I've always loved to travel. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of family vacations. When I was a teenager Grandma and Grandpa Monk took me and Amanda to Kauai Hawaii. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been! I remember while we were there that Grandpa would tell us to enjoy it because it may be a once in a lifetime experience. I really, really didn't want that to be my only visit to Kauai in my life. So, when we got married Nathan and I talked about going to Hawaii for our 5th anniversary. Well on our 5th anniversary I was 7 months pregnant, so we postponed our trip for our 6th anniversary. We started planning the trip in the fall and although there were a few kinks in our plans we headed to Kauai in the middle of April! It was Nathan's first time to Hawaii and he loved it. We were there for about a week and had a wonderful time! Some of the highlights:
*We took a short drive up Waimea canyon on Sunday afternoon. We ran out of time so we couldn't get too deep into it, but we'll put it on the list for next time!
*Sunday was such a neat experience. About half of the people that attend the ward in Lihue are visitors/tourists. After Sacrament meeting the locals stood at the front of the chapel and sang a Hawaiian welcome song while sisters passed out yarn leis. It just happened that Elder Nelson and his wife were on the island that day and giving a fireside that night so we got to see them, too. It was so cool so get to hear them speak.
*We went to a luau and had the traditional kalua pig and poi. After dinner we saw a spectacular show about all of the traditional island dances.
A peacock at the luau
Nathan trying out the hula dance
*Besides sitting on the beach, my favorite thing to do in Hawaii is to snorkel. Some friends lent us their snorkel equipment which was so great because we could go whenever we wanted. We found 2 really fantastic spots- one of them I remembered from the last time I was there. We saw so many incredible fish, coral, sea urchins, some really fat sea cucumbers, and even some crabs.
*Nathan and I agree that one thing we love about vacations is going out to dinner every day. We definitely include restaurants we want to visit when we're planning our activities for the trip. We ordered a lobster tail for the first time while we were there. It was pretty good but it's a splurge!
*We took a short drive up Waimea canyon on Sunday afternoon. We ran out of time so we couldn't get too deep into it, but we'll put it on the list for next time! *Sunday was such a neat experience. About half of the people that attend the ward in Lihue are visitors/tourists. After Sacrament meeting the locals stood at the front of the chapel and sang a Hawaiian welcome song while sisters passed out yarn leis. It just happened that Elder Nelson and his wife were on the island that day and giving a fireside that night so we got to see them, too. It was so cool so get to hear them speak. *We went to a luau and had the traditional kalua pig and poi. After dinner we saw a spectacular show about all of the traditional island dances. *There are tons of roosters and chickens running around wild on the island. During the hurricane in 1992 (I think?) all of the roosters got out of their cages. The state of Hawaii now protects them so they just run wild wherever they want to! Nathan really didn't like the roosters, so I took his picture with one. I thought they were kind of cool and very pretty. Plus, they eat a lot of the bugs!
A peacock at the luau Nathan trying out the hula dance*We took a boat ride to see the Na Pali coast. During the excursion we saw sea turtles, dolphins, and even a whale! The Na Pali coast is absolutely amazing!!! It's so gorgeous. It's full of cliffs that end at the ocean. There are many movies filmed there. Last summer they filmed the new Pirates of the Carribean there. After we saw the coast we snorkeled for an hour, ate lunch and headed back to the port. The sea on the way back was pretty choppy. Nathan got sea sick and it didn't help when he started to see other passengers throwing up. It wasn't his favorite day, but he survived and I LOVED it! 
The Na Pali Coast
Nathan being a good sport :-)
*We had some time to explore the island. We loved to see all of the different waterfalls. They are so beautiful!
The view from our hotel room
The tree tunnel-
*On Thursday we took a kayak tour. We kayaked a mile up the Wailua River and then hiked to a waterfall where we swam. On the hike we saw another beautiful waterfall and some menehune ruins (the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands). This excursion was so cool! It was Nathan's favorite part of the trip. We had the best guide. She told us some really neat stories about the menehunes and the rain forest we hiked through. She walked barefoot so her feet would absorb the minerals in the dirt, left food for the animals, and fed us only organic snacks. :-) She was very knowledgeable and very cool to talk to. We were really lucky that there were only 2 other people in the tour with us, too.
