Beach Glass Adventure

Some friends from our hall invited us to tag along to collect beach glass. When we agreed to go, we did not know that a dusty, bumpy adventure was in store. The beach with glass, a.k.a. "Glass Beach" (creative name, huh?), is located near the Lihue Airport. The main back road which leads to this site was closed, so the friends had us follow them to an even more remote road. This back-back road was a narrow rocky, hole-filled trail between tall shrubbery. It was the first time my Bug went off-roading! Other than the panic attacks I had every time it sounded like my cars' tires exploded, we had fun! After a bit, we got smart and decided to lighten the Beetle's load so it wouldn't ride as low to the ground. Jen, Mia, and I squeezed in the trunk of our friend's SUV, while Jeff drove the Bug. Finally, we arrived at the top of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. This is the location of a landfill/dump. Glass and debris from the dump fall down the side of the cliff into the ocean, resulting in a plethora of beautiful smoothed, beach glass along the shore below. We had to walk down the cliff on a trail surrounded by shards of sharp, broken glass (*note to self: next time wear shoes, not slippers!). You can't really tell from the picture, but the shore is covered with sparkly glass pieces in a multitude of colors.The trek was worth it and we all collected an array lovely treasures.

Hoopi (Hopi) Falls Hike

A group of us hiked Ho'opi'i Falls- or as the locals who like to abbreviate call it, "Hopi" Falls. Its in Kapahi, just a few minutes drive away from our house. The trail leads to two separate waterfalls along the Kapaa Stream. (Ugh, I'm beginning to sound like a tourist guidebook.) The first waterfall is reached after an easy 10 minute hike. Some of the kids jumped into the pool beneath the falls. The second waterfall requires a longer, more "involved" hike along the river, through oodles of flora, vampire-ish mosquitoes, and up and down some slopes. My out-of-shape body considered the hike rigorous, according to Gee-Standards. I just plopped on the dirt several times, just to catch my breath and not... faint. On the other hand, a couple of Kauai-bred gals practically ran through the whole course barefoot, wearing swimsuits, and said that this trail wasn't really considered a hike. Parts of the movies Jurassic Park and Six Days, Seven Nights were filmed near here. Oh, and speaking of movies, Pirates is being filmed in Kapaa town. We passed the set at Coco Palms a few times, but alas! No Johnny Depp sightings yet!

St. Regis Photo Shoot

Jeff did a photo shoot for a family staying at the posh Princeville St. Regis on Kauai's North Shore. We hung out on the grounds after the session was over and enjoyed a vibrant sunset.

Convention demo

We had short demo during Friday afternoon's program of the district convention. It was the talk on communication between husbands and wives. We demonstrated what not to do.

Faux Easter Island

Here are pictures from a recent wedding we attended. The lovely couple had a beautiful wedding at a venue surrounded by gardens and a river.

Hopping Taco

Taco saw a fly and hopped onto the window sill... much like a cat.

PS'ing

Jeff taught me a few basic things on Photoshop, so I've been playing around with the program.

Cruising with Michi

We took Michi to one of her fave Kauai eateries, Kalapaki Joes in Nauwiliwili. Their dessert was awesome- I think it was a mud pie- so good, that you'll break your fork eating it! Then we stopped by Spouting Horn in Poipu and visited a botanical garden.

Firsts

First house guest: Michi was on island for business and stayed with us for a couple of nights.

First house gathering: We ate then burned off calories with a friendly Kapaa vs. Waialeale Wii Fit competition. I think I burned off more calories laughing at everyone playing, especially during the hula hoop game. The highlight of evening was when a gigantic centipede appeared in the middle of the living room (EWW!) and one of our guests grabbed it with his bare hands (EWWWW!!) and ripped its head off (EWWWWWW!!!).

First use of the chocolate fountain: One of the cool wedding gifts we received was a chocolate fountain, which made its debut at our dinner party. We had an assortment of fruits and dippers: cookies, gummy bears, pretzel sticks, muffins... delish!

Block vase