Kauai

After Thanksgiving we took a vacation with Matthew's parents to Kauai. It's the island that Matthew's parents moved to when they first moved to Hawaii, right after hurricane Iniki, and it's also where Matthew's younger brother was born.

We prepped Anneliese the night before our flight with a book about planes, since it was her first flight.

Selfie at the airport!

She did great on the flight, slept the whole time. We rocked a minivan for our rental car. I got to admit, they're pretty dang comfy.

Customary Hawaiian lei when checking into our hotel.

Me and the babe relaxing on the lanai (patio).

Off to check out the pool.

Anneliese was not terribly impressed with it even though it had its own 'beach'.

Spent one day driving to the end of the road on the island.

And Anneliese entertained herself during the trip by figuring out how to get her toy into her mouth on her own.

Fun fact: Kauai is the only Hawaiian island with navigable rivers.

It has some cool caves as well.

On the way back we stopped for some shave ice. Anneliese was excited but too bad she's not old enough for any foods other than her milk.

Then one day Matthew and I spent by driving to the other end of the road on the island. Well, really to see Waimea Canyon. The Grand Canyon of the pacific. View of the coast along the way.

Volcanic red dirt.

The Waimea Canyon! Apparently we got really lucky with the weather. Janet was telling us about how cloudy and overcast it normally is so you can't really see the canyon.

At the end of the road, Na Pali coast. So pretty.

The next day Anneliese went to the beach for the first time! The same beach Matthew grew up on.

And on our last day before flying home we drove around and saw a few more sights. Here is the view of Hanalei Bay from the St. Regis Hotel.

It's also the beginning of whale season here and there was a pod off in the direction Matthew is looking.

My amazing Mother-in-Law, Janet.

Such a gorgeous Christmas tree, I had to stop and take a photo in front of it.

Love this photo.

Some waterfalls.

The wild pig that was hanging out in the parking lot of our last stop before the airport. He was surprisingly friendly though. I think he's used to the tourists and knows that they'll give him food. He kept wagging his little tale at people and my father in law kept throwing him some popcorn.

Yet another gorgeous sight.

I had such a good time. I would love to go back and visit Kauai again. I told Matthew that we would have to do a helicopter tour though because so many neat sights (like the waterfall that's featured in the Jurassic Park movie) can only be seen by helicopter.