were we glad that Kadyn wanted to do a repeat of the beautiful sunset from the night before because our last night there did not disappoint.

 Thank you Grammy and Pops!! We had SO much fun!!

Kauai Con't

The next couple of days were spent having a lot of fun playing in the ocean, building sand castles, getting a very burnt baby belly, visiting the North Shore, and feeding the fish at the resort.

More pictures to come :)

A much needed vacation

I think all vacations are much needed and I may even say that it's a much needed vacation every time we take one. But truly, this one was needed and perfectly timed. We left on Friday, May 25th, and returned on Saturday, June 2nd.

Grammy, Pops, and Uncle Anders greeted us (and all our bags) at the Kauai airport with leis. 

 Poor Kadyn was in a benadryl stuppor after a bad mommy move and nut scare on the airplane. The kind family behind us were traveling with a baby and had handed out "thanks for your patience" bags filled with ear plugs and candy. I peeked in Kai's bag as Kadyn had already stuffed his in his suitcase and checked out the candy. All I saw were hershey kisses so I honestly didn't think much of it when 2.5 hours in to the flight Kadyn asked if he could have a piece of his candy. It wasn't until he handed me the wrapper and I saw with peanuts that I realized my mistake. Fortunately, he only had 1 bite and very willingly gave me the rest. His reaction to peanuts was never as severe as it is to tree nuts (just hives vs anaphylactic) so I wasn't initially as panicked as I soon became. 3 minutes later I heard him begin clearing his throat and he looked up at me and said "Mommy, I swallowed a piece of cardboard." More throat clearing. I yelled over to Ryan my need for the benadryl. I gave him 2 doses hoping to avoid the epi pen on the plane. Fortunately, it worked. And after another hour it seemed we were out of danger zone. However, his lethargy afterwards was so sad.

After a quick stop for lunch at our usual get-off-plane-restaurant the kids were ready to hit the beach and pool running.

The difference between the first year we took the kids and this year was incredible. The first year Kai didn't even want to have a foot in the sand never mind going in the ocean and he also didn't even get in the pool until the very last day we were there. This year he was wave jumping and diving in the pool on the very first day. The first year Kadyn enjoyed everything but was a bit more timid. This year he was entirely on his own and he even learned that he can swim in the deep end of the pool unassisted!

**More to come!**