Hawaii Day Four - Kayak Trip

Today is/was Wednesday, and we started the day with a buffet breakfast at one of the resort restaurants. This one is called "Tidepools" and its located over a big pond. Microsoft took over the restaurant in the mornings during our stay exclusively for event attendees. Then we took a stroll on the beach before getting ready for our kayak adventure. We boarded a shuttle van at 9:30am and arrived at the "kayak shack" about an hour later. First we received some basic instruction and then we set off on the Hule'ia River. Even though we were headed upstream, the wind was at our backs and pushed up the river. We paddled about an hour until we arrived at the trail head. We then left the kayaks and started hiking on a very muddy trail through the forest/jungle. We hiked about 30 minutes to a big swimming hole where some of us (me included, not Jane) tried out a rope swing into the pond. After our cool off break we continued hiking to a small waterfall where we had lunch. After lunch we hiked back the way we came and were picked up by a motor boat for the ride back. The motor boat towed our kayaks behind. We were done about 3:00pm. When we got back to the resort Jane and I washed up all the mud off of our shoes and got ready for our last evening party, which featured the cruisine of many of the local chiefs who were their in person preparing dishes. When we got back to our room after the party we received a small recipe book on our bed with all of the recipes. Sweet!

Breakfast at Tidepools

Looking towards the resort from the gardens. The beach was right behind the photographer (someone walking by)

Gone strolling....

80 degree water and coral sand. It doesn't get much better than this

Paddling instruction

Heading into the jungle

About 1/2 way to lunch

Stairs help in some of the really slipperly parts

Rope swing (but not me... )

Rain forest stream

Our lunch spot

Our final destination

Heading back to the head of the river and our cars

The view down river

Hawaiian kings were buried in the caves in the cliff

Hawaii Day Three - Sailing Adventure

Today (Tuesday, Nov 4th) was our Napali Coast Sail & Snorkle adventure. We left the hotel at 6am while it was still dark and took a bus a bus about 45 minutes away to the pier where our 55 foot catamaran awaited. According to the skipper "Rock" it was one of the calmest days that he'd seen in a while, which was good. We saw lots of small flying fish on the way to the northwest coast of Kaua'i, which has very steep cliffs and is one of the most beautiful (and frequently filmed) parts of the Hawaiian Island chain. The area we saw was where a lot of the Jurassic Park and King Kong (both) were filmed. We sailed for about a hour before getting to the Napoli coast region, and then the boat slowed down and we got a kind of tour. When we got almost to the most northern part of the island, we turned around for about 20 minutes and anchored so we could snorkle. The water felt chilly although the skipper said it was 80 degrees. Jane was a real trooper and while she had a little panic attack at first because of the cold water, once she got used it it really enjoyed floating around and we were the very last people back on the boat. We saw lots of fish and took some (hopefully) good pictures with the under water cameras. We had cake and bread to feed the fish and got some really good pictures of them eating as well. At one point on the way back we found a small group of bottle-nosed porpoises that joined us for a bit and we got some really up-close pictures of those. On the way back the skipper stepped on the gas and we had a crazy, bouncy ride back. Jane and I sat on one of the forward trampolines and had an hour roller coaster ride that had us laughing but left us utterly soaked. After we got back we had an early dinner at a local restaurant and came home and crashed. What a great day!!!

Sunrise over the deck of our boat

Goofing off with the camera

First glimpse of the Napali cliffs

Video pan of the Napali coast

This arch was used in the most recent King Kong movie

Jane and Randy on the way back after snorkling


Porpoises keep us company for a bit



On the way back to the hotel...

Hawaii Day Two

Our second day on Kaua'i we slept in, had a leasurely breakfast, walked on the beach, went shopping for hats (and a necklace and bracelet for Jane), and then went swimming in the huge pool complex. We started in the salt-water lagoon pool to practice snorkling. Jane was nervous at first, but got the hang of it and we had fun swimming through the channels and exploring the lagoon. We took pictures with our under-water camera but won't have those developed until we get home. Then we moved up higher to the fresh water pool to rinse off. The pool starts at several large pools at the top and then winds through a kind of river complex with water falls to a water slide and then into a complex of big lower pools. It literally took us an hour to float all the way through. At the end of our swim we soaked in the heated spa and then napped until dinner. We also found out that Microsoft only paid for one of the excursions, so we booked a second one with the hotel. Dinner was outdoors by the lagoon with a live band, lots of different foods and drinky drinks. One bar tender made us a couple of non-alcoholic coconut/strawberry concoctions that was really yummy. We found some friends we'd met the night before and ended up being one of the last people there talking to our new friends. We got back to our room about 11pm exhausted.

