Conclusion

Well now I find myself on my couch in Corbeil at 2am unable to sleep and I have no idea why. Probably because it feels like 8pm and I slept in til noon today. The whole family slept til noon. Krista got the baby up around 7 brought her in to bed with us and we stayed there til the phone rang. I don't care how late I stay up tonight, I just have to get up in the morning.

We've been home for 36 hours after a 24 hour journey home. We were back yesterday around 3pm and went for dinner with Judy, Bob, Liz, Terry, Amanda, Sean, Roxy, and in no particular order, well, other than girl, boy, girl.

It was great to see everyone is well, happy and still like to eat. The new beach front dining location is awesome and having our brother and sister here from worldly travels and as new neighbours is even better. Our house was in good shape and well manicured and the cats were happy to get outside.

There was an ultimate game at 6, but it would be mean to just leave and play, but I can't wait to see friends and hopefully the new baby tomorrow at ultimate. I made it out to soccer and I had really missed the North Bay soccer community. We may not be the best in the world, pretty close, but not quite, but we are a community. There is a soccer culture that I wish could work together better, but it does work nonetheless. It was a close game with my goalie Tyler Cowden making a huge stop on a penalty shot with ten seconds left in the game. I knew he would make the save, I've seen him do it many times. There were some young kids at the game from Luc's camp and they were saying "Nice Save Goalie!!!" So I asked them if they wanted his autograph and they were so excited. Tyler was emabarrassed, but he reluctantly scribbled his name down and ran away. It was a great save though, and as a goalie, you don't often get to keep points on the board, you just have to deal with all the shots that whiz past you. Anyways, this is nothing about Hawaii, but like I said I can't sleep.

So our journey home began by finishing packing, dealing with our crazy landlord, dropping the jeep off, and getting yelled at for the amount of beach sand in it. I didn't think it was too bad. I had only made a few castles in the back seat to entertain Melody. The lady was lecturing me on charging me $50 and how hard is to get sand out of a jeep and blah, blah, blah and I thought this whole island is a beach what planet are you on, of course there's going to be sand. What she heard was, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I could clean it." Anyways, I didn't get charged and I hopped on the shuttle back to the airport where I had left Krista, Melody, all our stuff, with some weird dude, who I gave my credit card to. That was really strange, but he was a porter working off tips, helping people like us with too much stuff and kids and the dad running to return the vehicle. This guy got us checked in and was able to slide our luggage in at a reduced rate, so he ended up being a huge help.

When we went through screening, we took the standard shoes off, belt and bling, but that wasn't good enough. Our carry on bag had all kinds of crap in it and the security guard pulled it all apart. The laptop bag was thoroughly searched and there were twenty cables left tangled on the floor. The best part was going through Melody's 2 day lunch bag of ten jars of baby food, water, and 3 bowls of cereal. She tested everything with litmus type paper, sprinkling cereal onto acid for other tests, wiped down baby jars with napkins and burned the paper to see the colour of the flame. But the best part was that she told Krista that she would have to be frisked because the baby food couldn't be opened. That seems to make perfect sense to me. Krista was looking hot in her tight yoga pants is what I was thinking. She couldn't have hidden anything even if she wanted to. I was wearing overstuffed cargo shorts and they didn't pat me down. I was kind of depressed about that.

So we pulled our stuff together and now were short on time. The kind of good part of travelling with the baby is that you get loaded in the plane first, but the bad part is you're on the plane the longest. We met a great little guy who was flying by himself. He had visited his dad in Kauai and was going back to his mom's in Honolulu. The plane in Hawaii is like the bus. It's only a 21 miunte flight. You climb and then you descend. There is no cruising.

We landed in Honolulu and were happy our luggage was meeting us in Toronto and that we did not have to be screened again. We scarffed the worst Burger King we could and walked around the over priced shooping stores, grabbed our boarding passes and then camped out at number 17 gate. You can't leave stuff unattended or they'll confiscate and destroy it, so we took turns manning the stuff and walking the baby around. I found a relatively empty gate and played tag and stuff with the baby. She kept asking for a boost onto this board walk thing and had fun running up and down it. There was one other family there and this ten year old dude started showing off his break dancing moves for us. Melody just plopped down and loved watching him. The young guy liked showing off so it was a match made in the airport. I did this for about two hours trying to tucker her out for the nine hour flight ahead of us.

The flight went better than the other nine hour flight and we were squished in the two seats with the three of us. She didn't really sit still, we were basically jungle gyms, but as long as she didn't scream and cry we were happy. She didn't cry once. Really. AT the end of the flight, we were literally congratulated by people on the amazing feat they witnessed. We didn't get any sleep, until about an hour left when they started serving everybody a bunch of crap that they hadn't bothered to serve the other 8 hours, and woke us up.

We landed in Chicago and walked the two miles from one gate to the other. It was quite surreal to have just missed night. We didn't sleep and it was only dark for a couple hours. We chased away from the setting sun and basically caught up to it before a night could take hold. There was a moment on the plane where it was pitch black with a full moon on one side and the deepest shade of red I've ever seen in the sky, on the other side.

So we were hanging loose in Chicago for the three hour layover. Krista went to get a bite. She came back a minute later with a huge smile and said "You have to walk by the bar over there. Look to your right. It's Rupert!" Any survivor junkies know who Rupert is. He's the only guy to have won a million bucks on survivor just for being the people's favourite. He has a crazy shaggy beard and is totally off the wall. From the show I knew he wokred with troubled kids.

So, I go walk by, fully intending to talk to him, but he was on his cell. I turned back, not sure what to do. Do I bug him? DO I ask for a photo? DO I pull all my crap out to get my camera? Then I said to hell with it. So, Krista went to get her food. She came back and said he was still sitting there, so I thought I would go again. I walked by and he was back on his cell.

Then I said to that's it. I stuck my hand in my packsack, trying to find this little secret compartment where I had stashed my secret spy pen, found it, turned it on, clipped it to my shirt and went on my mission. I walked up to the empty bar, except for Rupert, and said "Oh hey, Rupert, wow, nice to see you." I was trying to act surprised. He said, "Nice to see you." The bartender handed me a menu and I said, uuuuhhhhhhhhhh, pretending to really be looking at it and said "Actually, I'll just have a coffee."

Rupert's buddy showed up and they chatted a bit about pastries. Then I asked Rupert if he still works with kids. He ranted for the nest ten minutes, in a good way, about what he does. I just kept nodding, saying the odd "uh huh" and "oh really", and just trying not to smile too much. He basically works with 18-22 who will go to jail and puts them to work fixing, cleaning, and maintaining parks. He helps kids get their freedom back. He's from Indianoplis, but was in Chicago trying to spread his program across the land.

I've since watched my spy video and it's really quite a good look at the bottom of my chin. Obviously I had the wrong angle on it, but I did catch the conversation on tape and I got video of him taking a picture with some kids.

Then we got a 1.5 hour flight to Toronto and the baby did fine again, until we landed. She was out of it, the stewardess was a beeatch and we were tired.

We had booked our shuttle pick up about four months earlier and we had no easy access to a phone our entire month away so I did not call to confirm. The same guy who dropped us off was supposed to pick us up. He had given me a card, told me to go to pre-arranged service, they call him and he shows up. Well, he wasn't there, he wasn't in the system, we weren't in the system and we were stuck. I walked nine miles around the airport to find a payphone, stuck my credit card in there and called a cell answering machine. I couldn't leave a return number. Then I called the company and got another machine. Now I'm ready to break something, and not because he's not there, but because I knew I should have found a way to reconfirm. So, I'm sitting there plotting a hotel, or rental car and how I will take this shuttle company down. I left the number on the pay phone on another machine. Then, I called his cell again and he answered and was just around the corner. We slept the entire drive home. We didn't have a key to get in house and the secret key was missing so, I had to tap into my criminal mind and search for a way in. There's always a way, but some ways are smoother than others. We popped a screen, slid in, threw our crap on the floor, had cold showers because we turned the hot water tanks off and went to see family. As my profile status said: 10,000kms, 3 planes, 2 shuttles, and one cup of coffee with Rupert=home sweet home.

Well, now, it's 3am, so I'm going to keep rolling.

Before the conclusion, I think I left off somewhere after catching the monster and trying to eat at an Indian food restaurant the next day and wanting to toss my tacos. That seems to be a good spot to pick back up.

