Aloha

We were sad to say goodbye to the warm humid weather, but thankful for the time we had to enjoy Hawaii. What a fun trip, we feel lucky to have had 3 weeks of swimming and exploring Kauai. The Napali Coast boat trip was definitely a highlight. Seeing the dramatic cliffs and hearing the historic legends of the area were interesting. Getting up close views of dolphins, turtles, sea caves and waterfalls were super cool too.

We were happy to find out that the kids have my stomach and sea legs, they all did great on this tour. With a little help from Dramamine, Dave was just fine too.

A few other favorite memories over the last few days were:

Finding and hiking down to Secret Beach - another beautiful white sand beach. We nestled the kiddos under a big tree for nap time and Dave and I had the chance to play in the waves while they slept.

More snorkeling at Poi'pu Beach where we found 4 or 5 huge sea turtles eating algae on the rocks right off the shore. It was such a cool experience to be just 2 feet away from the turtles, getting swished around in the current right along side them.

Loving up all the pool time with the kids. Piper gained even more confidence swimming throughout the trip. She can hold her breath an amazingly long time. Piper loved diving deep for her sinking toy squids. She went down as far as 6 feet to retrieve them.

The boys also are fans of the water. They would get excited and splash and kick and smile away. When we put them underwater they came up sputtering and with a look of surprise, but didn't cry. Even when Jett accidentally dove head first off the edge and Dave caught him by the feet with the rest of his body in the pool - he was cool with it. Didn't seem to phase him.

Overall the trip was a success. Another confidence builder that life with three kiddos can't slow us down! Even the flight home went by fast, and pretty uneventful. It felt great to get home to a sparkling clean home, the family we exchanged with left our place immaculate. I love the trust and openness of doing a home exchange - what a cool thing!

Great Day at the Beach

It seems like every time we explore a new beach, I am like, "Wow...this is awesome, THIS is the best beach we've seen!" But really each beach is so different and has different things to offer.It has been fun seeking out new beaches and spending the day enjoying them. Yesterday was all about snorkeling. We actually went back to the first beach we went to at the beginning of our trip (The last beach at the end of the road where hikers start the Napali Coast trail). Only the first experience wasn't very good because I was all stressed out because we forgot the baby formula and it was time for the boys to eat. I just nursed them and it turned out okay, but I was worried they would still be hungry because they have been eating way more milk than I can produce so we were possibly in for lots of screaming for the hour drive back to our condo.

Anyway, I didn't even get in the water the first time, so yesterday when I put on the snorkel gear and headed out to the coral reef - I was so excited about all the fish and beautiful coral. One draw back of the kiddos being so small is having to take turns doing non-kid friendly activities, instead of experiencing them together. So when I found this super beautiful red fingery coral thingy, I couldn't help myself from tapping on the shoulder of a random person to show them what I found.

Then I headed back to shore so David could have a turn. Before handing over the"googles" (The term that Piper has coined for goggles), I took Piper out to find some fish. She loved it and even more than the fish, she loved going under water and looking at each other and diving down deep to grab a handful of sand. Back on shore the boys were having a blast too. Splashing in the waves, eating more sand, and loving up all the attention from the other people hanging out on the beach.

Today we headed out with a vague idea of a beach that a local told us about. We had spotty directions and thought the beach name started with an "M". As we were driving and looking for something to grab for lunch along the way, I mentioned to Dave that one thing I love about traveling is just going along and coming across a great thing. For example, lunch spot or park or what ever. Unfortunately lunch wasn't the gem we had hoped for...Costco chicken bakes and pizza, but you can't win them all. =-) Fortunately though the beach we found today was just the kind of place I was talking about. At the end of this long dirt road we came to a parking area with a trail through some thick vegetation. The charriot wasn't going to work for this place so instead of piling all our "necessities" that we usually bring to set up camp on the beach - umbrella, grass weave mats, toys, diapers, bottles, towels, googles, diving squids, food, drink...yadda, yadda - Yes we do not travel as light as we used to!

We just put the babies in Ergos and decided to do a walk on the beach instead of hanging out in one area. This was the perfect beach for a hike. It was beautiful, the sand was so soft and fine, surfers were out and there was a curve down the way that just beckoned us to find out what was around the corner. So we walked and played in the waves. Piper got her skirt soaked and loved every minute of it. We went along one corner, then another, then we came to a trail that went along the ocean with awesome overhanging cliffs from the years of waves crashing on the old lava rocks. We even found a hole in the ground that spouted air so strong it blew David's hat off. The snorting of the air from the waves crashing and pushing the air up from underground was super loud. We told Piper that it must be a dragon sleeping and snoring down in that cave. She was nervous about that, but I could just see her imagination running. I love this age!

By the way, though we didn't find a great lunch spot today, we did come across a great local fish market that we hit on the way home. This place had super fresh Poke and we also got ahi tuna that we seared just a smidge tonight for dinner. This is becoming one of David's specialties. Soooo good and a great night to put the exhausted kids to bed early and eat a nice dinner together on the lanai.

Tomorrow is our big splurge of a tour...sailing the Napali Coast!

Kauai and Kid update

We have been in Kauai almost 2 of our 3 week stay! I feel so lucky to have arranged this home exchange, we are having "too much fun" (as Piper would say) living in paradise and soaking up all the sun, sweat and salt.

Right out our door, we have a sandy bottom rock enclosed beach pool. This area is super fun for Piper to dive for her squids (thanks Emily) and for the boys to chill in their frog rings.

