Kauai – Surfing

by Funhog Family on December 6, 2024

This morning we decided to go to the north shore to a land called Hanalei to body board.  This is the land puff the magic dragon was created to live in.  We looked for puff but never found him.  He must have been hiding out in his cave while we were there, because as we arrived the rains came with us.

As we parked, the rain began to pour.  This was great because it reduced the number of people who would normally be here.  The only ones who came out in the rain were the surfers. There were probably 30 surfers enjoying the surf today.  This beach is the perfect teaching beach with long rolling mellow waves.  There were surfing instructors and their students learning a new skill.  It was cool with the rain, so we put on our wetsuits and got our body boards out.  There was a very nice man that took a photo of us.  

When we got in the water it felt very good. We started playing in the waves, but there weren’t many so we went to the wharf jumped off it.

Playing in the ocean makes you thirsty, so daddy and I went and got water.

Then we got in the water were there were more waves. It was fun to watch daddy try to get fast enough and catch them.  It was also fun to ride them.  We needed fins in order to get up enough speed to catch the waves.  Since we didn’t have any fins we did the best we could and only caught a couple.

 When we were done surfing we went to a pizza shop.  The pizza was expensive and not the best tasting.  The guy making the pizza was very impressed with his product and kept telling us how wonderful it was going to be.  I liked the barbecue pizza best.  The veggie pizza was so bland that it was tasteless.

After pizza, we went and got gelato ice cream that was very good! 

Then we got shaved ice (which was recommend by our guide from the zipping corse.) It was not as good as JoJo’s but it wasn’t bad.

 We also went up to the Kauai lighthouse and saw a lot of Nenes (others know it as a Hawaiian Goose).  There were enough of them to make the area stink, but the babies are adorable. Sadly you are not allowed in the lighthouse so we just walked around it and went back to the car.

On the way home we stopped by Costco to let me practice my recital music on the display keyboard in the store.  It is fun watching all the people stop to listen as I play Christmas music for them.

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Kauai – Ziplining

by Funhog Family on December 6, 2024

We were on the road by 6:30a to make sure we did not get stuck in school traffic.  We had a zip line tour with Kauai Backcountry at 7:30a.  The destination was only 10miles away, but that same 10miles is what took Kerry 3hrs to travel previously.  At 6:30a there were still a lot of people on the road.  We got to our destination with plenty of time before the tour started.

This zip line course was on the same property as the tubing, so we got to hear a lot of the same information on the ride up.  The guides Ericka and O’nu were natives and super friendly.  There were 7 zip lines on the course which were all a lot of fun.  We learned how to control the direction we were facing as we zipped along.  It was all over too fast.

After zip lining we decided to drive over to Waimea Canyon.  This is the grand canyon of Hawaii.  We drove up the road into the clouds and that is what we got to see, clouds.  The canyon vanished and we had to drive lower into the valley to be able to see anything.  We also had a little excitement with our rental car.  We had a quarter tank of gas on the way up the mountain.  Within 3 miles it was showing empty and we were only half way up the mountain and there would be no gas stations at the other end.  We decided to turn around as all we could see was the inside of a cloud regardless of how high we went.  On the way down the mountain we were able to put the car in neutral and coast the 3 miles back to town and a gas station!

A little disappointed with Waimea Canyon we decided to drive back to Poipu to snorkel.  As soon as we were in the water and put our heads under, there was a huge sea turtle swimming along with us!  It was amazing!  We got to swim with the turtle, trying to stay out of it’s way and give it plenty of room.  It was so graceful as it soared through the water.  Other people in the bay were not as giving though and crowded the turtle.  We decided head further out into the ocean with less people and hopeful spot another turtle.  We snorkeled for a long time and saw lots of fun fish.  Eventually we came back closer to the shore and found another turtle.  After get enough time in the water we called it a day.

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Kauai – Poipu Beach

December 6, 2024

We spent the whole day at the beach snorkeling.  We tried two separate beaches.  The first one had better scenery of fish and coral, but it was sketchy getting in and out of the water with all the rocks.  Hosanna did not like it too much because there were tons of sea urchins that you […]

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Kauai – Napali Coast Hike

December 5, 2024

We woke up this morning ready for adventure!  Our destination was the famous Napali Coast and the Kalalau Trail that runs along it.  Kerry mad us eggs this time, with a yummy smoothie, then we were off for our hour plus drive to the north shore of Kauai.  We arrived at Tunnels Beach around 11am and […]

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Kauai – Kauai Christian Fellowship

December 5, 2024

Today we got the opportunity to go church with the Forkers.  We had heard a lot about Kauai Christian Fellowship, as our friends Lois & Lowell Goshow attended there for a couple years when on a mission trip to help Kauai clean up after a large hurricane struck the island in the 90s.  The church […]

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Kauai – Tubing & Turtle Time

December 5, 2024

After a full nights sleep we woke refreshed.  Greg threw together a breakfast of eggs and healthy smoothie for us to start our day.  Today’s adventure was tubing with Kauai Backcountry and we got to learn all about the location as we rode in their company shuttle bus up to our mountain waterway. The creator […]

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Kauai – A New Beginning

December 3, 2024

Hosanna’s 12yr old adventure begins!  We left the house by 5a to make our 7a flight to Kauai.  It was Hosanna’s first time on a plane, since her last trip to Hawaii, when she was only a couple months old. After landing, a short taxi ride took us to Island Cars, a local car rental […]

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Homeward Bound – Italy

May 23, 2023

Our journey home began at 6:30a with a leisurely stroll from the apartment to the train station for our 7a train to the Rome international airport to make our 10a flight to Dallas.  All of our travel this trip has been logistically fairly easy.  We have baked in enough time at each interchange, so that […]

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Rome – Italy

May 22, 2023

In Rome we toured the colosseum, the roman forum, Trevi fountain, pantheon, circus Maximus and everything else we could see in the ancient city.  We walked from one end to the other.  We also got a chance to experience the Metro (subway).  It was so crowded that a full subway would arrive and then people […]

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Pisa – Italy

May 21, 2023

We left Florence earlier the next day to take the train to Pisa.  Our plan was to get to the leaning tower by the time it opened.  We had tried to get tickets, but everything was sold out.  Once in Pisa we dropped our bags off at a ‘Stow Your Bags’ store.  It allowed us […]

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