Kauai Sunset and the big day is here!

Have you ever wondered what keeps clouds suspended in the sky? 

 

I thought this worked nicely for Illustration Friday - Suspend

It's funny and very telling that one of my favorite journal pieces is this watercolor sunset I painted from our lanai looking north over the bluffs of Princeville.  It only took me 15 minutes...which is maybe why it looks so good to me.  I didn't have time to over think and mess it up!

In other big news...we have a new puppy...AND...a new kitty!  The new kitty actually came 10 days ago.  We decided it would be fun to have a kitten and a puppy grow up together.

Meet Io the kitty and Oberon the pup.

Io wasted no time taking charge.  Here she is stalking Obi.

All the excitement wore Obi out.

Io likes to help me work.

Flowers of Hawaii

Flowers! 

Page from my journal

Random floral beauty from Kauai:

 

  

 

 

 

Refresh

I love a good Mai Tai.  Unfortunately the one & only Mai Tai I ordered in Kauai wasn't so good, but maybe that was a good thing...because I didn't order another and another...and it was one of my goals...to go easy on the Mai Tai's!



Acrylic on canvas pad.

 This is for Illustration Friday - Refresh. 
I had a tough time with the reflection of the glass on the table, which is supposed to be granite, by the way, but I think it turned out nicely.

Kauai Vacation Journal - Goals

I've never kept a travel journal that includes art before.  I've never made goals for vacation before, either...but I wanted to start my journal the night before we left so making goals made perfect sense.

 

So how did I do?

That's me!  Hanalei Bay

The kids paddled too...not always standing! (Only two of these kids are mine...we met friends)

I did eat healthy...but making s'mores on the beach is not to be missed!

Art. Every day.

Click here to see journal art from the day we snorkeled at Tunnels. 

The first of many shave ices.  My favorite flavor was coconut with macadamia nut ice cream in the bottom.

Hiking Pihea Trail

Hiking Kalalau Trail

 And no...I won't show any pics of #9.

Kauai Eye Candy

Just a trio of Kauai pictures from our trip.

Kalalau Valley

Hanalei Bay

Na Pali coast hike

Illustration Friday - Space

 

It's a stretch to be sure but this is from my journal and is the view from Tunnels Beach on the island of Kauai where the reef is so large it can be seen from space.

We are just back form a two week vacation (see my previous post) and I just couldn't think of anything else but this watercolor.  One of my vacation goals (yes, I had goals!) was to creat art every day.  This was drawn sandy & wet on the beach in between snorkeling with watercolor pencils and then filled in with watercolors back in our vacation pad in the evening.

Trip vs. Vacation...Two Weeks in Paradise

I'm back from a long stay on the lovely island of Kauai.  In every way this was a dream vacation, in the works for the last two years, the dates solidified 12 long months ago, the longest vacation we have ever taken with our children.

The plane ride was easy, the weather when we arrived perfect! 

Since we had a kitchen our first stop was Costco where we loaded up on 2 weeks worth of groceries and headed up to Princeville.  Not eating out every meal saved us the GDP of a small country but here's the thing...I had to COOK.  And every morning I had to make FOUR different kind of sandwiches to satisfy four different diets.

Oh, don't get me wrong.  Everything was perfect.  Except the kids STILL BICKERED.  And they STILL GOT BORED.  Bored???  In paradise? 

My perfect Kauai vacation involves a lot of relaxing, reading by the pool or at the beach, maybe doing some art.  It also involves a lot of activity...snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, running. 

The kids idea of the perfect vacation was watching as much TV as they wanted and then violently trying to dunk me in the not-quite-warm-enough pool.  Hiking was too hard.  Kayaking was only cool for the first 30 minutes, then it was too hard.  Snorkeling was too hard and it was scary...too much current...we might see an eel!

I imagined a vacation not just from the stresses of my job but also from the every day stresses of home. Never did I consider that our vacation would be filled with stresses of a different kind! We've taken many vacations with the kids and all have been pretty wonderful.  I'm not sure why this trip was different, but it was, and three days in I was ready to call it quits and head home!

Then I came across this quote that had me laughing and put things into perspective:

A "trip" is what you take with children,

a "vacation" is when you leave them at home

I realized that traveling with children is not necessarily easy but I'd rather deal with the bickering and boredom in paradise than at home.  And even with all the unexpected stress the family time was priceless and the memories made will last a lifetime.  The hard moments are already fading from memory, kind of like childbirth...and as I download the more than 500 pictures I took I am in awe of the beauty that surrounded us for two weeks and can't wait to go back.