footprints in Kauai

We're in Kauai -- we're staying in a three bedroom private house in Haena, Kauai,
which is just a walk from the famous Tunnels Beach.

You may have heard of Tunnels Beach when Bethany Hamilton a fourteen year old professional surfer had her arm bitten off by a tiger shark back in 2003. Well, guess what. The beach was closed just last week again because of tiger shark sightings!

The picture above is of Laila, Aiden and Sky's footprints taken on our deck. Adam, Ben, and Caleb are leaving only footprints on the Kalalau Trail as I write this.

The weather is about 80 to 85 degree. There is a steady breeze blowing. The waves are fairly big. The water is a crystal clear blue. The whole island is amazingly green and rich with vegetation. There are tons of coconut trees, banana trees and papaya trees in our neighborhood. Our backyard sounds like a bird sanctuary. We have a pretty good view of the ocean and an amazing view of the Kalalau Mountains.

We were last here a little over a year ago. It seems strange to me that while we were on the east coast going about our busy lives, this little island stayed innocently the same. While we were rushing to get to work, daycare, grocery stores, meetings, luncheons, the people on this island were going for early morning surfing, collecting seashells, running on the beach, selling goods at farmer markets, or tending to little organic farms. While we were sitting frustrated in our cars listening to never ending loops of "traffic and weather together" on icy, congested roads, people here were walking in swim suites and cut off shorts holding a surfboard over their heads down down a beach access. What a life!