Yay for Independent

We have never done this before... but we decided to take the kids out of school and go to Kauai to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa being condo-owners. 

Because the cheap airfare coincided with an already planned trip to Northern California, the kids ended up being on Independent Study for two weeks.

We flew into Lihue and it was the beginning of a great trip.

While on Kauai, we have fun doing simple things... going to the beach, looking for good food and we are always on the lookout for KBJs on the island.

For the first time, we visited the Lawai International Center, where we silently walked the path of the 88 shrines, which replicate the 88 temples in Shikoku, Japan. 

We drove up to Waimea Canyon to see the view...

We still enjoy shave ice in Hawaii, but we definitely are much more discerning!  I don't know Grandma and Grandpa managed to keep their white shirts clean.

We were at the beach every day... snorkeling, making sand "malasadas", building forts and just enjoying the perfect weather.  Uncle Todd was always game for playtime at the beach.

In between beach trips and food excursions, everyone had work to do.  Grandma helped Jason with his sight word flash cards.  He has quite a few of them down and he's doing a great job with his reading.  Jason said his favorite part of the trip was snorkeling.

Kara has always loved the water and has never been afraid to snorkel with all of the fish.  She loved all of the beaches... on our last full day, we managed to go to all three of our favorites - Poipu Beach to snorkel, Glass Beach to search for colored glass in the sand and Baby Beach for lounging and building sand castles.

Kauai has tons of roosters and chickens roaming around and Ben brought his own stuffed animal version home.  His new friend is named Happy Fatty.

On our last snorkel, Ben was able to swim with a sea turtle.  As we were swimming together, holding hands and watching the sea turtle, Ben squeezed my hands several times in a row, which is our non-verbal way of saying I love you... It is a moment that I will always cherish.

As part of Ben's Independent Study, he had to write about a topic each day using spelling and vocabulary words.  Here are a few of his journal entries...

We had such a great time in Kauai... Ben asked if he can be "Independent" every year.

We came home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with both sides of our family.

And on our last day before the kids head back to school (after being out of school for 3 weeks!) we decided to enjoy a little bit more of the island magic.  

Ben is right... Yay for Independent!