The Beaches of Kauai

Hideaways Beach

Hideaways Beach is exactly what it sounds like, a small private beach. There were very few people there and its no wonder as this beach is not exactly easy to get to. With the help of our guidebook we found a small path that lead us to some rickety old stairs. Once past these it was a dirt (since there was fresh rain it is better to say mud) path down a steep incline. Lucky for us someone had come along before and tied ropes along the way to hold on to. The Beach is worth the climb as it is absolutely beautiful! The swimming was nice, waves just right, and tons of coral reefs for snorkeling.

The hike back up - we conquered!

Mana Oka'aina Beach

Sadly we did not swim at this beach, but we did pull over to take some silly pictures. We attempted the 'jumping' pictures and Andrea's turned out the best.

Erica looks great.

Windy looks like she's an airplane.

And Andrea looks awesome.




Hanalei Bay

We went to Hanalei Beach in the morning and found it fairly empty but by the time we were leaving for lunch it was looking to get busy and more crowded. The water was very shallow for a long ways out. This was a very calm and pleasant beach.

I don't know why, but I had fun taking several pictures of my feet and the view.



Ke'e Beach

Ke'e was by far the busiest beach we went to and the only one with an actual lifeguard. Again there was lots of reef excellent for snorkeling.

This was just a funky looking tree at the beach that looked too cool to not snap a quick picture.

Ok, I have no idea what that one dude on the right is doing, but it made us all laugh pretty hard. He kept at it for some time.

Salt Pond Park

We happened upon this little park on accident when we showed up for a tour about half an hour early and decided to go exploring. It had a fun and family friendly atmosphere.

Erica and Andrea

The Beauty of Kauai

Wailua Falls

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting to hear about Hawaii, right? I have finally collected the 1,200+ pictures we took between the 3 of us and am ready to blog.

The first half of our trip was on the island of Kauai. I have now been to 3 of the Hawaiian Islands and this one was easily my favorite. It's known as the 'Garden Island' and you'll see why with just a few pictures. Kauai is much more laid back than the other big touristy islands, it has less of the big glamorous resorts and more of the little family homes of the natives.

Flying into Lihue Airport

The mountains were beautiful!

This was my favorite bridge we drove over just about every day we were there. You can't see it well in the picture but there were these fabulous trees that grew over the bridge creating a small canopy to cover it.

Andrea ~ Erica ~ Windy
Two of my absolute favorite people and fun travel companions.

I have tons more pictures to to show and stories to share. They will come in time. Overall the trip was a blast and the perfect way to celebrate my 30th Birthday. We laid on tons of beaches, ate shave ice, took adventures, fought off aggressive predictors, hiked, and swam every single day.

In Which Windy Shows Her Nationality OR The Bacon Guacamole Cheeseburger

It all started with a facebook post from Zerr who seemed to be very dissatisfied with Wendy's new junior bacon cheeseburger... I couldn't help but point out that Windy's is much better.

Long story short, I realized I've never actually made a hamburger before. Ever. Certainly I've assembled one on my own, but not actually made one.

According to Zerr this is "un-American" of me.

I disagree completely. I rather think it has something to do with the fact that I don't like to eat hamburgers. They are ok, but I'm just not that into them. Regardless of my disagreement I had to make sure Zerr knew I am a true blooded American and can cook a decent hamburger if I wished... so I did.

I'm not the type to do something half way, if I was going to make a burger then I'd make it all. Including the buns. From scratch. That's right. I did everything except kill the fatted calf myself.

It also helped that I had the day off with not a whole lot planned. I began by finding a good bun recipe on one of my favorite food blogs (everything I've ever made from this blog has been fabulous!).

My buns turned out quite a bit bigger than hers did, they just kept rising like crazy, I even cut the time shorter since they were growing out of control. In the end it didn't matter as they turned out very tasty, if I do say so myself.


I like burgers with a little extra goodness on them. This time the goodness was bacon and guacamole. Yum! Bacon makes everything taste better.


The final produce was de-li-cious! I do believe Carly would agree as you can see her enjoying said burger below.


Zerr and I have a tradition of eating pies together. I don't recall just how this started, but I plan to keep it up. We decided to make a dinner out of it. I made the burgers, Zerr made the Banana Chocolate Cream Pie (divine!), Carly make yummy fresh french fries from scratch, and David a fantastic fresh fruit salad.

All in all a great dinner which was made even better by the fun company. We played a few games afterward and got a little slap happy as the time grew later. This is easily demonstrated in the following picture, and I still have no idea what exactly is happening in it. Although I have a good excuse as I was personally upside-down when I took it.

Hawaii Here I Come!

Tomorrow morning, early, I will be on a plane headed to Hawaii!! I debated over just how I wanted to celebrate my 30th birthday this year. I thought about a trip to Hawaii, I thought about finally buying myself a motorcycle, but in the end I chose both. The motorcycle just happened. Totally unplanned.

