Climbing the "mini" mountain in Kauai

Happy Birthday Allison!

Happy Birthday to my best friend since 5th grade (age 10). It's been a great 20 years.

I love you so much!

Kauai, Hawaii - Spring Break

We took the kids to Kauai, Hawaii for Spring Break. We were there Mar 28 - Apr 3 and stayed at the Westin Ocean Resort Villas in Princeville, Kauai.

Here is a run down of what we did:

Sat: We left at 7:15am and did not get to Kauai until 9:30pm Chicago time (4:30 Kauai time). There is a 5 hour time difference so it was very hard to adjust. We wanted to go to bed early and get up early, but we eventually adjusted. We went to the grocery store and stocked up on food because our villa had a full kitchen.

Sun: We hung out by the pool all day. The weather was cloudy/sunny all day and rained a little. It pretty much rained every day, but in 10 minute increments. The temperature was 75 during the day and 60-65 at night. Sun night we went to dinner at The Dolphin in Hanalei (about 10 min from Princeville) and it was very rainy, windy, and cold and we ate in the section that was outside, but covered so we were all ready to leave after dinner. Poor Ethan had a t-shirt and shorts and he wanted to quickly eat and sit in the car with the heat.

Mon: We went to Tunnels Beach (just past Hanalei in Haena) to go snorkeling. We saw a lot of cool fish in the coral reef. There was one that was yellow, blue and a pinkish color. I hate water since I almost drowned when I was little so it's always a challenge to force myself in the water. Of course, my gear was not functioning properly so I sucked down water 3 times. It was not fun at all and I started to panic a little. Craig was nice enough to switch blow things with me and he said that it was not working right, but somehow he fixed it. Then my mask was not tight enough so my snorkeling experience was short-lived. Julia just got braces last Tuesday so she was complaining that the mask was making them hurt so she wanted to go back to the beach and I was happy to go with her. We went to dinner at CJ's Steakhouses in Princeville.

Tues: Julia & Ethan took a scuba diving class in the pool and loved it. They did it once before too. Ethan liked it so much he convinced Craig to book a scuba diving trip on Wed. Craig almost drowned when he was getting certified so he was a little nervous, but thought it would be good to overcome his fear. The rest of the day we went boogie boarding in Kileauea Bay. We also stopped by a lighthouse and took pictures. I should clarify that Craig, Julia, and Ethan went boogie boarding while I hung out on the beach. The waves were huge! We went to dinner at a Mexican/Brazilian place called Neides.

Wed: We drove about an hour and a half to the south of the island to Poipu so Ethan and Craig could go scuba diving. Julia and I hung out at the beach. It was very sunny in Poipu so it was a nice change from the cloudy/sunny north side. We went to dinner at the Lighthouse Bistro and the food was amazing!

Thurs: We went on a 4 hour horseback ride and had lunch at a waterfall. Craig rode Mookie, I rode Ocka, Julia rode Duncan, and Ethan rode Blondie. Julia and I got the stubborn horses that picked fights and stopped for no reason. Julia's horse bite Ethan's on the butt and it was quite a show. Ethan was holding on for dear life. It was scary to watch, but luckily no one got hurt. My horse also snipped at another horse, but not as bad as Julia's. My horse was so bad that the instructor had to get on him and try and straighten him out. He was not cooperating for the instructor either so it wasn't just me. We hiked up to a waterfall and had lunch. The kids swam at the little pool (natural rocky pool) at the bottom of the waterfall. After we went horseback riding we went home and had lunch and then the kids and Craig went boogie boarding at Hanalei Bay. We went to dinner at Nanea (the restaurant at the Westin).

Fri: Craig, Julia, and Ethan went boogie boarding (again:) while I packed up our stuff. Then we hung out by the pool and left around 5 for the airport. Our flight was a 10:50pm so we had a lot of time to kill. We did a little sightseeing on the way and had dinner at a Japanese steakhouse in Kap'pa. We left at 10:50pm (3:50am Chicago time) and slept the whole plain ride to Phoenix. We had an hour layover in Phoenix and then arrived in Chicago at 4:27. We had a great time in Hawaii! Here are some of the pictures from our trip...

Craig & Bella

Bella got a hair cut and they cut it a little too short, but we still think she is the cutest dog ever.

Bottle of Justus

We went to see Bottle of Justus play at John Barleycorn. They are one of our favorite bands!

Chris & Craig

Paula, Me & Ashley

Chris & Joey Quinlan (Bottle of Justus)

Greg, Craig, and Dave (Greg and Dave work for Craig)

Allison's Pregnant

Allison is pregnant! She will be 14 weeks on Tuesday. I took some pictures of her cute belly. I made her start a blog, www.babyohlander.blogspot.com. Congrats Allison & Scott!

Dinner with Mom & Dad

We had dinner with my Mom & Dad at Cody's.