Jane in her aloha dress with puka-shell necklace and ankle bracelet.



The party lagoon from our table



From left to right: Randy, Jane, Suzie & Gary (Martinez). We met the Martinez's here in Hawaii nd found out they are from Monunment, CO. We've sort of been hanging out with them ever since and will probably be friends with them after this as well.

Hawaii Vacation Checkin

On November 2nd we left the house at 4:07am and drove to the Denver airport. Our flight for San Francisco left at 6:05am and took 2 1/2 hours. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover, so we went to the Red Carpet club and had a breakfast snack. Mom started a movie on my computer and I read a little bit. Since we only had a couple of hours of sleep the night before, we didn't feel like doing a lot. Our flight to Kaua'i took five and a half hours. I used some coupons I had accumulated and upgraded our seats to first class so we had more room, nice meals and lots of drinks and snacks, so the flight was pretty comfortable. Due to the time change it was 1pm local time when we arrived. We were met by event people at the airport, got a lei greeting and had a private bus to the resort where we are staying. When we checked into the resort we got a coupon for a free aloha shirt and a sarong for mom. We had a quick snack and then took a long nap before the evening welcome dinner. The dinner started at 7pm, but we were only there about 20 minutes before it started to rain. We ran for cover until it stopped, but gave up after a while because it was warm and too much trouble. We ended up just staying at a table with some people from Monument, CO and one of the Vice President hosts. A soggy but nice way to end our first day. The next morning was sunny and beautiful. We had a buffet breakfast and ate in one of the gardens.

Here we are in the Red Carpet club in San Francisco Airport waiting for our flight to Hawaii.

This is the view from our room. The beach is just to the left.

Jane and Randy at the outdoor reception. I'm not sure who got more damp; Jane from the perspiration in her raincoat or me from the rain.

Sunrise from our hotel

Breakfast in the garden

Halloween

We made a little extra effort to have a fun Halloween this year with family in town. We had some nice carved pumpkins, went to a party at my work, and decorated the porch a bit more than usual.

The balloon maker at the Microsoft party made Bryson a balloon dinosaur that looked like him.


Jarom's costume got a lot of attention (think wire cutters and glue stick), but the face painter added a whole dimension of realism.


Mr. Bones came home with us after the party to decorate our porch.


The local grandkids ready to hit the streets in Highlands Ranch.


I used an XBox game console design for my pumpkin so I could use it at a campus event to recruit high school students that was held the morning of October 31st in Fort Collins near where James works. It was a big hit with the kids at the event and the kids on the block. Quite a few took pictures with their camera phones.



This is our porch scene. Note the glow-in-the-dark window paint illuminated with ultrviolet lights. Pumkins from left to right: James' skull in a jail pumpkin. Jarom's mummy and haunted house, and Randy's XBox pumpkins. We also had cool Halloween sound effects music and a fog machine. Mr. Bones and his pet rat were borrowed from my work office party.


Here you get the live action porch. Jarom's music was very effective as you can see:

The Church is True In Colorado

We got a new sign to help drive the missionary effort, and you can see the first advertised Sacrament meeting below. I KNOW I was inspired to move to Colorado!



We've been playing with this fun web site in my group for a couple of days. If you want to create your own sign, go to http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/

Seth's Final Cross Country Meet

October 10th was the league finals for Seth's high school cross country team. The meet was held at Larkspur, about 45 minutes south of Highlands Ranch down Interstate 25. The location was at a Renaissance Fair grounds. It isn't really in the mountains, but the location is relatively alpine in nature. We have enjoyed an amazingly warm autumn, but the weather all of a sudden turned chilly in the past couple of days, and the outdoor temperature at the meet was in the high 40's - low 50's. Seth has raced at this location before, and it always helps when you are familiar with the course.

This is the team's location. As you can tell it is a bit cold. I'm not sure that lowering the canopy helped all that much, but maybe it did cut the wind a bit.

Here Seth is getting his race number. They are all bar-coded and he'll tear off the bottom and turn it into race officials at the end.

This is Seth and his church friend Chris Chambers all wrapped up in a warm blanket


Seth at the start of the race. The first 100 yards is up a pretty steep hill as you'll see from the video below

This is Seth about half-way through the course

Seth approaching the finish

This video montage shows the start, mid-race and Seth's finish