Yesterday – I celebrated my 39th birthday in the best possible way. I spent the day with my beautiful wife and wonderful little boy in what is likely my favorite spot on earth – Polihale beach in west Kauai! It is a remote beach that sits at the southern base of the Napali coast line, and is accessed via a BUMPY drive down 8 miles of dirt / sand road where the highway ends on the west side.

Brandon loves Jeeps and we have a classic 30 year old CJ7 at home – but today, we were able to test how well these newer 4 door Jeeps can handle the dusty trail down to our favorite spot.

As with other photos from this trip – Lourdes and I have many photos in this very spot, but it is easy to see why we were so excited to be able to update our collection to include one with Brandon. Polihale never disappoints. It is on the dry side of the island, so the weather is always sunny, the wind offshore… and the visuals blow your mind.

Mom and Brandon are able to peacefully sit and watch the uncharacteristically small waves roll in. Being as inaccessible as it is, the 13 miles of white sand beach seldom sees more then a handful of folks. The color of the water transitions to create a beautiful gradient from a light teal – to a rich dark aqua blue as it goes from shallow to the deeper water.

Dad and Brandon love our adventures, so we of course had to hike up to the north end of the beach where the Mana mountain range hit the coast. It was fun to create new foot prints, and then to watch the ocean cover our tracks.

Periodically, all beach explorers must take a moment to put the adventure on hold so that they can sit down in the beach break and cool off. Brandon sat real close as he felt the power of even the small waves. The ocean is a very soulful place – it brought me great pleasure to share one of my passions with Brandon.

After soaking up the afternoon sun – we began the trek back to the highway – of course, with the lead explorer pulling off to capture both the road and our chariot! I must admit – being a bit of a Jeep enthusiast – I was impressed with how this one fared.

As promised, on the way back – we stopped in Wiamea for some JoJo’s shave ice. (An Island delicacy) As you can see – the sun and water tired out the little man… however his energy made a quick return once he learned what was in store for him.

Not sure what he liked better – the many flavors / colors of the shave ice – or the vanilla ice cream that sits at the base of this dessert taking on the colors and tastes of the treat above.

After our treat, and more pacific swimming – Lourdes and Brandon took Daddy out for a nice dinner in Kapaa. Brandon is becoming a big fan of the “silly face” photos that his parents are so fond of making.

Once it is time to blow out the birthday candle – Brandon is all business, since he is such a fan of both singing happy birthday as well as to extinguish the candle. All and all, making a wish seemed like a very “after the fact” thing to do since the day was really all that I could have wished for. Thank you to my beautiful family for making it such a treat – Te Amo~