since theo is a SENIOR this year (honestly, it is HARD for me to even write that as i am already torturing myself with anticipatory grief when i should probably just be enjoying him) we are trying to do all “the things” before he goes to college. so we went to hawaii over the holidays. i have not been in at least thirty years and the kids and first have never been so it was pretty exciting.

we stayed in po’ipu in kauai and it could not have been lovelier. we had a little kitchen in our condo so we were able to go to the local market and stock up. of course, we got spam which theo sliced, fried in butter and slid into little hawaiian buns. i am not really clear about what spam is made of, but it is DELICIOUS!

(i love the tin packaging for the spam!)

(somehow these buns are even better in po’ipu than they are in colorado and they are plenty good there!)

the first few days we were really busy meeting up with the turtles, chickens and seals on the beach, seeing rainbows, checking out waterfalls, surfing (just the kids), hiking along the cliffs, tasting various blends at the kaui coffee factory, taking a boat ride up the napali coast, exploring hanalei bay and luauing. also, eating a lot. and then we slowed down and just migrated back and forth from the beach to the pool to hot tub and round again. and we ate a lot more. we LOVED the pork sandwiches, poke bowls and coconut shrimp!

(this guy was GIGANTIC!)

(i never knew roosters enjoyed the beach)

(this guy lounged for HOURS)

(this rainbow seemed to arc over everything!)

(there are even rainbows on the cars in hawaii)

(the wailua falls were shown in the opening of one of my favorite childhood TV shows… FANTASY ISLAND!)

(mr. roarke and tattoo! the waterfall is in the background!)

(we hiked along this GORGEOUS coastline)

(these are coffee beans growing on a kauai coffee factory bush… i love the skeletal trees in the background)

(theo and the kauai coffee chicken)

(our boat up the napali coast was a little bumpy - maybe that’s why all of my photos are blurry…)

(the S.S. MINNOW must have been super bumpy since it crashed onto “gilligan’s island” and left them stranded somewhere on kauai)

(the bradys also took a boat ride in hawaii while on their famous tropical holiday… i would have LOVED to see them on the island)

(the pier at hanalei bay)

(puff is from hanalei!)

(i hope he got to eat at postcards… one of the BEST dinners i’ve had in ages!)

(the dancers at the luau kalamaku re-enacted an amazing journey to a new land)

(lucy with her new favorite drink - a pina colada - just wait til she tries a real one! keoke’s paradise - so much FUN!)

we don’t usually take these kinds of layabout vacations and i don’t really know why because i am awesome at being lazy. i read FIVE books while we were there. some of them were pretty trashy as i ran out and had to buy more at the long’s drugstore and the selection was pretty limited. i can’t think of the last time i was happily bored. i just couldn’t get enough of how pretty the coastline is in all the different lights and how soothing the water sounds are. we can’t wait to go back! x0x0x

(sunset at the beach house… another wonderful dinner)