aiden and spotty - our last day in Kauai

Aiden made a friend named Spotty today. Spotty is a little free spirit dog that lives a few house down from our rental in Haena, Kauai. Every morning, we walk to the coffee shop down the street. As soon as Aiden passes Spotty's house, Spotty comes out and joins us on the walk...well, actually that's when Aiden and Spotty start running together while the rest of us walk.

Every morning we walked to the coffee shop to get a coffee for Adam and and smoothie for me and Aiden. On the way to the coffee shop (about a 10 minute walk from our house) was Spotty's house (a little dog Aiden named and befriended). If I could have, I would have put this little dog in my suitcase and brought him home. He was very cute and great with Aiden.

exploring the dry cave

There is an awesome "dry cave" located close to Ke'e Beach on the North Shore of Kauai (about a 10 minute walk from our house). It's a huge cave that goes deep into the mountain. People (mostly hippies) take shelter for weeks or even months at a time. Its completely protected from the elements (and the authorities)

Aiden loved exploring the cave with us. He carried around a flash light wasn't in the least bit scared.

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aiden met pierce brosnan

We met Pierce Brosnan today at the coffee shop. Seemed like a nice guy (he's a local here). He offered us a brownies and laughed at Aiden running through the coffee shop and called him a little marathon runner. I guess it's funny to him but Adam and I were pooped chasing Aiden.

I think Aiden looks like a future 007.

dreading the daycare grind

Aiden enjoying his last few days of vacation before returning to the daycare daily grind. Here he is sitting on the deck in the shirt Bobba (Rahman) got him. I think they actually have matching shirts.

a flower from aiden

While on a walk this morning, Aiden picked this flower for Sky and gave it to her. He was very excited when I put the flower behind her ear and took a picture.

thank you Nana Beth

Na Be' (a.k.a. Nana Beth),

We had a great time in Kauai with you. In case you forgot, here are some of the things we enjoyed the most:

- made sand soup on the beach
- played with dump trucks in the sand
- fed the birds on our deck
- played cars and made garages and tunnels at home
- read about 4 books a million times - "another book? get outta here!"
- napped in your bed
- road on the train and fed goats and pigs
- played store at the playground
- made new friends on the beach
- practiced crawling
- colored, drew and played play doh
- played with stacking cups
- played with Jimmy Gecko
- visited with Spotty and Blacky
- let me help you cook dinner
- put on tattoos
- decorated cup cakes
- sang songs
- hiked/walked on the beach
- fished at Lumihi Beach

Ummm, that's all I can think of for now but I know there were like 100 other things we did for fun. Thank you for helping Mommy and Daddy take care of me and Sky!

P.S. Wasn't that Sky just a handful?

Love,

Aiden and Sky

they sing together

Aiden loves to sing the alphabet song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sometime he lets the two songs run into each other. Sky joins in with whatever she thinks of "deet deet deet, ma ma ma".

Aiden: ABCD EFG HI JK LMNO P QRS TUV WX YUC now i know ABCD EFG. Next time sing with me. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.

mosquitoes suck

We slept with the windows open (screens closed!) ONE night and poor little Sky got eaten alive. I was so mad when I saw the bites on her arms and face I wanted to kill every mosquito on the island with a bat.

on the road again

The Island of Kauai has an area of approximately 550 square miles with 90 miles of coastline. There is one major highway (Kuhio Highway) that goes almost all the way around the island...it does not go through the Na Pali Valley (where Adam hiked). So to go sightseeing you basically jump on the highway (a two lane road) and make pit stops at various beaches. All beaches are open to the public(to my knowledge). There are lots of little hidden or hard to access beaches which means you have to park and hike or climb down a steep hill or cliff. Its very easy to spend a lot of time in the car as you drive around the island. We try very hard to time our trips with Aiden and Sky's naps schedules. Sometime it works out better that other times. See the two of them zonked after a day trip to the south shore.

lets put our heads together

If you're on deserted beach and no one is there to take your picture you just have to put your heads together and click.

S-K-Y spells Sky

We take Sky to the beach after about 4:30 PM because by then the sun has eased up a bit. Here she is earlier this evening playing with the coral on her towel...who needs infant toys when you have coral?


Not to be outdone, Aiden helped build his sign...A-I-D-E-N spells Aiden! He loves playing on the beach...I don't have the heart to tell him that we're going back home in two days. : (

in to the sunset

We watched the sunset today with the local Hawaiians on Tunnels Beach. Seems we've spent so much time at their camp that we feel like locals. The picture above is Adam, Andrew (a friend and Hawaiian native), and Aiden taking a walk on the beach.

