Not exactly how we planned to spend our Thursday, but G is now appendix-less and is recovering semi-comfortably. Thankful for trusting my (also appendix-less) gut, fantastic staff at Children’s Hospital, parents and friends who help take care of our other two kids, and overall health, all things considered. The staff here have been raving about how fantastic this kid is, and I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly. Looking forward to getting home! 
It feels especially hard these days to find the beauty in everyday moments, but I’m trying harder to look at my world each day and find something to make me smile. These kids, man: they’re pretty great.
Sarah was inspired this year. A green dragon, a red, dragon, a mermaid, Prince Ronald, and the Paper Bag Princess!
Oliver <sitting in his high chair, wearing a sweatshirt>: ZIP! ZIP! ZIP!
Me: You want me to unzip your sweatshirt?
Oliver: NO! ZIP!!
Me: You’re right, your sweatshirt doesn’t have zips, it has buttons.
Oliver: Buttons!
Me: Yes, buttons.
Oliver: ZIP ZIP!!
Me: Do you want your sweatshirt off?
Oliver: ON!
Me: Ok. You can keep it on.
Oliver: OFF!!
Me: You want help taking it off?
Oliver: Uh-huh.
<I help him unbutton and take off his sweatshirt>
Oliver: ON! ON! ON! ON! ZIP! ZIP!
Me: <throws sweatshirt in his face>
I finally finished the quilt I started for Maggie before she was born, and it really was more rewarding finishing it now because she loves it so much
Sarah rocked her first triathlon! She’s been training up for the past few months for the Minneapolis YWCA Women’s Triathlon. The event took place this morning — a blazing hot one — by Lake Nokomis. The whole family (including Jeff and Pam) was there cheering her on from start to finish. As Sarah posted on Facebook earlier:
It still hasn’t totally sunk in that I just completed my first triathlon, but I did! 500 yard swim, 15.5 mile bike, 3.1 mile run, finished in 1 hour, 41 mins and 31 secs. I am super happy with my time, and so thankful for this body of mine. Also thankful for my friend, Keely @keschallock who I got to finish with unexpectedly, and @noquitfitoutdoorfitness who have sparked a love for outdoor fitness and have been immensely supportive and positive through all my training! What an amazing event!
We were just stopped at the airport in Kauai because our shoes were too muddy. You can’t export soil from Hawaii to the mainland because it may contain pests. So we have to scrub our shoes and bring them back for inspection.
Fortunately, everyone has been friendly and we have tons of time before our flight.
Today we rose bright and early and drove to the end of the road to hike the Kalalau Trail. When we arrived at the trail head, however, we discovered that it was closed due to the recent heavy rains. Not to be deterred, we hightailed it to the opposite side of the island, where there are numerous additional trail options. (Actually, the road is like a horseshoe with both ends in the northwest, separated by a few miles of the insanely rugged NÄ Pali coast, so we ended up not far from where we started, but 4000 feet up.)
We hiked along the upper rim of Kalalau Valley (4000 feet above our original hike) and then went through the AlakaÊ»i Swamp, purportedly the highest altitude swamp in the world (I’ve read differing accounts). We ended up at the Kilohana lookout where we could peer through rifts in the clouds across the Wainiha, LumahaÊ»i, and Hanalei valleys. As the crow flies, it was hardly any distance to our rental far below, but the sheer cliffs and walls of tropical vegetation deterred us from any foolhardy bushwhacking.
A highlight of this hike was running into someone we knew! Three summers ago, we visited Nate and Christine in Falmouth and met Nate’s friends, Ben and Emory (see our July 2016 post with pictures of Emory). Emory lives on Kaua’i. We knew this ahead of time and had corresponded with him about our trip, but hadn’t made any firm plans to get together. Imagine our surprise as we clambered up a muddy trail and bumped into him! We love the serendipity of it all.
We were proud of those muddy shoes, but they caused us some unexpected hassles at the airport on our way out.
We awoke this morning trapped at the northern tip of the island! It rained heavily overnight causing the authorities to close the Hanalei bridge. This was awesome for two reasons. First, all the other vacationers on the island couldn’t swarm up to the north-end beaches and trails (as they usually do). Second, the atmosphere appeared to have finally run out of moisture. Sweet.
We spent the morning at Tunnels Beach, near our rental, swimming and wishing that we’d remembered to grab snorkeling gear. There were plenty of fish to be seen even without a mask. Eventually we headed into Hanalei for lunch. Most restaurants were closed because employees live on the other side of the bridge, but we were able to find delicious BBQ at Chicken in a Barrel followed by our first shave ice from Wishing Well. If you’ve never had one, where a snow cone is bland, crunchy, and gross, a shave ice is fresh, soft, and delicious. They’re made by literally shaving a block of ice with a sharp blade, producing a fine powder. Add fresh fruit and/or fruit syrups, other toppings (like coconut cream), and maybe a scoop of ice cream, and you end up with a divine treat on a warm day.
Later in the afternoon, the bridge opened so we went south to check out the Kilauea Lighthouse. Alas, it closed just as we pulled up. Plenty of beauty nearby, regardless. We realized that we wanted to be on the beach again for sunset, so we headed back north, grabbed snorkeling supplies from our rental (love it that they have a bin to share) and returned to Tunnels Beach for a jaw-dropping end to a perfect day.
Although we thought the flooding was severe while we were on Kaua’i, the island was devastated by dramaically more serious flooding in April. By comparison with the USGS flood gauge at the top of this post, see the chart below for both March and April. Our “flood” appears before the Mar 17 line. The real flood hit on April 14. See also these dramatic before and after pictures published in Town & Country.
