Kauai~ A long post with LOTS of pictures!

Our trip started off a little nerve wracking. We arrived at IAH (Houston Intercontinental Airport) an hour and a half early thinking that was plenty of time. As Matt and I were RUNNING to our gate 10 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off we began thinking maybe we should have arrived 2 - 2 1/2 hours early. Due to incompetent bag checkers and VERY slow security checks it took forever. We made it though with enough time to fasten our seat belts and take off. Making it to our 2nd flight wasn't much different. They were already boarding as we got to the gate. We made it though and all was good. Well at least until we were in flight. OK it wasn't that bad but Max did have some moments of crying and disruption on the way there but for the most part we all did ok.

We had an amazing time in Hawaii. The first morning we were up by 4:15 a.m. by 8 we were still just watching TV and feeling like we were wasting the day away.
If you have never been to Hawaii you should go. If you have been to Hawaii you should go back! There is nothing else to say but it is beautiful, it is relaxing, it is fun, and you leave there wanting more.
I am going to go ahead and start posting A LOT of pictures and will explain what all we did as we go along. Hope you enjoy the trip as much as we did!

Max relaxing on his very first plane ride

The girls playing with their food in Honolulu 

 A little thumb sucking going on

 Getting some shade from some paper umbrellas

 Me and Calyn sitting in the shade

 Crazy boys

 Most early mornings were spent hanging out on our balcony while eating breakfast, coloring, watching the birds and cats and watching people try to learn how to surf in the pool.

This is a view of the pool and mountains from our balcony

 Just hanging out on the balcony

 Drewski

 Corry

 Max

Another view of the pool from our balcony

A view of the mountains from the balcony. If you look real close you can see white ribbons on the mountain. These are waterfalls.

The birds are quite friendly. Here is one stealing a cheerio from our table on our balcony

Pretty bird

Corry crashed hard on that first day. She was the first one asleep.

Drew looking very tired on that first day

Max having a snack and watching some cartoons after a long day of traveling

This must have been a comfortable position to sleep in. After we moved Corry, Calyn crashed in the exact same spot Corry had crashed in earlier.

The kids really enjoyed playing on boogie boards in the waves. We would time the waves just right and the kids would ride the wave all the way to the shore. We went to a beach one day that had pretty big waves so Drew and Jimmy tested out the waves to see if they would be suitable for riding. At this beach it was determined that the waves would be too rough.

Matt and Corry watching the big waves

Merrick getting her feet wet

Corry just took in the beautiful scenery

Max fell asleep on the way to the beach this day so Papa Bob relaxed with Max in the shade. Since the waves were too rough at that beach Drew decided to hang out with them as well.  We didn't stay at that beach long before moving to another one so that the kids could play in the water.

Ahhh this beach was much better for surfing the waves

or running from the waves

uh oh! Someone woke up on the wrong side of the beach. He loved playing with the sand but every now and then he realized that sand makes your hands dirty.

Max found a coconut on the beach that STUNK! We called it "stinky" Max carried this coconut around with him for about 24 hours. He even slept with it that night.

Here are the girls doing some coloring one morning on the patio.

This shot was taken from mom and dads deck. It looked out over a cliff. The view was beautiful. Their chickens on the deck were brave. We even had one come inside the condo to visit one day.

The start of a rainbow on the horizon.

This was a view from the cliff by the Kilauea Lighthouse. It was beautiful

Matt, Max and "stinky" with the lighthouse in the background

Me and Calyn with the lighthouse

The lighthouse

Merrick and a very happy Drew

Me Max and "stinky"

Matt Max and "stinky" again. This was right before Matt convinced Max that "stinky" needed to go over the cliff. Matt then chucked "stinky" as far as he could into the ocean. Max loved watching it float out really far then down.

Calyn and the little bendable kitty she found near the fish market

These busy days can really wear the kids out. They all slept great and hard but were always up early well all of them except Max. He slept in most mornings.

We took a train ride one day around Gaylords plantation. On the plantation they grow various fruits and vegetables as well as sugar cane and poi. They also have some farm animals and along the ride we stopped to feed them. Some of the animals are pigs. Since Gaylords also hosts a Luau mom asked if those were the pigs that were used and sadly the train guy nodded yes. :( The kids had no idea that they were fattening up someones dinner for the night.

Calyn with her beautiful flower the morning of the Train ride

Me and Calyn with our flowers

The boys ready to ride the train around Gaylords plantation

Corry on the train

Max enjoying the train

Grandma Chebs and the 4 kiddos

A friendly rooster along the ride

Max checking out the sugar cane

Calyn trying to crack that darn safe

After the train ride the guys left us to go golfing and the girls and kids headed to Poipu beach. Here are Merrick and Corry talking and enjoying the sand.

Calyn was digging a big hole

Max enjoyed throwing the sand

Later that night mom and dad graciously watched the kids for us so that we could have an adult dinner. We went to the Hanalei Dolphin and enjoyed some drinks, appetizers, sushi and food. You would be so proud of Merrick and Olech, both had their first taste of

sushi here and both actually liked it.  Dinner was very enjoyable! We closed the place down. We were the last customers out for the night.

The girls

Me and Matt

The boys

Jimmy and Merrick

Olech and Lindsay

Olech and Merrick

Me and Olech

The group

The last day we headed to the beach to take some family pictures. Most of the kids were willing participants but there was a little resistance from one. I think we ended up getting some cute ones though.

Calyn and Corry

Max Calyn Corry and Drew

The Payne Family I am really hoping one of the other cameras caught a better one of the 4 of us. This was the best one I got. :(

The Dautrich family

Olech and Lindsay

Mom and the kids. Max and Drew were not happy at this point

Here is a cute one of the happy boy

I think this is a great one of mom and dad

Merrick and Corry enjoying the waves.

Lindsay, Corry, Merrick, Calyn and me throwing our leis into the ocean. They say if you throw your lei into the ocean on the last day of your stay and it comes back to the shore, you will return one day. I am happy to announce that all of us will return to Hawaii again.

The girls from the trip

Drew finally decided that he would be happy in some pictures. I snapped a cute one of Drew and Corry.

On our way home our flight from Honolulu was delayed 2 1/2 hours so we sat in a bar and had some pizza. Being stranded in an airport will make a boy crazy. Crazy enough to eat Parmesan cheese right out of the shaker.

Me and Calyn about to board the plane to head home.

Me and Max before boarding on the way home.

For the flight home the kids all slept the entire way. I don't know that any of us adults got good sleep but we were able to rest our eyes for a little bit. Needless to say Saturday and Sunday we were all pretty wiped out.

Mom and dad are still in Hawaii and won't return until Saturday. I am off today (Monday) and Friday for kid duty. I dread going back to work tomorrow! We had a blast on our trip and I can't wait to return to Hawaii hopefully soon!

There are so many more pictures to see. Merrick has all the pictures from the hikes, kayaking and action since we just took her old little camera on those adventures check out her blog by clicking on this link here or by going to her blog at the link on the right side of my blog listed under Dautrich blog.