The next day we tried the Indian restaurant again and it was really good. I would really like to learn how to make a hot ass curry dish. Curry is the best, but we don't even have a jar here. The problem we were having and it was becoming a real problem was Melody's little face. She teethed the whole time away and whenever I've heard people talk about teething, I think of teeth. But what I've found as the problem, is snot. Little Melody has been diagnosed with CF, so I'm not sure if this is a bigger problem for her than other kids, but I guess their sinus drains while their teething. So her nose began running and we would wipe it. AFter wiping it so much her upper lip turned red. Then her lip began to bleed. Then the sore got covered in more snot and we would wipe some more and make it worse. We also stuck a suction tube up her nose and try and pull the snot out from the source and we have a ventilator with medicine that steams open her lungs and we have antibiotics to prevent lung infection. At the end of the day, you're looking at this beautiful girl who is a tuff little trooper who didn't complain at all unless we tried to help her.

So we're sitting in the Indian restaurant and this nose thing is running away from us and we're feeling horrible. We had researched it the night before and we diagnosed it as impetigo and you basically get it clean, disinfect and keep it clean. We used tea tree oil and polysporin and got it totally cleared up within about four days, but it started improving by the next day. Also, in the back of our minds was a virus called leptospirosis found in the Hawaiian streams, which is a flesh eating disease. We hadn't had her in the water, but you tend to worry as a parent:) We kept it low key the rest of the day.

We went to our favourite baby beach the next day to meet our friends Craig and Parv. They are really Liz and Terry's good friends, but I have met them many times. I talked mostly with Craig and he's working on a novel and we had fun chatting about character analysis and other things that I don't get to talk to other people about. We went snorkelling and I lost my mask and had to use the other snorkelling set to find the one I had lost. After I found it, I felt like I should just go hunting for treasure if I can find stuff so easily. We mowed down at the all you can eat pizza hut buffet just before my longest run. I felt like Pizza The Hut from Space Balls. That was one of the worst ideas I've had in along time, running with three medium pizzas, 4 salads, nine cokes, 3 plates of lasagna and nineteen dessert pizza slices, sloshing around my gut. I thought tossing tacos was bad, this was awful. The run I did was on Kahuna street. I call that run "The Big Kahuna".

The reason I had to do the run was because I wasn't going to be able to get wet, or soak, or sweat for the rest of the trip. I wasn't going to be able to get wet because, duh duh duh, I was getting my first tattoo. Well, we were both getting them. Krista already had one. She has these angel wings on her entire back with a...just kidding about that. She now has two little tattoos from two vacations, but she can write about that.

I had always wanted to wait til I was fifty to get one,just to keep some cool things to do in my back pocket, but Hawaii is the land of tattoos. I researched every artist on the island and found the right guy. I saw his work, I read everything I could find about him and he was the guy. His work was the most detailed of anyone else. It was a challenge to come up with the design but I knew he could piece it together. I had drawn all the parts and he helped to add the details.

When Duma died years ago, I drew my first picture. I didn't intend to do a drawing, it just came out of me. I really like what I had done and didn't know that was in me. Since that day, I have continued to let art come out of me. I never intend to do anything in particular, but if I am inspried to put a mark on a page, I conintue to put other marks and eventually I stop and have some sort of expression to look at. Usually, I just make mistakes, then I'll repeat the mistake, so it makes the first mistake look intentional.

That first drawing was a Yin Yang with Duma's name hidden in it. I started with that drawing and added Krista, Melody, and Roxy. When I drew Roxy in, it took the shape of a sword. I added a pen tip at the sword, threw a soccer ball and music note in the Yin Yang cirlce, blinged up the sword and added a little snowboarding and cycling dude riding off it. There's a lot going on, but that's me. The sword is over my shoulder surgery scars.

I didn't picture how much it would hurt. Many people have tats and I didn't think it would be a big deal. He started and immediately I went into shock, thought I would toss tacos again, and pass out. Luckily, I know the signs of shock and lied down before I hit the floor. It was close. I wasn't sure what sent me into shock, if it was just the needle or that I could feel the needle poking into the tendons that were just pulled over and reattached in my shoulder. Then I was wondering if I had given it enough time to heal before sticking ink into it. Then I could feel the tendons being played with as if they were guitar strings.

Jarod assured that this happens to most people, well, the men anyway, as women are much stronger than men at taking pain. He said let the adrenaline run its course and I would be fine. We watied about five minutes, started again, and I went into shock again. We decided we hadn't let the adrenaline run its course. I jumped out of a plane, I hauled in monster, I scrambled up a waterfall and I did not get that rush that I was looking for. Well, I got in the tattoo parlour. I thought I was going to have some strange marks of a barely started tattoo on my shoulder and that was it because I just couldn't take it.

We sat about ten minutes, he went back to work and we got it done. It took about 2.5 hours, but I am really happy with the end product and it was worth the pain. Adrenaline is the best drug and you don't have to take anything for it, it's inside you. I'm also happy that I don't need it as much as I did in my early twenties.

I had a great time chatting with Jarod. He is a very interesting person and I know I didn't even scratch the surface. I had read about some of his favourite authors and had brought him some book gifts and we're going to make a reading exchange program. We call it the International Cool Guys with Tattoos Reading Exchange Program. I.C.G.T.R.E.P for short. It will be like Oprah's book club, but cooler because we have tattoos. I really hope people get humour when I'm trying to slap them in the face with it:)

It's 330 am and the baby just woke up. I was able to feed her, change her, and rock her back to sleep, while Krista got to keep sleeping. That's the best.

So, the last few days we saved some easy touring things to do, out of the sun and surf, which is hard on this island. We drove to another waterfall, visited a traditional Hawaiian village, read books out on the lawn chairs while the baby napped, took photos, explored, drove down dead end roads, found an old Japanese cemetery, tried to win another contest by taking photos of a turtle on vacation, watched the Junior life guard crew, weird Yoga dude, light houses, menehune Fish pond, searched for Johnny Depp at the Marriot, and ate hot n sour soup.

The Jr Life Guards were these crazy fit kids in training. They would make a reality show that would kill the Hills. The Menehunes are these legendary Oompaloompa type figures that were said to origianlly habitate the island. They were thought to only work at night and moved to the mountains when the Marquesans and Tahitians showed up. Eventually they moved to another island. There big fish pond was basically a fish trap. I really wanted to find a Menehune and make a mocumentary film trying to find one. I kept video taping locals asking if they had seen a Menehune, but surprisingly, no one had. They are essentially Hawaiian Leprechauns and since I'm part Irish, I thought I would get along well with the Menehune and maybe they would want to come home with me and work at my ice cream parlour that I want to open. Maybe some other day, I guess.

On our second last day, we wanted to go to the west side again. We watched a parade for the Koloa Sugar Plantation days. Over half the island used to be sugar, but countries like Brazil began producing sugar without human or enviro laws, which dropped their costs. Kauai couldn't compete and the plantations closed up one by one. The parade was fun, but you had to ask yourself, did they plan this or did they just pull it together. It was as good as any parade I've seen here, but not freezing like the cold and wet Santa parades.

The celebration after the parade was good with foods and performers. the best was the drumming band. Last year in Detroit, they didn't have cheerleaders, they have drummers. The drum is a powerful instrument that vibrates your soul. Twelve drummers in unison vibrates the universe. Anyone want to be in my drumming band?

We continued west after the parade. I had already paid for a tank of gas at the rental place, so I was trying to return it close to empty. Well, we drove to the most remote part of the island just before dark and I was praying the light wouldn't come on. We made it to the most western tip in North America and watched the sun take a bath in the ocean. I learned that the horizon falls away 11 miles from your view. It seems farther than that. I don't know what I was expecting, but the sun sank and we left. There were no special colours, GOoodidn't speak to me and a million bucks didn't fall from he sky, but it was nice. I hate it when you build something up, and reality just can't compete with imagination.

The road to this spot is worse than bumpy and half way back the light went on. It's a small island so I was sure we would be fine, but everything closes early. The stress of potential mistakes sucks. We made it to a gas station, which I knew we would, but I hate that voice that's calling yourself an idiot for putting yourself at uneccessary risk. Shut up voice, we're fine, this is fine, we'll be fine. Dummy. I'm not dumb this is fine. On this goes until the problem is solved. I guess we call that voice conscience or something. We hadn't intended on going that far, but we couldn't find the beach we wanted and we were too far committed down the dirt road before I realized the gas situation. Oh well, we only drove 11 miles with the light on, but 5 miles took a half hour on the rough road. Ahh, it's fine.

