The Bolinators take over HAWAII!!!!

We got to go to Hawaii!! Finally!!
It's Casey again, here to bring you lots of pictures from our wonderful trip to Kauai. But first, the story on how it came to be: my wonderful in-laws decided that they wanted the whole family to go to Hawaii last Christmas(one of the few I would be on shore for). So Kat and I were so excited, we bought plane tickets and lo and behold, the next week, we found out that... Kat was prego!!
Well, Kat's due date just happened to be right after we would get back from our trip, so we knew that wasn't going work.

As it turns out, after we told everyone, nobody was too upset for the trade off.

So we postponed it.... until now!! We wished that the Mobbs crew could have come with us, but we had enough fun for all of them too!

So without further ado...

...More pictures of Izzy!!! (Trust me, I know the REAL reason you guys read our blog and it's not Kat and it's definitely not for me)

So after a getting up at 4am, catching the shuttle to the airport, then a 6 hour plane ride to Honolulu, we were all ready to stretch our legs and just be outside. So during the hour layover in Honolulu, we took advantage of the outside airport and let Iz crawl around. Kat got some really good shots.

And... In case you were wondering, Iz did an awesome job on the flight. We played, we ate, she slept, it was an all around good flight. Of course, did you really expect anything different from our Izzy?!?

I got in some sun and reading that I didn't get on the plane. You can tell I needed the sun by the whitish glow coming off my legs.

Then we took the 20 minute flight from Oahu to Kauai and got to our hotel. We overheard some snobby lady complaining to the front desk that her room had better have an ocean view. Kat and I laughed and thought that we were just happy to be here. We pulled up to our room and saw that the door was on the parking lot side and we both went, oh well. Then we opened the door and saw that the room went straight through to the other side of the room, opening into this!!

And this. Man, we felt so blessed to have such a great room. Once again thanks to my awesome in-laws!

We rented snorkeling gear and went to the beach right outside our hotel. The guy at the shop said that was the best spot on the island. Well... It was really cool, buuuuutttt, there are definitely some gnarly rocks on the beach. This is shown by my war wound that I got whilst I got hit by a big wave and sent back to the beach. Luckily it was just a flesh wound. I only cried a little, don't worry.

We drove up to these falls one day. They were really beautiful. I can't remember their name right now, but we are standing on the road right there and there were vendors all along there trying to sell us touristy crap. There was this one guy that saw us walking up with Iz and he told us that we should take the baby back to the car. It was about to rain hard and we shouldn't have a baby out in that weather. It didn't rain.

Our good friends Claire and Zach flew into Kauai from Oahu to hang out a couple days. We haven't seen them in two and a half years since we moved from South Carolina. It was great to catch up and for them to finally get to meet Izzy. Iz took an instant liking to Aunt Claire.

Iz was obviously stricken with Zach. They were pretty much inseparable the entire time they were on the island.

I'm not sure what was going in this picture, but it is just too darn cute not to post. Lets just say she did not want Zach and Claire to leave!

The next day we drove up to Koke'e State Park. The road winded(wound?) up through the state park and up the Waimea Canyon, which is called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. There were a lot of small trails off the road that led out to views like this.

There were also some cool little creeks that we climbed around in.

Izzy of course had a blast! She is pretty much happy whatever she is doing. And she always looks good doing it, but hey, I'm a bit biased.

This is at the top of the canyon. Such a phenomenal view. I wish you could really get the depth and the colors that were there. The picture does not do this sight justice, but I must say, I have a pretty good looking family. Even if my daughter is too good to pose for a picture.

At the top of the canyon we got some fresh fruit from a stand that was there and had a little picnic. We ate pineapple, starfruit, guava, and coconut. It was so so good. But on a side note, I found it hilarious that everywhere you go on the island, there are chickens. At the nice resort, chickens, at the top of a canyon, chickens, at the beach, chickens! It cracked me up the whole time.

The same day, we drove up the the north side of the island to check out these cliffs and light house. It was a great view, and we planned on walking down to the lighthouse. We found out you had to drive down and pay at that. So being the cheap vacationers we are, we took pictures from a distance. This is what they made zoom lenses for!

It makes you sick how cute she is, doesn't it? This is even after an hour long car ride. We are so lucky.

