Sunday, December 19
What time do we have to get up? 4:30am. Hum. Today is the day before we leave and should document the excitement that occurs the day before. I get up at around 8 and mention to Fiona that I’ll help the the dishes but she has already done them. She was up at 7. The kids start packing when they wake up and are done by 10. Niamh keeps asking about legos, building legos, and a giant house of legos. I’m not sure where this came from but sure I’ll manage her Lego building experience after we get back from Hawaii. Today is packing and making sure we are packed. I have on my polar bear jam bottoms and a beer shirt.
I start with all the technology. The cameras, the wires, the plugs, the chargers. I chargers up the batteries the night before in the cameras, downloaded firmware. This is all laid out and cords wrapped up. Then I hit the iPad and down load all the entertainment across the different apps. I’m thinking the Witcher will be good. I still need to download the book as I’m sure it is better than the series, but the series is pretty good.
Lunch time. More toast for everyone, and left over Chinese food bought by uncle Corey. Fiona is off the the store for last minute things, and I have get a few things that we have squirreled away for stocking stuffers back up stairs.
Hum smells like pee? Yes that would be clothes at a bottom of a hamper at the foot of our bed with my stuff in it. Fiona put stuff on top of items in the hamper but seems like some items are not the freshest. So I do laundry and pack the rest of the items I do have. We plan on taking 7 days worth of clothes.
My laundry is done but it is 4:15 and am I supposed to be on a call with my parents but Fiona is not back. Lawson has been yelling and crying at his game for the last 4 hours so he is in a great mood. The day before the kids built gingerbread houses and later that day had over the merriment crew to do Christmas early since we will be gone.
I final call with my parents for well wishing and get the kids out of the respective holes to say hi and tell some stories about the day before. Niamh is a chatter box but Lawson is a talking in one word phrases of yes/no so talking with him about any topic is like pulling teeth. Grandparents are sad and I’m frustrated, and Niamh is doing her best at being amazing. Fiona walks in midway and says hello. I end call abruptly 5 minutes later as after 10 minutes of talking in one word responses was awful and need finish packing.
We took the bunnies at 6:30 to the bunny sitter. I took Lawson. We dropped them off. He didn’t seem that sad about it.
We had left overs for dinner. I’m not sure we put the bread in the freezer. Hum moldy bread. We watched the first amazing Spider-Man with the lizard person. We watched all the old Spider-Man movies with Tobey Maguire in them too for the last week with is fun. In bed at 10:30.
Monday, December 20
Alarms go off at 4:30am. Yeah we are up. Put in already laid out clothes from night before. The scheduled Lyft driver flakes I get an Uber XL Black for 20 bucks more but they show up in a Yukon so all luggage and people fit no problem. We arrive at 6am and the check in machine doesn’t,t really work well, but we struggle thru it. I help a little old lady from Mexico scan in her passport. We check in our bags two at a time. For some reason we have to pay for baggage on two of our tickets but two bags were free? I thought each person gets a free bag. Will sort that out later.
Man there is a line for security. We head thru the TSA pre check and are thru security in less than 5 minutes even after all the confusion over Niamh and her random check vs going thru the detector multiple time and Lawson not having any arms in his cozy. We are thru and down to gate 19. Get water, Doritos, a Dunkin’ cold coffee at the newsstand.
The plane leaves on time at 7:30 and we are seated right behind first class. We are told to shush when giving the security presentation and also not to use the forward bathroom? Hum. I sneak in at least one time, but made use the the aft potties as well. I had two beers and a cheese plate. I sat next to the in-laws and Fiona was with the kids in our 3×3 737 configuration. I played games and watched the Witcher on our 5h 52m flight to the rainy island of Kauai.
The Alamo van can only take 6, so Fiona and Alan spring into action while Darci and Corey go rent their wreck. Literally it is a wreck they get, a 10 year old Toyota Echo with all manual items. I think the only luxury item is a radio and that is generous. Fiona and Niamh pick out a Nissan with apple car play and it works like a champ.
