Little Radio Stars
We set up our Blue Yeti Microphone and had a fun day a while back recording the kids. They wanted to sing some songs and tell stories.
I think we have a few radio stars. Below are the recordings we made:
Megan’s Recordings:
Megan Singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Row-Your-Boat-Megan.mp3|titles=Row Your Boat, Megan]
Megan Singing the song, but with a little editing, we’ve put it into a round:
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Row-Your-Boat-Round-Megan.mp3|titles=Row Your Boat Round, Megan]
Megan took a moment to record a little from the beginning of the Rapunzel story.
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Rapunzel-Megan.mp3|titles=Rapuzel Story Retelling]
Megan wanted to tell the story of the Three Little Kittens from the movie Despicable Me. She tells the story as Mr. Gru with his deep voice read the story to the little kids in the movie:
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Three-Little-Kittens-Megan.mp3|titles=Three Little Kittens]
Now some stories and songs from Autumn:
Autumn arranged the song below by herself:
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Hot-Cross-Buns-Peter-Peter-Pumpkin-Eater-Retelling-Autumn.mp3|titles=Songs by Autumn]
Autumn sang Row Your Boat:
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Row-Your-Boat-Autumn.mp3|titles=Row Your Boat, Autumn]
Autumn wanted to tell the Story of Star Wars:
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Star-Wars-Retelling-Autumn.mp3|titles=Star Wars Retelling, Autumn]
Megan and Autumn sang Pearly Shells:
[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-pearly-shells-Autumn-and-Megan.mp3|titles=Pearly Shells, Autumn and Megan]
The girls had a lot of fun recording the songs. They had even more fun listening to them over and over again.
Read MoreSinging Disney Songs on YouTube
Nick Pitera is a Pixar animator, and also has quite the singing voice. We showed the video to the girls and they loved it.
Nick sings the roles of heroine, hero, villain, and chorus, in this melody of Disney songs.
Read MoreKauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach
Our last full day on the Island of Kauai. We spent 10 days on the Island, and nine full days.
Angie wanted to ride the bike trail, so we rented some bikes and tour a bike tour (about 8 miles we were told) along the shore.
We reached the end of the path.
We then decided to head back to a beach we had been to before: Poipu Beach.
Angie and I snorkeled there, and we did determine that my mask leaked quite a bit, but we did see tons of fish right in the little bay. It was amazing how many fish were there.
The picture above shows one half of Poipu called “Baby Beach.” It’s very shallow, and hardly any waves because it’s a protected cove.
Shelley and Rob told us there were there when the saw a shark about 4-6 feet in length enter the area. Everyone cleared out except for one guy who was snorkeling.
He looked up and saw that everyone was out of the swimming area and standing on the beach, and he hurried out.
The shark swam in there for a while and then left.
The picture above is looking out the other way to the other half of Poipu where we went snorkeling. You can see all the heads of the people out there snorkeling as well as someone standing on one of those standing board things (I forget the name).
After Poipu, we decided to head to a lookout point that is right off the road that I had wanted to stop at. It looks out to the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
We then went with Rob and Shelley to their neighbor’s ice cream shop and had a treat.
We headed back to the airport in the evening, and discovered a lot of people there waiting in the security line. Apparently, there were a number of large flights taking off that evening.
We made it through okay, but just remember, you can’t take fruit (apples, bananas) into the airport.
We flew all night and made it home safe, and brought back some dresses for the girls.
Megan wasn’t too excited about taking pictures.
They also got some paper dolls.
It was a fantastic trip. One to remember for a lifetime…
Read what happened the previous days in our adventure:
- Kauai Day 1
- Kauai Day 2 – North Shore
- Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks
- Kauai Day 4 – Whales!
- Kauai Day 5 – Church & Kipu Falls
- Kauai Day 6 – Grand Canyon & Baby Whale
- Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
- Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
- Kauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach
Read More
Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
We got up early and headed to Shipwrecks Beach to watch the sunrise.
We then spent some time relaxing and reading on the beach near Shipwrecks and came upon another Monk Seal.