Sky's first tv appearance

Sky and Adam were interviewed on camera today. They were asked their perspectives on the local debate over the sacred Hawaiian burial ground. They both had very thoughtful and sensitive answers. The locals here love Sky's chub, her huge smile, and her blue eyes.

zen aiden

You haven't seen a sunset until you've seen the sun set at Tunnels Beach. It is just amazing. Here's Adam and Aiden engaged in Aiden's favorite pastime - "making aiden fly".

Hindu Monastery

Today we toured the Hindu Monastery located on the East Shore of Kauai. The temple and the Sacred Garden are stunningly beautiful. The entire property is over 50 acres and full of flowering plants, koi ponds, lily ponds, waterfalls, and enormous banyan trees. We all went on the tour. Aiden was actually recruited to work on the new temple. Here he is with one of the monks who let him help with carving the stone.

go fly a kite!

Aiden flew a kite for the first time in his life today. I thought he'd be really into it but he thought it was just okay. He preferred to wrestle in the sand. Sky on the other hand was very excited to see the kite flying over head. She definitely wasn't into wrestling in the sand.

mountain climbing

We went on a short hike up a fairly steep hill near Shipwreck's Beach. Aiden insisted on climbing on his own and leading the way. Even though he had Crock's on, he did really well climbing. The hike ended with an awesome view of the ocean.

making corn soup

Aiden collects these little pine cones that he calls "corns" on the beach. He likes to make soup (water, sand, shells, etc) and adds the corn for added flavor.

Aiden at Ching Young Village

Ching Young Village is the closest shopping center to our house in the town of Hanalei. There is a juice bar, shaved ice shop, and several restaurants and snack shops. Aiden loves going there because there are a couple little kids rides. In the picture above Aiden is running a muck while we wait to be seated for breakfast at the Polynesian Cafe.

Sky hangin' with Nana Beth

Sky hung out with Nana Beth while Adam, Aiden and I went for a long walk on the beach. Aiden enjoys the beach but is still very paranoid about the "waves getting him". Sky loves watching the waves but we try to keep her out of the sun and away from mosquitoes. I don't know what we'd do if Nana Beth wasn't here with us!

shipwreck's beach

Today we went to Shipwreck's Beach in Poipu, Kauai. This beach is right past a fancy golf course and hotel, but the area looks isolated and undisturbed. The beach is bordered on the left by a cliff which you can see me and Aiden standing on in the picture below. The beach itself was sandy, but fringed by coral about 100 meters out. The waves were high and there were a lot of surfers close to shore.

We climbed to the top of the cliff and the beach continued for miles. It was a rough coastal area where weathered rock is undercut by the impact of the waves, which has resulted in overhanging cliffs. We saw a swarm of fish out in the water that looked like a ball of fish with a dark shark or predatory fish about 4 feet long continually cutting through the school in pass after pass. If you look closely at the first picture (top), you can see Aiden on top of Adam's shoulders and Nana Beth waving her arms.

Aiden found a little tree house that he really enjoyed sitting in (see picture above).


Sky managed to get to sleep on our blanket in the shade underneath a grove of trees. Aiden, Adam, and I walked up and down the cliff and took pictures. We took turns with Nana Beth watching the sleeping Sky and going exploring on the coastal area.

This was a great find in the heart of Poipu. Poipu seems like such an overly developed tourist area on Kauai, but the Shipwrecks coast is a real gem. We had a lot of fun!

sky in her new hat

The weather is just perfect in Kauai - warm (80 degrees), crisp (not very humid at all), breezy and fresh. The only thing that I could complain about but I won't is the sun. The sun is very strong and its easy to get a sun burn. I feel like I'm constantly caking sunscreen on Aiden and Sky. Hats are a MUST.

me kissing sky

This is me kissing Sky at Tunnels Beach when we were taking an early morning walk. The picture looks a little strange because it was very windy and I was taking the picture myself. Just a walk up the path from where we are standing there are three or four tents set up by activist trying to protect an ancient Hawaiian burial site. I hope they succeed - they are cool people.

trip to poipu beach

We went to Poipu Beach today. Poipu Beach is the most popular beach on the South Shore. This beach was named America's Best Beach by The Travel Channel, ranking top among the 10 "best" beaches in America. There's an area of the beach that is just perfect for very little kids since its a protected little cove. According to Aiden the best part is the huge playground in the center of the park.