The next morning, our last day, I got up at 5 am, and headed for the most easterly tip of the island so I could have the sun cleanse my soul after taking its nightly bath in the ocean. There were hundreds of freshly dug crab holes after the tide had gone out. I watched, photographed and videoed this event like its something that never happens. It's happening somewhere all the time. Since the beginning of time. It's responsible for time. Without the sun rising and setting, there is nothing. So this particular sunrise was special because it is the only one I have ever rolled out of bed for. I sat on the beach and couldn't believe what I was feeling.

I climbed waterfalls, I rode a bike down a 12 mile mountain, caught a monster, rode a horse, went surfing, read 5 books, jumped out of a plane, got a tattoo, 4x4ed up a mountain, snorkelled with crazy fish, photographed my brains out, drank 10 mai tais at a Luau, scored 12 goals in a soccer game, caught a matrix style catch in ultimate, met new friends, got in better shape, saw all kinds of hot beach butts and it still wasn't enough. There was one thing left to do.

I needed to see the Napali coast. The hike is 11 miles of remote clff hugging slippery treacherous terrain. You need to camp to get it done. I just didn't want to be away from the family for a few days. We were planning a family heli tour and that was cancelled a week ago. It didn't feel right with the sick baby and Krista didn't really want to after jumping our of the plane. I thought of running the hike hard, but that was bad for the tat, and you can take a coast cruise, but you get soaked, so I booked the heli tour. Krista and I had already decided that we would each take a turn with the baby and the other could do what they wanted. Krista wanted to soak some more rays.

While she was gone, I looked after the baby. She began to cry, I went to get her and it was a lovely scene. There was shit everywhere. There were perfectly rolled turds in the bed. Superb smears on her face, hands, stomach and calves. Little brown clingers were in her hair. There was shit smeared on the crib itself and on the matress. You know what, that was the best part of the trip. All of that shit, just because I like to say shit. Shit is a great word. In fact I think Melody says shit sometimes. I think she says Whats' That, but it gets reduced to dzat, which sounds like a German version of shit.

Krista came home, everything was cleaned up, the baby bathed and she didn't believe my story. Krista said I was full of shit. It's 430am now and maybe I'm getting tired. Shit the sun is kind of coming up.

So after all the shit, I went to my heli tour and I saw the ugliest shit I've ever seen. Mountains, volcanoes, beaches, waterfalls, cliffs, reef. Those views just couldn't compare to the shit.

We ended the day with a shave ice on the beach, which is like a snow cone, but not granular, it's fluffy. As we were sitting there we said, you know, we never did see a crab on the island and we thought it was weird. Then we looked at where we were sitting and realized there were ten of them around me. I screamed louder than Melody ever has and spilled my sticky shave ice all over my cool guy new white shorts. I love life. I love my family. I love my friends.

I know we were extremely priviledged to have this adventure and the best part was being with Krista and Melody 24/7/30. Aloha. Mahalo. Cheers. Peace.

Last day...

Well, its here, our last day. 2000km on the Jeep, 2000 pictures on our computer, countless hours of video, some souvenirs in the suitcase and a lifetime of memories. The past couple of days we have been revisiting our favourite sights and places, just making sure we didn't miss anything the first times (we didn't!). I will really miss just cruising with my little family in the Jeep, the island music entertaining us at every turn. Yesterday we took in some of the Koloa Plantation Days celebrations, a parade and party in the park. Our plan was to stay west to see the sunset. After a yummy bbq dinner we headed out to Polihale (this is as far west as the road will take you before the Na Poli coast which is inaccessible by car, the highway ends and it is a really rough sandy road for about 5 miles). This was our third visit and definately our most enjoyable! There were 2 wedding parties on the beach, one was taking their photos. We had never seen so many people out there, I guess that is the thing to do on a Saturday night. Anyways, on took some amazing photos and all three of us enjoyed the experience in our own ways. On our way home we stopped in Port Allen for McFlurries and stopped on the side of the highway so that Melody could partake. She loves ice cream! It was a late night, and I had to put my sandy, ice creamy baby to bed without a bath, wild!

bedtime anecdote

Aside from walking, running and dancing, Melody has taken to squirming away from me while I am changing her diaper, since we don't have a changing table here, this usually means she scrambles to the other side of the bed and hops off the side (she has become a pro at this manoeuvre!) Anyways, after her bath, I was trying to dry her off when she escaped (well I let her escape) and she headed right for the closet where she had seen me put away our shell leis from the luau. She loves wearing these. So now here is a mental picture for you....squeaky clean, barenaked baby running around the living room wearing a shell lei, too cute for words!

We had a great day today! Met our friends Craig and Parvaneh at the baby beach in Kapaa. Melody ran around in the sand for hours and made a friend at the station where you shower the salt and sand away. It was nice to see some familiar faces and share stories about being a tourist in Kauai. We do miss all of you at home very much, and with our trip winding down, well it won't be long until we see you!

Waterfall Scramble and full-on 4x4ing

Somehow these 2 adventures were left out of other posts.

I went back to the wettest spot on earth and scrambled up the waterfall. This spot was where Krista, Melody and I ran into the German family. I went back to get to the top of the mountain.

I had bought these wicked spy sungalsses and was video taping the whole deal. They say this is a trail, but it's not really. There is some evidence of an old trail sometimes, but I basically had to weave in and out of the waterfall and climb the boulders. This is the wettest spot on earth, so the boulders are very slippery. I had to calculate each step. Our landlord told us it was a 2-3 hour hike, so that's what I budgeted. Unfortunately, 2-3 hours was barely to the top. I hate getting into an adventure and having a deadline. I have this award on my wall back home from when I was seven at a YMCA camp and it is the Never Gives Up award. SO I have this problem getting half way and not being able to turn around until the mission is finished. This can lead to problems because I'm worrying about timelines and not about each and every step through wet boulders and full-on jungle.

So, my cool shades were destroyed when I went down into the waterfall. Luckily, I landed on my fat left cheek, but the video of the wipeout was wrecked. I don't expect anyone to watch all these videos, but 20 years from now I may want to remember.

So I climbed and climbed and ended up in this massive bowl. There were 5 waterfalls in different directions. I didn't know which one to choose. So I just let the terrain choose for me. At this point, the climb got steeper and I began to wonder how I was getting down, but I went on. I didn't get to a point where I was afraid, but to a point where I knew I would have to be slow and methodical. I ended up at this spot where fruit was overflowing the trees and these flowers had fallen off the tree and lined the riverbank. It was beautiful, but kind of looked like a burial site. I climbed on. Eventually I ended up at a 50 foot waterfall and had shower in it and woohooed. The walls in this cavern were smooth and there was no way up. I had wanted to end up at the top of the mountain, with one foot on each side, straddling the peak, but this would do for today.

I stumbled down the mountain, scraping my belly and shins. There were a few spots where I had to solve the way down like a jigsaw puzzle, but that's really fun when you have a mental and physical challenge in front of you. I made it down and was only about an hour late. I had rode my bicycle to the base of the mountain and had stashed in the woods. It was still there and my walmart special coasted me home. Actually, there was no coasting it was an uhill struggle.

Today, I was going back to this spot, but I had another deadline to meet and didn't want to deal with the stress of that. We're going to meet Craig and Parv from Krista's hometown and that should be fun, not stressful. So, I'm living my waterfall scramble adventure vicariously through writing.

The second adventure we forgot to write about was the 4x4 trail after Krista's SUP lesson. When we rented the jeep, the clerk told us about a road that goes up a mountain and with 4x4 you could go past where everyone else parks. Since then a couple other people told us about the road as well.

So we had some time, the baby was crashed out in the car seat, so we gave it a shot.

We drove up the mountain and there are many sites along this particular route, but we said we'd check them out later. We drove to the top of the road, saw everyone picnicing and kept driving by them. We drove through two rivers and kept going.

Basically, we were on the other side of the mountain that I scrambled up earlier. Again, this mountain is the wettest spot on earth, so the trail is basically alive and changes by the moment.

