Hawaii and San Francisco

It has taken me too long to get this blog post up!  Maybe too hard to look at all the awesome photos after returning to the cold. :)  We had a wonderful vacation and made so many amazing memories.

We started our trip with flying to Oakland on Saturday morning, and then flying out Sunday morning to Lihue on Kauai.  Originally we were going to spend Saturday afternoon in Oakland with my friend Christine, but she had her baby a little early, and was snuggling a newborn!

Immediately adjacent to the Oakland Airport, mixed in with the rental car companies, was the Oakland Aviation Museum.  It was the perfect place to spend a beautiful California spring afternoon,

Nathan in the "Tiger" airplane (his nickname is tiger)

A kind stranger offered to take a family picture.

Alex pointing to the giant plane/boat that was in Raiders of the Lost Ark (and the vintage cars that parked beneath the wings to be photographed)

Really cool musical turbine engine financed by Kickstarter.

Nathan and Alex in the control tower.

Then it was off to Hawaii!  Dick and Darlene met us at the airport, lei and all.  The boys were over the moon to see them.

Welcome to Kauai!

We stayed in Koloa, right down the street from Poipu Beach, the perfect place to spend hours each days with the kids.  The beach is well protected, with a "kiddie pool" area, tide pools and great snorkeling.  We spent most mornings there, getting there before the lifeguards at 9am, and only leaving for lunch/naps.

Straight from the airport, we hit the beach!

There was lots of commotion, and we went to see what was going on, and saw an endangered Hawaii Sea Turtle!

The slathering of the sunscreen.

Awww, brothers at the beach.

Alex rocking Mommy's hat and sunglasses.

Snorkel Nathan!  

A little hard to walk in the flippers...

Checking out the tide pools at Poipu.

Near the house we were staying in was a beautiful trail along the water, and a resort with koi ponds and another nice beach!

Walking along the coast.

Alex and I enjoying an early morning walk along the coast.

Checking out the koi ponds, with me taking photos as always :)

The boys jumping in the "river" at Shiprock Beach down the coastal path.

A lot of time was just spent hanging at the house, enjoying the peace and quiet of Hawaii.

Hanging on the front lanai with Grammie.

We saw many rainbows, including an early morning one over our rental house.

Nathan helping Grammie write in her daily journal.

Playing in the back yard of the rental house.

Making pancakes with Daddy.

But we did lots of sightseeing too!  Eating the local food, doing the tourist stuff.  Near our house was Koloa Town, a collection of great little stores and restaurants.

First taste of shave ice at Koloa Mill Ice Cream and Coffee!

Along the self tour at the Kauai Coffee Plantation.  Nathan compared everything to this afterwards in terms of boringness.  "I liked it better than the coffee plantation!"

We enjoyed a morning at Hanalei Bay (Puff the Magic Dragon) and seeing the condo that Dick and Darlene stay at in Princeville.

Chasing waves at Hanalei Bay.

"Where did our legs go?!"

Enjoying great tacos after the beach at Tropical Taco

At the Kilauea Lighthouse, beautiful against the blue, blue Hawaii sky.

All decked out in our hats :)

Managed to get one shot of all the Humpback Whales we saw!

One afternoon we took the very windy road up Waimea Canyon.  Apparently it is normally very cloudy, and this was an unusually clear day.  We were lucky!

The stunning view of the Napali Coast after driving up Waimea Canyon.

Alex and Nathan copying the "Nene Crossing" (Hawaiin goose) sign. When Alex was little he called Nathan "nene".

In the afternoon we took a ride out to the remote Mahaulepu Beach, I think my favorite beach on Kauai.  Another great family shot in paradise!

Grammie checking out the waves with the boys.

Nathan and Alex checking out the tide pools near the end of the beach.  

Nathan walking back to the car...

On a rainier/cooler day, we decided to check out a playground and then head to Anini Beach to get our photo at the family tree.

The amazing Kamalani Playground by Lydgate Park.  We went there twice despite it being 45 minutes from our rental!

Heading up for another trip down the slide!

Family photo at the family tree at Anini Beach!  Nathan was terrified to go out on the tree over the water, so he stayed on one side.  We woke Alex from a nap for the photo, so he is a little grumpy :)

We managed to convince Nathan to go over the water for this shot.  The waves were crashing under us!

Required visit to Wailua Falls.  Nathan was very excited to see a waterfall up close.

I was very lucky to have my 38th birthday while in Hawaii.  Dick and Darlene spent the morning with the boys while Michael and I took a snorkeling tour up the Na Pali Coast with Blue Dolphin Charters.  It was a *very* rocky trip, we were only one of very few boats that actually went North up the Na Pali Coast due to the weather (the others went South towards calmer waters, but lots of rain).  It was a rocking and rolling ride, but lots of fun and we saw breathtaking views, dolphins, turtles and whales!

The "99.9% guaranteed" dolphin siting.  These are Hawaiin spinner dolphin, very small and fast!

The weather made for some stunning views.

Misty clouds on the Napali Coast.

Cheesy Titanic moment.

Amazing birthday dinner at La Spezia

Couldn't leave without a photo of the chickens that are everywhere on Kauai (history of all those chickens here).

Sunset our last night in Hawaii.  Until next time!

On our way home, we made another stop in Oakland/San Francisco, this time for a much longer stay of three days.  We had fun riding every kinds of transportation imaginable (tram, bus, train, ferry) to explore the Bay Area.  We stayed right on Fisherman's Wharf, so after dropping off our bags our first stop was to explore that area!

Nathan still can't stop talking about how the sea lions almost sink the docks.  He thought they were awesome.

Next stop was riding the cable cars!  We were the first ones on, but the car got very crowded after this.  Boys loved it.

We rode the car to the Cable Car Museum.  

It was loud, but the boys were fascinated, and Michael and I managed to read a little history while chasing the kids.

Next stop: Lombard Street!  Alex almost did about 4 faceplants walking down because he is a big boy and didn't want to hold any ones hands.

We stopped at Trader Joe's San Francisco-style for some snacks on our way back to the hotel.

Then we rounded out our first day at the Aquarium of the Bay.  Nathan checking out the jelly fish.

The highlight are the tunnels that go through various tanks, including lots of sharks.  This is the Guitar Shark :)

The next morning we made the trek across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito to visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  We took a bus over the bridge, and walked down to the museum.  Then our return trip was a taxi to downtown Sausalito and the ferry back to San Francisco.  Both boys are fascinated with the bridge, so they loved exploring it from so many angles!

Amazing views as we walked down from the bus stop to the museum (~0.7 mile walk downhill).

Nathan helping "build" the Golden Gate Bridge at the museum.

Alex learning about electric cars.

Making music!

Both boys in full melt-down mode when we told them it was time to leave.  I think they had fun :)

Ferry ride leaving Sausalito.

Nathan checking out the view as we headed back to San Francisco.

After getting off the ferry, we stopped to watch some of the street performers.  This is the tail end of a dance routine, where he jumped over seven men!

Big thumbs up!

We rounded out our second day by taking the bus up Coit Hill, which was a little terrifying, but a beautiful view.  Unfortunately the tower is closed for renovations, so this is as high as we got...

On our last day, we met friends by Golden Gate Park for brunch.  We spent hours at a kids park, and Nathan went down this slide a million times.

We rounded out our trip with dinner at a friend's house in Oakland, before they drove us to our hotel for a very early flight home the next day.  We were exhausted and sad to be ending such an amazing vacation.  We hope we made many memories for the boys and felt lucky to spend time with Dick and Darlene in such a special place.  Aloha!