Spring 2025 Part One: Kauai

For Spring Break this year, we did our third & final winter escape from Alaska to Hawaii! Our first winter we spent the week on Oahu & took a day trip over to the Big Island. Last year, we spent the week of my birthday on Maui. This time around, we spent the first few days on Kauai & then did a couple days on Oahu before heading home. I think it might have been one of my very favorite vacations we've ever taken together! It was the perfect balance. Kauai was beautiful & quiet filled with adventure & exploration. We stayed in a small beachfront cottage on a teeny military base in Kauai, and we couldn't have asked for anything better! The beach was gorgeous, and we had it all to ourselves! Our cottage had a full kitchen, so we ate the vast majority of our meals there. And we have never seen stars at night like we did there! Then when we got to hustle & bustle of Oahu, we got to enjoy pools, water slides, and of course Cheesecake Factory & Chick-fil-a! 

The night we flew out from Alaska was a busy one...after a full day of school/work, Brady & Derek had a soccer game followed by Hadley's Honor Band concert in Anchorage. We rushed home after Hadley's concert for showers & packing, then we headed back to Anchorage for our red eye flight to Seattle. And because Eagle River/Anchorage feels very small-town-ish, Hadley saw multiple classmates in the airport..one was even on our flight! We had a short layover in Seattle before our long flight to Honolulu then a bit of a stressful layover in Honolulu where we had to claim our luggage & re-check it with Hawaiian Air for our short flight to Kauai. Once we landed in Kauai & got our rental car, we headed to the base to grab some provisions before checking into our cottage. We were all so tired by this point, but once we made it to our cottage we got our second wind so we could enjoy our first beautiful evening in paradise!

{sleepy kids en route from the airport to the base on Kauai}

After a quick dinner, we got outside to enjoy our first evening & it was absolute perfection! There were chickens & nenes everywhere, which we all enjoyed!

{stargazing...Shelby spent soooo much time out here under the night sky!}

We all slept amazingly well that night & then enjoyed a day on the beach for our first full day on Kauai. 

{Shelby & Brady woke up first and headed straight to the water in their jammies. What a gift it was to to being staying on a such quiet, safe base in a beachfront cottage where we had the ability to do this.}

{morning walk on the beach}

{this picture is from the front porch of our cottage}

The base has a weekly outdoor movie night, and we lucked out with a showing of Wicked. The girls were thrilled to be able to go to this while the boys threw the football in an open field area next to the screen. It was a perfect end to our day! Later in the week when we were visiting the Koke'e Natural History Museum, we were chatting with a local and mentioned the outdoor movie. His whole face lit up, and he told us about how the base would open up to the public for the movies throughout his childhood and he had such fond memories of it.

The next morning we woke up & headed out to explore Waimea State Canyon, which Mark Twain called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was more breathtaking and awe-inspiring than these photos could possibly capture, but we loved it so much! 

After a morning of exploring of Waimea State Canyon, we headed back to our cottage for lunch & beachtime!

{Shelby & I were reviewing her spelling words on the beach, and we turned around to see a full rainbow over the cottages!}

{playing cards before bed}

The next day was our last full day in Kauai, and it was a big one! We did a chocolate farm tour, visited Wailua Falls, and did a helicopter tour of the island. 

{posing with the chocolate pods}

We are still so grateful that we were able to do the helicopter tour of Kauai--it was phenomenal! We had the very last flight time of the day, and as it turned out every single flight of the day was cancelled due to weather except for the very last two flights. We were so thankful ours was able to go off as scheduled! Our pilot told us what an exceptional day we had for our tour because the waterfalls were so plentiful due to the rain the night before/that morning. Derek and I did a helicopter tour of Oahu on our honeymoon, but doing this again almost 18 years later (!!!) on Kauai with our kids was such a fun experience! The views were stunning. We all felt a teeny bit of motion sickness on the flight, but it was so worth it. And it was especially fun talking with our pilot who was retired from the Army and hearing his perspectives on military & island life.

{this was Shelby's face right as we were taking off & I didn't want to forget it!}

{the Na Pali coastline..absolutely gorgeous!}

The sunsets from the beach by our cottage were unlike anything we've ever seen!

{last dinner on Kauai}

These last couple of pictures were taken on our last morning on Kauai before we headed to Oahu. We seriously had the best weather ever with the most gorgeous blue skies. From our cottage, we had views of  the islands of Ni'ihau and Lehua. We enjoyed hearing stories of Ni'ihau from the GuideAlong app, which narrates stories & points out special landmarks/views while driving. We highly recommend this! We are planning to use the GuideAlong app as we are making the trek back to Texas from Alaska this summer.

{we made a quick pit stop at the Hanapepe swinging bridge on our way to the airport}

{whenever we rent a car, the kids always request a mini van....Brady loved the captain seats & being able to recline!}

Thank you for the memories, Kauai!