We walked by the Hyatt again by the shore and snapped a quick pick of a small crane-like bird. There was even a bigger one we saw near this one.
We drove back to Rob and Shelley’s to get ready to a trip to Polihale.
About Polihale:
Polihale State Park is a remote wild beach on the western side of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It is the western most publicly accessible area in Hawaii, although the privately owned island of Niihau is further west. The beach is miles away from the town of Kekaha, and it can only be reached via poorly marked, dirt sugarcane roads, making a four wheel drive vehicle preferable. The park is several miles long, yet only Queen’s Pond offers safe swimming.
The park is located at the western end of Kauai and has many miles of shoreline that averages about 300 feet from the barrier dunes to the surf line. Sand dunes along the beach can reach heights nearing 100 feet. Driving on the beach is permitted, but obtaining a tow truck would be expensive. The only road to the park is dirt, with many ruts and potholes, and is difficult to access by non-4WD vehicles. The park is located to the north of the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The beach is flanked to the north by the Na Pali Coast mountain ridges. On the east side park is adjacent to the field used for agriculture, that is in turn adjacent to the mountain ridge. Mountains are so close that at night park visitors can hear goats bleating on this ridge. Road access is west from the town of Kekaha. A good local map will be needed. Source: Polihale State Park. (2010, October 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:33, March 7, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polihale_State_Park&oldid=389355211
The road leading to Polihale is a dirt road, it looked a little wet in a couple places at first…
Then, it started to look pretty wet…
There was a huge stretch of mud in the road. We’d dip down a foot or two into the muddy water. We sure hoped we’d make it because no one wanted to get out and push or walk home.
Fortunately, Rob got us through.
The beach was amazing. Looking out to the ocean though, it looked like a storm was brewing. We didn’t want to get caught in something on the way back.
Next to the road for a long portion of the ride, theres a ditch. It looked like when it rains a lot, the ditch overflows making the road conditions treacherous.
Ah, the beginning of the Na Pali coast.
You can see the storm clouds moving in.
We passed these cliffs on our boat ride and on our helicopter tour.
We saw a whale from the shore!
Given that we faced dangerous roads on the journey, the threat of rain, but also the unique and remote beach, the beautiful cliffs, we weren’t prepared to see a funnel cloud form off the shore….
We took lots of pictures, but started to get concerned when we felt the storm and rain were moving our way.
Is the salmon ready yet?!
But every cloud has its silver lining, and as we finished up our dinner as fast as we could, we spotted a rainbow.
Beautiful.
We were able to catch a little bit of the sun there as it set.
Then it was back to facing the road.
Polihale was awesome. We’re glad that we went.
Read what happened next in our adventure:
- Kauai Day 1
- Kauai Day 2 – North Shore
- Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks
- Kauai Day 4 – Whales!
- Kauai Day 5 – Church & Kipu Falls
- Kauai Day 6 – Grand Canyon & Baby Whale
- Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
- Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
- Kauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach
Read More
Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
At the start of our trip, we discussed a helicopter ride as something that we might do. Lots of other activities were so tempting, but we decided that it would be fun to experience.
The weather presented a challenge however. It was hard to choose a day because of the clouds and the rain. Just the day prior the Grand Canyon area was covered in clouds.
We made our decision though and booked the flight the day before. The scheduler for the helicopter company told us that we’d be guaranteed the front row seats because of our weight…lightest in the front…thank you, healthy eating!!!
Deciding which company to go with presented a challenge as well. There were long tours, short tours and a few tours that landed somewhere on the island.
We found out one of the tours lands at the same waterfall where the helicopter in Jurassic Park lands…how could we not do that one? Just before deciding on which tour, we found out that one of our starter business projects had brought in a little extra money which would almost exactly cover our upgrade to the flight that lands…so we went for it!
Our helicopter as it brought back the first flight of the day. You’d think they’d land coming straight down, but they don’t.
< Video to come soon >
The weather was picture perfect. Clear skies. Here, we’ve already taken off.
