Kauai

We had a lovely time in Kauai. These pictures can't do it all justice but they are a start.

The first full day we were there it rained on and off, and we got to see some of Hawaii's famous rainbows, shown here over the palm tree in the middle of the picture.




Kauai is full of wild chickens! They were everywhere.








This was Poipu Beach Park, where we spent several mornings. It had a nice calm area for the kids to play in and snorkel.







Here are Dan and the boys playing at Poipu Beach Park.









The view (at sunset) out the front door of the condo where we stayed. We could see sea turtles off this balcony.







Here we are at the blowhole, which didn't put on much of a show the day we were there.






We saw lots of animals, like this crab.








Sea turtles were not too hard to see but were very hard to get a decent picture of. They would only pop their heads above water for a second. There's one in the lower right hand corner of this picture.





The monk seal we saw at Poipu Beach Park. There are fewer than 100 in the Hawaiian islands and less than 1500 in the world, so we were fortunate to see one. They can be dangerous so the lifeguard warned everyone to stay pretty far away from it, but it didn't do anything aggressive.




Entrance to the National Tropical Botanical Garden.








Inside the NTBG. It was a nifty place.









Owen really loved snorkeling.







Lydgate Beach Park on the eastern side of the island (Poipu is on the southern tip).








The kids also loved the pool and spa at the complex where we were staying.







View of the nearest mountain that sits in the SE corner of the island.







Kiddos.








Waimea Canyon. Dan went up there one afternoon. The rest of us didn't brave the drive.








A sign from the botanical garden. Just to see the Hawaiian language.






Mary enjoying herself!

Joke of the day

What doll should you avoid playing with?

Rosemary's Barbie.

-- from a Halloween joke book from the library

A few pictures

Douglas and Owen in the hay bale maze at Apple Hill on Sunday.








Owen in front of his classroom this morning. I took pictures of all the second graders to include with their letters to their pen pals in Georgia.








The guys at Apple Hill








Douglas on horseback. He loves horseback riding. Owen, on the other hand, is quite happy to sit it 0ut.

Trip to DC

On Sunday I left for DC to go to the American Public Health Association conference. I had a poster to give on unlicensed teen driving in CA. It was fun. I got to see lots of old friends and co-workers while I was there and got fed every night by friends. Saw quite a few interesting sessions on various topics such as adolescent development, underage drinking, etc. I got back around midnight on Wednesday. It was chilly there, but not too bad.

Dan and the boys seemed to have had fun while I was gone - they went to see Bee Movie, went to the park and so forth. They are doing well. Now we have a 3 day weekend. We may go to Apple Hill over the weekend, although the paper says it's supposed to rain so I don't know.

Happy Halloween!

Pictures from Halloween. Here are our pumpkins. The lower one was an attempt to make a Cheney pumpkin but it didn't turn out all that well.






Kids in costume. They decided to go with the store bought costumes instead of the homemade.







Douglas at the pumpkin patch on Tuesday with his friend Tobin from preschool.








And Douglas with friends Elizabeth and Helena.