We chucked the jeep into 4x4 and crept along. It wasn't too bad in the beginning. We got to a fork and chose right, which was actually wrong. I don't have any 4x4 experience and we got to some big puddles. The kind from movies where you'd see the guy walk in slowly and then he'd fall in over his head. We crossed one and then got to a bigger one. We were both nervous and I got out to check it out. It tried to calculate a path, checked the tires, and decided, it wasn't going to happen. It took me about 97 points to turn around, but we did it.

We drove back and instead of heading home, we took the left, which was right. This road was less wet, but really rocky. The jeep was contorted up the trail like some Yogi master, but it was awesome. We past a few parked vehicles, but made it to the top of the road. There were a few spots, that I didn't think the vehicle could tackle, but it moved like a bulldozer. We've sinced looked at Jeep prices on-line, maybe when the truck goes down.

We made it to the top of the road and of course there was a trail heading up the rest of the way. At this point we were higher up than the helicopters doing their tours. I told Krista I would run up the trail for 90 seconds. It ended up being about 5 miuntes, well maybe 7 or 10, but I ended up straddling a peak. It wasn't the top peak, but it was a peak. I had rattled my two girls pretty good up the mountain, so I climbed down as quickly as I could.

It was getting late, we were hungry, but that was a crazy adventure. When you use vehicles or technology, they simply get you deeper and it gets much harder to get yourself out if you need to.

We've been listening to Jawaiian music the whole time here. So we cruised back down the bumpy road listening to the Hawaiian Reggae tunes this little island has to offer. We were both relieved to find ourselves at the grocery store picking up tasty biddles after another wild day.

a few extra details...

Since Melody seems to be taking an extended nap, I decided to write a few more details. So weird that the Bachelorette has already eliminated a contestant tonight and it is only 4:30 in the afternoon here (I guess the good part about that is I found out on facebook and now I don't have to watch the show!). So, Melody and I took in the Kapaa board walk again last night. You may remember from an earlier post that we had seen a monk seal, but I thought it was dead...well, turns out it was just sleeping!!! We saw another one last night and the area all around it was roped off with a sign. It said that the seal was there for rest before its trek to Ni'ihau to give birth and it needed undisturbed rest to be able to deal with the sharks...that was exciting!

I found my favourite spot on the island last week. Anini Beach. I had read that it was a good spot for kids, so when Jon went horseback riding, I decided to take Melody and check it out. When we got to the actual beach, it was a bit busier than I liked, so we kept driving down the coast. Eventually, we found a shady little spot, where the black volcanic rocks had made a lagoon. Shallow, warm water, no waves, perfect for a little baby just learning to run! It was absolute heaven, no one in sight, except for a guy who was spear fishing. We took Jon back on another day. That is when we saw the little dog that had chased a chicken right into the ocean. I have never seen a chicken swim before!

On Friday, we tagged along to record Jon's skydive. I will admit, this made me very nervous, but because the weather was so overcast, we spent a lot of time hanging out with the crew. Picture this: a red, dusty field of sand, right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Small landing strip, with a small plane that had teeth painted on the front. In the middle of the field was a little trailer and awning where everyone hung out: Dave the amped up owner, Ian the pilot, Crystal the parachute packer and Ed and Enzo, the divers. Because all of the jumps were backed up, there were also the clients: a young couple (her first jump, not his), an older man and his young wife (they had three kids and he had spent a stint in jail for medicare fraud, it was their second jump) and another couple that owned a kayak business out of Kauai. Needless to say, it was an entertaining few hours, this place could be the setting of a pretty great reality show. By the time Jon jumped, my nerves had disappeared because I had seen 6 successful jumps, and was on friendly terms with the staff....so when the opportunity came for me to take the plunge (a cancellation), I found myself in borrowed running shoes and a harness. I can't quite explain the decision making process (I think it took place over several hours in fact), I truly believed that I would return to my family safely, having accomplished something only a few people ever get to do. So, all suited up, Enzo, Ian and I headed out to the little plane. The experience was intense, and amazing, of course I purchased the dvd, so the memory won't ever fade. After the free fall is over and the chute opens it is like everything stands still, that part was amazing. Unfortunately, the rest of the way down we had to take a few turns and my motion sickness kicked in full swing. At least I didn't throw up on Enzo (he said customers do it all the time), I waited until we were safely on the ground. Unequivocally the most insane thing I will ever do. I think I will be very happy to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground for the rest of my life!

Luau to the Monster

I was really impressed with the Luau. There were probably 200-300 guests, but we talked to the owner a few times and they made it still feel intimate. The pork was the best. The tasteless poi paste, was, well tasteless paste, kind of like toothpaste without the mint. Our dinner company was cool. Two edgy tattooed californias drinking out of a bag with the diva child, and a newlywed Floridian couple on their honeymoon. I was happy when they were shocked we've been married for almost seven years. Not about being together so long, but that we look too young for that, lol.

The show at the Luau had dancing from Japanese, Chinese, Tahitian, Maori, and Polynesian cultures. The Maori part makes me want to go to New Zealand. We toured the estate and they had every type of plant, flower, and tree that the island has to offer. The grounds were highly manicured and beautiful. We were treated to a sunset photo shoot with the owner taking the shots.

At the end of the show, Krista carried the baby all slumpped in her arms to the car. She behaved so well.

The next day we got up early, packed the car with beach gear and my hot rod and drove back up Waimea Canyon. We got there early and it wasn't too busy yet. We drove by the Sky to Sea tourist operator with about 20 tourists and bicycles. They paid about $100 for the service. Krista dropped me at the top of the canyon and I duct taped a camera to my ride.

I cruised the 12 miles downhill, woohooing every corner. The road is in great shape and there was no traffic behind me. You can bike down the mounitain faster than a car. The video is not the best, but I'm glad I have it.

After the jaunt down the mountain, we went back to the secluded beach we went to a couple weeks earlier. We were more prepared, but it's just not a spot for babies, or inexperienced tourists. I had fun taking photos of Krista in big waves. They were big and knocked her suit off. There was no one in the beach near us for miles. I got slammed in the waves taking video and we both had sand in all our nooks and crannies.

We were back to a Wednesday, ultimate days. In the morning, I booked a horse back ride to a waterfall picnic and back. Krista went to the beach with Melody. I met two couples, one cool, one dorky. The dorky couple were two math teachers from Texas and they looked miserable. They whined about their hotel, their car, the towels....The other couple was cool. The whiney couple claimed to be very experienced with horses, but everyone knows that if someone has to claim to be good at something, they're usually not. Anyone who is really good at something usually says they're just alright. Anyone really good at something knows that there are more people even better than they are, so they don't claim to be the best. Even if you are the best at something, you don't stay the best, just ask Tiger, or Lance, Or Michael, or Wayne.

On with the horseys. Rhonda was my guide, a true cowgirl. She was a fourth generation Kauain, mixed with Portugese. My horse's name was Waicoco. He was a good horse and did his job. All 77 horses at the ranch were boys, so they didn't fight over the ladies. The last 15 horses came from Calgary and Rhonda wanted to go the Stampede there someday. Sha asked if Calgary was close to North Bay. Her island is only 100 miles across, so I said no, it's not close. I had to convert my kms to miles for her. She also laughed when I said Eh?

We only walked the horses which was fine because it was probably the nicest day we had had yet. We rode to a trail head, scrambled to a beautiful waterfall, swam and had lunch. The dorky couple complained about how cold the water was incessantly. The other couple looked at me and winked. After filming I jumped in for a dip. Refreshing cool spring fed water. Lunch was fine and I sat alone staring at the waterfall trying to take it in. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in your pocket. We rode back and got some pictures with Melody and the horses. By the end of the trip, the dorky couple were so happy. they were compeltely trasnformed. They never get exercise so they didn't know what to do with the endorphins pumping through their systems. They actually sat in shit and were loving it.

Krista had found her favourite spot called Anini beach and had fun playing with the baby in a seculded yet safe spot.

Later that night, I went back to ultimate and there were different people from out of town there. A bunch of the same old locals returned and we had a great 7 v 7 game. It was close but we prevailed. That was fun to be in a real game again. After the game we chilled in the park with a pop and shot the breeze. Troy and Ken were mountain bikers, Angie ran marathons, Ben was the cool guy, Ian was a skydiving pilot, and Jeff was the quiet guy. Ian and I hit off the week before and he plays a role in a later adventure.

