What are you looking at?
Before I get around to doing the various memes that gilpin25 keeps tagging me for, I want to share some pics from my recent vacation. First a little background, as this was more than just the same ol' hawaiian vacation. My parents wanted to do something special with the entire family (5 kids, three spouses and 6 grandchildren) for their 50th wedding anniversary. Mom originally thought about going on an Alaskan cruise but decided (after I kept dropping hints) that a week at their time share on Kaua'i was a better Idea. I've gathered all the pictures taken by various family members of our week in Kauai and the final total came to 1294 shots. So, grab a drink (or three) and get comfortable cause here they come...well, not all of them. ;)
My flight left LAX at 1pm on Saturday and I was flying with my younger brother and his family which meant my attempt to read "Stardust" was frequently interrupted by requests to play with the niece and nephew. Here Claire and I practice our "Shaka" signs.
Landed at Honolulu 5 hours later with a hour to make our connecting flight on Go! Airlines. Their terminal was all the way at the end (a 15 minute walk) and then down stairs which took us outside for a walk through a canvas covered tunnel into a hot, no-frills lounge with one security guard and no Go! personel.
Here is Go's idea of air conditioning...
After waiting half an hour, we noticed that the monitors said our flight was "boarding" at gate 71. Taking a quick look around, we noticed that there was no gate 71 in this room so we asked the security guard what was up and she finally got a gal to come and escort us to the real terminal where my sister Sherry (who had been on Oahu for a few days already) was already in line and ready to board our flight! Unfortunately, since we were late arriving, thought no fault of our own, the flight was full and we were bumped. Sherry hopped out of line to share in our misery and we called Mom and Dad to tell them we would be delayed. We just didn't know for how long.
As compensation, Go! (soon be to known as No!Go! or Just Say No! to Go! or Don't Go!) gave us each $10 that we could use at any of the food places in the main terminal. So we were escorted back to the main terminal and had dinner at Burger King. We spent as much as we could, getting dessert and extra large helpings of everything.
This is Scott with our $50 coupon and the total of our dinner.
Back to the terminal to wait and see if we could get on the next flight at 5:45 PM.
My first (and only) sunset in Hawaii. Romantic, no?
Didn't get on the 5:45 flight so our next possibility was the 8:45 one. Sherry has another idea...
I'll spare you the pictures of us playing UNO or reading or sprawling on the (un)comfortable seats or trying to get answers from the useless Go! Staff for five hours and give you instead proof that we finally got on a flight.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy to get Sherry kissing the tarmack at Lihue Airport. We barely made it to Hertz before they closed to get our cars and then had a 15 minute drive to the Pono Kai in Kapa'a where we were met in the parking lot by the family at around 10 PM. Got to bed by 11 PM (2 AM , my body-time) but had a hard time sleeping.
Here's a sight I never saw the entire week. Sunrise.
Since I was staying in my parent's unit with Sherry, and it was the biggest one, it was the gathering place for all meals. Which means I usually woke up to the sounds of voices in the kitchen and breakfast well underway. So much for sleeping in.
A morning trek to the canal to see "secret beach" or what's left of it. The sand was very soft and you could squirm your feet down into it a good few inches, as shown here...
Andrew's looking a little concerned.
After lunch we invaded Baby Beach, so named because the man made reef makes a nice, calm 2 foot deep pool which is perfect for the little ones to practice their snorkle techniques...or pounce on their Aunties. That's me peeking out of the water on the right trying to make my escape.
What the well-dressed young snorkler is wearing nowadays.
That evening we celebrated Scott's birthday with cake and ice cream and just hung out.
Monday was supposed to be kayaking in Hanalei but Claire had a slight case of heatstroke and wouldn't be able to join us so we did things that she's already done, beginning with a drive to the Kiluea Lighthouse. The point has a great view of the north coast and you can usually find nesting baby sea birds all over the place. Here I pause for a photo op with Erica. Sherry, Dad and Matthew.
Looking for mom and dad's "brick", which they got for making a donation to the lighthouse foundation. Brother Steve (in the foreground) is way off.
Found it!
Lunch at Anini Beach, a favorite of ours. Man, we have a lot of stuff!
It was really breezy this day and the current was difficult to swim against but we were rewarded for our stubborn persistance by seeing this guy...
So now we could say we've had a "Honu Experience".
