Saturday: Day 4

Today started off with a visit to the Kona Temple - just about 30 minutes from our hotel. It is one of the small temples - and it was nice to visit with some of the members from here.

Afterward, we decided to find a place to try some snorkeling. Kahalu'u Beach Park is supposed to have great snorkeling, so we made our way there. There were quite a few people, so I was a little skeptical, but it turned out great. There were tons of brightly colored fish all over. There is an off shore reef that keeps the waters calm by the beach, and many different types of fish call it "home". We even saw more green sea turtles swimming around.

Later that afternoon we convinced ourselves we were up for another hike. We went out to Kekaha Kai State Park. There is unpaved road full of lava rocks and potholes (not a good combination with Noall's mustang...) that takes about 25 min. until you get to the first beach. But we didn't want to stop there! ;) We followed the coastline over a lava bed for about 30 minutes until it opened up onto a gorgeous white sand beach with crystal green water. It was beautiful! It wasn't too hot, so it felt good just to sit in the sun and soak it all in for a while.

Afterward, we headed to a Thai Resturant that had been recommended to us...SUPER yummy!

Friday: Day 3

This was officially our first beach day. We started out at Hapuna Beach which is the largest stretch of beach on the island. It was definitely beautiful, but lots of other people thought so, too...which means it was a bit too crowded for my taste.

So, after hanging out for a while, we headed to a remote bay just south of where we were. We pulled over off the highway to what looked like the right spot and then meandered around looking for signs of a way down to the water. We found something similar to a trail that led us over lava beds, through small springs, and fairly dense vegetation...and then we saw water! You could see where the lava flowed until it met the ocean, and where that same lava had formed a small black sand beach. There were green sea turtles all over just enjoying the sun. It was pretty cool!

Thursday: Day 2

Last night we fell asleep to a thunder and lightening storm (very unusual for this dry side of the island). Since we woke up to rain, we decided to head over to the other side of the island which is always wet anyways! We stopped by Waipi'o Valley and took some pictures. It was my first look (but not my last) at a black sand beach. It was beautiful, but since we weren't taking 4WD down to the bottom of the valley, we continued on our way to Hilo.

I told Noall that all I wanted to do in Hawaii was see lots and lots of GREEN and get away from crowds. The drive to Hilo met both of those requirements! Green, green, everywhere! We stopped by a few different waterfalls - we hiked down to Akaka Falls, and then stopped by Rainbow Falls and Pe'e Pe'e Falls. We followed some scenic drives, got a yummy smoothie (chocolate, bananas, macadamia nuts...) at a small local farm, and then headed back to the hotel.

Wednesday: Day 1

Today we were up and moving about 5:00 AM so that we could drop off keys, drop off cars, catch a shuttle, and get to the Los Angeles Airport to catch our plane. After we boarded the plane, they found something wrong with the engine, so we stayed on the plane for about an hour before we headed our for five hour flight. We watched "Unstoppable" and "The Secretariat", so it made the flight go by quickly.

After we arrived in Hawaii, we went to pick up our rental car. Noall hit it off with the guy there, so (of course) he upgraded us to a Mustang convertible. Noall was pretty excited about that!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the resort. It is so huge that there is a monorail that can take you around if you want(although it's too beautiful not to walk around and soak everything in). Outside our room, you can see the ocean and a lagoon that winds around the resort with several dolphins and fish that you can watch.

Growth spurt???

It's only 10:30 in the morning, and so far Emma has had a full cup of mango-spinach smoothie, toasted egg sandwich, glass of milk, two apples, she finished a second cup of smoothie, bowl of beans w/veggie chips, and she's still going strong...I think she eats more than all the other kids combined! It must be all that two year old energy that she's constantly burning!

Chatting with Emma

Emma: "Stay on the couch with me, Momma."
Emily: "I'm getting hungry for breakfast. Don't you want to eat breakfast?"
Emma: "No. Just snuggle with me, Momma."
Emily: "I need to eat something and then I'll be back."
Emma: "Stay here, Momma. With me."
Emily: "The baby's getting hungry."
Emma: "The baby's hungry?"
Emily: "Yep."
Emma: "Okay, you can go."