That night, I drove back to the apartment with the roof off the jeep, Jawaiian tunes on the radio, and loving the star show. That was a nice moment.

The next day, Krista had a stand up paddle (SUP) lesson booked. It was kind of weird because it wasn't a private lesson, but she was the only booked. I joked that she was on a date with a studly Hawaiian dude. Melody and I roamed the beach for awhile. I pulled out my rod and casted a dozen times, but there wasn't enough weight on the line to get it more than a dozen feet from shore. After they paddled down the river, they returned and asked that I drive down the beach and pick her up. I was really proud that Krista picked up the sport that quickly and really seemed to enjoy it.

I drove dwon the beach to where there were 20 people taking surfing lessons. All of a sudden I felt like an ididot for just renting a board and going to a big surf spot on a big surf day. I could defintely handle what these people were doing. Maybe, before the end of the trip we'll give it another shot.

After the beach, I went to my weekly pickup soccer game. We played 5 v 7 and I scored 12 goals. These guys weren't terrible, but every shot went in. I was invited to another game the next night at a different field.

I sweat here. I sweat like I've never sweat before. I'm wringing out my shirts after workouts and they pour like draft from a keg, not that I'm drinking much. I've only had a couple Coronas here and there.

The next morning was saturday. It was really grey, rainy and ominous. I had a skydiving jump booked for 1030. We got there on time, but the weather had stalled the earlier jumps. We didn't bring a cell phone, so the owner was calling ontario to tell me to come later. We sat around with some crazy characters telling stories in the red dirt. We watched a jump and it seemed like a well-oiled machine. Ian, my ultimate buddy was the pilot. I've always wanted to skydive, but just never got around to it. It was definitely mixed emotions. I figure there are people in the military, firefighters, policemen, race car drivers, lifelong skydivers....What I was doing was with trained professionals with a 100% success rate.

We got in a plane and rose to 10,000 feet. When we were above the clouds and before the door opened, I prayed to God. I am not overly religious, but I felt closer to the big guy than ever before.

I jumped tandem with a guide. This means I was strapped to a guy named Enzo, we jumped out of a plane, did a couple summer saults, free fell for 30 seconds and then he pulled the chute. We swung around the sky for about ten minutes. There was a rainbow every time we arked around the ocean. We landed on our feet, I watched the video, got a free t-shirt for waiting, and that was it. I wouldn't do it again, but that's done. We left there and I played soccer at an exotic church to the purple setting sun over the lush green mountainside. It was a fitting end to a glorious day.


The next day was hunting the monster. Today, is coming to an end. I have about 5 bites of dreyer's chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream to eat and I'm hitting the hay.

We don't have too much planned for the next week, but I'm sure there's more adventure in us that needs to get out before the 28 hour journey home.

one week to go...

Well, we are down to 7 days, it doesn't feel like a lot of time, but it is the length of an average holiday. We really have taken in every single thing this island has to offer (well, not every single thing, but you get the idea). In fact, I was shopping at a store in Hanalei, and when she saw Melody, the store owner told me about their childrens store in Poipu. Naturally, I had to track it down :) So, Melody and I dropped Jon off to his deep sea adventure and spent the afternoon shopping all the little towns on the west side. When we came across the store that had been recommended, it took me 30 seconds to realize I had already been there! Speaking of shopping, one of my best finds were a silver pair of baby Havaianas. Actually, Melody pulled them off the shelf herself, honestly! You can tell by the picture how proud she is :)

This week we attended a Luau. There are many to take in all over the island, but we chose the Smith Family Luau (an interesting name for a Luau, but they explained that their great grandfather had come from England and married a Hawaiian woman). The Luau really is family run, from the chefs to the dancers. After we were ushered in and presented with leis, we posed for a photo that they would sell back to us later. We took a trolley ride of their gardens, lots of different plants, a lagoon and many, many peacocks. At 6:00, we all gathered around for the Imu ceremony (this is the unearthing of the pig that has been cooking underground all day). Jon went in for a closer view, and I hung out near the back with Melody. I noticed a woman, fixing herself drinks (complete with ice) from her cooler and kind of laughed to myself. Little did I know that in a matter of minutes this woman would be my dinner companion! After the Imu ceremony, we moved into the Hale to eat!! Delicious food, kalua pig, teriyaki beef, mahi mahi, roasted chicken, rice pudding, coconut jello...It was buffet style and we were seated at long tables. Our dinner companions were, the cooler lady, her husband and their 2 year old daughter October Skye on one side, and Sadie and Thomas from Florida on the other, they were on their honeymoon. It really was an interesting meal. October was going through a "diva" phase (according to her Mom), and although Melody was up past her bed time, she was a trooper! After dinner, we all moved over to the theatre and were entertained by Tahitian, Polynesian, Chinese, Japanese, Maori and Hawaiian dancing. We had to carry our sleeping baby to the car when it was all over!

This week, after being tossed about too many times in the waves to try surfing, I decided to try my hand at stand up paddling. I really enjoyed it. I had no problem standing up, and even mastered turning around. After a little practice on the Hanalei river, I was able to paddle out into the ocean and right through Hanalei Bay. I didn't even fall off! I would really like to try it again at home. I think it would be fun to stand up paddle around the lake.

There are many more things that happened last week, but those will have to wait for a later post. Thanks for reading!

The Monster

Here we are, 3 weeks in, and 1 to go. I had a rough day today. I spent six hours on a boat yesterday puking my brains out. I don't expect any sympathy because these adventures are self-imposed. Yesterday was the best, worst day of my life. Most people take gravol before going on a boat in the ocean, but I chose to scarf 3 tacos from the Great establishment of Taco Bell. I think Taco Bell is food from the Gods, but they are not as satisfying when they come up the second time. I am glad though that our big-ass tuna love regurgitated soft tacos with hot sauce, at least the 180 pounder we hauled in did.

I booked a six hour ocean fishing trip with Deep Sea Fishing Kauai. I was by myself, so I booked a shared trip. There was only one other guest and we had two crew. The tourist's name was Jesse and he was from Oklahoma. When he introduced himself, I kept hearing Jizzy. "I'm Jizzy". Then I'd repeat, "Jizzy?" "No, Jiizzzyyy. He thought that by saying it slower, I'd get it, but I didn't. We repeated this one too many times.

We had Andy, our main fishing helper dude. He's a crazy surfer following the waves around the world. He's off to Samoa to guide surfing there in a couple weeks. Then he is coming back to Hawaii for the winter when the big waves slam the coast. Hawaii waves in the summer, compared to the winter, are like Jack Pine skiing in North Bay, to Sunshine Village in Banff.

Then we had our captain, Captain J. He was a born and raised Kauaian about 5'4 who has been boating out of Port Allen since he could remember, about 25 years.

These guys were very serious and intense. They were basically setting the tone. We the tourists are there to pull in fish for them. They eat if we catch fish. A common theme with the tourist operators around here are to claim they are not making money on this particular trip. There were only two of us on the trip when there should be 4-6, but they can make money if they catch fish.

Captain J explained how things would go down and asked what we wanted to do. They told us they caught a 310 pound tuna the day before. This was the biggest tuna caught in the last 25 years. The record is 325. I wanted to break the record. Jizzy wanted to catch some small fish to feed his family. The guides explained that they could slice a steak off a marlin, but not off a tuna. The market does not take sliced tuna, but they take sliced marlin, for whatever reason, I don't know.

The plan was to try and find some small fish and then search for the monster. Andy was all nuts over finding the monster too.

We set out and the water was rough. They said you might get wet. I was soaked in nine seconds. My seat was on the windy side and I got slammed by waves in the back of the ehad for the first 3 hours straight. I took off my crappy cotton tee and knew I was in for a burn without sunscreen, but oh well. Soon I was covered in granular salt. That my sound stupid, I know I'm in salt water, but I was covered in chunks of salt, thicker than granules of sand.

I knew right away I would toss my tacos, it was just a matter of time. I chatted with the guys for a while and then it just got to be too much. I broke my sunglasses in the washroom right before stepping on the boat. From the squinting, slamming waves in my head, rocking boat, I was starting to fade. But I wanted a monster in that boat. I decided to go below, which wasn't really below, it was just under the captain's seat. There was a wonderful aroma of shit, puke, fish guts, and diesel gas, but there was a table to help prop my head up. The guide slathered his face in sunscreen and didn't rub it in, so he looked like the walking dead. No one talked for a couple hours like this.