Aiden played with his new friends Aayena and Dougie at the playground until he just collapsed at afternoon night. The three of them pretended they were running a small shop and sold passers buy products like milk, pizza and gum.



Sky also had a lot of fun people watching and playing with Nana Beth. Finally she couldn't take the fun anymore and she fell asleep right there on the beach.

Aiden singing his ABC's in the car

We took long day trips all around the island of Kauai. For the very long drives we coordinated the toughest and longest part of the ride with the kids' nap schedule. Sometimes however, that was just not possible. So we resorted to other distractions like singing songs, identifying animals, pointing out construction vehicles...anything to avoid a meltdown.



The video above is of Aiden singing his ABC's. Sky was sleeping.

daddy's boy touring the kauai plantation

Today we went on a tour of the Kauai Plantation Railway - it was an hour long tour of a 100 acre farm and animal plantation. We saw some 50 varieties of orchards - fruit trees including cherry, cashew, mango, lychee, mountain apple, star fruit, etc; fields of papaya, banana (did you know banana is an herb?), pineapple, sugar cane, taro, coffee, and tropical flowers. Aiden enjoyed the farm animals which included wild pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, and donkeys. Aiden fed the goats and pigs which was pretty cool. But by far, he enjoyed "choo choo train" the most. The engineer even let him climb into the engine car and ring the train's bell. That really made his day.

nose not working

Aiden has a cold. Just what I wanted to avoid while we're in Kauai but here we are again. This morning I woke up to a very congested Aiden mumbling to himself in bed.

Aiden: my nose not working!
Aiden: ooooooh my nose not working!!!
Aiden: mommyyyyy, Aiden's nose is not working!
Aiden: happened? nose not working?!
Me: Your nose is not working?
Aiden: yeah, booger did it, mommy.
Me: oh its okay, we'll get those boogers out.

aiden and his new friend Eaven

Aiden made a new friend at the beach today. Her name is Eaven and she is five years old. Eaven is a local kieki (pronounced kay-key and means kid in Hawaiian). She spends a lot of time on this beach with her older sister. Aiden and Eaven shared toys and snacks and neither one seemed to care that Aiden's swim trunks were invisible.

hanging with aunt meghan

Here is Aiden chillin' with aunt Meghan. Aiden has been basking in all of the attention he's been getting from aunts, uncles, Nana Beth, and Bobba Steve.



I think Meghan putting this flower behind Sky's ear foreshadows the ear piercing that will also probably be a gift from Aunt Meghan someday...lets just hope not too soon.

missing home

Aiden is having a great time in Kauai but its obvious he miss Grandma and Bobba Rahman. In the video above he is reflecting on what Bobba and Grandma must be doing at home - Bobba must be home playing in Aiden's play room and Grandma must be cooking rice at Aiden's house.

Sky feeding herself

Sky has decided that she prefers to feed herself. Just in a couple of days she has improved so much on her technique. The video above is of Sky eating her lunch by herself today.

nine months old in kauai

Sky turned nine months old today. So what's she like at nine months?

She prefers table food to baby food (i.e. Gerber). She still likes her food mashed, very mashed. Most of the time we spoon feed her but she sometimes feeds herself...a technique she is still perfecting. She prefers vegetables to fruit (this is the exact opposite of Aiden). Her favorite meal these days is potatoes, peas, and salmon.



She loves playing peek-a-boo. She loves to grab something out of your hand especially if she thinks she's surprised you. She likes seeing tickling fingers coming towards her. She likes it when Aiden plays gently with her. She loves it when Aiden reads to her (see picture). She likes to cuddle and be kissed.



She is now rolling over a lot and is working on crawling. She can stand with support but she usually falls because she tries to bounce or jump.

She takes two naps a day - one morning nap (10-12) and one afternoon nap (3:30 to 4:30). She wakes up from her naps with read cheeks and a big smile.

She has two bottom teeth and I think the top ones will be coming very soon. She has a full head of hair and it seems to be getting lighter every month.



Now that she has her two front teeth, she has started to bite. You have to be careful or she'll dig those little sharp teeth right into your shoulder. She's also a pincher....and I mean pinches! She screams very loud when she gets excited...so loud that Adam calls her a screech owl.

The toy piano is Sky's favorite toy (see picture). She bangs away at the keys with a very intense look on her face and then looks up and smiles really big. I think we have a budding music artist on our hands.