Mauna Kea Beach

Thankfully, I ran out of steam on the photography towards the end of our trip, so, I don't have quite as many pictures to dig through or edit!!  But, still have lots to post and hopefully, will get them all up by the end of this week!!

This was just a random night with pretty colors in the sunset....

Remember how I mentioned in an earlier post how we could see the fish from 20 feet up at the condo and showed you this picture...

That was BEFORE the surf came in!!  The picture below was taken from that same location just days later.  Let me just say, we've always made a point to stay in a place ON the beach to hear the waves crash while we slept...this is a VERY different kind of "crashing" wave sound!!  To Dave it sounded like thunder, to me, it was like the rumbling sound you hear immediately before an earthquake hits...very unsettling to say the least!! ;O)  I definitely didn't sleep well at all!!

I took these to give some perspective...keep in mind, the rocks next Owen are about 20' up from the ocean...

This was looking outside our condo doors.   So, say 20' to the ocean and a conservative guess of another 10' above the wall...that seems like kind of crazy high waves to me!!

Our last full day in Kona we decided to make the drive and check out one more beach.  We ended up at Mauna Kea, just north of Hapuna Beach.  None of the beaches on the Big Island are "private", but, Mauna Kea has a huge Prince Hotel built right on it...room prices run between $400 and $900 a night...kind of outta our league.  So, although they can't make it a "private" beach, they only allow 30 cars to park in their parking lot at a time.  Alternatively, you can park at the Hapuna Beach parking lot and hike from there on a pretty well beaten path, but, it's a pretty good trek especially with a bunch of beach gear.  So, we were super thrilled to get a spot right there in the lot.  There's even a dude that man's the parking lot the whole day!

Anyway, we really enjoyed it, although, it's pretty windy there and we almost immediately broke the umbrella we took to shelter Liv from the sunshine.  Plus, she was still really suffering with a cold, so, we didn't last long.  But, we were glad we went anyway.

Gotta love the look on Owen's face, it kind of says it all!

Liv was SO funny about the sand.  She LOVED it, but, would start to panic out of the blue when she couldn't get it all off her feet or hands.  So, I started filling up this bucket that came with the set from Shawn, with water.  Typically, she sat with her butt on the edge of the beach towel and both feet in the bucket while she played in the sand with the rest of the tools.  Somehow, I never managed to get a photo of that...I think it was because I was trying to appreciate the momentary peace without her fussing about her feet being "dooty" or "sicky" in Liv's words (dirty/sticky)!

Of course, we kept the kids soaked in sunscreen and although they never got burned, it made it that much harder to keep the sand off...add to that a snotty nose and flying sand...

and this is what ya get! ;O)

Just some cute shots of Owen...this is the one and only day I used my 50mm fixed lens.  I think it cost  around $100, but, it is my absolute FAVORITE.  I love these pics of the kids that I got with it, glad I lugged all 3 lenses around...I used all of them on this particular day...it almost makes it worthwhile to have carried all that extra weight around, EVERY other day of the trip even though I didn't use them, hahaha!!

This is the one and only time I went into the water on this trip.  Owen was starting to come down with Liv's cold (looking back now I realize that!!), so, he pooped out faster than normal and the beach was quiet enough, and small enough, Dave and I could both be in the water and still be close enough to keep an eye on the kiddos.  So, it gave me a chance to boogy board a little with Dave for my first time!    We had Owen take this pic of the two of us so I could prove I was on this vacation for a change! ;O)  Wish I'd thought of that before I got my head wet!

 On the way back, Liv crashed pretty much immediately.  But, I made Dave and Owen take pictures with me on the lava rock that blankets both sides of the road.  The Big Island has more extremes than any place I've ever been!!

We stopped at a scenic lookout too...not because it was all that beautiful, but, because I loved the extremes in the water color...isn't that spectacular the way it goes from aqua to dark blue.  It was like this most places, Dave thinks it was because the water drops in depth so abruptly.  I don't have a clue why, but, I LOVE it!

This was taken our last night in Kona while we were all out watching the water.  Can't help but LOVE these two little faces!!  Sick or not, they had SO much fun.  I was shocked how quickly these two little Alaskan natives took to the heat and the water.  I honestly felt bad having to take them home!! We will definitely have to visit Kona again now that we have gotten a feel for it and know where to go, can't wait!!!  Owen's already counting the days!!