Grampa Hanson's Surprise Visit

Grampa is headed east for the next couple of months and decided to take a couple of side trips. The first was here. He got in on Monday and left today to head up to Idaho to see his granddaughter Cheri and her family. Then he's off to Michigan and Wisconsin.

What a treat it was to have him come!

Here he is with Paul and Adam (notice Nala stuffed in Adam's shirt?)


Robert works a graveyard shift and got home this morning in time to get a picture with Grampa and little Davey.


Had to get one of Ed and I and the two Daves.

Baby Blessing

Little Davey was blessed today.

Davey Update

The first picture was taken on May 18th and the second two were taken last night. He's sure grown a lot since I left on my trip a month ago.

Last Day

It was a little bittersweet awaking this morning, know that it would be my last day here. Erin painted our toenails, and we to pictures of our feet. This first picture is of Erin, Sienna, and I in the matching slippers we bought after the catamaran trip.


Then we brought in little Madelyn (don't you just love little baby bellies? It's so not fair that the same belly that is delicious on a two year old is repulsive on an adult. Why can't we stay this cute?)


Erin's church had a family BBQ at Lydgate Beach today. This area has some beautiful breakers.


They have made it family friendly by creating two swimming areas for little children have been created by piling up huge lava rocks.






Until today, Aidan has been afraid to snorkel, fearing he would breathe in water. But he gave it a try ... and success!




And of course you can't go to the beach and not play in the sand!

Watching the Watcher

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

We made the above funny JibJab video with most of the grandkids and as we were watching it, Madelyn thought it was hysterical.

Kalihiwai

We spent a couple of quiet days just hanging around the house with a visit to the local mall last night. Spencer has been on call (he's a life flight nurse) for the past 2+ days, but so far he hasn't had any calls. He can only go so far away, and today we went to the beach at Kalihiwai, which meant he couldn't come with us.

Kalihiwai is a cool little cove where a river empties into the ocean. This first picture is looking out to the ocean.


The kids really like playing on the river side.




Sienna and Aidan managed to catch a little tiny fish, and spent the rest of the time there in the pursuit of more.


Then it was time for a snack.

Catamaran & Snorkeling Trip

*sigh* I know now what I want to do when I retire. My dream part-time, for-fun job would be to move here to Kaua'i with Erin and get a job working for a company doing catamaran excursions. It's not just the fun of the snorkeling and the fish watching but just being on the boat.


We got to see a bunch of dolphins. These are not normally the kind that jump around a lot, but they did for us (of course, wasn't able to get any on film). They really like to join up with the catamaran and turn over and swim right under a hull, so they can get their bellies rubbed. One of them even wanted to surf the surge from catamaran. The video below is one of them swimming into position to do a surf--it kept up with the catamaran up to 16 knots. Amazing.


We sailed to the Na Pali Coast (sound familiar?) and got to see the other end of it from the sea. Incredible. I had to agree with Erin that her new mountains are also amazingly beautiful. This is where they did some filming for the King Kong movies.





Sienna, Erin, and I went snorkeling and swam with fishies, a shark, and a turtle. Amazing. When Sienna got too cold, she returned to the boat and took this picture of Erin and me in the water. Isn't the color beautiful?

Na Pali Coast

Today we visited the Na Pali Coast. Erin and Spencer hadn't been there before yet either, though they have friends who have raved about it. There are some falls that are on a four-mile hike. Little Madelyn wasn't up to it (and to be honest now that we're home I'm finding out that this old lady wasn't either), so we only went a mile up and a mile back. It was an incredible (woefully inadequate word, by the way) hike, and my bad ankle did great (which bodes well to starting up Karate again when I get back). Following are some pictures.

Getting ready for the hike


A lava tube cave






Look at the color of the water. *sigh*


This is one of the most famous views of this particular coastline.




There's a beautiful beach near the trailhead, so we stopped and got refreshed in the water. This is where I was too lazy to put my sneakers back on and burned my feet on the freaking hot sand. Ouch. Unlike Aidan, I didn't have a mommy to carry me. =D


The view from the beach


When Spencer was returning from a life flight run, he saw Johnny Depp arriving. They are doing filming for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie here, so we'll have some fabulous scenery to watch in the film.

More Sightseeing

This afternoon we went to see the Kilauea Lighthouse






Some of the sites on the way back:




Erin's home now. Woot!

The First Return

Spence returned from the Youth Conference he was attending and we all did some more sightseeing.

These are at the Menehuna Fish Pond:



Wailua Falls


Lydgate Beach and Park

Kids at Play

The kids went across the street to a garage sale and bought a few items. I got them some books.


Sienna wanted to do a dance, and then got the idea to do a play. She titled it Wizard of Oz Remix, but Toto/Winn Dixie (Aidan) rebelled.


But it finally happened:


You can't have a movie-making session without something Star Wars related:

First Day on Kaua'i

My plane got in 35 minutes early, but Erin wasn't far from the airport and was there before I had my luggage. She sent the kids to greet me since the security guy wouldn't let her park the car there even though she could see me. Aidan and Sienna each gave me a lei (LOVE those, btw). We went to their home, and when Spencer got back from a flight (he's a life flight nurse) that he was filling in for someone on, we went to the beach.


Me and Madelyn


Erin's sweet family


At the beach


Madelyn



At dinner afterward

Did I mention that it's beautiful here? My only problem with it is the heaviness of the air. Utah is a really dry state, and I find it harder to breathe this moisture-laden air. But I'm getting used to it.

Oh, and they have something here called Shave Ice. I've seen little stands in Orem, but I don't know if it's really the same thing. This was a little hole in the wall place that Erin and Spencer say is the best. There are only three words to describe it. OH. MY. HECK. At the bottom of mine was macadamia nut ice cream.

I figure I can just die now.