We have been exploring other beaches in the area, hiked to waterfalls, and drove up to Waimea Canyon - which is known as the Grand Canyon of Hawai'i. The kids have been doing great and rolling with the fluid schedule we are on. Even Piper will lay down on a towel on the beach and take a 2 hour nap in the shade. Sometimes we get everyone to nap at the same time (which is heavenly), but many times just as one falls asleep someone else is waking up!

Piper is really at a fun age to be here and enjoying Hawai'i. We went to a small little hula dance performance and Piper was picked out of the crowd to go up on stage and learn to hula dance. She was so cute, really trying to follow directions and step side to side with the group. She has been so engaged, talking to anyone and everyone. Loving to ask what their name is, and telling them her name and her brothers names. She is a great conversationalist, making friends with anyone. And of course everyone loves her, it is fun.

Piper loves to help with the boys, most of the time she is very gentle and loving - bringing them toys, feeding them Cheerios, playing tickles. But we have also been having a hard time with a ornery streak that comes out of no where. We are working though this with time outs, and it seems to be getting better (no time outs today!) This was after yesterday, we were out all day, in and out of the car looking at all the scenic overlooks of Waimea Canyon, she had a great nap in the car, yummy dinner, and an hour of fun playing at a beach watching the sunset. We were having a great time in the sand. All the kids were riding on Dave's back playing horse. Piper was loving having Jett tackle her and playing super gentle with him. Then all of a sudden she threw a big handful of sand in Jett's face! So sad.

I am encouraged though because she did great today. I have to remember, this is a stage and hopefully by being consistent we will get though it quickly, but man, she can be a challenge sometimes. But how can I not LOVE this sweet face!

The other side is, Piper continues to amaze me with her understanding of the world around her. She is so thoughtful and caring and interested in learning. The funny things she says just crack me up and she can be so sweet and melt my heart. She likes to say, "Mommy, I have an idea..." and goes on to tell us something she would like to do. She is super into story telling. Mostly she likes having us tell her stories all day long, but she also like to get involved and help the story along.

Piper is very opinionated when it comes to what the boys wear, who gets what color bottle, which bib, and especially right now the diapers we have come in two designs. She has mandated that Calvin gets the one with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Jett gets the one with Mickey and Pluto. Thankfully it is not a total power struggle if we don't do something her way, she just says for example..."Okay, well next time can Calvin sit in the blue high chair?"

Calvin has been making great strides in his physical development. A couple weeks before we left for Hawai'i he had been doing lots of scooting, kind of army style and since arriving here, he has moved on to actual crawling. I think this process was sped up because he didn't like the prickly grass on his belly, so he got up on all fours and hasn't really looked back. I was surprised how quickly he gained the skill of pulling himself up to standing while holding onto a table or chair. It is fun to watch Calvin cruise around. Jett is spending more and more time on his tummy, and has scooted backwards a few times and gotten the rocking motion down while on all fours, but hasn't made the plunge to crawl yet. He is not far behind, but for now he still seems content to sit and watch the action around him.

For sure one of the fun things of having twins is seeing these differences in development and personality. Already we can see that they are such different little guys. Though they have changed and switched roles over time too. When they were first born we thought that Jett was going to be the high needs, demanding, first to crawl boy because he screamed the loudest and seemed to demand more attention. He also felt stronger in his stature. Calvin as a newborn was pretty chill, he didn't cry much, was such a cuddler - he just felt like mush and would melt into your arms.

Now Calvin definitely spends more time whining, he is super bouncy and can be hard to hold. He is always on the move. Where as Jett will hang out in my lap, loves reading books, or will just sit and play with toys all by himself. Jett still has the scream or shriek that stops our brain and we can't do anything until he stops crying. But when his issue is solved he is back to being quiet and happy.

Well that is the update for now. Sending our love from Kauai!

We made it to Kauai

Yay for Team Staley to have successfully crossed the Pacific to the beautiful Hawaiian islands! Kauai is amazing and we are so happy to be here for a full 3 weeks. The one bedroom condo is great and the view of the ocean is way better than we expected. One of the best parts is we are on the bottom floor, so our lanai opens up onto a nice grassy lawn which is super fun for the kids to play on. This makes the tight quarters of a one bedroom, a little more tolerable.

The flight was long and we narrowly missed making the journey even longer by waiting out our 3 hour lay over in Seattle at the wrong gate. So at the last minute when it seemed weird that they hadn't called our flight, Dave went up and found out that they switched our gate number and we needed to take the train to the new gate which had already started boarding. So we grabbed all our stuff, put the babies in Ergos, took Piper by the hand and made a mad dash down escalators, on the train to N gates,up escalators, and as we are running down the terminal, we hear "Last call for flight Alaska 2222 to Kauai." We were literally the last to board the plane, and as we were walking down the aisle, we laugh that it is only funny because actually did make the flight!

If you are curious...here is a picture of all the STUFF needed to make this trip happen!

We have spent the last few days exploring the island with our rental car. We went in search of Puff the Magic Dragon in a town called Hanalei. We saw the caves he might have lived in, but forgot our headlamps to really search him out. =-) Today we saw a blow hole that hissed and groaned like a dragon, but all we saw was water spouting out and some big turtles surfacing in water near by. Then we spent the rest of the day hanging at a beach where we could snorkel and see beautiful brightly colored fish super close to shore. Not surprisingly Piper LOVES using her "googles" and could swim all day if we let her. The babies are all about the beach too. The challenge with them is trying to limit the sand intake. Jett is better about it, but man, Calvin has taken in fist fulls of sand. His diaper at the end of the day is proof that what goes in must come out.