Hi, everyone!
Great Aunt Betsy asked for a photo of apple bananas, so here’s one for everybody! With Uncle Steven’s family visiting, we had to go to the fruit stand for more bananas every other day!
A week ago Sunday, we made our annual trip to Puka Dogs for lunch! Everybody decided what they wanted to order, then Uncle Steven and Grandma and I went down to stand in line. Uncle Steven and Grandma were the only ones in line wearing Puka Dog t-shirts! It took about half an hour to get to the head of the line to order. We got two free lemonades because of the shirts! It was a cloudy day with some rain, so Grandpa drove down to pick us up. We had our Puka Dogs on the lanai of our unit while they were still hot!
After lunch, Grandma and Aunt Kara and I drove into Lihue to see the Kauai Quilt Show. That’s a good activity for a rainy day! There were so many pretty quilts! I got to vote for my favorite. I chose the quilt with bunnies of different shapes made out of four quilt pieces each.
It started to rain while we were at the quilt show, so we stopped at the covered keiki play area to stay dry. Then we visited the Ocean Exploration Center. I looked at the relief map of Kauai and the exhibits about whales and seals. They had a livestream from a camera at Kilauea volcano on the big island. A huge lava fountain started erupting right when we were watching! Sunday ended with another cloudy sunset.
When Grandma and I did beach patrol Monday morning, there were six turtles and four monk seals on the beach! The monk seal volunteer on duty had to call in help when they all arrived! When Grandma and I walked back to the rocks by Brennecke’s Beach, the baby seal was there again.
On Tuesday, the baby seal was back again, and he had company!
The winds on Tuesday were a little calmer, so Grandma and Aunt Kara went snorkeling. Aunt Kara said the water wasn’t as clear as the first time she took Thomas and James snorkeling. She bought some fish food, so lots of fish came around! Grandma thought she saw a humuhumunukunukuapua’a, and when she looked at her underwater photos, she was right! Humuhumus are the Hawaiian state fish. At the Ocean Exploration Center, we learned that yellow tangs operate cleaning stations for sea turtles. With so many sea turtles around, Grandma wasn’t surprised to see some tangs, too!
James and Thomas decided they’d rather go to the pool than to the beach, so Uncle Steven took them. We had dinner at Keoki’s Paradise. Thomas didn’t feel well, so Aunt Kara took him home before dessert. The rest of us shared one piece of hula pie. James figured out how to get through the chocolate shell with a spoon!
On Wednesday, Uncle Steven’s family rented bikes and rode the trail on the coast at Kapa’a in the morning. On beach patrol, Grandma and I saw sea turtles and a monk seal just arriving for the day. In the afternoon, Grandma and Aunt Kara took James and Thomas to get shave ice at Brennecke’s snack shop. Thomas got bubblegum and root beer syrup on his shave ice. James got watermelon, cherry, and tigersblood. The sea turtles were starting to gather on the beach for the evening. James and Thomas decided to try sand art. Grandma and Grandpa bought steaks at a butcher shop and Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara did the grilling for dinner.
Thursday was the last day for Uncle Steven’s family to be on Kauai. It started with a pretty sunrise. On beach patrol, Grandma and I saw sea turtles and a monk seal who couldn’t decide where to come ashore. The volunteers had to wait and watch to see if it would ever decide on a spot!
After lunch, it was time for Uncle Steven’s family to go to the airport. Of course, I went along to say goodbye!
Friday was our last day on Kauai! We were going home on the same flights that Uncle Steven’s family had taken the day before. I said goodbye to Poipu Kai resort. After we checked out of our unit, we drove to Makahuena Point to look for whales. The water was calm enough to spot spouts and jumps, but we didn’t see any. Then we had lunch at Din ‘N Den Sum before driving to the airport. I said goodbye to the Tree Tunnel on our way.
Nothing exciting happened on our flights home. It was dark when we arrived in San Francisco. We had a very long walk from one terminal to another to catch our overnight flight to Washington DC. The sun was just rising when we got there. Then we had another hike to get to the regional jet gates for our flight to Rochester. There was a big snowstorm predicted for the next day all along the east coast, so I was glad we were safely home before that!
The big storm did arrive on the east coast, but it didn’t reach as far west as Rochester. We had some snow on Sunday, but it’s melting now. After all the wildlife we saw in Hawaii, we haven’ t seen any since we’ve been home. There aren’t even any fresh tracks in the front yard snow!
Love,
Lion-san