We arrive at the Kauai Beer Company place at 12:45ish and I have a tasting flight and a grilled cheese. I pick up 8 pints (2 of each) of their tasty beer to have in the condo along with a shirt 😉 We consider canceling the reservation at the beach house, but decide against it. We find a cool app, Checkpie, that will track our bills and split them up. It works pretty good.
We make it to the Kiahuna Plantation, Poipu Beach Condo Resort and check in. Fiona helped checkin Darci and Corey to their place and I unload stuff. I walk in on the cleaning lady taking a break on the couch. Haahaa. We bring in the bags and setup plugs and such. We have about 30 minutes to site down before we go to the beach house.
We find the Beach House down the street and get a prime parking spot. We follow wedding guests in to sit down to find they make the Monkeypod Mai Thai. I proceed to have four with a weird salad with fancy cheese. We clap and yell while the bride and groom along with all the other people eating at the restaurant watch them tie the knot. Darci tears up. Corey is happy.
We watch the electric Spider-Man movie to round out all the ‘old’ Spider-Man movies and will catch-up in the newer ones later. Took a shower. In bed at 8:30. The bed is bouncy and can feel the springs. Oh hum this will be fun.
Tuesday, December 21
According to my app I sucked at sleeping. It poured with rain and the wind howled thru the condo. It was even cold. Up at 8am.
Played Uno with Lawson while Fiona worked on a girl emergency with Niamh. They stopped by the store and picked up supplies.
We are off to the Smith’s Waimea River Cruise and fern gratto to learn more about Hawaii. Man it is pooring down with rain. Fiona has to slow down to 20mph in a 40 to be able to see and the wipers still could not keep up. We made it to the river place at noon but the tour was not until 2pm. I found a proper pub with even real food for the family! Bonus.
We went all of 1.1 miles to the pub but passed a line of cars going back to the direction of the river cruise that really was not moving. Hum might have to cut our lunch short. We arrive and there are 2 people serving an husslin the butts off but we found a table at 12:15 and got served food at 1:10. Our plan was to leave at 1:30 to go back the 1.1 miles which should have taken 7 minutes. We left at 1:40 and should have walked back to the river boat place to make the 2 o’clock boat. We didn’t arrive till 2:15, but there was a 3:30 boat, the last one of the day and boarding started at 3:15.
We exchanged ticket and wandered down to the topical paradise botanical gardens and decided against the 10 dollar per person entry fee. We opted to watch Lawson and Niamh chase chickens and throw coconuts into the water. Children the destroyer of things and happy chickens. Lawson found a gourd of some kind and smashed that open to see what was inside. It was full of white stuff and the locals dry them out and made the gourd beaters with them. We made the boat.
It was a two mile ferry ride to a wander around a fern garden. We saw a rocky cliff, a cave, and more chickens. We took pictures and listened to a few guitar players and hula girl on the two mile journey back. We all did a bit of the hula on the way back. Before we left decided to stop and see the Opaekaa Falls. We had to listen to Lawson parrot his sister for an hour ride home to boot.
We arrived back around 4:45 and it took an hour to make it back to the condo around 6. We had cocktails at the auntie and uncle pad, and it was very nice; it has a washing machine. We had munchies and cocktails and left around 7 to make it back to watch a Tom Holland Spider-Man movie. In bed by 9:30
Wednesday, December 22
We wake up at a reasonable hour and leave at 10 to find a rainbow greeting us.
We are off to the spouting horn and glass beach for our the day of adventure. We make it the the blow hole and it windy and rainy. The blow hole was pretty good, but not mind blowing.
Off to the the glass beach. Wait the road ends and we are driving through light industrial? Sounds like a great start to the beach. Oh, we drive around the graveyard. Right. We at least made it past all the other tourists who parked way before the big open area.
