Another Hawaiian Adventure....

Well as many of you know we got another chance to go to the beautiful island of Hawaii. This last summer we lived on Oahu while Jon was finishing up the temple in Laie. In November we got to go back just the 2 of us for the dedication of the temple for a few days, then we were invited by my parents to go to Kauai the end of February, so we took it

(without kids I might add)

So here is the start of our latest adventure, side note, I have never been to Kauai!!

On Sunday we went to church and then drove around and saw some sights. This is called Wailua Falls, you don't have to hike just drive right up to it. It was beautiful and amazingly enough it is a 173 foot drop to the bottom. We stayed at the top!!

Here is a better view from the top....

We also went to another waterfall (this island has tons of waterfalls) that we could drive to so this one is called Opaeka'a Falls. It was so dirty and you can tell if you look close at the falls, it had been raining a ton-raining like I have NEVER seen it rain before!!

Mom & Dad

Jon and I-see I am in some pictures :-)

We went out on a zodiak raft to go whale watching-AWESOME-highly recommend it, anyway as we were heading out a huge pod of dolphins came over to the boat and starting swimming by us. We saw about 60-70 dolphins, it was soooo cool. I have never been that close to a dolphin in its natural habitat. I got to go to the front of the boat with my dad and lean over the edge, it was quite the experience

more dolphins....

This one was right out in front of the boat, can you tell that I just LOVE dolphins?!?

The captain actually had a guy on the boat with us that took pictures, so as much as I would like to claim these pictures as mine, I cannot. Ever time I would try and take a picture it would make me sick to my stomach as the waves got bigger and bigger, so we bought their disc of pictures which was the way to go. So in the front and working our way back in my dad, Jon, ME and my mom!!

One of the many waterfalls on the Na Pali Coast that you can only see from boat or helicopter.

The Na Pali Coast line, it was absolutely beautiful!!!

the guy standing up front with the camera is our Captain-Capt. Chris of Na Pali Riders. Here is a better view of the kind of boat that we were on. You could get up close and personal with the dolphins and whales, as you will see in later pictures.

Here is a momma whale and her baby that were practically swimming right next to the boat.

We would spot the puff from the whales blow hole and then head in that direction and then just stop the boat and wait for the action and boy did we see the action on this one. What HUGE and beautiful creatures they are.

Same whale jumping, just so you know that is the fin and the head out of the water (when I first saw this one it looked like it was jumping with it's mouth open, not the case)

the splash as they come down-huge!!

Captain Chris-great boat captain, and he loves what he does for a living, he still after soooo many years of taking people out still is fascinated by these creatures.

That lump in my jacket is my camera-that is how I would try and keep it dry when I wasn't trying (key word there) to use it

A female laying on her back with both pectoral fins out of the water, we were told that the female will lay on her back and slap the water with her fins to attract the males to her. The whales come to Hawaii for one purpose and one purpose only-to mate!! Not a bad place...

Male diving, when we would see this you know that they are going deep and take quite awhile to come back to the surface-this is how the males "show off" for the females

Mom & Dad at Pu'u o Kila Lookout-or as most people know it as "Hawaii's Grand Canyon"

One of the many beautiful hawaiian sunsets, this one happens to be at Spouting Horn, which I kept referring to it as Sprouting Horn-hehee

Still at Spouting Horn and there was this amazing hole in the lava rock and the waves would come under the lava rock and fill up this hole and then it gets sucked right back out, not exactly a place that you would swim in, but awesome to watch!

Spouting horn and a blowhole that it the wave was right would shoot water clear up into the air. Must say this is quite a beautiful shot, must of just got lucky

We went and bought Jon a boogie board, because frankly it was cheaper to buy one and have it in the car all the time, than to rent one. I am not sure if he caught this wave just right or if it curled on top of him, but the picture is cool.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE lighthouses and yet I have never been to one up close, well now I can say that I have. This is the Ninini Lighthouse and we drove right up to the front door. This was also a great place to sit and watch the whales-which we did for a little while but then it started to rain really good so we left!

Another boating adventure completely different from our last adventure. This boat had an awesome bathroom on board and we could eat and drink (diet coke for me) all we wanted and we had a BBQ lunch on board. So here is me and then my mom & dad sitting just on the other side

Me standing at the bottom of the stairs to go up to the steering wheel-amazing views from up here!

We also had the opportunity to actually use the sails, which again I have NEVER done. This trip has been a lot of firsts for me.

Thanks mom and dad for a great vacation and adventure we loved it!!!