Day 7, Spencer Beach Attempt

So, we are all rested up and ready for a beach day today.  We loaded up the car around 9am and headed north for Spencer Beach.  We were hoping for a little sand castle building and some good snorkeling!  Unfortunately, we didnt really think it through...we gathered our arm fulls of junk and headed from the parking lot to the sand thankful to have the beach almost to ourselves.  Turns out however, the wind that was blowing so hard on the highway...is also blowing here...at the beach...just off that same highway...it came as a total shock to both of us for some unknown reason! To add insult to injury, now instead of just blowing hard, it's also sandblasting our skin while we stand frozen in a state of total confusion!!  I'm sure we looked like total tourists!!  At the advice of the park guy that happened to drive by and note our totally baffled faces, we took off and tried the most popular beach on the island, Hapuna, just down the road.  With less than 5 cars in the parking lot, and one of those leaving, we decided not to go there again!  Since we were already pumped and ready to go though, we decided to suck it up and drive the 45 minutes south to the beach we stayed near last year, Keahou (aka turtle beach).

It was somewhere between 86 and 89 degrees by the time we got there and it was packed, busier than I had ever seen.  But, we managed to find a shady spot for Liv to play and the boys took off to snorkel.  I took this by accident, but, gives ya an idea of the weather!!

Now the downside of this particular beach, besides it's popularity, is that it's a salt and pepper sand beach...heavy on the pepper!  It's comparable to standing in the Walmart parking lot at the same temperature....I know...we did that later!!  Dave and Owen were gone about an hour when I couldn't take it any more!!!  You see, the beach has a 6'+ wall separating all but about 10% of the beach from the water for whatever reason.  So, you cant see your belongings and play in the water both, unless you are one of the first to arrive!  So, Liv and I had to pack up all our stuff and set them in a "danger zone" so that we could keep an eye on it while we stood in the water and tried to get the boys' attention.  I seriously thought I might not make it!!!

Thankfully, the boys made it back before all was lost! ;O)

Can't complain too much though, does it get any better than this!!

We headed for food after the beach to help with our recovery...Poke (raw fish salad...I think ahi in this case) for Dave and I from Da Poke Shack....OMG SO GOOD!!!  We both got a scoop of Dynamite Poke (avacado aioli) and the seaweed salad...both were absolutely amazing!  Dave got a scoop of Wet Hawaiian Poke also and his second side was broccoli crab (shredded crab and broccoli mixed together with a creamy white sauce).  He got me the Shack Special for my second Poke and potato salad for my second side.  I loved the Poke and the salad was good, just kind of weird since you get two scoops of rice as well!  The kids don't do Poke, as you might imagine, so, we went up the road further to get them some DQ and then had a picnic outside the strip mall.  So fun and everyone was happy that way!

We finished up our time in Kona with a little shopping and then headed back to the condo for nap time.

Unfortunately, we were way late and Liv was wound up, so, there was no nap gonna happen today.  So, we decided to walk the King's Trail to see the petroglyphs.  It was still super hot and super windy though, even at 4pm!!  It was fun though.

Since we were already there, we took a peek at the stores in the mall there at the Kings Shops and especially enjoyed the ukulele store.  We got each of the kids a rubber bracelet to hold their guitar pics, cool huh!

It has been so amazingly clear every night we have been here, you cant believe how beautiful the night sky is.  Tonight we took a minute to walk out and just enjoy the stars...its usually super cold when we can see stars at home...and then before it warms up, we have too much daylight!  So, this was a special treat.