We then proceed to boulder hop and find a wide variety of car parts and glass. Niamh is bounding over rocks and running along the edge of rocks. Lawson finds a ketchup bottle which seems appropriate. He then proceeds the fill it up in the tide pools and wash it out. He gives up the bottle when he slips and bleeds from his elbow and knee.
There are tunnels and bridges that have been carved out by the ocean. All very pretty. After the slip and fall we bee line to the the car up on top of the cliff. We hear from the locals there is the Kauai Island Brewery around the corner.
Fiona drops us off and goes to the store for Neosporin for the bleeding boy. I had a kale censer salad and a side of fries. Lawson has slider pattie all but itself and fries. I order a pulled pork sandwich and fries for Niamh. She then orders a full adult pattie and devours it. I have my tasters and and tshirt so I was a happy boy too.
Then it was a drive back to check out the beach at the condo. We turned in our towel cards for towels and I picked up two chairs. I had a beer in a wine holder which was quite good at keeping my beer cold while the kids body boarded and swam in the ocean. I went into the ocean and managed to kick a rock with my heel when out 75 feet from shore. Time for happy hour at unit 140 where Darci and Corey live it up.
We arrive to a sumo suit, champagne, and cheese n crackers. The highlight was the sumo suit which Fiona wore down to the beach to delight children and adults alike. I finished my beer and chatted with Corey while the sumo family saw a great sun set. We headed back and watched the last Tom Holland movie to prepare for the newest Spider-Man movie 😉 in bed by 10pm.
Thursday, December 23
Up at what time? 5:15 am, well ok. Have to leave at 5:45 to check in and get to the boat that leaves at 7am. We checkin at 6:30 to Na’pali Riders and got our optional life jackets. Got back in the car and went a mile down the street to park in the dark field. Then we parked again. Niamh refused to wear her suit in the morning, and then didn’t put it on in the car park. We told her there was no time nor a place to change on the boat but she wasn’t feeling it. Ok. The rest of the people put on sunscreen and then we meandered down to the dock as the last group.
The 5 people went potty and I was the placeholder to make sure the boat didn’t leave. Then we got on and this was not your mother’s lazy day tour, but more of a bone shattering, butt smashing, hang on for dear lift sort of tour. It was a 30 foot zodiac that held 30 people (12 per side, and 6 in the middle). The kids sat in the middle and Fiona and I sat on the captains left. Darci and Corey were at the back of the boat on the right. Less bumps at the back next to the motors.
A girl who was 16 or 18 nearly didn’t make it to the snorkel spot which was a 2 hours after going up and down the coast taking in the sights. We saw the cathedral spires which was super. The sunrise was amazing. The weather was perfect. The rope burns and squeezing ropes for dear life could have been better, but it was an experience. Probably something I will not do again. I think a catamaran and cocktails would be ok with me, but if you want do something that will leave you with a story then this is a tour for you.
The sunrise was amazing and found a pod do spinner dolphins on the way out. 17 dolphins per pod? I think there could be more or less but he said 17. Not sure why or what makes up that number? Then we saw come sheer faced cliffs where people came down to bury people so people would not make fish hooks out of their bones. We stopped all the way along for about 40 ish minutes looking at places movies where filmed like Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, and about 8 other films.
The high light was the cathedral and then what felt like an eternity to drive back to snorkel. Of the way back we stopped to find some whales which meant less snorkel time. This was the worst part going non stop for longer then 10 minutes, but more like 30 minutes. This stint was where we thought the girl across from Fiona was going to blow chunks.
We made it to snorkeling, the captain did briefly stop to mention the at we would be there is 15 minutes and a guy asked if we could stop to pee. The place we stopped at was murky and there had been 3 shark attacks so advised was wait till we get to the clear water. So off we went legs in a permanent wall press, clasping ropes with our velociraptor hands.
