Kauai Apr 15-22: part 1

I know this was sooo 5 months ago, but...I have installed a new operating system (go Linux!) and needed to figure out how to manage my photos without the use of Photoshop. It turns out that Shotwell works great for publishing my stuff directly to Picasa, which in turns shows up on my Google+ page, which also shows up in Blogger. Yeah! So I got everything figured out now and should be able to publish things in fairly short order from now on (don't I always say that!).

Well, so Hawaii, Kauai, more specifically, was a great family trip, not just to explore and enjoy the island, but to also visit with friends. We stayed at Kauai Beach Resort, just a short 10 minute drive from Pat&Kristy's house.

The first day we enjoyed the resort and friends came over to swim with us.

Later that day we went and checked out the Lydgate State park which has a nice enclosed swimming area.

The next day we went on a hike on the South shore near Poipu, then afterwards we stayed at the nearby Poipu beach pretty much all day. I think this was my favorite beach day, filled with swimming, snorkeling, sun-bathing, and topping it all off with giant sea turtles!

Olivia went with us as well (Andy&Jessica's daughter) - she gets along great with the girls.

POIPU BEACH

The next day we spent the day driving up to visit Waimea Canyon (the grand canyon of the Pacific).  We went all the way to the North Shore lookout, then turned and headed down in a different direction so that we could go visit PaliHale State Park, which is basically the farthest you can go on the public road to the NW part of the island.  The last few miles are on a dirt road and VERY bumpy, so it took us awhile, but in the end I think it was worth it.  See my Google+ story about this day for more pictures.

Pat gets confused about who Chad is telling to "work it" on camera.

North Shore (Na Pali coast) lookout

This walk freaked me out - the middle is fine but there are cliffs on either edge!

PoliHale State Park

Jamie's rookie baseball season

Jamie started playing pee-wee baseball this Spring.  This was his first year and he loved it.  Actually, I really loved it too - it was so fun to go out and watch the kids play ball, and cheer for him and his team. Below are some great pictures that Denis got of him with his nice zoom lens at one of the outings.  For the best videos of the year, see my google+ page.  At the end of the year party, all the kids got medals and Jamie's coach told him he was "most improved player of the year" of which he proudly tells everyone.  His team only lost twice all season, and had one tie.  They made it to the playoffs but were eliminated in the second round.