{ Kaua'i 2011 ~ Part I }

Ahhhh, blogger! There you are! So nice to see you again.

It's been more than two weeks since we returned from our third honeymoon.

{First honeymoon = Oahu, July 2009.

Second honeymoon = Lopez Island, July 2010.

Third honeymoon = Kauai, July 2011.}

I am suffering from a severe case of "blog-dread," a dire condition brought on by a variety of circumstances. In my case, it's a compound situation: so many wonderful memories I want to share; 1,064 photos to choose from.....once they are edited {and this is progress, folks! I took 1,425 photos on the trip and have already weeded out almost four hundred duds!}; and just generally feeling overwhelmed by how lovely our time in Hawaii was, and the knowledge that whatever I blog about it will fall far short of the reality of how altogether good this vacation was. I think the only way to get oneself out of blog-dread is by actually blogging, so here goes!

We booked our condo in Princeville {Kauai's north coast} through Kauai Vacation Rentals. I took this photo from our lanai {balcony}--can you believe the view?! We were perched on a bluff looking over the ocean, and for someone who has a continual love affair with the colors of the sea, I had no idea how mesmerizing a coral reef in shallow water can be. It was so gorgeous. To be able to glance out the window and see those colors--it was unreal!

Here's a better view of the reef, again taken from our lanai. The units are designed in such a way that no matter what unit you are in, you cannot see any other units. Pretty cool.

This is Kilauea Lighthouse, the northernmost point in the Hawaiian Islands. It was a 15-minute drive from our condo--you can barely see it in the first photo in this post, between the palm trees.

I love cemeteries. I know this seems very strange and morbid to many people, but I grew up knowing a cemetery as a happy, peaceful place full of memories and beauty. I like to explore cemeteries and read epitaphs, imaging what life was like for the people memorialized there. {I think this might be a peculiarly homeschool-girl tendency, because the only other people I know who also like cemeteries are homeschooled girls like myself.} So when we drove by this darling Episcopal church in Kilauea, built entirely of stone, with stunning stained glass windows, and surrounded by a cemetery, we had to stop.

Isn't the tombstone below amazing? From India to Kauai, a physician; and when he died, he was only thirty years old. I love what the stone says at the bottom: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." That verse was carved into many of the headstones in this cemetery. What clear-eyed faith in Jesus' life and eternity with Him, to carve that on a tombstone!

From our condo complex, there is a 10-minute trail to a secluded little beach {below}. I use the word "trail" lightly, since from where Mike is standing, you pretty much clutch whatever hand- and foot-holds you can find on a lava-rock face to get from where he's standing to the beach. Once you are there, it's SO secluded and lush, with verdant trees arching over a good portion of the sandy beach, offering plenty of shade, and the coral reef coming in quite close to the shore.

The view from our spot on the beach.

More to come--much, much more!