Day 1 on Kauai

We just got back on Tuesday from our 4 day trip to Kauai, which I had really been looking forward to.  BUT, the trip didn't go exactly as I had planned between clouds, rain, closed attractions and water covered roads.  I still had a good time though, I imagine it would be even more fun in the sun!


We picked up our rental car and managed to get a Jeep Wrangler, sweet!  Dan cashed in his frequent renter days and so we got to pick any car on the lot.  It was fun to be in a Jeep again, made me miss my old Jeep...  

We headed to Waimea Canyon from the airport, I knew I would like a chance to explore a little bit there and the weather forecast was predicting the rain moving in.  So we headed up the mountain to get to the good viewpoints looking into the canyon.  Of course, as we went up, up, up we headed straight into the clouds.  Not good for viewing the canyon!  Here was our view from the first lookout...

Here is what Waimea Canyon looks like on a clear day (a pic I Googled)

Bummer!  But, the kids loved the chickens!  Kauai is FULL of chickens.  I'm sure there are more feral chickens than people on Kauai.  Cole loved chasing them and Adam ran from them.  

Why does Kauai have so many chickens?  Some say it is from chicken farms being destroyed in Hurricane Iniki, others say it is just from the sugarcane workers in the early 1900s whose chickens escaped and multiplied.  So who knows!  But there are no mongoose on Kauai, so not much to control the population.  I didn't see that many feral cats either (maybe all the chickens ganged up on them).  The kids had fun with them though.


As we were driving around, Dan spotted a 4x4 only road, so we had to take it.  We headed down a dirt path with the Jeep and found a short hiking trail that we followed.  I'm glad we did because it gave us our only view of the canyon for the day.

So I got one good picture of the canyon on our trip!  

For old times sake, I had to drive the Jeep back up the trail :)

We hiked some more that day and at least had no rain but the clouds would not let up.

More on the rest of the trip as I sort through the pictures.

Gettin ready for Christmas

We had a great thanksgiving with friends and then the day after we did our traditional deck the halls to get ready for Christmas.  No black Friday sales for me, I'd rather spend the day with a tree and some tinsel.  With my little elves, we got the place decked out in no time.

One elf was a little unhappy he couldn't reach the tree top

And of course, we had to make some sugar cookies.  Adam decided he was the 'master chef' cookie decorator.  So our cookies were well adorned with candies.

A bunch of misc adventures

Now that I look back through our Nov photos, I realize we've kept plenty busy!

Early in the month we went to a carnival with rides.  It was really expensive (they all are I guess), but it was fun on the rides.  

We also had a school family fun night at the bounce house.  Adam enjoyed the boxing and jousting rings that they had there.

At the last cub scout meeting, Adam earned his bobcat badge (the one you get after you learn all the cub scout promises, pledges, salutes, etc.).  It was a cute ceremony where they got their faces painted with each color respresenting different virtues.  

And then we finally made it back to the beach this weekend and had a nice relaxing morning at the beach.  I even got to swim with a sea turtle in the lagoon, the first time I've seen one at this beach.

Aloha!  And I'll try to keep the blog a little more udpated!

Photo Class

I've been taking an online photography class this month so I've been busy reading and looking at photos for class instead of blogging.  It is a good class on using a DSLR.  I've read most of the material before, but it is helpful having an instructor giving you the tips and hints as well as feedback on photos.  The class I am taking is by Katrina Kennedy at Get It Scrapped called 'Your life through the lens'.  

So here are some of the photos that I have posted for class.  I'll post some updates of what we've been up to as a family too!

Photos of moving subject

Using a shallow depth of field (blurred background)

Photos with negative space (blank space)

Backlighting

We're halfway through the class and I've been able to move to using Manual mode on my DSLR quite a bit.  So its been very useful in getting to know my camera better.  Can't wait to see what is in the last 3 weeks of class...

My tropical harvest

I cut the first bunch off our banana tree the other day and put it in a bag to ripen it.  Here is our bounty.  They are quite tasty too!  The next batch is ripening in the background and I've got a few more on the tree waiting to be cut.  Mmmm!  Now if my papayas would get busy and grow....

  

      Apple Banana

Happy Halloween!

Scouts - Camp Pupukea

The cub scouts had a big festival day on Saturday.  The boys had a good time, just a few pics of the fun.  Adam really enjoyed the 'eating a doughnut from a string' game :)

More Halloween Goodies

A while back I had bought a set of window decal paints (http://www.amazon.com/Paint-Peel-Window-Art-Kit/dp/B0017KYP7Q).  We've had a good time making some Halloween window decorations (and other things too).  You paint an outline in black, let it dry and then fill in with the colored paints.  When it dries, you peel and stick on the window.  Pretty cool!  I plan to make some Thanksgiving and Christmas decals too.  I used a picture from a coloring book to make the witches hat.  

Cole made a very colorful cupcake window decal.  

I also decided to get a little crafty with the desserts that I made for the MOMS Club Halloween party.  I made some nutter butter ghosts (Nutter Butter cookies dipped in almond bark - yum!) and some 'Wormy Burgers' (Nilla wafers, frosting, and gummy worms).  The kids loved them at the party, of course.  I also put together goodie bags for the little trick-or-treaters at the party.

I like Halloween, it is so much fun for the kids dressing up and they get so excited to go around and get candy.  OK, so I'm not so crazy about the pounds of sugar we end up with afterwards, but overall it is a fun time.  It's a good reason to get dressed up, have fun and eat some candy.  

Here are a couple pics from the Halloween party that Cole went to.  Adam gets to dress up for school on Friday instead of wear his school uniform.  So he's going to be a fireman for school (I didn't think his Darth Vader costume would fit with their non-scary, friendly costume theme...).  And we already had a fireman jacket and hat, so a fireman it is!  

The kids are counting down to C-day (candy day)