Kauai Trip

Since I'm still getting going I have to backtrack to tell about our trip to Kauai the last week of October. We left Jack with Anne's parents for the week--and he hardly missed us between four-wheeler rides--and flew from Portland to Kauai. We had a great week even though it rained a lot. We were at the beach everyday in the rain and even though we drove around to opposite sides of the island, the surf was high everywhere we went and the clouds seemed to follow. We didn't even get burned once! But we loved it and spent the week seriously debating how we could move back to Hawaii.

We stated off with hiking the Napali coast. We never really adjusted to the time change too much so we got started very early most morning and were out of the hotel by 6am. We were one of the first ones on the trail, which was a really good thing because that has got to be one of the busiest hikes around. Most people don't make it the 8 miles to the waterfall though and so we had it pretty private at possibly the best waterfall I've ever been to. There were tons of guava along the way and Jeff managed to knock an avacado out of a tree with a bamboo "spear".

Kauai also had awesome farmers markets and we ate great fruit including awesome star fruit, tangerines, apple bananas and avacados. The best market was in Hanalei and it had to be the most picture perfect place I've seen. The mountains and the waterfalls and the taro patches were just gorgeous.

We also went to Waimea canyon, which literally took my breath away. I don't often act impressed about geologic features, so Jeff was pretty proud of me. We did a fun hike to a waterfall, but the hike was better than the waterfall. I also loved the town of Waimea and found the Shrimp Station as well as Aunty Lilikoi (passion fruit) there. I ate a lot at both places and wish I had bought more at Aunty's.

The last day it rained the hardest all day long, but we rented a kayak and paddled up the river to the rope swing in the rain and then hiked to a waterfall in the pouring rain. It was really fun, especially after we got in sync with our steering.

We decided living in Hawaii is better than vacationing, but we didn't stay because I was very ready to come home and see Jack!!!

Getting Started

Okay, so I've finally decided to start a blog and see if it is something I can keep up with. I guess I'll throw in a little background since I haven't talked to some people in quite a while. We're living in Ontario, OR these days, about 45 min. from Boise. We have spent a lot of this last year completely redoing the house we bought in January. I'll post some before and after shots here soon. When we aren't working on the house, we're playing with Jack.
And speaking of Jack, he graduated from his crib to a twin size bed this weekend. He was very upset when he saw us taking his crib apart, but he has been extremely happy with what we replaced it with. I made him a new tractor blanket for his bed and he can jump on his bed all he wants--which he has spent quite a bit of time doing too! He is finally starting to say lots of new words these days. Jack started slow on the talking end, but he's coming up with new stuff everyday.
Jeff is working with the USDA here in Ontario and enjoys his work a lot, even though moving into winter he has to work at a desk most of the time. I stay home with Jack and spends extra time working on bread recipies and tractor blankets.
We had a quiet Thanksgiving with just the three of us at home and lots and lots of leftovers! I made the best cheesecake I have ever make--lilikoi cheesecake--I'm pretty proud of myself. The only downside was not seeing family and being stuffed up half the time.(it's a lot harder to taste good food stuffed up!) But we put up our christmas tree and we're ready for christmas!
I guess that will have to be the start of my blog! Here's to good intentions....