Day 4, A Bay

We had such a busy day yesterday, we opted to take it a little bit easier today.  So, we decided to head to A-Bay and check it out.  The beach itself is really long and narrow and directly in front of the Marriott.  Plus, the canoe club practices here...which, all of its members must be unemployed because they were there practicing about 10am on a week day!!  Dave and Owen attempted to snorkel, but, there's a pretty big rock wall you have to get past that Owen kind of panicked about and that roughed Dave's foot up pretty good.  Although, Dave did have a pretty enormous tuna swim right up to him before he gave up.  Needless to say, we didnt last long before we decided to head north and get some lunch instead.

Shawn told us about this place called Kohala Burger and Taco.  We stopped in and tried it out.  She was right, the food was great,  but, so overpriced, it kind of took away from the meal.  Plus, it's SUPER tiny!!  They had a counter down one side with 4 stools and then 4 tables down the other side with barely enough room to walk down the center.  The menu was on the wall above the tables, but, you can't really get far enough away from the wall to read it!!  It was really busy when we were there and some guy sent his son up to stare at us while we ate to hurry us along I would guess.  We were glad to get out!!

We stopped at one of the shopping malls in Waikoloa on the way back through which was fun.  They have a grocery store that was more touristy crap then groceries.  Super fun, haha!

I made Owen take a walk with me around the condo complex, while Liv napped, to take pictures of the flowers.  The foliage in Hawaii is like no other I've ever seen.  There is every color imaginable and with the exception of the lava fields, the entire island is green.  It just takes your breath away.  

 

 Even the trees are amazing.

Owen stopped me and asked that I take his picture.  He's such a model, he totally did this pose on his own!!  Man, I just think this kid is SO handsome! ;O)

We finished the day with a swim in the pool.  Liv is getting to be quite the swimmer, although, she prefers to walk around in the generous 1 foot wading pool adjoining the regular one!!  She was less than cooperative when it came to pictures however... 

Owen, of course, would rather jump into the pool than swim!  You'd think it would get old...but, it doesn't...hahaha...

Day 3, Hikes!

The kids were up at 5:30 this morning which is kind of typical because we are two hours ahead of Hawaii time.  So, I got up with them and let Dave sleep a little longer.  Yesterday, Olivia started referring to Owen and Dave as "the boys" out of the blue which was funny to me all on its own.  But, first thing after she got up this morning she looked around and asked, "where's dat udder boy".  It took me a minute and then I asked her if she meant her dad and she said "yes!".  Cracked me up!!

We were packing up to visit A-Bay first thing this morning, but, while Dave and I were loading the car, the wind started blowing and it got really cold.  So, we decided to change gears and do a road trip north.  By the time we got loaded, it had warmed up and we were regretting our change in plans!!!  But, decided to fiollow through.

Our first stop was Spencer Beach.  Shawn recommended it, she thought it would be great for the kids.  It is a beautiful beach, but, all the bathrooms are out of order and it seems the homeless have claimed it as their own since Shawn was there in January.

Just above the beach is the Pu'ukohola Heiau visitors center.  It has a walking trail that loops past a temple built in 1790 by King Kamehameha.  He literally had 10,000 to 20,000 people stand side by side to pass the rocks, used to make the temple, between Polou Valley and Pu'ukohola.  Crazy huh!

We headed on to Pololu Valley and decided to do the hike down to this amazingly beautiful black sand beach, 400 vertical feet below.  It was so steep we had to carry Liv all the way down and at 85 degrees, that was a chore!!  

This gives some perspective on how steep the trail was...I was super glad it hadn't rained recently, I imagine the trip down is a fast one when this is muddy!!

The view on the way down makes the whole thing bearable though!! 

This shot is looking back into the valley as you descend down the last bit of the trail.  Pretty amazing in its own right!

