School House Rock

 My cute little nephew was in his 3rd grade school play.  He was so excited that he was in it and that he had lines!  He would sing us parts of the songs when he came to visit.

 Like all little kids they are all looking for their parents and waving.  When they walked in you could tell he was looking us.  My sister waved a couple times before he found us.  He smiled so big and waved once he saw us.

He did such a good job.  He knew right where he was suppose to be and spoke right up when it was his turn to do his lines.

Will is on the autistic spectrum so sometimes his interactions with others can be kinda of comical.  On our way out one of the ladies that helps Will out at school said, "you did a great job, buddy", to which Will responded, "Of course".






Good job buddy!

Zip-line.......................

While in Kauai, we took a stab at zip-lining.  My fear of heights had my heart in palpitations just by the mention of zip-line.  We found Princeville Ranch Adventures.....which I would highly recommend, they had great tour guides and a pretty cool course.  So we pulled up to the ranch and then we had to sign away our lives in order to do the course.....so that made it even more appealing for me.  Then they took us over to be fitted for our harness. They told us to keep it a little bit loose, but probably kept mine tighter than was recommended....no need to fall out of the harness if you don't have to, right?  Our group was small...only 5 of us that actually turned out to be good since we got to due of few more lines and did the "grand finale" twice!  The group ahead of us was a large group and so our guides said want to do the last one after about 5 lines.  It was the longest and the highest.........

I'm jumping ahead, I should start at the beginning.  So once we were fitted we climbed into the van and headed off to the course.  After a short walk we get to the first line and they went over a few safety, instructions and introductions.  Then they asked who is nervous...so I raised my hand since I was pretty sure they could hear my heart pounding.  Well, note to others don't volunteer.....they said great, "you're first!"  Their instructions were to run and jump and pull yourself into a cannonball to make sure you get all the way to the other side.  After getting "locked" in they said go.....I was hoping my legs would just go, but pretty sure I just stood there for a while, before I just started to feel my legs running toward the end of the ramp.  Ellie said the guide, said "she has perfect form"...Ellie said cause she is freaked out....nice to have a great friend :D.  MADE it to the other side....after a few more lines I was getting a little more okay about the lines.  Until the big one then I got totally freaked out again since we had to climb up a long unsteady ladder.  My arms were too short to actually hold on to both sides walking up and then other people shaking it.  The pics from above is a view from the top of the platform.  No ramp.....you just have to jump.  No joke, once they said go, I had about a 5 second delay after Ellie took off before I jumped.  One one line they said there was a camera and that we could do something crazy....yeah I didn't think it was safe to do that.  Although I was looking forward and the guide kept pointing and waving so I turned to the camera and waived...can you see my excitement? There was a suspension bridge that we had to walk across at one point, that the guide thought they were funny and bounced the bridge.....kinda surprised that my legs just didn't give out and I didn't just fall to my death.  It was pretty cool though there was a small waterfall that we walked over.  I did look around a little bit and it was a pretty awesome sight.

It was a 3+ hour tour.  My heart still had palpitation and my anxiety was still there....I mean really who just jumps off a cliff?  But it was really fun and the tour guides had so much information and told us fun stories.  I would totally go back and do this again.....I think my bro would be a fun partner...they said you can "whoop" and holler, but none of us did it.  I can however see my bro have a blast! Guess it's time for another family trip!

Kauai......until next time! Thanks for the fun times!

Kauai January 2015

 Found a killer deal on round trip air fair to Hawaii so in about 10 minutes made the somewhat irrational decision to go to Hawaii with a friend.  Only $273....you can't pass that up!  We decided to hit up another island as well since the air fair over was rather inexpensive. We decided on Kauai.
We found a cheap place to stay out in Princeville.  Note to self.....do a double check on the place that is decided before committing......nothing like sleeping perpendicular on a futon.

I think this was a beach on the Napali Coast.  We were told this was the beach to go to since it had the best view of the sunset on Kauai, or at least that is what we were told. This beach had the start/end of the Napali Coast hike.  Unfortunately, neither of us really brought hiking shoes or appropriate gear to hike the 17-ish mile hike, so we settled for the sunset.

The waves were a bit rough that day so the beaches were kinda off limits, but I could have sat at the beach watching the waves roll in and watching the sunset for hours.

The weather was great, other than the water was a tad bit rough.  We had spent about an hour before making our way down to the beach for the sunset watching some surfers.  We heard that they had about 30+ foot swells so surfers were out in abundance. So that was pretty fun to watch.

 The next day we tried to find a few different beaches.  I believe this one is called Hide-away Beach.  You have to do a bit of hiking down to get to it.  Lots of ropes and high stairs...not really made for the short in stature.

It was kind of a smaller beach, but hence the name Hide-away Beach.  There was only a few other people down there, but once the again the waves were a bit rough so it was just walking along the beach and stuff.  Would like to be able to go back to that beach when the weather is nicer.  It had a pretty good view and seemed like a good place to snorkle.  It looks like there were some great reefs.