“Don’t go down the ladder” the captain yells as one of the dumb girls ignores him and proceeds down the ladder. Luckily it was not one of our kids, but some other lady who wanted to break her leg. There was many angel, parrot, and flute fish to be seen. The crew member, Linsey, said we might be able to see an octopus if we looked hard enough. Lawson got in and 5 minutes later was cold. We went back to the boat and got him up the ladder. I took off my life jacket since I didn’t need one. However am glad I had one for the boat trip and recommend anyone who does do a zodiac boat tour to get one.
We return to the dock 10 minutes later and arrive to an ambulance, fire truck, and fire F450 leisurely checking out some one. We are glad it is no one from our boat. We get our shoes from the basket of shoes and head back to the boat office to get pictures and video. We fins place to eat next to our stay and head off.
We arrive through a golf course and find the parking lot. Fiona checks to website and finds that we can’t enter unless we are a member or guest of some who is staying at this posh place. No makai+ bar for you. I pee in the bushes and we opt to go to the Sheraton.
We finally have lunch at 2, with the help of a Hawaiian Shakaa and Lava Flow. I enjoys a fresh papaya with yogurt, granola, and dried bits of papaya. It is like a bread bowl where you eat the bread bowl. However I also order truffle garlic fries, and they arrive in waffle form with parmigiana cheese on them. I was unable to share since Fiona was at the other end of the table.
We headed over to the pool with more drinks in hand. We found Corey and Darci in the kiddie section with six chairs and shade. No kids were crying and we had kids so felt ok being there. I went down water slide into a very cold pool. The kid’s didn’t last long and found a hot tub. Corey partook a I’d then we ordered pizza for everyone at 4:15 to pick up at 4:45.
We shuffle back to the condo, change and then meander across the street to Volcano Pizza to pickup a large margarita and extra large pizza half cheese and half pepperoni veg. Lawson was in rare form since he was so tired and refused to eat the cheese pizza. Oh well. Oh wait he came back had a slice and was anti social. It is great to be on holiday with family and then not be bored out of your mind to talk with family and to focus on YouTube. Fiona gave in since he was so tired and he did fall asleep in the car and was a joy to be with at lunch. Both kids perked up after eating.
Iain and Cheryl appeared and had pizza with us and then people left at 7. I found a dumb Christmas movie on Netflix and Niamh sauntered off to bed at the starter. The movie ended and went to bed around 9. I did dishes and went to bed around 9:30.
December, Friday 24
A cat meowing? Really? Rain. A the haze of being half asleep and not really sleeping. Off to see the the Grand Canyon of Hawaii at 9. Before we go I spy a cat and her three kittens playing outside of our slider door. I guess Fiona really needs her cats and broom stick.
We left an hour after Alan and Rowena, so instead of 9am we left around 10am. It was a 30 minute drive to the town and a 30 minute drive to the Main canyon look at at mile marker 10. We stopped at a few places on the way up but received word to meet at the lookout for lunch. Fiona and Niamh opted to split a sandwich and lawson and I made our own before the car trip.
We arrived at 11:40 and waited. We waited some more. I ate at 12:15. Lawson holed up in the trunk and ate his crackers. There was no cell service. We waited more. At 12:40 Fiona gave up. We tried walking around looking for cell service, but between our lack of service and the rowes in pretty sure we would have to catch up at a point during a specific time. Regardless of our parties distinction at meeting at places the view at Waimea Canyon Lookout was quite good.
We went a few miles up the road to the next look out Ni’ihau Viewpoint and it was also very good with another view of Ni’ihau Island which only has 200 natives living in the island who speak Hawaiian and live without services (water, sewer, power). Pretty good to go off grid!
The last stop for our trek was the museum since we had to be back for 4pm dinner. Turns out there is a restaurant and snackie place. We loaded Fiona and Niamh up on coke and chocolate, Lawson got some bird seed to feed the roosters and a vanilla single serve ice cream for himself. Lawson and Niamh then proceeded to feed the roosters, chickens, doves, sparrows, and little baby chics. There were about 50 different flavors of bird doing the bird seed thing. All very fat and happy.