At this point I asked him how many people get sick on the boat. He said every day. There was some comfort in that. They should make shirts "I barfed on Captina J's boat and survived" or something way more clever , but you get the idea. A few minutes later, my next question was, "where do I puke?" He said overboard, but go to the down wind side.
We were still cruising against the waves and wind and thought for sure I would go overboard, but I needed to see what my insides looked like.

So I crawled to the edge, hung onto the gunwale and heaved'er really good. The tacos tasted the same on the way up, but I didn't enjoy it as much. I was actually able to video some of my barfing and it's in extremely high quality HD. I did feel better after this and being so close to the side of the boat with half my body hanging over the edge, made me more comfortable on the boat too.

Meanwhile, they call this suffering, fishing. Basically we had seven lines in the water and I know they never went to the small fishing spot, they went straight for the monster, which was ok by me. There was a spot in the ocean where a pile of birds were flying around and there were about six other boats rocking out. Watching thos boats in the ocean was insane. I can't beleive they don't flip, but they don't. This wasn't a bad day out there, it's just typical Hawaiian water in the summer, rollers from every direction.

WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZ goes my line. "THERE, THERE, THERE GET IT!!!" "ALRIGHT LET HIM TAKE IT!" "WAIT, WAIT , WAIT, NOW GET ON HIM!!!!"

Andy had explained earlier how it would look when we landed one. You basically let the fish take the line for round 1 and tire him out. Then we start pulling him in, in rounds 2-10. He had also explained that one man was no match for an Ahi Tuna. This was a team effort. The other thing I was thinking of, was that this fish is money and survival to these guys and there was no way we were not going to pull this monster in.

I reeled for about 10 minutes until my forearm was so tight, it wouldn't reel no mo. So I got Jizzy on the line. He was in heaven reeling like a pro. "watch the drag you two!!! It's game over if you hit that!" There were so many little details. Jizzy reeled until he couldn't. I took over again. We hauled him towards the boat an inch at a time. If he gave a foot, we took it. Andy got on the line with both hands pulling and I reeled in. Later, Jizzy got back on.

The reels were in holders on the side of the boat. Captain J asked if I wanted to move to the big chair and reel him in from there. He said the best spot was from the side of the boat, but they could harness me in the big chair if I wanted. I said "No, let's haul him in from here." "Alright Jon!", he said happily.

Andy and Captain J were funny because they didn't listen to each other. Andy says to me "Alright we're putting you in the big chair!" "Oh no" I thought. By the way, these two crew were yelling and frantic and pumped on adrenaline and Jizzy was in a parallel universe somewhere.

" jON KEEP THE TIP UP. mAN, KEEP it UP!! (Again we're talking about the fishing rod here dirty people)

So I've got the rod in my left hand, the reel in my right, I'm sitting in this chair and being harnessed in. They hook the rod up to me and we're in for the long haul. Unfortunately, I have no strength in my left arm. I may have been ok, if the hands were reversed, but they weren't so I was screwed. I was squeezing the rod between my legs and starting to blabber about some stupid surgery I had. They're still yelling and freaking and somehow the message got through. Through this whole process you have to keep tension on the line, if you let it go slack, the fish can snap the line and your face goes on their website as the idiot who let the monster get away and made everyone's families starve.

We got the rod back to the holder on the side of the boat. We reeled another minute or so, until we saw the monster circling under us and the lead was the rod tip. Andy grabbed the line and workedc him to the top of the boat. I was helping to keep the line clear. Captain J grabbed a gaff and both him and Andy hooked the fish and slid him onto the boat.

There was a crazy uproar for four men. Jizzy yelled "That's the biggest fish I've ever seen!!!!!AAARRRGHHHH!!!!"

You may not want to read these next lines.


The fish needed to be clubbed about ten times in the head with an aluminum bat and then it's throat was slit. There was a silent prayer said at this point. This fish gave its life to provide for many families. There was blood everywhere and they just tossed buckets of water and it all drained away. Then I realized how much blood had been spilled in that boat before me.

I got a couple shots of me with the fish on the boat. Jizzy went down to get his camera. He was never the same after that. Like I said before the aroma was so wonderful down there that only Freddy Kreuger could love it, or maybe Jason Voorhees too.

Jesse had such a shot of adrenaline pump through his body and after it ran its course he was done. He barfed his brains out and I caught that on video too.

Unfortuantely for me, I don't get adrenaline that easy anymore after all the shoulder dislocations.

They asked what we wanted to do. We said lets troll home. They said ok. Then they didn't listen to us and kept looking for a second monster. We had no luck, they came down and said, "Sorry guys the fish are here and we had to try. We can troll on the way home or we can pull everything up and get you back." We opted to get to the port.

I looked at Andy and said "If we didn't have a monster already, I would suffer all night until we did." We pulled up the lines and went home.

As we cruised back, I sat in the big chair. I couldn't think of anything that didn't make me sick. Everything I thought of turned into something sickly. I thought of my bed and it became a waterbed. Usually, I can use visualiztion to get myself out of painful or stressful situations, nothing was working. Then I visualized that I was gravol, not that I was taking gravol, but that I was gravol. I was the stuff that people took to make themselves feel better. That worked. I also prayed to God, thought of friends and family and kind of cried a bit, like World Cup is over kind of tears.

We landed in port and Captain J's family was there to share in the catch. I got a couple more shots with the monster and said farewell to Jesse and his family. It was a bonding experience like no other and then you just say cya later.

Since we came home early, I had an hour to klll. I worked as one of the crew, helping to load the fish in a truck and clean the boat. We chilled with a beer shooting the breeze. These dudes were way more chilled at the end of the trip then the start.

Krista picked me up with Melody. Oh yeah, the two waved as I left the port earlier that day. It was so cute to see my little munchkin waving feverishly from the dock. She really has grown up here.

On the drive home, there was a beautiful rainbow over a beautiful church. I stopped, took a shot and felt like God was winking at me after I asked for help through my ordeal with the monster. This is not like me, but we are allowed to evolve.

We went and rented a movie and the movie store floor was rocking. I was standing at the cash bobbing back and forth. I ate a few bites of salad and that was all I could handle.

So, today was a bad hangover day, one of the worst, and I hadn't even drank. I was starving so we went to go for lunch. We got in the jeep and the smell of tacos brought it all back. Krista said it wasn't tacos, but my sweat-soaked t-shirt from soccer two days ago. Whatever the smell was, by the time we sat down in the Indian restaturant, I was going to toss tacos again. We got up and left. I feel better now, after a day of rest and am ready to rock the last week here, and I will always have the story of catching the monster.

JC's Take on Things

I have found it difficult to blog because there is too much fun to have as opposed to writing about the fun we've already had, but after 2 runs, too much sun and a rashed up belly from surfing, I'm ready for a day of writing, painting, music and perpetually playing sportcentres.

Today, my thoughts are with Mark and Charlotte who are delivering a baby as we speak. Yesterday, I finished a Stephen King book called Duma Key. It took me 2 years to read it. I bought it because the title had Duma in it. Duma was my dog that died. At the same time I finished the book here in Hawaii, Mark and Charlotte had to have their dog Grizzly put down back home. Pure sadness. I don't know that this is appropriate blog material, but the coincidence is too much. The book was about art manifesting into reality.

Now we anxiously await the arrival of beautiful Violet.

Tonight, we are off to a Luau. Lomi Lomi, poi, hula dancing, fire breathing, should be cool. But now I should go back to the beginning.

7 years ago, we made lists. Lists of lists. One of the lists was top spots to visit. Hawaii, Spain, Australia, and Disney Land were on both of our lists. We're usually busy with schedules all the time, but after having my shoulder rebuilt at the end of March all schedules were put on hold. We decided to go somewhere. We threw out a bunch of ideas from driving to and along the East Coast, to South Africa for the World Cup. Since I was at home with one arm, I researched. From the research, I discovered that Hawaii was an affordable option and Africa was not. I conintued to look into a Hawaiian Adventure and I pictured renting a cottage on the ocean and just chilling for the month. Krista did her research and found that Kauai was the Garden Island and would offer the most true Hawaiian Experience. We decided to commit. We knew that committing would be difficult and that we would end up missing things with friends and family back home, but life never takes a break. Aaron and Nicole's wedding, Sean and Amanda coming home, Mark and Char's baby, ultimate games, coaching soccer, our pets, our friends and fam....

