Hanakoa Falls, Hanalei Labor Day

 Have I made it clear from my last 10 blog posts that we have island fever?  A mad case of ants-in-the-pants?  A hiking/adventure bug begging to be scratched?  Well, we scratched that itch the last Saturday in August.  Whitney, our go-to babysitter, watched our kids for the day while we hiked to Hanakoa Falls, which is almost 7 miles in on the Kalalau Trail (our GPS says the round trip was 16.6 miles, but that seems off to us...it has to be about 14, maybe 15 at best).

 We were lucky with incredible weather.  As always, the first two miles were crowded.  After that, it was basically us alone the entire time.

 This is my 3rd attempt hiking to this falls, but only the 2nd time there.  Hiking is only 30% about destinations to me, but boyohboy, this is an incredible destination and we had it all to ourselves for 45 minutes.  We could have stayed longer, but hey, we were on the clock.  Tick, tick!

My knee is injured and I can't run, so it was super to get another form of cardio in, and my knee handled the trek well.

 Like every other 3-year-old, Kate is obsessed with flowers, so we snapped some shots in between picking ripe guava off the trail.

 Why get island fever?  I don't know.  I think it's the mortgage payment and facing the reality that we planted roots.  Not such a bad thing when you check out this view.

It's true: I only have one pose (and one hiking outfit):

 Here's a picture we've captured probably 20 times in our blogging life:

 We made it up to our kids on Monday (Labor Day) with a full day at Hanalei with friends.  Kate won the award that day for "Coolest Kid Ever" with two full hours of paddle boarding with me and Brady.  Here are way more pictures than I needed to include.

Standing by herself:

 People were clapping for her in the water.  She waved, and then proceeded to do what she always does when people give her attention: ballet poses.

 She insisted on paddling herself:

 There weren't many waves, but Zac, Tanner, and Garrett skim boarded for hours anyway.

 Brady let her have a go alone (close to shore).  She fell off at one point, and I thought I heard her screaming.  Nope, she was belly laughing.

 Brady got in a mini-photo shoot for Reef.  Such a good beach baby!

 I don't get tired of beach run pictures.  Kate is finally picking up her knees when she runs, and getting a little faster.  Zac is smoking fast.

 More paddle boarding from Round 2 to see the "Pirate Ship"--a boat with a pirate flag.

We've put our OCD on hold for a while to enjoy some family time and recreation.  It seems like there will always be house stuff waiting for us when we get back, but right now, we have some catching up to do on fun.  The boxes are unpacked, closets finished, and stairs finally in.  We'll have handles on our cabinets, screens on all the windows, and blinds installed soon enough.  For now, we play.