The trip is specifically to celebrate my birthday even though I won't be there on my actual birthday (but really close).

We'll spend 5 nights on the north shores of:





Then we'll catch a puddle jumper over to another island to spend the next 5 nights at a luxurious resort (thanks to my grandma!) on the west coasts of:

WAHOO!!!

Oler Family Visit

I had a few more visitors from out of town come a week or so back (it took me a while to snag the pictures my mother took of them). Neil and Angelica Oler stopped by to say hi. As you can see from the picture Neil is always a good time! He managed to find a fabulous wife to match his personality.

Matthew (my nephew) with Angelica and Neil

They have 2 beautiful twin girls who I was able to meet for the first time. Adia and Evelyn. I've seen lots of pictures of them, but it was fun to finally see them and meet their own little personalities.

Ninja Destruction!

Last weekend I was invited to a 日本語 パーテー (Japanese Party). The invitation said I should arrive dressed in anything Japanese. So of course I took the opportunity to dress up as a ninja and play with cool swords. Anya and Robin went all out and completely decked out their apartment with all things Japanese. The food was great, the company fun, and the costumes fabulous. Here are some pictures from the party. All photo credits go to Molly (who did an amazing job!).

Erica ~ Windy

Book Review: The Dark is Rising Sequence

I recently reread The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper. It's a series of 5 books telling the story of the battle between the Light and the Dark for the freedom of mankind. They are chopped full of Authoritarian legends and grand adventures. This series is one of my all time favorites.

Over Sea, Under Stone (book one)
Rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

The 3 Drew children are on Holiday and find an old map in the attic that sends them on a quest to find an ancient artifact of the Light, King Aurthur's Grail. Lucky for them their 'Great Uncle' Merry (an Old One) is there to help protect them during their such as the Dark tries to stop them.


The Dark is Rising (book two)
Rating: 3 starts out of 5
"liked it"

Will Stanton is the last of the Old Ones to be born and completes the circle of the Light. This book tells the story of how Will finds out who he really is on his 11th birthday. He is the Sign Seeker and must find all 6 signs of power before the Dark does. Throughout his quest Will learns what it means to be an Old One and eventually comes into his full power to help fight back the Dark.

This is my least favorite of the series because I felt Will was just handed too much, but still a good book. This one happens to be my mothers favorite, so it's still a good book.

Greenwitch (book three)
Rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

The 3 Drew children: Simon, Jane, and Barney team up with Will Stanton on another Holiday. Merry has brought them all together at the time of the Greenwitch Ceremony to search for the missing manuscript (lost in book one). This is Jane's chance to really shine as her selflessness helps win the day.

The Grey King (book four)
Rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

Will Stanton is off to Wales to visit family while he recovers from a serious illness. While he's there he makes a new friend, Bran Davies, who is quite strange. Bran is albino, having white hair and no color in his skin, with strange tawny eyes. The locals fear his strangeness and are slow to be friends with him. This does not stop Will, they become instant friends and team up on Will's quest to find the Harp, another Thing of Power that belongs to the Light. In the middle of all that happens Bran discovers his own heritage, he is the son of King Aurthur brought out of time for protection. He is the Pendragon.

Silver on the Tree (book five)
Rating: 4 starts out of 5
"really liked it"

The 6 are brought together for the bang up finish. The six being the 3 Drew's, Will Stanton, Bran Davies, and Merry (who's full name is Merriman Lyon, but in Aurthur's day he was called Merlin). At this point the Light has 3 of the 4 Things of Power, they have the Grail, the Signs, and the Harp. This book tells of the journey to find the last, the Crystal Sword. Armed with all 4 Things of Power they will be ready to fight the final battle as the Dark comes raising.

In Memory of Les Paul

who passed away today at the age of 94.

Surprise Visit

My dear friend Beth unexpectedly visited Seattle this last week. I knew Beth from when she lived here years ago. Beth has since moved to Arizona and is much closer to her family there.

Monday I received a call from Beth saying she was visiting and wanted to know what my plans were for the rest of the day. I immediately changed my plans and we got together with a few other friends to hang out, talk, catch up and eat some dinner.

Wednesday we met up again and went canoeing at the arboretum where we discovered we were slightly better at maneuvering the canoe backwards than we were going forward. We somehow made it around and checked out a lot of cool sights. We took a few detours and explored some new areas. Our friend Jen came along and the 3 of us laughed and had a blast the whole time without tipping the canoe once.

After canoeing we found we'd worked up an appetite and headed over to u-village for some food. We stumbled upon what we decided is now our new favorite Italian restaurant! It's called Piatti Ristorante and Bar.

It was so much fun to see Beth this week, to hear her stories and to hear her laugh again.

Rebel

With a little encouragement from a friend I made big purchase today. I've wanted a motorcycle for a long time, I've even had my motorcycle endorsement for over 4 years now. The time finally came and everything worked out.

2002 Honda Rebel

And I'm pretty dang excited too!