Bitter Sweet....maybe just Bitter

As I type my last blog on the island, everyone around me is packing or eating the last bits n pieces of food we have in the condo. French Toast and eggs anyone?! Today we check out of our condo and all pile in the Jeep and Charger with all our luggage for our last day in Kauai. Most of the time I am ready to go home....however, if I just stayed here forever I would be very very happy. So I think I will just eat from the earth and become a "naturalist" or as Hawaiians call it a "bum." actually I couldn't do that but I could live here! Yikes! I really don't want to go home and feel the heat and humidity and know that paradise does exist! So I ask all my blog readers to Please Please visit the Island Kauai Hawaii. The flight may be a little more $$ than what you would usually spend on vacation but this is not just a vacation. This is a dream come true! So yes I'm bitter, I have to leave. But I promise I will return! Warning Todd, another trip to Kauai is in your future!

Now for the last few days that I have not had time to blog. Here is an update. Lots of fun stuff and probably once I get back to the mainland I will blog some more.

Todd and I took a little time to have a sushi picnic at the beach. Crystal and Haley also joined us but they parked their towels closer to the water. Crystal turned around to say "Hi" and she said, "Paige, Turn around there's a rainbow!!" And you know my sister isn't quiet so everyone at the beach turned around to see it! lol Then we all wondered....rainbow means....rain!!! And it started pouring down rain! What a wonderful sushi picnic...just b/c we already had the sushi eaten!


Dad had a little business to do in Honolulu so he brought mom along. And as most of you know, Mom has a titanium knee (from her knee replacement) and sets off all the alarms at the airport. Poor Mom....she gets treated as a criminal before each plane ride.


Rance attracts chickens! I just think it's hilarious!!


Luau begins with a tram ride around the park. It was full of beautiful botanical gardens and chickens, and goats, and pigs (underground), and fruit trees.


Reserved table for Walls party of 8 front and center! The girls later learned that if the flower is on the right, it means your single; if it's on the left, your married or have a boyfriend; if the flower is in your hair, you don't know! So the girls switched the flower for it to be in the right ear since we are all taken!

My beautiful sister!

The show was great. We were a little tired by the time the show began but the motion of the hips were overwhelming! Wow, I've gotta learn how to do that....but I might break something! Eliz took this picture of the guy twirling fire!


We planned on taking a little boat ride to see the sunset and to see the side of the island that you can only see by boat. It was a great ride. Unfortunately you cannot be pregnant so Rance and Eliz could not go. Instead they traveled the back roads and saw a wild pig and deer. The rest of us went on the trip and we all took motion sickness meds before we boarded the ship. :)
Mom and Dad at sunset on the boat!

The rest of us watching the sunset. Oh and let me add....you get really wet on the boat. Todd and I and Dad and mom were drenched and might I add the sea is also salty!

There will be more stories of Kauai Adventures when we arrive in the mainland and get back to our usual boring lives! lol

Plane ride

Mom, Dad, Todd and I took a Air Venture Tour from the sky yesterday! It was a lot of fun. A little challenging at times since it was a little plane and we could feel every bump. All in All none of us would probably do it again but it was a great chance to see the island and learn a little extra about it. We were able to see places that we can't drive to.

We were a little higher up than a helicopter would be, but helicopters make a rougher, noisier ride so we chose the right adventure. The plane we took was small and quite and was slow (we flew at a speed of 90 mph almost the entire way) which enabled us to take better pictures. Each of us had our own bubble window to look out and see.
Dad was in the front by the pilot, he really enjoyed that! Mom and I were under a wing so some of the pictures I wanted to take were a little challenging due to my seat. But I think I still got some good shots. Enjoy the view from the sky!
One of several waterfalls. I could look up the name but I'm on vacation so I will do research later! lol

Can't remember what this cool cave thing was called. But I'm sure it has been in a Hollywood movie. We saw the beach where Six Days and Seven Nights was filmed. I took a picture but can't remember what beach it was....will keep trying to remember.
I love coffee!!!!! And so does Hawaiians! This is only part of the huge coffee bean fields on Kauai.


This is our condo from the air. Look for the big red X. ***side note about our place....We have a nice view of the mountains and golf course. The pool is just a few feet away (far enough so we don't hear everyone, but close enough we can walk). The beach, however, is a little further than what we are use to when we usually go to the beach. Usually we are parked on top of the sand and the beach. But we have noticed that there are really no condos parked on the beach around Kauai. We like that in a way. The beaches aren't as crowded as usual. Just a short drive to several different beaches. And most of them have the famous Hawaiian Shaved Ice for a nice cold treat! yum****now back to the plane ride!