See the big cruise ship? It’s huge compared to the Marriott in the foreground.
We flew right along the ridges.
Flying over one of the ridges (what seemed like just feet above the top), the pilot started playing “Born to be Wild” from his iPod which piped the music through the headsets we were wearing. The picture above isn’t crooked because I’m holding the camera funny. The pilot zoomed us down and we angled left and right. It was awesome! He was going fast too.
Then we entered the valley of the falls and weaved our way around each corner discovering new falls. He said to keep our eyes open for the Jurassic Falls.
There were falls all over thanks to the rains the previous day.
We came around one corner and to the music of Jurassic Park, we laid eyes on the Jurassic Park waterfall!
We slowly made our way into the falls and approached the area with the palm trees to land.
I was about in tears. Jurassic Park is my favorite movie.
There’s our landing pad and the path to the falls.
It’s a good day.
For the flight, we wore these yellow packs that contained inflatable life preservers for use in the event of a…water…”landing.”
For some reason, I paid more attention to the safety instructions on how to use it than I did when on the main flight to Kauai.
There’s the actual pad that was used in the helicopter landing in Jurassic Park. What? Doesn’t look the same? Well the hurricane that came through shortly after destroyed the landing pad. There’s cement rubble all around that you can see. The force of the water from the falls broke it up.
It can have strong wind updrafts in the area and it took them three times to try to land at the spot for the movie. The movie even shows it’s a little bumpy.
Happy day.
We looked up and saw a helicopter fly by. We thought, they’re looking down at us thinking they got on the wrong tour. Only one company lands at the falls there.
Time to get back in.
We then flew up and over the falls and over the top. It was spectacular!!!
We then flew up, over, and into the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. This is where we had been the day before. There’s one of the “Scenic Viewpoints.”
Looks like Sedona, Arizona commented our pilot.
We then flew over to the Napali Coast. Wow. We had seen some of it when in the boat tour, but this was breathtaking.
We were flying right over the ridges.
That beach will be featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie coming out soon.
We flew in to the little canyons in the mountains.
Thought I saw something down below. We were pretty high up, but it looked like a splash.
Cropping the image a bit, you can see better what they are. Dolphins.
We then started flying back over the island. There’s the two, one lane bridges. You have to wait for traffic to pass before you can go.
We flew into more canyons with sheer cliffs and green foliage. In one of them, we even saw goats on those steep cliffs.
It was gorgeous. We saw one of the mountain peaks that you can see only 12 times a year because there are usually clouds covering it.
It was time to head back. What a ride. We’re glad we had a morning tour because it was starting to get warm in the helicopter.
Cleared for landing.
We approached right over the fence and eased our way in.
Brilliant marketer. The pilot had those twenties in there when we got in.
After the helicopter ride, we drove to Secret Beach. We parked at the end of the rode, and wondered where the trail was, but it goes behind a house.
It was a beautiful trail leading down to the beach.
You can see the lighthouse in the upper right.
Not too crowded.
Some of the lava rock just hanging around.
Look at that moss.
Lava pools area.
This proves it, I got a little wet in the ocean.
That’s the trail to and from Secret Beach.
Wow.
We then packed up and headed to a famous beach.
We decided to visit a little place called Hanalei (remind anyone of a song?).
We walked the beach a little bit and had great views of the water fall. Look at how massive it is!
We stayed at the beach for a while and then drove to a lookout point on our way back where we could see the waterfall again.
We then wanted to try to catch another sunset. We went back to Kalaheo where we were staying and drove wilth Shelley to a beach they like called Salt Pond. We thought we missed the sunset, but when we looked at the pictures…
Looking the other way from the sunset at Salt Pond.
We had a great adventure of a lifetime!
Read what happened next in our adventure:
- Kauai Day 1
- Kauai Day 2 – North Shore
- Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks
- Kauai Day 4 – Whales!
- Kauai Day 5 – Church & Kipu Falls
- Kauai Day 6 – Grand Canyon & Baby Whale
- Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
- Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
- Kauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach
Read More