Christmas in January

Not really, but I'm finally getting around to posting about it...

I spent Christmas in San Diego with the grandkids, Jonathan and Mara - oh, and their parents too. The kids always like to do crafty things when I come, so I brought my paints and some glass ornaments.

Soon it was Christmas Eve, and the kids made sure they left some treats for Santa and the reindeer.

Looks like Santa was here - lots of presents and the treats were gone.

On your mark, get set, GO!

They got lots of Legos, and other cool stuff.

Coco got a new friend.

And it looks like Prince stole Santa's hat!

On the refrigerator, they keep track of how much money each of the kids have. Hmmmm.... I think I can see who the spender is, and who the saver is.




I recently got a ukulele, and the kids wanted to learn how to play. They did really well. Brian also had one, so they could each play.




Mara decided she should have do the hula while Jonathan played.

On Christmas afternoon, we went over to Brian's parents house for a fantastic meal. They have more decorations than you have ever seen! This is only a small part of them, in the room where the kids ate.

I really liked the "Naughty or Nice Detective Agency."

It was a great time!

And don't forget my new granddaughter, who lives in Virginia. Maybe next year I can be there! She's getting so big.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Just a couple last pictures of paradise. We took a last swim in the condo swimming pool, complete with a waterfall.

And had our last meal on the lovely plates provided with the condo. I really liked them....

Then it was time to leave Kauai.

We changed planes in Honolulu - a very unique open-air airport.

I was amazed at all the skyscrapers in Honolulu - glad I was in Kauai.

Leaving Honolulu, we got a glimpse of the smaller islands of the Hawaiian Island chain.

After recovering from our trip, I proceeded to Yuma to join up with the WINs for our Christmas/New Years gathering. We stay behind the VFW, a horrible place complete with trains, planes and automobiles. But it's free and we can all fit there.

One of the first things we did was see the Parade of Lights in the Foothills, where there were many ATVs decked out in lights.

After that we went to 55th Street, the prize package of Christmas decorations.

Good night! Always great sunsets here.

Kayaking in Kauai

You can go on a tour up the Wailua River, but we chose to rent a boat and go by ourselves. We ended up with a canoe with kayak paddles, but it worked well.

And we got this crappy map for free. Our goal was to paddle to the trailhead for Secret Falls, hike to the falls, then kayak to the Fern Grotto.

Once we found the trail, it was fairly easy to follow.

There were some water crossings. This wasn't the worst, but I was too busy trying not to float away on the really bad one to get a picture.

We must be getting close - I think this smaller falls is the Queen's Bath. There was also supposed to be a King's Bath, but we didn't see it.

Wow! Uluwehi Falls, aka Secret Falls, is a beauty!

Hi there! Although there are chickens all over Kauai, they tend to gather at touristy spots. They know where the food is.

After we managed to find the boat again, we paddled farther upstream to the Fern Grotto.

The big boat that provides the tours to the grotto was leaving when we got there, so we had the place to ourselves.

The grotto is a natural amphitheater filled with ferns.

The ferns grow upside down from the ceiling of the lava-rock grotto.

After we returned our canoe, we got to tour the Kamokila Hawaiian Village for free, since that's where we rented the boat. Lots of peacocks and peahens there.