I drove down hill and missed the quick route direct to town, and instead picked up 5 minutes of driving around and down back into Waimea. We stopped at big lots and line was 20 people deep so we headed to the next place. We drove back the way we came for half a mile to stop at Hanapepe liquor store, Aloha Spirits, and drove back towards Poi’Pu and stopped at the Lawai Market to get some celery. Christmas dinner is saved we have celery. Really? Ok.
Anywho, we got back to the condo at 3 and I put on my fancy Hawaiian shirt so we could have a fancy dinner at Keoki’s Paradise. Dinner was at 4:15 and we showed up and Darci and Corey had already started at the bar. Corey received a Christmas wine from the bartender! Then we sat down for a table for 10.
I had a mushroom ravioli thing that was very good. I also had a Lava Flow, Mai Tai, and a Hula Pie Shake for desert with my own shot of dark rum. All very yummy.
We watched Encanto which was a weird happy magical movie that was hard to follow, but eventually got it. It was good. Reminded me of a happy Adams Family with a Spanish heritage with a jolly haunted house. We went to bed at 9:15.
December, Saturday 25
Merry Christmas. I think the cat came back, but was out of bed at 7:30 to cook bacon, and make pancakes. The kids received their stockings, and Alan and Rowena came over to have some breakie. Corey is under the weather, so the plan of me finishing the canyon tour does not seem like it will happen. Will Niamh come with me and Darci? No. The beach is calling not another dumb car ride up a hill.
Darci and I leave at 9:15. The kids and Fiona will go to beach. Cooking the Christmas feast will occur during the day. Corey will recover. Turns out Iain and Cheryl are in a white Jeep behind us. We listen to Christmas torture songs like ‘Jungle Cats’; it is awful. Through the bad holiday songs we reach the Waimea lookout with only a brief stop on the way up a what I’ll call rock lookout. You stand on a rock and take a picture. We run into Iain and Cheryl at the first stop and ponder how hard it must have been for Alan/Rowena to miss the Fiona/Tim-n-kids. We pause for a group picture and carry on.
We make the next look out see the sights, and carry on to the museum section. We eat at 11:40 from a shaded picnic table with only bench luckily looking back at the museum and restaurant which are both open in freggin Christmas! Wow! I eat apples this time, very good.
On towards to top of the hill! We make it to the 4th stop with primo parking. Hey it is Nāpali Coast that my butt fondly regrets seeing from the zodiac. Not sure if this the the Jurassic Park flyover, but it is very pretty.
We have reached the end of the road and there is no parking. We sneak into a spot on the wrong side of the road, but it works. It is a good spot but does not over look the canyon. We go down a muddy path and take more stunning pictures of the next little canyon the faces the ocean.
It is 1 o’clock and says we will arrive back to the condo at 2:15. Just perfect. We arrive without incident.
The kids, Corey, and Fiona did go to the beach and Lawson isn’t wearing underwear. Guess packing didn’t go as planned for that one? Let’s hope the chicken and Christmas dinner will be super. Will let you know how that goes, eh.
Pictures. Have to have a group picture. However not after Lawson opens the game Taboo speak out which involves cheek retractors and speaking. It took a bit to figure out which way to put them into a mouth but once that occurred hilarity ensued as people tried to talk to each other. Much drool later we took a picture on the deck. The outside furniture was moved inside so all 10 people could eat da chicken.
It had to use the timer on the iPhone to take the picture since I no longer have an iwatch which was a bummer, however I’ve not had to charge my watch since being here and it still has 41% charge even when tracking running and boating. We then had to take more pictures at the beach. We trudged down and took pictures by a hedge with a sign which no one liked, so moved to the beach and took a few more pictures.
