:: Pregnant In Paradise ::

To celebrate outliving her mother, who died very young, my mother took the family (Brian and I included) to Hawaii. Not bad, eh? That explains my silence here on the blog as well as the strange tan I have despite weeks of sub-20-degree weather in Ohio. We went to Kauai, the quiet island, and it was gorgeous. Although it took Brian and I an extra day to get there (a 3-hour delay on our way to Chicago caused a missed connection that resulted in one night in L.A.) and two extra days to get back (this time it was tornadoes in Dallas or something that left us "stranded" in Honolulu for two extra nights), the trip was very relaxing. We have some serious complaints to lodge with American Airlines (including several lost bags that were only eventually found and returned and a transportation voucher that was supposed to cover a rental car from Cinci to Columbus since they couldn't get us back home but that turned out to be completely worthless), but none with the lovely island of Kauai. I highly recommend a trip out there.

I do not, however, recommend that you visit while pregnant. While the island has many natural wonders to delight the adventurous traveler, most vendors and trip leaders have serious reservations about (read: policies against) taking pregnant women anywhere to see anything. Things I couldn't do included taking a dinner cruise, riding in inner tubes through irrigation ditches or taking a series of ziplines through the rainforest, getting in a helicopter (this one I expected), taking surf lessons (probably better that I don't lay on my stomach or get pummelled by my board as I fall).

However, I still really loved the trip, swam in the pool, hiked briefly in the Na Pali coast rainforests, toured the island from end to end, and took tons of pictures. Some I have uploaded already to flick'r (see below) and one or two (or four) I decided to include here. ENJOY!

[IMAGES from top: Mahalepu Beach, ranked one of the top ten beaches in the world; all four of us at Waimea Canyon; Brian surfing; Kate surfing]