Why we love Kauai

There are so many reasons we love to go to Kauai over any other Island, but topping the list is it's isolation from the rest of the world.  It is truly like time stands still and no person except those around you exhists in that moment.  It's great family time for us, and if you know us, that means surf, sun, and sand too.  It was glorious waking up every morning to the sound of the waves at our back door and heading out to get a morning swim at 730 am.  It is the only time I will admit that I enjoyed getting up early.  Most days, we would get up and swim and build sand castles for a couple hours before heading off to a new adventure for the day... losts of very cool beaches, mountains, and little towns to explore.  But at the end of the day, we would always end up back at "our" beach enjoying our serenity.  I call it "our" beach because we have never again stayed at such an undiscovered paradise.  Most often, we are the only family on the beach at any given time.  That is nearly impossible to do these days.  We see many a tour boat go by and can imagine they only wonder, "how do I get to that beach and stay at that beach house."  We like to keep it our secret! 
Anyhow, we are back and getting back into schedule, if you know me, that is my way.  So long Kauai, we will be back again!

This is the scene out our lanai (porch)

 The kids watching Brandon carefully shuck and crack a coconut.

 Headed out to the beach.

 This picture just makes me breath deeper

 The kids and Brandon snorkeling at another gem of a beach

 Yay

 The seashell collection

 A shell within a shell.

 Hanalei

 Mermaid and Merman

 Back at our beach

 See what I mean, atleast 7 miles of unoccupied beach.

 Sand time

Yay

Messing around

 Approaching sunset and still in the water

 Breath taking sunsets

 Still in the water

 Sun is down

 A new sand castle for every day

 Emma is a such a character, she wanted to pretnd she was barrried while asleep.

 And he's a character too.

 Napali Coast and Hike

 Waimea Canyon hike

 Again, at our beach and only us!



Sharks finding refuge along Hawaii coastline!!!

So here in Hawaii, we have been having a large amount of shark sightings, and it freaks me out. Here is the thing. We mostly frequent a beach that has a natural reef keeping out most predators and waves. It is nice for the kids to play in while I sit near the shore and watch. Well, I am hearing that in Brazil, there is the same type of deal going on, but the sharks are making it on the inside of the reef and attacking in knee deep water. AHHHH! I let the kids play where they can't touch with floaties on and this is happening? What am I supposed to do? Brandon plays the naive card and says that it won't hurt us to play in the water, but I am very skeptic. Nervous.

Not to mention ,that Brandon goes just beyond the reef to surf, and often by himself. What if something were to happen to him. I feel bad for these sharks because something is destroying their natural environment making it necessary for them to feast on humans instead of fish, but what? Times are a changing, and we may stay clear from the water until I can put out of my mind that there could be sharks looming in the water near my children!!!!

The pictures below are not from Hawaii, so don't freak out to much, but look how close to the shore they come!