Oh yeah, so the turbulence was a little much for a girl that doesn't do roller coasters well....me. I had a couple souvenirs from the plane ride. I ended up puking 3 times, but only needed 2 doggy bags! wow, a trip I will never, never ever forget!
**another side note. If you click (or double click) on the picture itself then it will enlarge and you can really see the awesomeness of the island! *
I hope I am not boring you with all the updates! It will help me remember what in the world we did here!

1 long day full of wonder

Wowsers, yesterday was a really long day! Luckily the girls started after the boys. As I had said in my previous post that the boys were going to play golf and the girls just chill and do whatever we wanted. Well that is just what we did.
The boys headed on the other side of the island to play golf. They had a great time. The view was beautiful and their game, well lets just say it's a good thing it was only 9 holes! lol. But honestly for 4 boys that don't play golf much they sure did enjoy themselves.

As for the girls, we did a little laundry and sat around the house for a few hours before heading out. (let me remind you we have been waking up around 6 am....wide awake waking up....really sickening since we are on vacation.) Once we decided to go we went non-stop. Mom was driving and she had all 3 of her girls telling her where to go. hehe We drove up different roads just to see the island from a different angle. We found a nice trail with the view of local surfers catching some waves. We go down to the beach simply because it was a steep trip and Mom's knee wouldn't make it down (let alone back up), and because there were some big dogs barking at us, so we stayed put watching from the hill.

We meet up with the boys and had some lunch, Rance and Eliz picked to eat some local pizza, and the rest of us ate at a local TomKat joint. Dad had pig and the rest of us had fish! YUMMY FRESH FISH! We did some shopping around the town and headed back on the road again. This time we were off to see this Spouting Horn and Waimea Canyon. Both really cool places!

The Spouting Horn was loud. The waves crashing on the rocks with this hole in the rocks that when the waves are strong enough, the water shoots up through the hole and makes this really cool "fountain" for just a few moments.
After a winding road up a huge mountain we came across the amazing view of the Waimea Canyon. My Dad loved this part of the trip. My Mom hated this part of the trip (she was a little road sick and she was worried we would all fall of the cliff...a worry wart!) She stayed in the jeep.

And I loved the view and I also got a little road sick! It was a site to see. When God made Hawaii he really put in some work! You've got the mountains, the canyons, the beach, the rivers, the waterfalls, the woods, and the fruit all in one 552 square mile island! So amazing!

The farm land is amazing here. Plantations of sugar cane and coffee beans and Taro roots (used to make Poi) fill the meadows. Everything you need on one little island.
For Todd and my anniversary we got all dressed up and went to have some sushi at Sushi Blues at a nearby town by the North Shore. It was delicious. The funny part was when we arrived the place was packed and the hostess said, "yum, it's gonna be a while the wait will probably be about 10-15 minutes." We were like "that's fine." To think that a wait for 10 minutes was long or something. We sat at the bar and just enjoyed the breeze and Mai Tais. We were able to get a table by the window (which all the windows are open to the outdoors, air conditioning doesn't exist in paradise!) Here is a picture of our view from our table!
We enjoyed Blacken Seared Ahi which was made to perfection and Ono (which is Hawaiian for Delicious), Grasshopper Roll, Aloha Roll, and Vegas Roll.


The place was packed and the sushi chefs were working their little fingers off. It did take a while to get all our sushi to our table, but we didn't mind. In fact the waitress kept apologizing for the wait and at the end she gave us a 10% discount because of the wait. We thought that was very nice of them, so we tipped a little more!
Overall we enjoyed our anniversary day!

Aloha

Aloha from Kauai, Hawaii

This place is gorgeous! We are so blessed to be able to make this trip happen with all our family! What a great blessing and perfect timing! Today Todd and I celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary! I would of never thought our anniversary trip would be in Hawaii with our entire family! hehe But I wouldn't have it any other way! (Happy Anniversary Baby, it has been amazing so far!)

The plane ride was long! To see pics and a few comments from the long plane ride click on Elizabeth and Rances link/blog. http://ranceandelizandfamily.blogspot.com

Once we landed we noticed that there were chickens all over the place. On the side of the road, in people's yards, in the pool areas and on our balcony/porch! And the Rosters are on Eastern Standard time so about 4 Hawaii time they start cock-a-doodling! My mom loves the chickens!

Day one on the island we decided to plan out our week. Then we explored and relaxed on the beach! Crystal and I went pool side after the beach and that was fun. It was like we were kids again doing handstands in the water and splashing each other.

More stuff to come later but for now I really want to go outside and play! The boys are golfing and us girls are going to go explore and relax and shop!

10 - 9 - 8 - 22 - 550

I'm stealing Todd's idea and posting some random numbers that mean something different! so here goes!

10 - ten days working without a day off, started today! it's gonna be a long week and a half! yikes!

9 - nine days off work in a row because Hawaii is where I will be!! don't freak people I won't be IN hawaii for 9 days, it takes a day to travel, silly!

