Da Keiki Blog

Monday, third and final day of the long weekend. We woke up early and got moving (well, some of us) before it got warm:

Before we packed away the tent, Lelani decorated it with a flower. This was an idea I (Andy) had last year: why not count the number of camping nights with fabric markers on the tent. Sonja and Leilani decided to decorate it instead with two flowers for each for night (they each draw one):

After all was packed, we hiked to some rocks right near the campground. It was the typical glacial boulders on granite outcroppings, which are always fun to climb on and around. Guess who climbed the highest one:

Before leaving, we drove around the campground and realized it was really big, and probably really full. There were some really nice spots by the stream, but we were happy to be on the edge away from the crowds. And we were also glad we didn’t have a camping spot in Yosemite valley. It would’ve saved us some driving, but they were really packed in, right by roads, and looking really dusty.

On the road down, we saw the sign for the grove of giant sequoias (is that redundant?) and decided at the last minute to go hiking here instead of up at Glacier point.

There were even some wildflowers:

Leilani turned some lichen into a fashion bracelet:

After a mile walk on the old road to Yosemite, we reached the sequoia. They always take your breath away. Sequoia are the largest living single stem organisms in the world. This picture is a composite of 2, because the trees never fit into one picture.

Close up:

This one was already dead when they cut the tunnel through it so that stage-coaches on the old road could drive through.

We didn’t see much wildlife so we resorted to photographing chipmunks:

Back at the trailhead, Leilani sits on the reproduction of a trunk, showing tree rings going back to Roman times BC (the trees live over 2000 years).

We stopped for lunch with a view on the road to Glacier point, made famous by Ansel Adams’s photos:

Further along the road, we finally saw a bear. It crossed the road with some food in it’s mouth (you don’t want to know what it was eating), and went down into the forest to eat. We found a spot to park and were fortunate to have a safe spot to watch it. It must be a small juvenile, probably from last year now on his own:

We finally made it to Glacier point in the afternoon, none of us had ever been there. The views were spectacular. Mt Starr King(actually from the road before Glacier point):

And Half Dome with Vernal falls below it to the right in the forest:

Leilani spotted this grouse:

We climbed around on the rocks and enjoyed the views for a long time:

I tried to take Leilani “on top of” Half Dome:

While we were sitting here, Leilani ran off and played with the boy, daring him to climb as high as she did. I had to go make sure she was safe:

There were lots of people gathering to watch the sunset, but we left early to go back down. We decided to stop back in the valley for pizza before the drive home. Unfortunately, that was really slow and it was 9 o’clock by the time we got in the car to drive home.

This October has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in one month. It happens once in 823 years. These are money bags. Bless everyone you see and wish them great happiness and unlimited abundance. If you do this, there is an excellent chance that you will be blessed with abundance surprises; if you don’t do this, based on Chinese Fengshui, you may still be happy, but think of all the chances you may have let pass to bless each shining moment(s) of your life. Pass it on!

[Thanks to Richard Diamond’s Muse Letter / Heart Beat of Kauai]

Leilani sometimes has wild hair, it’s the longest in the family by now. She was playing with the blanket on the plane and Andy noticed how the static electricity attracted her hair

Arrival on Kaua’i is always a bit stressful because we never plan anything. We know we’re going camping but never reserve ahead of time. We landed in the early afternoon, quickly got the car, and went to Lihue to figure out which campgrounds work the best. We got lucky that the campgrounds weren’t all full on the weekend.

After an hour at the county and and state camping offices, we drove to the house to get our camping gear, and went to Anahola to set up the campsite. Leilani built a sandcastle and took pictures while we built the tent and set up:

She was pretty impressed when we moved a big table:

Later we met Olivia, Luci and their parents Amy and Andy for dinner at Mermaids. The girls go to Leilani’s school (Olivia graduated already), and had been on Kaua’i almost a week already.

After dinner, the girls were all wound up from seeing each other, so we went for a little walk,and window-shopped at “Tropical Tantrum” (especially the girls).

Andy had to go back to the house to install an internet cable to the office so he could work. In order to have 10 days on Kaua’i, he had to work 3 days after arriving. So he got up early each morning and drove to the office.

The first Kauai sunrise for us after such a long time…

Andy came back briefly for breakfast then went back to work. Later in the day, Luci and Olivia and parents came to play at Anahola beach.

Andy went to the Kapaa Farmer’s market after work and brought a soursop for an afternoon snack at the beach.

For dinner we went to Cafe Coco and had live music. We gave the girls their own table and had a mostly quiet meal. The girls requested “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and the musicians tried (1/4 of the song…). Our waitress was Monica, a sister of Chloe, Leilani’s first babysitter who lived not too far away, she recognized us.

With fresh fruit, we have a tasty Island breakfast in Anahola.

Anahola closes on Thursday, so we had to pack up–we had reservations at Anini that night, but didn’t go there until late in the evening. Instead we went by the taro patch, where we had our wedding reception and Leilani’s first Birthday. It’s still as beautiful as ever:

The Ulu tree (breadfruit) we planted has grown surprisingly:

John was not there, I don’t think he would mind that we picked a breadfruit:

Andy dropped off Sonja and Leilani at the Waipoli Resort to visit our friends. He had to go back to work.

The main attractions are the water slides, the kids played at the pool most of the day.

Later, they were almost too tired to take a shower and go to dinner. Andy brought mangos from Kirk to share.

We showed them our house and then went to dinner at another of our favorite restaurants–Kintaro’s:

We got to Anini late, it was dark, but we were able to find one of our usual spots by the ocean and set up the tent. The campground was full of big family groups, but luckily it wasn’t the weekend yet.

Sunrise at Anini:

Andy had to work one more day back in the office, so Sonja was stuck at Anini. Fortunately, Amy and her family came to play, but none of us remember much else about the day and Sonja can’t find a bunch of the photos. Amy and family were leaving the next day, so they headed home early to pack.

Then we went for a walk along the beach at sunset:

Unfortunately, that was Friday night, and while the big family groups eventually turned off their big screen TVs (yes, camping is a weird thing even on Kaua’i) and went to bed, we were next to some partiers who made noise all night.