Kauai Trip 2011: Hits & Misses

We’re just back from a week on the north shore of Kauai. It was a good trip. It was a bad trip. It was a trip! Here’s the roundup.

Hit: Successful travel with three kids, two of whom were lap babies on the plane!
Miss: Both flights during nap time (there was no napping) and we were, in fact, “that” hell family on the plane that everyone wanted to throw off. Sorry, folks.

Hit: My parents were there too, as was my sister and her family (my nephews). Still, some quality time was had! Babysitting was had!
Miss: Not enough time to really hang out what with naps, early bedtimes, dinners, etc.

Hit: First time surfing since November due to my ongoing back injury. My hours of PT paid off, and I was grateful to get some fun knee-high waves in warm water on a rental longboard in Hanalei Bay.
Miss: The weather generally wasn’t great, the surf was blown or small, and the swell filled in on the day we had to leave, natch.

Hit: Easy snorkeling off the reef at Tunnels beach.
Miss: As the reef dropped off to deep sand bottom, the constant tug reminding me that about 100 yards away was the spot where Bethany Hamilton lost her arm to a huge tiger shark.

Hit: Queen’s Bath was near our place, and it was fun to hike to and swim in.
Miss: That’s the only hike we took during the week.

Hit: N’s first shave ice!
Miss: They ought to put warning labels on those sugary suckers, for parents.

Hit: I’m tan!
Miss: Should be tanner, but that weather… those naps…

Hit: Ample time on the beach. We spent just about every morning on the sand, somewhere.
Miss: Not enough time to do much else. Kauai is the place you just want to explore – not easy with 19-month-olds napping every day after lunch.

Hit: Air-temperature, non-chlorinated pool in the condo complex.
Miss: Air-temperature pools can be chilly!

Hit: Date night for sunset cocktails at the St. Regis hotel bar, which overlooks gorgeous Hanalei Bay…
Miss: It looms over the bay’s main pointbreak/reef, which was small and glassy during the sunset we watched. Plus I’m too out of shape to paddle that far anyway. It was kind of hard to look at.
Hit #2: Amazing sunset for an otherwise cloudy day.
Miss #2: Damn, the service is slow.

Hit: About a week and a half off from work!
Miss: Vacation came unexpectedly in the middle of the launch of a crash project to ship the Royal Wedding site on Yahoo. Our team rocks – they pulled it off perfectly without me.

Hit: Celebrated Dad’s birthday at the Hanalei Dolphin restaurant and had amazing sushi.
Miss: Think I was able to sit for 20 minutes with the kids then had to bail on the table to run around outside and make sure nobody fell in the river.

Hit: Feeling that blast of warm, humid, Hawaiian air as the plane doors open in LIH, and feeling glad you wore shorts on the flight.
Miss: Landing at SFO… to horrible news of the Japan quake, and arriving at home news of the tsunami.