The Garden Isle

As an early birthday present Nic surprised me with a trip to Kauai. I have heard many people say that this is the most beautiful island and sure enough, it was breath taking. Every corner you turned around felt like you were looking at a Walgreen's puzzle. Also John I think this is your island as there were chickens everywhere! Beautiful ones. We stayed at a fancy resort called Kauai Beach Resort complete with a breathtaking view of the ocean, 4 pools and oh yes, a water slide. We pretty much had the entire resort to ourselves so we made good use of the amenities.
Our first day was spent doing what we do best...drinking by the pool and rolling the dice. Ironically the only other couple at the pool that day ended being a couple from Gladstone, Or. Go figure. (They were Korean of course). On day two we rented a car and explored the island. I love doing this with Nic and we have a good system down. We always rent a Seabring convertible (b/c it screams sophisticated couple) plug in our ipod, drop the top and off we go exploring. We found so many great nooks and crannies, caves, private beaches and great food. We have decided that Kauai is our new Eaglecrest.

That's Odd

Hawaii might be considered paradise but let me tell you, there are some odd things about it. So many that I think they are worth sharing so I have decided to create a series of posts called "That's Odd." My best friend has a series called Wordless Wednesday and I love it so this will be kind of an offshoot of that, just not at consistent.

My first one is one of my favorites. Tan mannequins.














Bicycle helmets.

Valentine's Surprise

This is a simple post but one worth sharing. Plus, it's about how awesome my husband is and I don't think I express that enough.

We both have never really been one to celebrate Valentine's Day but this year I was feeling extra guilty because I had to work so I went ahead and made us dinner reservations at one of the top Italian restaurants here. (he's a Guido after all). Done. Valentine's Day, check!

During that day I was explaining to someone how I don't think I have ever received flowers from Nic. Not that he doesn't do nice things for me all the time (like cook me every meal) but flowers have never really been his thing with me. To my surprise he picked me up from work with a dozen roses in hand! We had some time to kill before dinner which I figured we would just go grab a drink somewhere before hand. He ended up taking me down to the beach where we watched the sunset together and drank champagne. It was perfect! And if that wasn't enough he then surprised me with an early birthday gift which was two tickets to Kauai! Needless to say my lame attempt at Valentine's which was making dinner reservations looked pathetic.

The Clampets come to Hawaii

Last week my family came to visit. We used to have a small family but of course due to marriages and babies we now have a good size squad. My parents rented a beautiful house in Kailua just yards away from where Obama stayed with his family over the holidays (which is I'm pretty sure why my dad elected to stay at this house). Our week together was simple and we spent most of our time hanging out, playing on the beach, chair bowling and of course...Yahtzee. Being the eco-friendly family that we are we always recycle old score cards and it only seemed appropriate that we would give my mom the scorecard that read "Dickcheese." She won of course.

On Monday we took a family trip to Pearl Harbor to visit the Arizona memorial and the Missouri battleship. Man, I thought I had big guns. It was incredible! It was fun to experience it with my dad as he loves history just about as much as he loves a cold Mirror Pond on the Deschutes River, which is A LOT.

Tracy and Trevor took a night off from parenting and the four of us hit the town where we showed them some of our favorite hangout spots in downtown and Waikiki. We wrapped up the evening at a local bar back in Kailua called "The Palace" where Tray rocked some Meatloaf on the jukebox and we shot a round of pool. (yeah, she loves Meatloaf...weird).

Nic and I also had a blast hanging out with our nephews, Thatcher and Tristan. Tristan is now speaking so well and he cracks me up every day. My new title is Uncle Kim. I must be my size 12 shoe that throws him off, or maybe that I am taller than his dad. As long as he says Kim I'll take it.

The hardest part of course was saying goodbye. I wasn't expecting to cry but I balled like a baby when I had to drop them off at the airport. If there is one thing I have learned by living here is how special our family is to us. If only Portland had more Asians we might consider moving back home.