We had two chickens which I carved up. We had people bring over extra plates and silverware since there is only enough for eight. I had two beers for the evening and now only have one left, but can get more I’m sure. There was stuffing, veggies, potatoes, green beans and peas. A fine fair. Niamh, me, Fiona, Darci, Alan, and Rowena sat at the table and Iain, Cheryl, Lawson, and Corey where at the outdoor table. Fiona brought out the cake doused in Jamison instead of brandy but was on fire just the same. The burning fire cake didn’t quite make the table as the plate heated up and managed to escape onto Fiona, floor, table, and a few chairs.
She was ok as was the items that received some holiday cheer. A silver 3 pence was found and vanilla ice cream from Koloa was served. The ice cream from Koloa Mill Ice Cream and Coffee was quite good. It has a butterscotch after taste which was delightful and went well with my Black Limousine beer. Cleaning ensured with tables being put back outside and dishes being cleaned. Oh the drying rack of dishes was piled high, but it was very meal with leftovers.
Niamh was intently trying to understand her mini sea turtle Lego-a-like directions but failing. The lights turned out and we watched the 4th installment of the matrix. It was confusing. Humans as falling bombs, uh ok i guess. Fiona fell asleep the moment she sat on the couch but the kids watched it with me. I think I might have to watch it again to understand it, but that is not a good sign if you have to watch it again. Bickering kids and I are in bed by 10:30.
December, Sunday 26
“I can’t fall asleep and can’t feel my leg” says the daughter of high drama at 2am. I gently tell her that it is 2am and has been asleep for 4 hours and can’t fix her leg. I instead offer her Advil and the opportunity to sleep it off. I think she slept funny and cut off the circulation to her leg and woke up and freaked out. Ah the sleeping numb limb issue of night time sleeping, growing up so fast she is.
Fiona’s alarm goes off and I get up with her even if she says I stay in bed. We do more dishes and take out recycling. She is off the airport to umber Corey and Darcy from rent a wreck to departures. She is stopping by the store to pick up more orange juice and Doctor Pepper. I suggest she also stop by Costco to fill up on gas since she will only have 100 miles left on the tank. She leaves at 7:30. I think I’m going to go for another run, or as I now call it labored breathing of an old fat man.
I didn’t go in a run. I instead read and tried to correct my blog post. It hopefully is slightly better but still am missing updating some Corey/Darci mentioned but can’t remember. Fiona got back around 9 and Lawson got up at 9:15. We are not leaves at 9:30 to go see the Wailua Waterfall. I make toast for kids and the eat in the car as we leave at 9:45. We clean up before we go as housekeeping is coming in to change towels and sheets.
Really this is where we are parking? On the way to the falls there was a gun range on the left and a wellness center for teens on the right. Oh the irony. We also pass the immaculate conception cemetery. Doh! Anywho there are only 10 parking spots for 15 cars, but we manage to snag on along with the others in there own cars. The waterfall was really good. We also saw a mouse the size of my thumb.
We drive 50 minutes to the Hanalei Pier and the beach and breaking waves was amazing. We stop at Longs for a quick potty break and Fiona picked up some burn stuff for her hands. We arrive and could walk out 300 yards and only be up to your neck in water. No jumping off the pier. The waves broke about 1000 feet out so the surf classes had an easy time getting waves.
We went to town at 12:10 and put our name down at two places and ended up at the place I picked, the Tahiti Nui Restaurant, after a 20 minute wait under a pop up tent to avoid the rain. I had another salad and fries, but managed to drink a new beer from Honolulu, Pussy Grabs Back, which was very good.
We then headed to the ‘dry cave’ which means the ocean no longer reaches the place it carved out. It was huge! It was called the Maniniholo Dry Cave to be exact and you could walk into the opening which was 16 feet high, and then could keep going all the way until you were on your hands and knees. I opted to be upright but did manage to snag my toe on a rock on the way back out into the light.