After the lighthouse we decided we might as well stop and have some dinner, so we stopped in to a sushi place in Hannelei. Once again, Iz and Zach, I told you they were inseparable. We had the worst waiter I have ever had. He was horrible. Completely ignored us most of the time. But it was really fresh good sushi.

Iz had so much fun she passed out cold on the way home.

Before we took Zach and Claire to the airport, we decided to get some family photos. I hope when everyone gets these pictures in their Christmas cards this year, they once again, relive the jealousy that they feel now. :) Just kidding, kind of.
On a lighter note, I thought about kicking those stones for tearing up my back, but using my better judgement, I decided to refrain from that.

Goodness I have a great looking family.

And now back to the stuff you guys really want to see.... Iz.

Our cute little island girl. She loved every second of the trip. Except the beach. Not a fan of the beach. Too much sand or something.

Posing it up in the hotel. She loved my hat for some reason. It made for some really cute pictures. Our hotel was so great. Iz made herself right at home.

So after we failed on the trip to the beach, we decided to take Iz to the pool. She loves baths, so we figured this is like a big bath, outside! But before we could go, we had to have a photo shoot. She loved being in her bikinis and hat.

At first, Iz wasn't so sure about the water, but after a little while, she was alright with it.

By the end, she was kicking and splashing and having a blast. She is definitely going to be a water girl.

Izzy and her flower, the Hibiscus.
Geez she is getting so big. It is ridiculous. I can't believe she is already 8 months old! I'll update everyone at the end of the blog.

More random pictures of everyone's favorite girl!

My little surfin' girl! We could not miss this opportunity at an awesome photo. It was at this tourist trap just outside the town our hotel was in. It was great fun.

Izzy and Kat both had fun walking around looking at all the beautiful flowers that were there.

Man, I am one lucky dude.
Kat's favorite flower on the island, the plumeria. At least I think that is the right spelling.

Well now for the awesome before and after pictures. Before....
Also a great picture of Izzy!

And after! The Plumeria for Kat, The Hibiscus for Izzy, and a Hydrangea for me! And more flowers can be added on if at some point there is an addition to our little family!

On a side note, I got a tattoo of a Polynesian mask and the same flowers on my right calf. I forgot to take pictures of it, so I could not put it on the blog. Kat's is the cooler one of the two anyways.
Oh and I also surprised Kat by getting a K tattooed on my ring finger.

The last night we had on the island, we went to a Luau, which was one of the best things we did on the island. It was at this gorgeous park.

The conch ceremony prior to pulling the pig out of the imu.

Izzy stole the show at dinner. Everyone at our table was just watching her put on a show smiling and clapping for everyone. She also got to eat a bit of poi, which no one else was a big fan of, but she seemed to like it just fine.

After the dinner of Kalua pork, terryaki beef, chicken adobo, sweet and sour ono, and a ton of great sides, we went down to the lagoon and watched a show. Iz was not content with sitting in the bleachers they had set up, so we sat on the grass and played the whole show.

The show was entertaining. It featured a lot of hula dancing, which Kat and I decided that we could live without, but the Mauri war chant was pretty cool.

This was some fire dancers that had fire on chains, I just thought it made for a really cool picture.

And to close out the show. The real fire dancer. He was spectacular.

Well, that brings our trip to a close. We were so bummed about leaving. But flying back first class was pretty cool. We had a great time and we plan on going back as soon as we can. If you all get the chance to go, take it.

This is just a portion of our trip. We also ate our way through Kauai, but that would make for an even longer blog post, so you can ask about that individually.

Buuuuut, now for an 8 month update on Izzy. She is huge! She crawls all over the place and pulls herself up to standing on everything she can get her little hands on. She eats like a horse and sleeps 10 hours a night(currently still on Hawaii time, so its mostly in the morning... uhg). She is 27" tall and she feels like she weighs 45 lbs, but I'll have a more accurate number next blog. Currently she has 2, count them, 2 teeth coming in, but even through this, we could not ask for a better kid. She's doing great thanks to all the help and prayers from everyone. We thank God for her everyday!

Well that's about all I have for now, I promise that next blog post will be soon! We have a lot of pictures from the last two months to go through so we might just put some of those up here! Aloha!