Nathan under the waterfall we hiked to
Our guide took this picture for us and was so excited when she saw the spots in it. She says that they are "fairy orbs" and that each one is a different spirit around us. She said she has never seen this many in one picture. She's a very spiritual person and said that she would remember us forever because of this picture. I thought it was neat. She had different names for things than we do, but we have many similar beliefs. Also, we have never had so many people ask us if we were from Utah as we did on this trip. So funny! It wasn't always when they saw my one piece swimming suit, too.
*On Friday we had about 11 hours to kill from the time we checked out of our hotel until our flight left. We drove to the north side of the island to the Kilauea lighthouse. It is the northern most point of Hawaii. It was so beautiful!
*After the lighthouse we went to a movie. We saw the movie "Soul Surfer." It was such a good movie and the perfect way to end our trip! It's about the teenage pro surfer girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark. Before we saw it I had no idea that it happened in Kauai!!! I was sure glad we learned about the shark attack after being in the water for an entire week. Most of the movie was filmed in Kauai so it was so cool to have know where everything actually took place. We had driven by the hospital a few times. We just thought is was so serendipitous to see it while we were there without planning anything!! It was great and we highly recommend the movie.
All in all, it was a fantastic vacation! We felt like it was a second honeymoon. We saw many beautiful things and met some really great people. It was so, so nice to sleep as much as we wanted to! Mostly, it was just great to spend some time together as a couple. A HUGE thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, Katelyn, Jordan, Kristen and Andrew for watching our children. We could not have done it without your help!!
The Na Pali CoastI wish my pictures showed off the scenery more, but it was kind of foggy.
Nathan being a good sport :-)Nathan having a drink from one of the many waterfalls in Hawaii.
*We had some time to explore the island. We loved to see all of the different waterfalls. They are so beautiful!
The view from our hotel room
The tree tunnel- On the way to Poipu there is this tunnel of trees that you drive through. It was one of our favorite sites on the island. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's really long and pretty dense.
*On Thursday we took a kayak tour. We kayaked a mile up the Wailua River and then hiked to a waterfall where we swam. On the hike we saw another beautiful waterfall and some menehune ruins (the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands). This excursion was so cool! It was Nathan's favorite part of the trip. We had the best guide. She told us some really neat stories about the menehunes and the rain forest we hiked through. She walked barefoot so her feet would absorb the minerals in the dirt, left food for the animals, and fed us only organic snacks. :-) She was very knowledgeable and very cool to talk to. We were really lucky that there were only 2 other people in the tour with us, too.
Nathan under the waterfall we hiked to
Our guide took this picture for us and was so excited when she saw the spots in it. She says that they are "fairy orbs" and that each one is a different spirit around us. She said she has never seen this many in one picture. She's a very spiritual person and said that she would remember us forever because of this picture. I thought it was neat. She had different names for things than we do, but we have many similar beliefs. Also, we have never had so many people ask us if we were from Utah as we did on this trip. So funny! It wasn't always when they saw my one piece swimming suit, too.
*On Friday we had about 11 hours to kill from the time we checked out of our hotel until our flight left. We drove to the north side of the island to the Kilauea lighthouse. It is the northern most point of Hawaii. It was so beautiful!
*After the lighthouse we went to a movie. We saw the movie "Soul Surfer." It was such a good movie and the perfect way to end our trip! It's about the teenage pro surfer girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark. Before we saw it I had no idea that it happened in Kauai!!! I was sure glad we learned about the shark attack after being in the water for an entire week. Most of the movie was filmed in Kauai so it was so cool to have know where everything actually took place. We had driven by the hospital a few times. We just thought is was so serendipitous to see it while we were there without planning anything!! It was great and we highly recommend the movie.
All in all, it was a fantastic vacation! We felt like it was a second honeymoon. We saw many beautiful things and met some really great people. It was so, so nice to sleep as much as we wanted to! Mostly, it was just great to spend some time together as a couple. A HUGE thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, Katelyn, Jordan, Kristen and Andrew for watching our children. We could not have done it without your help!!
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Thanks for sharing.