The road to the dry cave was a share the bridge drive as it can only hold one car at a time. It was little cool beaches and rolling waves all the waves in and out to the cave. There was a bus you could take in but we drive in and out which was good since it started pouring with rain.
We listen to tunes for the ride back and says we will arrive around 5pm for our 1h 20m drive back. I do a find my to see if my parents have left yet. It was 4:15 and said she was still in Seattle!? What the what? Their 11:20 plane was delayed till 4:20 due to icing but they managed to get out at 4:30. They arrived at 9:45 but had to wait another 30’minutes to get a gate. Luckily they still had a rent car. They couldn’t figure out how to get into their house so stayed in one of the lower houses and managed to figure out the key situation this morning.
Before we get back to our place we go thru a River of rain coming down on us and in the road. Wow. So much water at time time.
We have dinner leftovers with the nana and grandpa as Iain and Cheryl do their own thing. I end up watching, We are the Millers, with Niamh and she cracks up at the potty humor. I guess I know what movies I’ll be watching the next 5 years. Lol.
December, Sunday 27
I cant sleep at all and toss and turn. Yeah! I drank my last beer last night. Poor Tim. I actually do go for a run at 8:30 and run down to the beach house. It was very good. It was a bit more than 3 miles. I hit my fastest mile and my first 5k with my new watch. Very cool.
We go to the beach to let Fiona’s grandparents, Alan’s parents, ashes into the ocean. Alan goes first, Fiona does both of her grandparents, and Iain does both too. It is windy so Alan and Fiona get near the water, but Iain does the arm straight out and let it spread out across the water. There is no wrong way, but the people at the beach probably figured it out. Then the kids played in the ocean from 10 to 11.
Don’t hit people in the head with the frisbee Lawson. See the advice I give out is priceless and practical, but alas he and Niamh end up tagging quite a few passerby with a flying disc while the 4 big kids hang out in a towel. We make it back to the condo and I catch up on the blog while others eat. Dedication people. Dedication, but I work better with beer. Have to keep those cogs greased eh.
I had peanut butter and jelly open face sandwiches, muffins from Keoki’s paradise with some old cheese from the flight out washed down with some bubbly lime water out of a can. At noon we leave for the train ride.
I talked to my brother while the kids played in the beach, and he asked if the kids could see each other. I guess something must be broken in his head as I’ve said repeatedly we are doing our own thing, but I was happy to swing by and tell his kids why we are not staying with them. Derrrrrr. Glad they made it and hope they have a good time.
I also talk to my dad in the way to the train. He and Amah want to see us but we are grumpy with them ignoring the elephant in the room and being ok with Mark and Micah lying to their faces and being mute about the entire vaccinated issue. Rather than be grumpy on the trip and have to change plans decide to forgo seeing them as well. Glad they got here and hope they have a good few days they are here.
Wait there is rum tasting? Fiona and I sign up for tasting at 2 and do the train ride at 1. The highlight of the train ride was stopping to feed pigs and a horse named April! The jackasses are named after beer: Budwiser, Sella, and Stiny. Stiny came into say hello with the horse. The other extra besides 30 pigs was the diesel we got to inhale from the engine pulling the 3 passenger cars around an old rusty track. All train bashing aside, it was a proper train and carriage cars, and learned that the ratio of pigs to locals is 5:1. I googled the chicken ratio and it is also 5:1 which is why Kauai gets the nickname ‘bacon and eggs island’. Ha.
We had 5 different tasters: dark, spice, coconut, chocolate, and Mai Tai mixer. I had the shots that Fiona didn’t have so was quite goood at the end. My favorites were the spice, coconut, and chocolate. I got all 3 and a sampler. I think I’ll have a little smidge tonight before dinner. It is 4 now, so will head over around 4:45 to put our names on a waitlist to eat.