But, we needed to do something as a family, our new family. The three of us have not really had a chance to hang out together yet. Krista and I got to travel the west coast for a month, years ago, and it really helped to shape our relationship. Now we wanted the same chance to spend time together as our new family. We knew Melody would love it here, but we were anxious for the difficulty in getting here. We also hoped everyone would understand what we were doing. I hope everyone gets to follow their dreams, because the effort is worth it. You get out of life what you put in.

So, that brings us to making arrangements, booking flights, apartment, vehicle, insurance... I was able to do it all from Krista's little pink notebook. The trip changed the more we looked into it. Instead of sitting on a beach all day, we decided to stay in a jungle with an ocean and moutain view and rent a jeep. We would do more exploring and activities instead of beach bumming. Luckily for us Sirius radio stock has done well.

I am still amazed that from my couch, I could hire someone to pick me up at my front door at 2am and drive me to the airport. Mike gave one word answers to my questions and soon reaized he just wanted to drive, which was fine with me so I could sleep. Airports are stressful and I was annoyed with all our luggage, but I knew I would be grateful with the stuff once we were there. I was also happy with the decision to not tour all the Hawaiian islands and just land In Oahu and fly to Kauai. (There are very few direct flights to Kauai).

There is a 6 hour time difference, which has been awesome. I get up early and go to bed early, which is new for me. We'll see if I can bring that home with me. So we went to bed at 6pm that first night in Oahu.

We only had til 430 the next day on Oahu, so we hired a driver to tour us to as many places as we could see in one day. We were supposed to have a small limo, but when we went down to the lobby, there was a massive stretch jobby. The lobby was full of military dudes and they were giving me the evil eye, like "Why do I have to go kill people and you get to cruise in that thing?" I also got a really short hair cut and I think the corporal may have thought that one of his soldiers was going AWOL. (The stewardess on the plane asked me if I was military.)

Scott Dang was our driver a super nice Korean who migrated to the island 17 years earlier. He said the small limo had a/c issues so we were driving around the second biggest limo on the island.

Oahu, is superbusy and touristy. Oh yeah, and beautiful. It's busy beacause people want to be there. Melody was a star. Japanese tourists taking pictures of her and she makes friends easily. People treat me much differently with my baby by my side.

I loved the Temple, the macadamian nuts, the beaches, the sun, and just cruising with surfing videos playing in the limo.

Then we flew in a little plane to Kauai.

I rented a jeep and the clerk upgraded us to the four door which has been a trip saver. We have had great luck, free upgrades all over, the plane, the limo, the jeep, the kayak. I found people are a mirror of yourself. Send out a positive vibe and you get slammed back in the face with positive radiation as if from the sun itself. No joke.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed that I have a degree in Geography because I get lost all the time. We found our apartment after only 13 wrong turns.

The apartment is perfect for us. Great location, great price, free amenities, fruit overflowing and falling from the trees and best of all free pets.(chickens, lizards and spiders). By the way, all dogs on this island are sedated. They are all so chilled it's weird. I'm used to our crazy pack of wild dogs back home and there are none like that here.

Krista's written about most of this stuff, so I'll try not to repeat too much. Basically, our plan was to tour the enitre island in the first 2 days and then narrow our focus to the spots that we want to see and do the most. The first tour to the north east was awesome and I've never felt like such a tourist. I want to video and photo everything. The next day was great as well. We made it to a remote beach, by chance. We were at the hottest part of the island, on the hottest day, at the hottest time. The beach sand really burned my feet, like one of those hot coal runs. I felt crazy vulnerable. My little baby is so pure white, I was simply in fear. We ate an uncomfortable lunch and ran from there. My biggest fear of coming to this island was a little baby sunburn. We learned from that experience and have had more fun at the beach since then. That hot-ass beach was freaking amazing though and we are going back this week.

We tried a different beach called Lydgate, which has boulders lined up to create a safe swimming spot for babies. Here, I took photos. I am really beginning to love taking photos. I thought I would enjoy videos more, but I'm finding, I'm more able to express myself through a camera more than with a pencil, a paintbrush, words, or video. It's also impossible to take a bad shot of Melody. Later that day, I bought a sweet ride and rod from walmart. I had to buy a licence for fishing and for my bicycle. I'm looking forward to riding and sticking a rod in the rivers and creeks around here.

The next day we attempted to summit our first waterfall with the baby in my backpack. It was intense. The bamboo grove was amazing and we really pushed. We hiked and climbed to where we found a german family. I scambled on my own from there for another 15 minutes and the climb just got more difficult. I committed to coming back on my own.

The next waterfall we saw was much easier to get to, we drove. There was a beautiful rainbow at the base of the waterfall and I had fun trying all the different features on my camera to try and capture the best shot. There are people making money in all sorts of ways here. At every tourist stop there is omeone selling something. At Wailua Falls there was an old hippy weaving baskets from the palm trees. People love being here so much, they make anything out of nothing and try to make a buck. You can climb a palm tree, knock down some coconuts, and crack em open for tourists to drink. You have to show the stomach rash to prove you were in the tree.

On our western trip, through the rockies, we have this memory of cruising through the rockies eating fresh roadside cherries, here we will always have the memory of cruising along the ocean eating fresh pineapple.

This brings us to the 4th of July, my first in America. I was amazed at how little patriotism there is. I have discovered that Canadians are much more patriotic than Americans. Americans don'thave the best rep in the world, but every American I have ever met has been awesome. They are down to earth, sincere and pretty much the opposite of the painted Hollywood stereotype.

We then visited Waimea Canyon. Whenever I'm around heights, the edge always calls me. I want to go over the cliff and get right into the geography, hopefully with a rope and harness. But this was justa sight-seeing trip. There is an outfitter here who will take you up the canyon and you can ride your bike down. It's a 12 mile downhill. Next time we go the west side of the island, I'm going to do my own tour down. I'm super stoked to try that.

It was this point that I wanted to do a couple things that we couldn't all do together. I'm not a golfer, but I read about a beautiful, easy and cheap course, so I gave it a shot. $9 for 9 holes. My shoulder held up well, I was happy about that. I ended up hooking up with a retired teacher and his younger replacement. We talked about the teaching scene on the island and a leave of absence from the NNDSB is a real possibilty in the future. Don't worry fam, we're not talking about this septmeber. Oh yeah, I almost killed my Hawaiian buddy Roland. Beacause of my shoulder, that has to be the reason because I used to be an awesome golfer, I developed a wicked slice. If I didn't yell f-o-u-r-, I would have nailed him. He actually had to duck, dodge, dive, and dodge my golf ball like a wrench.

The golf course was near a town called Koloa, which was where the Ultimate game was going to happen. I found an on-line ultimate group here in Kauai. They meet every wednesday at 7. I met some super cool people. There isn't a league here and I think most people would have played bare foot, but it rained, so most wore shoes or cleats. It started with 4 v 4, but people kept showing up. Not just people but families. Lots of people showed up in the rain to play and cheer. There was awesome spirit. Truly. It was fun at first, then it got chaotic with so many people in and out. Then they said lets play to seven. I connected with an older soccer player guy named Jim and we scored six in a row. My last grab was a flying one hander where I had to rotate matrix style through the air, land on my back, slide fifteen feet on my neck and roll into a summer sault, all the while hearing the cheers from the crowd. Through the whole slide, I just kept thinking how beautiful it was to play on real grass without crazy ankle snapping trenches like our sh**&ty North Bay field. I wanted to be invited back next week, so I figured I should let kids score some points. My competitive nature is never far from the surface. this week, I'm going to bring the 2pointer to Hawaii. I will be ready to return from the DL to join my team when I get home.

The next day, I was so happy to get a game of soccer under my belt. I had seen this beautiful beach front field and was dying to get a game on it. I stopped at a sports store and Manny told me about the game. I'm amazed they play indoor soccer here. The summer is the off season here, so it's all pick up, which is good for me. I met a bunch of people and within 5 minutes, I was invitedto tournament in Oahu. It's an old-timer tourney in august, so I can't make it, but it's nice to be asked. I'm old to play with college guys, but I'm a hot shot in the old timer league now. Life is perspective, I could be sad about being old with young guys or happy about being young with old guys. I'll take the latter. I love sports. I would have lots of friends already if we lived here, just because I play games.

