Friday, December 6, 2024

Family getaway to Kauai

We just returned from a family trip to Kauai.  7 days of beautiful scenery and relaxation.  It was absolute heaven!
We stayed at the same condo resort we stayed at for our honeymoon and our 10 year anniversary.  The kids were dying to go back to this pool!  The Waipouli Beach Resort is stunning and never disappoints!
Our 1st day was spent grocery shopping at Walmart and Costco to prepare for the week.  We started with coffee and breakfast at Java Kai.  It is such a cute place and so delicious!
After running errands we spent most of the day at the pool.  We had a blast checking out the waterslides!
We had dinner at Lemongrass Grill near our resort.  It was my birthday and I had a fantastic meal to celebrate. 🎉 Ended the night with some shave ice at Wailua Shave Ice.  Yummmm.
Carson made breakfast for us the next morning.  Bacon and egg croissant sandwiches.  Soooo good!
After breakfast we went on a hike to Ho'opii Falls.  It was beautiful!  There was one set of falls towards the beginning of the trail, then Ho'opii Falls was at the end.  There was a pool to swim in and cool off near the falls.  Highly recommend!!
These were the first falls we came across.  Very pretty!
Chickens everywhere!
Carson bought a camera before this trip and he was very into taking pics of everything!  He's a pretty cute photographer if you ask me!
There was a very steep area to hike down to get to the falls.  It was slippery but very fun!
After our hike we went to the pool for a bit and then headed to Poipu to go to Keokis Paradise for dinner.  Its a very cool, open air restaurant.  Its beautiful and delicious food and drinks too!
On our 3rd day we drove north and went to Tunnels Beach.  Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and a little drizzly.  The beach was beautiful despite the weather,  We stayed for a bit to snorkel and walk the beach.  Then stopped at L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Hanalei for lunch.  I had a kalua pork plate while watching the chickens wander around our table.
We went to our favorite place- Lava Lava Beach Club for dinner.  Can't beat eating dinner with your feet in the sand!
The Mai Tai and pineapple fried rice was so good!
We woke up on the 4th day to cloudy weather again, so we ventured to the south part of the island.  The weather was absolutely perfect at Poipu Beach!  We rented some boogie boards and spent the day relaxing at the beach.
We ate lunch at the Marriott right on the beach.  It quickly became a favorite place to eat!!
After lunch we wandered down the beach and found a monk seal and some turtles.  They climb on the beach to rest before going back in the water.  So cool!  Then we discovered Brennecke Beach which has bigger waves and is perfect for boogie boarding.  Once the kids found this beach they never wanted to return to calm Poipu beach!!
We went to Napali Brewing Company for dinner.  It was a really cool setting and they had live music which is always a plus!
Our 5th day we decided to do something new- zip lining!  We went with Koloa ziplines because they had the longest and fastest zip lines on Kauai.  It was so much fun!!!
They had 9 ziplines.  The longest was 2450 ft and up to 54 mph.  We loved it!
A couple of the zip lines you could go superman style, hands free or even upside down.
We were near Poipu so back to Brennecke Beach (the boogie boarding beach) we went!
After the beach we went back to the pool and had pizza at the condo.
The 6th day we decided to try another hike.  We did the Kuilau Ridge Trail.  It was very muddy and slippery.  Beautiful scenery and luscious jungle.
After our hike we stopped at Jojos shave ice for a treat.  Then back to the pool and hot tub.  We also did the beach walk near our hotel before dinner.
The pool at the resort is stunning!  It winds around like a lazy river and has slides and waterfalls.  The hot tubs have a sandy bottom.  There are 2 adult hot tubs and 1 for kids.  There is also a shallow sandy bottom pool for kids which we did not go in.
We went to Chicken in a Barrell for dinner.  The food was mainly BBQ.  It was very tasty and they also had a beer wall.  It was fun to sample different hawaiian beers.
On our last full day we let the kids decide what to do.  Rylee wanted to start at the Sunrise Cafe because it was so "aesthetic."  Carson wanted to go back to the boogie boarding beach to catch more waves.  Fine by me!
The turtles were very active at Brennecke beach.  They would just float around the water where everyone was boogie boarding, going from family to family.  It was so cool to see.  They were close enough to touch!
We ate at the Brennecke Beach deli for lunch which was really good!  Hot dogs with mango relish and big pretzels hit the spot!
It was a beautiful evening to hang out on the lanai before dinner.
We all decided on Lava Lava for dinner again.  It was a great meal once again!
Our last day we did a little shopping for souvenirs and had some shave ice at Skinny Mikes before heading to the airport.  It was an amazing, relaxing trip.  I am so grateful to have this special family time!

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