Our Last Day

Well it is our last day on Kauai. We had such a wonderful time. We enjoyed so many things on this vacation, but the best thing was to be with family. We only get a dose every now and then and it is always sad to see them go home.

We had a great time though......laughter, kayaking, hiking, swimming, a luau, sunbathing, bonfires on the beach, movies, board games, delicious food(thanks dan), shopping, bbqing, memory bracelet making, long drives in a small car(AHHHH, I appreciated my mini van), mornings w/ Great Grandma(from the kids), reading, bike riding, sight seeing, walks on the beach, sunrise and sunset, collecting shells, roosters in the morning(afternoon and evening), and great memories.

So today we just hung out at the house and packed. We tried to take a walk but a big storm rolled in from the ocean and we had to run home. So, what do you do in a six bedroom 4,500 sq ft house? Play hide and seek of course; FUN!

Then we went into the town of Kapa'a to the fair. We went into this shop and bought Red Dirt Shirts. I had never heard of it but I loved the story behind the shirts. Talk about when life gives you lemons make lemonade. On September 11, 1992 the flooding of hurricane Iniki damaged so many shirts at Paradise Sportswear..they were on the verge of financial ruin. To save the shirts and the company, they developed a dirt dyeing process using Hawaiian red dirt. The shirts are manually dyed by the people of Kauai. Of course it didn't hurt that they gave us a 50 % discount because we are military. We bought four shirts.
Mikaela's has a picture of a rooster on it and says"Kauai's bird of paradise-not endangered". Ethan's shirt says " Red dirt squirt". Dad's shirt says "Life's short, play dirty". My shirt has the Red Dirt Rules on the back which says:
1. When the "One Great Scorer" comes to mark beside your name, It matters not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game.
2. No one stands so tall as when they stoop to help a child.
3. The Lord will not give you a burden you cannot carry, when Life is hard, it shows He knows your strength.
4. Success is a journey, not a Destination.
5. Love is not put in your heart to stay, Love is not Love till you give it away.
6. The harder you work, the luckier you get.
7. Morality is what you do when nobody is looking.
8. Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow never comes, so make Today count.
9. Red Dirt Ethic: Voluntary Commitment to a Higher Standard.
10. How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.

Some good advice on the back of that Red Dirt Shirt! http://www.dirtshirt.com/