We ate at Brennecke’s Beach Broiler at there were collage hats hung up everywhere. We even saw a University of Puget Sound hat of all things in the bar. Lawson had his exploding kittens card game and was happily playing it when the owner came over and said the state would shut him down if he had any card games in the bar. We all chuckled, but he was serious. So we put the card game away as we didn’t want to be the ones to close the bar down.
I had one new beer and nachos for dinner. I wore my day of the dead shirt since it was a party! Purple grain was very good and so where the nachos. I also suffered thru a lava man red which I’ve had a few times. Lawson came up with his own board game which is impossible to win unless you roll the correct number. We came home and watched Hawkeye, and I had a chocolate rum taster. In bed by 10:15.
December, Tuesday 28
Today is moving day. We pack up all our stuff and take things out of the fridge. At 9 we drop off food at the Rowe’s condo and we come back to stuff the car trunk full of our stuff. I barely get it all in, but manage. At 10 we leave to the Hanapepe Swinging Bridgebridge.
I we arrive first and troll the shops in the old Hanapepe village. Others appear and we walk across the single person bridge. It is bouncy and about 24 inches across. We make down the 50 yard bridge to the other side and a generator pump is hooked to water the hill side. No sure why but ok. Alan takes pictures, but do not wrangle people to do an a giant us-y. Oh well.
I’m hungry and it is 11:15. People shop. People buy trinkets. I’m still hungry. I say to Lawson we should walk to the brewery. Oh, I mentioned we should go to the same Kauai Island Brewery, and people agree but only after not being able to find anything else that remotely looked good.
I had another tasting flight of four beers and did a beating burger. I’m very full but manage to squeeze a pint of liquid goodness. We get a call that our new room is ready, room 232. So we head back and unpack the car and trudge all of crap into a downstairs one bedroom unit.
Lawson manages to pull the fan cord off the fan, but luckily it has an extension but so is an easy fix. The unit is nice and upgraded with a newer kitchen, and kids are excited since they have a TV in their room, e.g. a pull out couch.
I head to the beach and Fiona goes to the store for bread, beer, and milk. It is a hazy day, but the kids swim way out. We are thinking of signing the kids up for surfing lessons. Lol. Nope no surf lessons for you. All booked up till Sunday! It is 75 bucks for 90 minutes, and the Sheraton has there lessons for $95 for 90 minutes. Will have to book when we arrive vs wait for more people. Who knew! Oh well.
We are back to the condo at unit 232 and I take back what I said that is was ok. I root around and find the water filter and in it is a cockroach. I guess some thought it would be funny to catch a cockroach in the water filter and put it back in the far corner of the cabinet. Idiots. I showed Fiona, she freaked out. Lawson thought it was cool. I took it outside and tried to give it to a rooster, but he ran away so dumped Fred the cockroach into the lawn. I should have squished Fred but didn’t have any shoes on. Perhaps he will find Wallee.
We have leftovers at the Rowe’s unit, 132. The condo is worse than ours as the layout is horrible and their oven is falling apart. I had a salad and another coconut porter. I had a porter before we left. We came back to our unit and watched Peter Rabbit 2. It was a 5 out of 10. It had a twist which gave it another point, but overall it was a dumb movie.
I pulled out the kids couch and said you can watch TV until 10 while people around us quiet down. The other thing that sucks about the unit is we are sandwiched between two buildings. No view and twice as loud. Yup Darci and Corey’s unit is the winner of the trip. I roll around in a nicer bed than last one until 10pm.
December, Wednesday 29
DumbTV. It says it is a smartTV but it lies. There is no local news at this place, and the local news is from Long Island, huh? I go for another run and it is slower than the last one. More hills. I also stop and find a bunch of lots on water and a surf shop to see if they have any spots open. The lots range from 7.5M to 2.5M, and no there no surf lessons.
Can’t decide if today is a lazy day or go do something. Hum…
December 30
I think we leave today. I left my dumb little rum tasters in the freezer and Lawson left his hat. Lame. Otherwise I can’t remember the flight back as it is now April. Im the best blogger. Not.