Wow... Three years since my last post?

A lot has happened... We've been to Spain and Costa Rica, among other places. I got older and slightly fatter. We had a car accident here or there. But mostly, my kids have grown up.

What I've discovered is that there's a lot my parents didn't pass along regarding parenting teenagers. Especially mobile teenagers. When I would approach my dad with plans for Friday night that didn't quite pass the sniff test, he'd say "That doesn't sound like a great idea." 

What he neglected to tell me is that NONE of it sounds like a good idea.

Teenage drivers going to the drive-in (!)... Black teenage son...  Bad parts of town... Blond teenage girls... Late night drive home...Ten people shoved in the car... 

But I try to make decisions that let Grant live his life and enjoy these years while still providing a modicum of safety as his guardian. As I make these parenting decisions, I know I jacked up by the amount of excitement he displays when I agree to his plans. In this particular case, I got a "YESSSSS!!!!" accompanied by a fist pump and him running like he was shot out of a cannon to report back to his friends.

In that moment, I knew I'd blown the parenting call.

But hopefully by 16, we've laid the groundwork and he has the good sense to stay safe. But like I remember my own parents saying, it's not him I worry about. It's the rest of humanity. Stay safe, y'all.

Lockdown

Similar to what most of the mainland is experiencing, we're on complete lockdown here in Kauai. No beaches. No dine-in restaurants. No tourist activities. Obviously this limits what you can do, so we're spending lots of time in our room watching TV, taking quick walks to watch the waves roll in (our condo is on a hill above the beach), and ordering take out.

Overall, Hawaii is understandably making a push to clear out all visitors. We talked with the general manager of our condo complex, and he said that his development isn't even allowing visitors to come here and quarantine in their rooms. They actively canceled all incoming reservations.

All of this hasn't stopped my ice cream consumption.

And it hasn't seemed to have had any impact on all of Kauai's famous roosters. This one attacked our windshield as we ate carryout Cuban food in our car.

But on the whole, these last few days have been very slow here. Glad to see Netflix released a new season of Ozarks.

In other news, we had a very candid discussion with Trent about sex this morning. He was glad he talked to us about it, as he previously thought that sex was "something inappropriate you do after a nice dinner." Glad we got that cleared up.

Staying at "Home"

So we've moved into a two bedroom condo in Princeville on Kauai's north shore. It's nice to have a full kitchen and plenty of work space now that Hawaii is under a "stay at home" order similar to other states. But we can still go to the grocery store, walk outside, and sit and watch whales in the surf from our balcony. Similar to the mainland though, everyone is keeping their distance.

Speaking of groceries, we keep seeing the stories from Indy about empty grocery stores. The grocery store here was fully stocked as of this afternoon. Plenty of milk, eggs, pasta, TP, etc. Crazy different from Indy.

Grace and I were able to take a quick hike this morning to a peak overlooking Hanalei Bay. Grace even adopted a pet chicken.

Our plan is still to just stay put. There are currently three cases of COVID-19 on Kauai, and it doesn't appear to be spreading. So with plenty of food, space, and views, I think we'll be good for a while.

Nā Pali Coast and Whale Watching

Today was pretty awesome. We have had virtually all of our plans canceled on this trip due to the virus. But the one that hadn't yet canceled was a high speed raft tour of the Nā Pali Coast, which was honestly the one we most looked forward to. So I called the charter company, and they said they were done touring...after today. If we could come down this morning early, they would take us out.

So we got up at 5:30am and drove to Waimea to board a high speed raft. The raft in itself was an experience. We sat down on the side of the raft, and then it took off like a shot. In Grant's mind, it made up for the terrible hike (his words) yesterday. We toured up the Nā Pali Coast, which has been the setting for a host of movies, including the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the dinosaur island in Jurassic Park. It was gorgeous. We didn't take many pictures, because we were holding on for dear life. But there are lots of pictures on the web.

On our way back, the boat took us out to watch for whales. That, too, was amazing. Literally a whale the size of a minivan was about 15 feet from our boat, splashing around and flipping her tail up in the air. In the end, we saw probably a half dozen whales. Here's a quick video that clearly doesn't do it justice.

All tourist activities in Kauai are closed until further notice. We're moving into a condo tomorrow, where we will try to live a relatively normal existence...just with the ability to watch whales from our balcony in a 70 degree island breeze.

Week 1 down...

This morning was work as ususal, but I (Erin) only had one official meeting, so I worked by the pool all morning. It was glorious.

After work, we headed for a hike I picked. I had read that it was exceedingly muddy no matter when you decided to go (much less after the storm of the decade), but the weather was glorious, and we needed some fresh air--so we went.

It started out with oohs and aahs, and somewhere those turned into tears and curse words (don't judge--keeping it real). Bret is going to tell you that it "wasn't that hard," but there were multiple times that my foot was so sumberged into slipply, slidey, ankle twisting mud that my shoe came off. Literally mud up to your calf kind of mud.

We made it to the first waterfall which boasted cliff jumping, but none of us partook. So we walked and slid and cried our way to the next waterfall. We could swim at the bottom, and it had a rope swing... and WE HAD IT TO OURSELVES, PEOPLE! Well, except for the bugs that ate Grace alive (despite the bug spray with deet). She looked like a contestant on Survivor, but the girl never complained (can't say the same for her mama).

The hike back out was better than the hike in. Perhaps it dried up some in the afternoon heat. Perhaps we just knew that death was probably not likely. Though at one point, Trent told me there was an upcoming dangerous part, only to follow it up with, "Don't worry. You've had a good run."

Day 6: Looking Up and social distancing

After what was called the worst storm in a decade (great timing), the clouds parted! Bret and I are both working early morning hours (think 3 a.m.), so we are usually done for the day around 12.

Today, thanks to the clear skies, we hit the road for some sunshine.

First, we headed to the Kauai Coffee Company where there is an outdoor walk that ushers you through coffee production on the island. Then, we headed to glass beach to play in the black sand and search for sea glass. Both locations were completely empty.

My only fail of the day: Grant's beach outfit. He insists he thought we were grabbing lunch, and his Run DMC outfit didn't quite fit the Mahalo vibe. I like how he's drinking coffee with one hand and taking what was a terrible picture with the other.

From there, we headed for a hike in the Makauwahi Cave Reserve. The hike landed us at a secluded stretch of beach where there was more shell searching, wave jumping and afternoon sunshine. 

Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel beach. The kids played with the debris from the storm, cracking open coconuts (or trying) and "spear fishing" as Trent calls it. We, again, were almost completely alone.

We ate dinner outside near the pool where I taught Trent how to play BlackJack which I am calling math. Step off--real homeschoolers. This is how I am rolling. 

Tomorrow is still another work day, but with the rain at bay, we're hopeful for another great afternoon. 

Rain, rain, and more rain - Day 5

No pictures today, just more rain. And more rain. And more rain. Hawaii is now restricting restaurants to take-out, so we grabbed food and ate by the pool under cover. Additionally, our ATV tour and luau for next week have both been canceled, which was expected. While not the trip that any of us expected, we're still enjoying being able to look out the window and see the pool, mountains, etc. Hopefully the torrential rains stop today, and we can actually get out and go for walks. These kids are starting to destroy this hotel room. Additionally, Erin and I have both worked full time this week. We've been getting up at 4am, which has been rough. We're both officially on time-off next week, so we plan to at least sleep in. Like everyone else, we're just trying to make the best of the situation.