We went to he beach again and this time I snorkelled. There were freaking fish everywhere. The people in the water had no clue. I grabbed my under water camera and took as much video as I could. That was awesome!

The whole spider deal was crazy. He was the isze of my hand. The little f*&ker shot me and wiggled his teeth. Die mofo die!!

We read about the Queen Baths. There have been a few things that have been difficult to do with the baby. We hike down this path and end up at an old lava flow, like 5 million year old lava flow, then there is a scary sign about 28 people drowning in the area because surprise waves will sneak up, knock you into the sea and KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! The sign left enough room to put lots more death markings. Krista turned around with the baby. I took a quick jaunt to the bath, took a couple of shots and turned back. There were locals hiking down a secret steep trail and were diving off rocks with crazy crashing waves. These locals reminded of the hills or the OC. The crazy waves only happen in winter, but with the baby in a known dangerous spot, you just have to do the right thing and be safe.

The next day we went back to Hanalei and I rented a kayak while Krista shopped. She's in shopping heaven:)I bought a little telescopic rod from walmart. There were two Hawaiian dudes, pulling up nets. They seemed anxious that I was fishing, but oh well as they say, there's many fish in the sea. I took lots of photos and tried fishing. The only thing I caught was a fmaily of three in a kayak. I saw a massive sea turtle and caught his big head on video. There were lots of people doing the stand up board paddling. It looks cool. I paddled the river to the ocean and just enjoyed being on the water. I was not impressed with my crummy lure selection that came in my $18 rod reel and tackle combo, but I was fishing. I saw a bunch of fish, but that was around one of the hawaiian dudes nets. Bubba burgers are awesome!

We've been eating really well. I've been trying as much as I can. Last night I grilled us Maco Shark. We've been eating sushi, mangoes, papaya, fish, eggplant...I'm looking forward to the all you can eat luau tonight. I've typed this whole blog through lunch and am ready for a snack, but one last post from yesterday.

We rented a surf board. We parked our stuff in front of a group of locals who were having aparty. We provided their entertainment. We should have charged them. The good news is my rebuilt shoulder rocks. I would have dealt with at least a dozen dislocations on this trip so far, but it is tight, sometimes too tight, but I can deal with that. Anyway, I kept trying to launch from the wrong place. I got slammed lots, but didn't quit. Later, I launched form another location and made it past the rollers and hung out with the other srufers, bobbing away. It's cool being on the other side of the rollers as you're about 2 stories from the top of the wave to the bottom,, but you just bob. I'd have to say that my board wasn't big enough and I'm talking about my Surf Board for you dirty-minded individuals. The lady in the store told me the bigger the board the more stable it is. Now I know what she meant. I didn't even really try to stand up. As soon as I pushed down the board flopped, so I hung on. I rode back to shore and was wonderfully slammed by a massive roller (massive in my mind anyway). It was fun to be under water, cool and collected, with the chaos of the wave and my board sloshing over head. A crazy wipeout, with no pain. Surfing is not skateboarding or snowboarding. I'm sure you could slam in a reef or get your own board in the head, but it's no road or snow rash. Well, actually I have a rash from lying on a sandy board, but oh well. I could see really getting into the sport with more time, a lesson, better equipment and a year of shoulder rehab under my belt.

Now, I'm going to check on baby Violet news, have a snack, write a tune called "The Termites Party", and maybe paint a scene. We have just under 2 weeks left and we have some cool stuff planned form here. I'm sure we'll keep y'all posted. Aloha and Mahalo!

PS Loved the World Cup. All of it. 330am games, missed calls, fouls, goals, drama, stress...I didn't predict anything right, but that's reality tv at its best.

Saturday July 10, 2010

After a delicious lunch at (Kauai's own) Bubba's Burgers, Jon and I parted ways for the afternoon. He rented a kayak to paddle and fish (I'll get him to blog about that!) and Melody and I were left to our own devices to shop in Hanalei. My favourite part (strictly in terms of shopping) about Hawaii so far has been all of the Roxy gear, especially their teenie wahine line, which I have only ever found bits and pieces of at home. Anyways, it has been fun and Melody will be one well dressed little girl! After we were shopped out, we shared a shaved ice and hit the beach. I've discovered we have a little girl who loves to get dirty. At the beach she covers herself in sand and mud and loves it! Sand free (relatively) and back in the Jeep, we headed back to Hanalei to catch a glimpse of Daddy in the kayak...another fantastic day. Pics to come!

Friday July 9, 2010

Wow! Time is flying...
it was a busy week, I'll see if I can remember the highlights...
We visited Waimea Canyon (Mark Twain called it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific). It was a long drive up a very winding road, but well worth the drive. Unfortunately, pictures don't quite do the canyon justice, but it was pretty amazing. While on the west side of the island we took our time touring neighbourhoods and taking in the sights. We found a few local beach spots and some absolutely incredible houses! On the way home we stopped in at the Kauai coffee plantation for a caffeine fix.

This week Jon and I spent some time on our own (Jon played soccer, ultimate and golf and I hit up the beach with some books!), and then together, we visited the baby beach at Lydgate Park with Melody. Jon went snorkelling and saw some amazing fish.

The other night while brushing my teeth I discovered that there was a fourth occupant in our little suite. After a minor freak out, some photos and videograpy, we shut the bathroom door and hoped he would find a way out by the morning. The next day, Jon went into the bathroom and insists this massive spider shot a web at him, he was still there! After attempts to relocate the spider peacefully, he met his match at the end of a broom handle. I still can't go into the bathroom without scanning all corners first!


Today took us once again to the North Shore where we visited the Queens Bath (a beautiful scenic hike past a few waterfalls and ending ultimately at tidepools), which we dubbed the Laguna Beach of Hawaii based on the people who were hanging out there. We found an excellent lunch spot around Hanalei (a shaded area overlooking the beach)and this evening we strolled along Kapaa's board walk along the ocean. Unfortunately, a monk seal had washed up on the shore. So, although it was neat to have seen one, they are pretty amazing, very sad circumstances.

Honua Lani Gardens

This is our home away from home while we are staying on Kauai, and I don't think we could have found a nicer spot. I haven't quite figured out all of the goings on here, but Melody and I did have a chance to explore today while Jon was on a hike. We are living in the ground floor of the owners house (she is a former Canadian who vacationed here and never went home), there is also a larger cottage (I've never seen the occupants), and several other buildings which I assume are the residences of the gardeners and caretakers. We are about 5km from the ocean and the town of Kapaa. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea...

Fireworks

Our usual after dinner routine has been getting ready for bed (seriously!), but tonight we ventured out to the Concert in the Sky, in honour of July the fourth. Melody was a bit small for the bouncy castles, so we bounced her outside of one. She had a ball pushing around her stroller and walking on the grass. The fireworks display was wonderful, and the band that provided the music was really fun. It was a great evening, even though we had to sprint back to the Jeep because of a surprise down pour. Our latest night so far, not home until 10pm!!

Sunday July 4, 2010

Today brought another visit to Hanalei (one of my favourite areas so far). On the way we stopped at a Kauai craft fair and a farmers market where we purchased a cold coconut, a pineapple already sliced (divine) and some Kauai spices for our steak dinner tonight. It is the fourth of July so we are off to a fireworks show.

Saturday July 3, 2010

A visit to lead us to Joe’s on the Green restaurant (which was a bit of an ordeal to find, but well worth it!). We then shopped around in the little towns in the area and stopped at Wailua Falls to take a few pictures. This waterfall was used in the opening scene of the tv show Fantasy Island.

Friday July 2, 2010

Having put in some time shopping it was time to seek out some adventure. A little hike to find a waterfall included crossing rapids on stepping stones (which I was able to accomplish after only brief trepidation), walking through a field of bamboo and scaling a rock face, all in the first 20 minutes!! Amazing who you meet in the middle of nowhere, a German family of 5 who live in Wisconsin, 2 girls studying to be massage therapists and a band of boys who decided to hike barefoot and left their flipflops behind.

more pics to come...