Po'ipu Beach

Po'ipu Beach has been rated the number one beach in the world. It's a great place for kids because it has a natural breakwater. It has a little lagoon spot that is perfect for swimming....that is if the beach is open. The beach was closed the first day we went because an Orca whale had beached itself (a very sad story) which brings in Tiger sharks...so the beach was closed. We have pictures of the Orca but I changed my mind about posting them. It is very rare for Orcas to be in this area, they are supposed to be in cold waters. The whale was a young male that looked like it was starving, it was lost from its Pod...from what we heard the poor thing was crying. They gave it sedation and then put it to sleep. Then they loaded in on a flat bed trailer with a big front loader and that was it. We watched them load it, it was sad but we explained to Megan why it was better for the Whale to be in heaven and she understood it....when we told Megan about Emma we talked about the whale story. It's strange how close the timing was.

I wish we would have gotten better pictures of the beach, these don't do it any justice at all. You can't see the lagoon. We did swim at this beach, but on days when I was swimming the camera was not allowed. I do have a post card of it and I might post it later.

Views from the Resort

I loved this tree.

Same tree....different day.

A five minute walk from our room and we found these views. The roar of the Ocean was awesome.

Chickens & PT Cruisers

Chickens are everywhere in Kauai! On the sides of the roads, outside the shopping malls, at almost all of the lookout points, even at the very end of the road near the Na Pali Coast (that's were this picture was taken). In the 90's there was a hurricane and it blew open all the chicken coops on the island and that's how the chickens took over the island...at least that's what we were told.

On the third day we were in Kauai we noticed they have a lot of PT Cruisers there...so we started counting them, I say we counted 203 and Eric says it was 197 but I swear it was over two hundred because I was so happy that I was able to hit the 200 mark before we got to the airport the night we flew back home.

The Boss is Gone

Monday morning Emma wouldn't go outside, she just laid there. Eric went and talked to her and noticed that her stomach was very swollen and distended...she's a thin girl so it was easy to see. So, I made her an appointment at the vet that day and I knew the outcome wasn't going to be good. I had a hard time getting her to the vet, she could hardly walk.

The vet told me that most likely Emma had a large tumor that had ruptured and that the fluid that was causing her stomach to be so swollen was blood, she was slowly bleeding to death. She said that this tends to happen in certain breeds and there was nothing we could do for her, even if they did surgery mostly likely she wouldn't make it through it. I made an appointment to come back that evening to have her put down and then I took her home. I wanted to make sure Megan had the chance to say goodbye to her.

Megan said goodbye...it was so sad. Pete (our cat) said goodbye to Emma by cleaning her ears.

Eric took Emma back to the vet and then he brought her body home so Bobbie and Jake could see that she was gone. Then he buried her in a corner of our back yard. We have a dogwood tree that needs to be planted, so we're going to plant it over her, it's very fitting.

Emma was always so well behaved, she was the Alpha female for sure....she bossed the other dogs around and always kept them in check. Today Jake and Bobbie were out at the bus stop with us and two kids had missed the bus so they were dropped off at our stop (our driveway). I was holding on to the dogs until the bus pulled up and the kids got halfway across the street and then I let them go. They never go out in the road, they do this most every morning and they know that Megan gets on the bus and then we go inside....that is except for today, the kids get halfway across the street and Jake runs across the street and Bobby decides if he's going to do so is she. Jake decides he has made it this far it might as well try to get on the bus. If finally get them back in the pen and I'm off to work.

Megan had early release today so Eric's parents picked Megan up at school and brought her back to the house and as they pull up to the house they see Jake sitting in the yard next to road...just hanging out. He had pulled the chain link off the gate and squeezed through the hole, thank goodness Bobbies so fat or she would have been out too. Emma always kept them in line, now that the boss is gone I think we are in for some trouble.

Sad Day...

Today we had to put our wonderful German Shepard Emma to sleep.

Afternoon- Day 1

I LOVE Hamburgers and this place had great ones, they also had the best fries. This is the back of the building...this picture was an afterthought, I wish I would have gotten the front of it. And I wish I would have gotten a picture of my hamburger.

Our shoes...I don't know why but I like this picture.

Megan loved running on the beach.

Megan and Eric

Shipwreck Beach

This beach is right by the Resort we stayed at. We thought this sandstone cave was so cool. Then as I'm taking pictures of Megan in the cave I started thinking of all the news stories of caves collapsing on people....there is always at least one person who is interviewed who says: It looked safe.

Kaua'i - Day 1

Our patio is right by the shrub, notice the fire hydrant.

Amy, I thought of you when I saw these.

The beach by our room.

Mahalo, Gregers!

Thank you for making our trip to Kaua'i possible, I wish you knew how much it meant to us. We feel so thankful we have such great friends like you.

Sunrise, day 1.

These two pictures are the first pictures I took in Kaua'i, they may not be the best of the many pictures we took, but they will always be a couple of my very favorites.

We flew in at night and had no idea what the island looked like. Megan and I woke up the next morning at 5:30. We couldn't wait to see Kaua'i, we headed out to the lanai and the sun hadn't come up yet. It was so dark, but we could hear the waves crashing somewhere out in the distance, it was so cool. Then the sun started to come up and it was gorgeous. I couldn't believe what a wonderful view we had, it was perfect....not only was the view great but the condo itself was outstanding.

Megan the Pirate and Pete

Megan the Pirate and Pete. Eric tried to get Megan to smile for these pictures, her response was...Pirates don't smile!
Pete fears no Pirate. He was rubbing on Megan's sword.

More Halloween Party Pics

Food, Fun and Games...what more could you want. This party was so fun, I thought it was so nice the city invited me. There was apple bobbing, a read and feel story....nasty, but fun. There was a riddle bowl and if you answered the question right you got a big candy bar. I picked my question an couldn't think of the answer, no one knew it. So after I ate my lunch and went back to work the answer popped in to my head...so I went back and got my big candy bar, even though the party had been over for an hour. My riddle was: What rock group has four members, all of whom are dead, one of them was assassinated?

Apple Bobbing - Mike, a buidling inspector...and ?, she was really nice but, I don't remember her name. She did do a great job apple bobbing.

I though this was a good picture. The fire marshal is inspecting Bruce (Bruce is a building inspector).

Mike is in the middle....he dressed up as a grave digger. Notice the hat, it's official. Mike was a real grave digger when he was in his twenties.

The answer to the riddle is: Mt. Rushmore

Halloween Parties

Megan and Hannah Man-Tana. I pretty sure Man-Tana said it was ok to post this picture, I could be wrong, maybe it was don't post this picture with a wink. I'm sure a saw a wink.

Work Party Pictures:

Dr. Payne and Dr. D. Liver

Flapper Girl Sally won Cutest in the Costume competition....I'm not technically I city employee so I couldn't be included in the contest, whatever.

My buddies from the building department dominated by winning all the catagories in the costume contest...I mentioned Sally above. KC, the pirate, won for scariest and Bruce as Barack O"Bomb"a won for most orginal.

Me and Sally