JULY 14, 2008: "Splouting Horn"

Today we decided to mix things up a bit and only sun in the morning so that we could sightsee and shop some in the afternoon. We go to see Spouting Horn every time we are here and it never ceases to amaze us. We can just stand there and watch it all day. It gets pretty addicting trying to catch the perfect shot of the water blowing up out of the ocean too. Rhonda has never been to Kauai so she hasn't seen the Spouting Horn yet and Ryan was only a little over 2 when we were here last time so they were both in for a treat.

We started our trip to Poipu area by stopping off at the Poipu Shopping Village. Mainly because all of us ladies wanted to go to Na Hoku and see if any jewelry called our name. They specialize in the beautiful Hawaiian Heirloom jewelry that we have come to love. We got the worst sales lady ever (which never happens there as they are wonderful with customer service and making everything right) but this lady was horrible. She followed Rhonda all over the store and told Grandma that she had "showed this lady everything and she just wasn't interested". Truth be told, Rhonda wasn't interested in her. Tom and Michelle were looking for something to commemorate the special vow renewal, but she was not very nice to us either. She told us that she didn't have the ring I wanted in stock and that we would have to order online as she had done special orders before and she would never do that again as it was just too much of a hassle for the small amount that she made. After she huffed and puffed about how she was missing out on sales while we were trying to ask some more questions, we gave up and moved on. Fortunately, we have shopped at Na Hoku enough to know that is a once in a lifetime experience with their sales people. They just aren't like that. She had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, not retired early enough, or put her underwear on sideways apparently because she was in quite the mood! Michelle checked with the other Na Hoku on the island which is at the beautiful Grand Hyatt Resort & Spa, and they were happy to take care of the arrangements if we wanted to come in later than evening. We decided we would do just that after we took a family trip to the Spouting Horn.

The Spouting Horn was beautiful as always, but the day was pretty calm with not much wind, so the waves weren't splashing up quite as regularly as we'd seen in the past. It still gave a really great show though and everyone snapped lots of pictures and thought it was really neat. It gets its name from the horn like sound it makes when the water enters into the hole and blows out. Ryan thought that sounded really cool and he said "I love the Splouting Horn, I fink a monster lives inside and doesn't like to get his hair wet!" He was convinced that someone was in there making a roaring sound and not liking getting wet, but everytime the "monster roared and got his hair wet" Ryan thought it was funny. I think he could have stood there and watched for a really long time. We got there late enough that the vendors that sell Hawaiian pots, baskets, jewelry, etc were closing up for the day. Tom and Michelle usually find some neat trinkets there, so we thought maybe we'd come back later in the week.

After we were done there, Ryan rode in Dave, Rhonda & Jason's car. They were headed to Walmart (yes even paradise has a Walmart!) to get some swimming noodles so that the kids could play with them in the water. Courtney didn't want to go with us to get our jewelry, so she headed back with Grandma & Grandpa and we would meet up with everyone to eat dinner in little bit.

Tom and Michelle got to the Hyatt and it was gorgeous! We decided quickly that we thought it was neat we were finding our special rings here because it was right next to the beach all of us had renewed our vows at over the weekend. The Hyatt is a big place, so it took us some time to find where to park since we weren't guests there and where to go inside the huge lobby to find the Na Hoku store. Once we found it though, they were very helpful and got Michelle's ring sized, ordered and gave us some special information on the Maile (pronounced MY-leh)leave that is on the ring. Here is the info on the Maile leaf:

The Maile Leaf grows on vines in the rain forests of Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii. In ancient times, only Ali'i (pronounced a-lee-ee which means kings and queens) were allowed the honor of wearing these beautiful fragrant leis, and only during special or religious ceremonies. A maile lei represents Aloha (love), Ho'ohanohano (honor), and Mahalo (respect). Today, maile leis are worn during wedding ceremonies by the bride and groom, or given to someone who has achieved something special.

We decided this ring had a lot of neat symbolism and it complimented my other rings nicely. We were also able to find a complimenting ring for Tom that he could wear on his right hand too that had the Maile leaf pattern on it. Both rings are on order and will be here in 3-5 weeks! Here is a picture of Michelle's ring:

While we were getting our rings custom ordered, our poor family back at the condo was starving. After they were able to get ahold of us, it was decided that they would go ahead and eat and we'd meet up in a little bit since the kids were wanting to swim after dinner and it was already almost 8pm. They chose to eat at Bubba's Burgers, and we'd meet up with them later. Bubba's was okay, we felt they were a bit greasy compared to our perfectly grilled burgers by Dave earlier in the week, but it was dinner and it was fairly quick so the kiddies could get going with their swimming.

The swim noodles provided lots of splashing and entertainment and Rhonda and Michelle decided they evidentally were much more than floatational devices because the kids used them to make fountains, karate chop and numerous other things. The kids have all had fun swimming and have tried to make it a nightly thing to go back and swim after dinner. The hard part is convincing an adult to want to go with them since Ryan is still young enough that he needs someone in there. Dave was usually up to the task though and sometimes Tom could be convinced to join in the cooler evening swim too.

Tomorrow....gee, how about more sunning, shopping, good eating??