Kauai: Day 5

2 years, 6 months old

Tuesday, March 18th: We had a full day planned for today and it was nice when the sun came up and it was warm already! It was in the 60s most mornings so we couldn't do much before 11am that involved swimsuits but when it was warm, we decided to go to the pool early before our other plans. First, we wanted to do the fish feeding at the hotel. Every morning at 9am, they brought a big tub of food and kids got to feed the koi fish. Barrett did this one other morning and loved it so we loaded up our pool stuff so we could swim after we fed fish. Of course, as soon as we finished, it started to sprinkle and the sun went away which meant cold. Wah wah.



Our morning activity was just down the road in Kilauea to the lighthouse which is the northernmost point in all of the Hawaiian islands. This may have been my most favorite attraction we did. It was really gorgeous there on the coastline. It helped that it was one of the sunniest, nicest days on that part of the island too. First off, you can park by a lookout point and see the lighthouse and part of the bay.



You can then pull around to the parking lot where the entrance to the lighthouse is. I think it was $5 a person except for age 5 and under, which were free. We found a parking spot and then made our way up the stretch of walk where they have various binoculars to check out the scenery. It was fairly busy day which we found out that Tuesdays are because they are closed on Sundays and Mondays. We did not plan it this way, it just happened to be the morning we had open to check it out. Next time, we'd probably try for a different day.

All the little white specks on the hills are actually birds that inhabit this stretch of land.





You can see in one of the above pictures that we had a long walk to get to the lighthouse. Barrett was great and sticking close to use the whole time on the way to the lighthouse and then turned into…….well, a little shit…and decided to run away from us like a game. At one point, he had run away from me about 400 yards back to the parking lot and I barely caught him. I was ready to get out of there and would have liked to enjoy the scenery a bit more. Vacations with toddlers are not always relaxing paradises, fyi.



Our hotel is almost on the very right point along the coast of this picture.


We managed a little family picture, although in the picture he's really pushing me away and I'm holding on to him for dear life trying to look like a nice family. :)


It was nearing lunch time and practically across the street is an organic farm that has lunch al fresco. I was hungry before we left so I ate earlier and only got a smoothie but the ahi sandwiches looked so good. Barrett tried his first purple potato (french fry) here too.



Joe, my dad and I had a tee time this afternoon to play one of the neighboring golf courses. This would be my first round since my hospital trip last summer. I had been to the driving range in the late fall but playing a full 18 holes would be a test. The course was pretty amazing. Not anything like our IL courses which is the reason we wanted to play it. I actually played pretty decently but it was a very very difficult course so my score wasn't something I've shot for quite a while. I didn't get too tired though which was great since it was pretty warm and I had to maneuver a bunch of (big) hills. I didn't bring my big camera but here are a few Istagram shots.

Views were pretty great!




While we were out doing that, Barrett was with hi s aunts and uncles at the pool. It ended up being one of the nicest afternoons and a great time at the pool for them. We had a little bit of time to freshen up before we were heading back down to Hanalei for dinner out. A few of us were looking for sushi so we decided to try The Dolphin. There was a little bit of a wait with a party our size but we checked out a few shops and were soon ready to sit. This was easily (for everyone, I believe) the major favorite. We all loved our meal. Joe and I shared some spicy tuna roll and I also got the scallops which were practically melt in your mouth. We also splurged on a bunch of shared desserts. I probably would have ate there a few times this week if we had the option. So good! Barrett was even able to have chicken nuggets for his meal which was practically his first non peanut butter and jelly all week. After we wrapped up, we headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

An exceptional day today. :)