More of Paradise...

A little over a year in Hawaii, and we just wrapped up another family visit...our SEVENTH visitor! Blaine's sister, Jill, along with her family, Trevor, Cole, and Eden, as well as Blaine's brother, Robert, spent a week with us exploring not one island, but TWO! I have to back this story up even more, though, as Blaine and I ventured to yet another island, Kauai, for the first time the week before our family arrived! A whirlwind vacation, indeed, but we have had SO MUCH fun!!

After staying awake the night before our early morning flight on tsunami watch, Blaine and I visited Kauai, the Garden Isle, in early March. What a gorgeous place! We spent the first half of our trip on the western side of the island, at Barking Sands, which is a military lodging facility. The lodge is located on the Pacific Missile Range Facility and is VERY isolated. The isolation lent to a relaxing time, though, and provided quite a nice outlet for Blaine's spearfishing. We spent the second half of our vacation on the southern tip of the island with some dear friends Blaine went to high school with, the Warrens. We really enjoyed seeing them and checking out some of the sights! Side note: Our resort was AMAZING! I highly recommend looking into "Preferred Hotels" on your next vacation anywhere, as they have them all over the world. We stayed at the Koa Kea Resort...maybe one of the highlights of this trip, which says a lot after you see the following pictures. :)

I found this written in the sand and thought it was so cute, I had to add it to my collection of photos from our trip!

This is Niihau, the Forbidden Isle, seen from the Barking Sands beach. Blaine is so intrigued by this island because of it's background. If you don't know about Niihau, I HIGHLY recommend you read about it...very interesting. If you look closely, you'll see an orange dive flag on the right hand side of this photo in the water...yes, that's Blaine, spearfishing!

Niihau at sunset

Waimea Canyon

Glass Beach...maybe one of my all time favorite sights! Look closely...there is no sand. The entire beach is made up of sea glass! I just love sea glass. Sea glass is the result of glass items (trash) being tumbled, broken up, rounded, and smoothed over time. It takes years to make and some colors are more rare than others. An entire beach covered in it?! Awesome!

Glass Beach close up

We found this interesting Japanese cemetary near Glass Beach...just thought it made for a neat photo!

Big highlight of our trip...an open-door helicoptor tour of Kauai! WOW! is all I can say, because I was pretty much speechless the entire flight. :)

Our first glimpse of what is probably the most gorgeous coastline in all of Hawaii...the Na Pali Coast! Breathtaking. Cue the speechlessness now.

Looking down at the cliffs on the water's edge...beautiful!

I think the Na Pali Coast in Kauai qualifies as one of the must-sees in a person's lifetime. I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything quite like it...just amazing!

Our helicoptor pilot flew us into this crater, so cool! We were lucky enough to pick a clear day, as the top of this mountain is completely covered in clouds 95% of the time. Can you see why Kauai is called the Garden Isle??

Many of our guests have commented that they feel like they are in Jurassic Park when they are here. Well, Jurassic Park was filmed in Hawaii and this is the infamous Jurassic Park Falls!

Windblown, speechless, and AMAZED at Kauai's beauty!

Our last day in Kauai, we hiked a trail along the Na Pali Coast to get another view of it. I just wanted to show all of you how lush and tropical this rainforest hike was!

As soon as we returned from Kauai, we were getting ready for our family to arrive the next day. It was so awesome to see everyone and have them here with us for the week! We had SUCH A BLAST! And I have 24 wine bottle corks to prove it... ;) To our delight, Blaine's family wanted to see a volcano. Since Blaine and I were already in traveling mode anyway, we all decided to hit the Big Island of Hawaii for a couple of days in the middle of their visit! Yes, we've been here for over a year now and saw TWO of the other islands in the span of two weeks. Crazy! But so awesome!!

The whole group in front of Rainbow Falls on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Standing in the middle of the lava desert!

Blaine and Robert in one of the many lava fields...there were several different lava flows on the map with their prospective timelines, I think this one is from the 1970's.

Here she is! Kilauea Calderon, one of the world's most active volcanoes! We didn't see any lava, but this was impressive enough. :)

We also visited the southernmost point of the United States...

...which Blaine quickly realized will make an awesome spearfishing spot on our next visit. ;) Cole and Blaine are looking for fish in the 100 foot visibility waters off the southern tip.

Green Sand Beach...highlight of this trip! The green sand is actually an olive color...and you can only see it by hiking almost three miles ONE WAY. It was AMAZING!

Blaine on one of the island's black sand beaches! Really pretty and much easier to get to than the green sand beach.

Two of the NINE turtles that were lounging on Turtle Beach the day we visited back on Oahu.

And last, but not least, Robert in front of Waimea Falls on Oahu. Look closely...and you'll see Blaine diving out from underneath the waterfall! I couldn't recreate this picture if I tried, it was a total fluke! :)

So, that's what we've been up to lately! I apologize for the long post, but I just had to share all my favorite pictures...and I know some of you have been asking for more Hawaii pics! Until our next adventure...