kauai is my favourite hawaiian island! ian and i went there for our honeymoon a decade ago and it was so fun to go back with the kids. i love how relatively undeveloped and lush the garden island is.

we got to our hotel around bedtime and the next morning set out to explore the beach just down the path from where we were staying. it was so beautiful!

then we headed out to drive to waimea canyon, which is just stunning. we stopped at several of the viewpoints to take it all in and made our way to the end of the road that overlooks the napali coast – amazing.

on our way back we stopped for (really delicious) food at kokee lodge and i snapped a photo of one of the many, many brilliantly colored roosters we saw in hawaii!

we hit the beach and enjoyed both big waves and a calm area with a shore-break.

ian offered to stay with the kids that night back at our airbnb so i could walk down to the beach and watch the sunset in solitude. what a gift! it was so beautiful.

the next day we hit the kalalau trail! we didn’t make it too far – it got really buddy! but we did make it past the first spectacular viewpoint, and then after we enjoyed the sparkling beach for a bit and went to get snowcones in hanalei (i love that spot on earth and told ian i want to live there for a while someday!)

next, we went to tunnels beach. man, the backdrop there is just wild! it’s one of the most gorgeous beach i’ve ever experienced.

such a pretty drive back toward our airbnb – we stopped at a beach that was supposed to be great for boogie boarding because the big boys were so excited to try that … and it did not disappoint! the twins and i ran to get some thai food for dinner and we ate while watching moses joyfully exult while riding the waves under the sunset (gabriel was a little more hesitant).

after some games at the airbnb, we hit one last kauai beach before flying to maui. the boys built a huge “construction site” out of sand and eve and i found a sleeping sea lion (mo came to see it later, too!).

then, on to the airport and august got to sit in the cockpit as we boarded our plane! on to maui!