Back to base camp for dinner. Mama Mia! That's a lot of garlic bread!
This is usually how you'd find the boys...digging in the sand.
I'll leave it here for tonight as I need to make my bed so I can get to sleep.
edit : sorry for the huge pictures. I tried using a Client program to post and I'm still learning how it works.
My flight left LAX at 1pm on Saturday and I was flying with my younger brother and his family which meant my attempt to read "Stardust" was frequently interrupted by requests to play with the niece and nephew. Here Claire and I practice our "Shaka" signs.
Landed at Honolulu 5 hours later with a hour to make our connecting flight on Go! Airlines. Their terminal was all the way at the end (a 15 minute walk) and then down stairs which took us outside for a walk through a canvas covered tunnel into a hot, no-frills lounge with one security guard and no Go! personel.
Here is Go's idea of air conditioning...
After waiting half an hour, we noticed that the monitors said our flight was "boarding" at gate 71. Taking a quick look around, we noticed that there was no gate 71 in this room so we asked the security guard what was up and she finally got a gal to come and escort us to the real terminal where my sister Sherry (who had been on Oahu for a few days already) was already in line and ready to board our flight! Unfortunately, since we were late arriving, thought no fault of our own, the flight was full and we were bumped. Sherry hopped out of line to share in our misery and we called Mom and Dad to tell them we would be delayed. We just didn't know for how long.
As compensation, Go! (soon be to known as No!Go! or Just Say No! to Go! or Don't Go!) gave us each $10 that we could use at any of the food places in the main terminal. So we were escorted back to the main terminal and had dinner at Burger King. We spent as much as we could, getting dessert and extra large helpings of everything.
This is Scott with our $50 coupon and the total of our dinner.
Back to the terminal to wait and see if we could get on the next flight at 5:45 PM.
My first (and only) sunset in Hawaii. Romantic, no?
Didn't get on the 5:45 flight so our next possibility was the 8:45 one. Sherry has another idea...
I'll spare you the pictures of us playing UNO or reading or sprawling on the (un)comfortable seats or trying to get answers from the useless Go! Staff for five hours and give you instead proof that we finally got on a flight.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy to get Sherry kissing the tarmack at Lihue Airport. We barely made it to Hertz before they closed to get our cars and then had a 15 minute drive to the Pono Kai in Kapa'a where we were met in the parking lot by the family at around 10 PM. Got to bed by 11 PM (2 AM , my body-time) but had a hard time sleeping.
Here's a sight I never saw the entire week. Sunrise.
Since I was staying in my parent's unit with Sherry, and it was the biggest one, it was the gathering place for all meals. Which means I usually woke up to the sounds of voices in the kitchen and breakfast well underway. So much for sleeping in.
A morning trek to the canal to see "secret beach" or what's left of it. The sand was very soft and you could squirm your feet down into it a good few inches, as shown here...
Andrew's looking a little concerned.
After lunch we invaded Baby Beach, so named because the man made reef makes a nice, calm 2 foot deep pool which is perfect for the little ones to practice their snorkle techniques...or pounce on their Aunties. That's me peeking out of the water on the right trying to make my escape.
What the well-dressed young snorkler is wearing nowadays.
That evening we celebrated Scott's birthday with cake and ice cream and just hung out.
Monday was supposed to be kayaking in Hanalei but Claire had a slight case of heatstroke and wouldn't be able to join us so we did things that she's already done, beginning with a drive to the Kiluea Lighthouse. The point has a great view of the north coast and you can usually find nesting baby sea birds all over the place. Here I pause for a photo op with Erica. Sherry, Dad and Matthew.
Looking for mom and dad's "brick", which they got for making a donation to the lighthouse foundation. Brother Steve (in the foreground) is way off.
Found it!
Lunch at Anini Beach, a favorite of ours. Man, we have a lot of stuff!
It was really breezy this day and the current was difficult to swim against but we were rewarded for our stubborn persistance by seeing this guy...
So now we could say we've had a "Honu Experience".
Back to base camp for dinner. Mama Mia! That's a lot of garlic bread!
This is usually how you'd find the boys...digging in the sand.
I'll leave it here for tonight as I need to make my bed so I can get to sleep.
edit : sorry for the huge pictures. I tried using a Client program to post and I'm still learning how it works.