Tried to get a pic, but the wave that looked like a little one, turned out to be a pretty good size with a good under current.  I was trying not to fall while still trying to run up the beach on sand that was quickly sliding away.

We also hit up Hanalie Bay and did some paddle boarding. It was a great day.  The ocean part was a little rough which I found out when I tried to paddle out of the bay and into the ocean.  The bay was fantastic.  Very smooth water.


The best part of the day was that we saw about 7 sea turtles. Since the water was a little rough they said that the turtles had been pushed into the bay.  I had seen one and paddled out to get closer to it and just watched it.  Then we saw a few more and then they disappeared right when we got our cameras out.  Didn't get mine out in time and was super bummed.  Then as they disappeared I started to paddle again and all the sudden I had about 7 turtles all around my board!  So super cool to see them right under my board and surrounding it.  Once again I was trying to keep my paddle from hitting the turtles and trying to get Ellie's attention to get over there but not in time to get pics of them.  BUT it was a highlight of the trip!  After a while we decided not to harass them anymore and kept paddling up the bay.  We only rented the boards for 4 hours but I could have stayed out there for the entire day!

 Before we had to head to the airport we drove around Kauai a little bit. We came across a sign that said there was a waterfall so we headed down that way.  A little bit of a drive down some narrow roads.  Once we got to the falls, they were pretty amazing to see.  I even got a rainbow in the picture.

They had signs all over that said that you couldn't hike down there cause there were drop off cliffs, but we saw a few people with packs hopping over the rail guards.  That was kind of our sign that we should leave before some turd fell to their death.
As we were walking back to the car we saw this rock...so we decided we needed to get a picture!

Kauai....it was fun!  I'll be back again for sure!

Oahu 2015

 After Kauai, we fly to the island of Oahu.  We stayed in Hau'ula....which was a great central place for the places that we visited.  At least we had our own rooms this time.......

Stopped by the Laie Temple......always nice to walk around the grounds.  They were doing some renovations so couldn't get the full view.  We met some sister missionaries, that were pretty fun to talk to.  One was from Germany and she would look us up after the mission to be our travel buddy.

 It was a bit rainy, and saw this rainbow as we were eating our dinner at Ted's Bakery.  Always a must to stop by when on the island of Oahu for some delicious pie.

 Sunset beach....it was a little cloudy since it was on and off rain, but still an awesome sunset.

 We went to the Dole Plantation.  We rode the Pineapple Express. Ellie asked the girl sitting in front of us to take a picture and this is what we got.  She only took one, not sure how the girl thought this is what we wanted......Ellie and I don't take very many pics together when travel together, but this was our only pic this trip and this is what we got.....pretty fab eh?

 We went to the visit the point.  When I was a baby we lived near the point and Ellie had another friend suggest going there.  It was a little cloudy, but it was still a beautiful sight. A tad bit windy....

 Walked around the Polynesian Cultural Center before the evening show.

 On the overlook at the Blowhole on Oahu.

 Beach time.....last time on the beach before we had to leave. We still hadn't had a chance to boogie board, so today was the day.  It was pretty good weather.  We went to Hauula Beach Park cause we had been there with my family and they had the rope swing and we wanted to swing.  However, when we got there there was a homeless man using the rope to hold up his tent.....so had to count that out.

Still a great last day to spend in Hawaii.

Characters...and not just the Kids!

 Will and Dumbo.  Dumbo is one of his favorite rides.  He likes to take us all the way up as far as it will go and look out all over the park.

 The kids and Goofy!

 Ava and Jesse!

 Ava and "her" Minnie Mouse!

 We had to get fast passes to see the Frozen characters....Olaf just chillin' up on the roof watching and talking to us.

 I think Anna was Will's favorite.  When we walked it he bypassed Elsa and walked right over to Anna to give her a hug and then just stayed right by her....She was a pretty cute girl so maybe will found his new girlfriend?

Ava loved them both....although since Will was taking the attention of Anna, Ava kept talking to Elsa showing her her bracelet and whatever else Ava could get out before we told her we were taking pictures.

Will is still holding on to Anna!

 Found Donald Duck in Toon Town!

As well as Goofy!















Pluto and the kids!

Ava found her Daisy....another one checked off her list!

We ended our trip at Goofy's Kitchen for brunch!

We got to see Pluto...

They did a parade of the characters and then each of the characters made their way around to all the tables so say hi and take pictures.

Minnie Mouse

 Not sure which one this was...Chip or Dale?  We saw them a couple of times so guess we saw them both....Will really wanted to eat his Micky Waffles.

We didn't get to see Goofy, guess cause he was back cooking our breakfast, but we saw him on our way out so we go to get a quick picture with him as well.  The kids were super excited to see him. The next time we go we'll be making a stop her again.

 California Adventure we only saw a couple of characters.


Pluto