The Cook Family Adventure Blog: Hawaii

It was a great trip to Hawaii. Starting out with a drive to Portland to drop Cooper and Madison off at their favorite dog sitters, we next spent the night with our friends Jess and Joe and their children Oliver and Leo. They were wonderful hosts and Elliot slept like a rock.

We were up early the next morning for a trip to Kaua'i and Elliot got her own seat! She was a tough little traveler and managed to make it the whole flight without crying or throwing a fit. When we arrived in Hawaii, we discovered that Elliot decided she was now potty trained and refused to pee in her diaper. We were very proud, but it did make the logistics of the trip a little less predictable.

We spent the first few nights at the Waimea cottages, a wonderful seaside cottage with an adjacent pool. We feel asleep to the crashing of waves. Up early in the morning for a drive up Waimea canyon and then a hike through the uplands of Kaua'i. Elliot discovered the roosters that the island is infamous for and spent much of the day pointing and shouting "WOOSTERS" whenever one happened to walk by. We stopped by a waterfall during our hike in the canyon and Elliot decided that now was the time to be an adventure baby - hopping from rock to rock with Dad's hands (a theme to be repeated through the trip).

Aft

After all the travel we had a relaxed morning and Elli spent it running through the lawn while mom and dad chased her around.

That day was a visit to Poipu beach and the associated baby beach. Elliot wasn't too sure of the waves and spent a lot of time close to mom and dad. Mac forgot to sunscreen his back and got on the only sunburn of the week. We saw two endangered Hawaiian monk seals who hauled themselves up onto the beach for a while to sun bathe and then played in the water for a while. Elliot kept calling them "doggie" and trying to throw them sticks to chase. We also visited a shave ice place in town and it was a HIT!!!!!

The next day we packed up and moved to a fancy hotel for the night - we saw some Hula dancers, had a delicious lunch and dinner on the beach, spent the day swimming with Elliot in the pool and caught up with our old friends Casey and Jack. The next day we packed up for Hanalei!

A quite little beach town, Hanalei is the starting point of the Napali coast and we took our first day to hike the Kalalau trail to Hanakapa'i beach. Amazing views! Once in a lifetime trail! Elliot loved the hike and loved jumping from boulder to boulder at the end (challenging Mac to balance himself and her). It was here a few miles from the bathroom that Elliot decided she was determined to not ever pee in a diaper again and demanded a "potty." Unable to produce such a facility, mom and dad taught Elli how to pee in the woods for the first time...a proud parental moment.

We spent the next several days in Hanalei, visiting a farmers market and signing to Hawaiian songs, eating a LOT of pineapple and spending another beach day with Elliot. By the end of the week, not only was Elliot consistently using the potty, but we began working with her on peeing outside (thats what you have to do when you are 2 miles into the woods and your toddler keeps saying pee-pee-pee-pee-pee-pee-pee-pee-pee). A highlight was when we noticed that there were two shave ice places across the street from each other, which of course mandated a head-to-head taste test and a LOT of shave ice in our bellies.

The week ended too soon and while the flight back was a bit more chaotic than the flight over, we picked up the dogs and made it back safely to Seattle.

Kauai is a beautiful, laid back island with amazing mountains, beautiful beaches and a relaxing atmosphere. A great vacation!