8 - eight of us wonderful people celebrating life and vacationing in Hawaii! that's right 8, count it...Mom, Dad, Rance, Eliz, Me, Todd, Crystal, Haley (In order of birth, I'm never last nor first, just somewhere in the middle!!)

22 - June 22, 2002 Todd and I got married...so that means....In Hawaii we will celebrate year 6! That's six years of wedding bliss, and still no kids, which apparently shocks everyone I work with? What an awesome anniversary vacation!!! (and a shout out to rance and eliz that they will be celebrating year 5 1/2 which is really like 11 years if you count dating years! my brother is sloooow)

550 - 550 square miles to explore in Kauai, Hawaii with 8 people that I love and no where to escape to for 9 days, during our 6th anniversary, only after my 10 days of work in a row! But the best part is, We start traveling to KC to get on our plane in 11 days baby!!!

that has to make someone smile! I know Eliz is smiling right now while she is realizing that we will be beach bums in white sand and blue seas in no time! But too bad for her no adult beverages since she is caring my mom's second grandbaby!!! Congrats bro you still got it!

Noah

Have you seen it yet? You know the biggest new show in Branson. Noah The Musical at the Sight & Sound Theatre. Todd and I were fortunate enough to get tickets at a really really low price! So we got are hair did and got all snazzied up for the big show last night. We are not real big into seeing shows in Branson, or anywhere for that matter, but we did enjoy the story. Since Noah is a Musical we were a little scared, because a couple years ago we saw the musical "Daniel and the Multicolored Coat" (or whatever it's called) and we about left at intermission. It's like can you just speak a part and not put it to a stinkin musical note! geez. So Noah was a whole lot better, they talked and sung but the singing wasn't so overwhelming that we wanted to leave.
Our seats were front row and center. I kid you not. Row A (front row). Seat 42 and 43 (smack dab in the center of the stage). Speakers in front of our face, hearing was not a problem. When the fog machine turned on we were in for it because it not only covered the stage it covered us! At times we couldn't even see what was going on because we were IN the smoke affect. I wish I wrote a comment about that! Was it even necessary?! geez! OH and the best part was we could actually see the tape on the performers faces. They had tape to keep their mics in place and tape to keep their terrible wigs on. It was great; to laugh at. lol. And the exaggerations of emotions in the performers face was over-the-top at times, oh so gay.

The stage had great presence, even though we couldn't see the floor of the stage, I'm sure it looked good too. The props, the scenes, the detail was magnificent. Honestly, they spent a great deal of time, money and pride into the background. The Ark was huge! The animals, some real, some fake, brought life to the stage. The Ark "guts" wrapped around the audience. We had to look behind us on each side to see some animals and scenes. As you can tell the building is huge! They use every bit of it.

They end the show with a message from Jesus. Asking each person to evaluate their lives and their everlasting life.
The show in general is great. I've seen the Passion Play and the Nativity Scene, so it was a real delight to see something that I have not seen before. If you're going to spend 3 hours doing something, it might as well be watching the Musical Noah waving your hands in front of your face in order to see through the fog machine's fog.

randomness

What's up folks!?! Is everyone's day going great or what? My days at work have been full of ups and downs...all in 8 hours. Quite crazy, I must say! It's not being in retail, retail is fun in its own way. You are on your feet; sometimes moving, sometimes standing still. You see something new every day; and I'm not just talking about the customers that come through the door. Even though the customers are who make us laugh. Question: Why can't people be nice and understanding?

Now on to something else....

I have now started to tan again, but don't freak yet. I am only tanning so I don't burn in Hawaii!! Once I get my base for the year, bye bye tanning bed. Anyways, today I walked into the tanning place and it was like 94 degrees (seriously). The poor girl working there had the fans going and sweat dripping from her forehead. I said, "Man it's hot in here!" (I know...Here's your sign!) And she said, "Yeah it's like 94 degrees, Good luck!" How nice was that for her to say. Good luck. What do I need luck for, I'm just tanning....oh wait now I know 1.5 minutes into it I was slipping in the bed on my own lotion/sweat. Not too sexy or fun! Let's just say when you tan you smell like burnt coconuts and today I smell like burnt coconuts and bad body odor. Nasty! Good thing I'm home by myself tonight!

More randomness....

Just a question really. Exactly how many shoes can I take to Hawaii?
Oh and another thing....I talked to a retired guy the other day, he just got back from Hawaii, and you wouldn't believe what he said. Well he said it was expensive. No surprise, but he said that for lunch he ordered a club sandwich...18 bucks. oh yeah, we are going to be so broke after this trip it won't even be funny. Or we will not eat and just be really skinny! Either way we will have a blast! It's like once in a lifetime opportunity to go with all your family! Mom, Dad, Rance, Eliz, Crystal, Haley, Todd and me!!! What a blast!