Kauai, part 1...

We recently returned from an amazing week in Kauai, Hawaii to see Chris's sister, Camille, and her fiancé, Pat, get married.

I have to give our boys credit-- they have become excellent travelers.  Considering we left mom's house at 6am, we flew 5.5 hours to LA, had a 5-hour layover in LA, flew 5 hours to Honolulu, had a 1 hour layover, then flew 45 minutes into Kauai, the boys hardly complained at all.  

 While laid over in Los Angeles, we hung out at the USO for a few hours.  The boys LOVED all the free food, XBox games, TVs, and board games.  It was a perfect spot to stretch and get lunch.

Yikes… no judgement please.
This is probably only the 2nd soda he's had in his
life and neither boy finished their donuts!

We finally made it to Kauai around 11pm on Thursday night.  A huge thank you to Grandpa for picking us up so late after their long day of travel!

 Our room was just lovely… so pretty and comfortable and Camille decorated it with so many personal touches!

Since it was pitch-black when we arrived, we were all excited to wake up early and check everything out...

 What a sunrise!

The estate was huge and had more help than you can imagine (gardeners, a pool guy, a cleaning staff (who cleaned from top-to-bottom twice during our stay), a chef, a property manager, a lady who lives on site at the front of the property and basically tends to any needs/ issues you may have, just to name a few of the staff folks we met while we were vacationing there, although none of them "stayed"…)

James and Henry were so excited to see Charlie and Ian again.  Charlie and Ian are Pat's children from his first marriage and happen to be exactly our boys' ages, 10 and 7.

These boys played so well together.  We hardly saw them, except when they were hungry.  They went from pool to hot tub to beach to iPads, on repeat the entire time…

Perhaps this is the time to mention that Camille married the drummer from the super popular band, Weezer!  Pat is as down-to-earth, smart, funny, and chill as anyone I've ever met.  He's easy to like and Chris and I felt like we'd known him (and his lovely sister and brother) for many years, even though we just met at Thanksgiving.

Great shirt :) 

 I mean, really… to say these kids are "living the good life" is clearly an understatement.

 Right before hiking down to Secret Beach...

 Check out those stairs.  They were SO steep...

 … but the beach was worth it.

 Henry, Ian, James, and Charlie at Secret Beach...

 More views from the house...

 The beautiful bride...

Hanelai Bay was pretty awesome too… 

Our little nature enthusiast spent the week
finding seashells, snails, lizards, spiders.  

A slimy snail

Henry loved the big garden at the house.
He helped pick carrots and romaine for
dinner salads.

What's better than shaved ice after jumping in the waves?!

That's all for now.  Part 2 soon...