The Fletcher Ohana

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Na Pali Coast Dinner Cruise (January)

While my family was visiting, we decided to all go on a sunset dinner cruise of the Na Pali coast. Lucas was too young to go on the boat, so he stayed with friends while the rest of us set sail out of Port Allen.

It was a gorgeous day and we couldn't have asked for better weather in January.

Along with seeing the majestic Na Pali coast, we were lucky enough to see whales and spinner dolphins!

Luckily, we saw the whales and dolphins on the first half of the cruise, because when the boat turned around to head back to Port Allen, most of our stomachs decided to turn on us as well...so even though it was a dinner cruise, I think Ely and Noah were the only ones from our group that were actually able to eat dinner :-P

The sights and family time made it all worth it, though :-)

The tall structure in the middle of this photo is the Old Sugar Mill in Kaumakani

The whales were putting on a show for us!

Holly & Jeremy watching the whales

PMRF

This is a shot of base housing (behind the trees) and Shenanigans on the right!

Here's a shot of the operational side of the base and the runway

Guess who completely missed seeing us pass our house :-)

The Na Pali Coast

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the waves are crashing onto the rocks several stories high

The spinner dolphins were amazing!!!

They swam close to our boat and were jumping out of the water and spinning in the air!

Friday, May 23, 2014

North Shore Excursion (January)

While my family was here, we took them up to the North Shore to see the rest of the island.

We stopped at ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls outside of Kapa'a on the way north

Noah & Uncle Jeremy

ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls

We stopped for lunch at our favorite place to eat on the North Shore: The Tavern at Princeville which overlooks the golf course

Noah in the golf shop...

Noah and Papa on the Hanalei Pier

Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Holly, Noah, Grandma Anita & Papa at Hanalei Bay

Our last stop of the day was at Kauai Mini Golf & Botanical Gardens

"This is not your typical miniature golf course. There are no clown’s mouths or windmills to shoot through. This 18 hole putting green style course is set amongst beautiful botanical gardens representing the different eras of Hawaii’s culture.

Meanwhile, water hazards, pipe shots, and many other obstacles make for a fun and challenging experience. Along the way you will travel through Hawaii’s history, learning about the islands storied past and its beautiful tropical flora."

Clearly, Aunt Holly taught him well...

Mommy & Noah

The Luehrings invade Kauai (January)

The first week of January, my parents and my sister and brother-in-law all came to visit so we could celebrate the holidays (and Lucas's baptism) Hawaiian style!

Lucas & Aunt Holly at Duke's

The night of Holly and Jeremy's arrival, we took everyone to Smith's Family Garden Luau.

Riding the tram to tour the grounds

Preparing to dig up the pig that has been cooking in the ground all day

Dinner! (soon to be Kalua pork)

Noah on stage learning the hula

The Hukilau

Noah with some of the dancers...he fits right in ;-)

Big Island: Day 6

Our flight back to Kauai was not until the afternoon, so we had a few hours in the morning to do some more swimming and checking out the grounds!

Watching the dolphins

Lucas hanging out by the waterfall :)

Noah was so excited to discover that he could touch the bottom of this pool

Noah spent countless hours going down the 175-foot waterslide :-)

Having fun on the flight back to Kauai

Big Island: Day 5 (part 2)

We had so much fun at our hotel that I had to break our fifth day up into two blog posts :-)

One of my favorite things on the Big Island was TARGET!!!! I don't know if people who haven't lived on Kauai can truly grasp how limited our options are for shopping...but I digress. Noah really enjoyed going to Target, too, because Daddy let him pick out some cool pool toys while Mommy was having fun shopping.

Noah going for a ride on the rocket ship he picked out