We did some exploring on the black sand beach, but, we were in no position to check things out like we wanted.  We would have liked to play in the water and cross the little channel that split the beach.  But, we didn't bring a towel and there was no way of playing and still getting our shoes back on without filling them up with sand.  Not a pleasant proposition considering the hike back up the hill that loomed in front of us.  We also could have used some water and a snack, whoops!!  Not like us Alaskans to be caught so unprepared!  Owen did bring his magnifying glass as you can see him using below....ummm, did we really haul that all the way from Alaska and down a mountain?  Little boys are so weird!

Check out this super huge log swing someone took the time to build!!  It blended in until I'm not sure we would have seen it had another family not been playing on it on our way by!!

Although it was steep, the way back up actually seemed a whole lot easier than the way down when gravity wasn't trying to help you along!  In fact, Liv Bug actually walked more than the last 1/3 on her own...thankfully!!

We were pretty pooped out, but, decided to make one last stop at Lapakahi State Historical Park to walk the trail down to the water past what remains of an old Hawaiian village.

That was all we could handle for the day so we spent some time at the pool and called it good!

Day 2, Happy Birthday Livi Bug!!

Liv has been DYING to play in the sand.  So, we made that a priority on her birthday.

We got up early and headed to our condo owners favorite beach, Beach 69. I don't get the thrill so much, but, it had a ton of shade which was great for Liv.

She played for HOURS and hardly said a word!!

Owen took a break from the water and helped her dig a hole while I boogie boarded with Dave.  I don't know why, but, I didn't get any pictures of the boys. I think because it was so darn crowded, it was hard to watch Liv and take pictures.  Anyway, she insisted I take a pic of her in the hole...

After nap, we headed back to Kona for a birthday dinner at Humpy's, complete with desert!  For those counting...3 days in Hawaii and 3 trips to Kona!!!  Kind of defeats the point of staying further north in Waikoloa if we just drive down EVERY day!!  (I've somehow managed to lose these pictures!!!  When I find them, I will edit this part of the post.)

Day 1, Shopping and a Swim!!

We spent the first evening in town at Costco picking up some boogie boards and stocking up on the necessities for the condo.  Then we ran up to a nearby supermarket for the rest.  On the way out of the condo though, poor Livi tripped on the parking lot asphalt and got some nasty road rash on both knees.  Her poor knees had a rough day!!

She was still a riot though, even as tired and as hurt as she was.  We got upgraded to a Lincoln crossover that has some fancy navigation screen in the dashboard and gives verbal directions.  Every time it gave a direction, Liv would repeat the voice...so, the navigation system would say, "turn left at Waikoloa Beach Dr." and Liv would start hollering  "turn left Daddy, turn left!!".  Then, she started watching the screen and I'm not sure why, but, she started hollering, "careful Daddy, you are going to lose yourself!", referring to the arrow on the screen moving around.  As cute as it is, it does get kind of old fast to have such an enthusiastic and dedicated back seat driver!!  On the way back from the market it had gotten really dark and Liv exclaimed, "it too dark, I can't see with my blue eyes".  She is just too funny sometimes.

By the time we had dinner and finished the shopping, it was pretty late and we opted to go to bed instead of swimming in the pool like we'd hoped.

The next morning we
were up early and took off for Anaheo'omalu Bay which is technically in walking distance of the condo (somewhere just over a mile walk).

We really just stopped to check it out on our way to Kona.  It's the site of the swim portion of the Lava Man triathlon being held here in the middle of our trip.  So, even at 8 in the morning, the beach was packed.

We headed on down the road with plans to return soon.  Our big priority was to hit a few Farmers Markets in Kona and see what kind of fresh produce we could find.  We found three of them and had fun shopping.

But, we were starved and decided to hit Bubba Gumps for lunch.  Look at Liv's poor knees...

Just for comparison...same kids, same place, last year...

We followed that with Owen's all time favorite ice cream, Volcanoe (banana, and strawberry ice creams swirled together with chocolate chunks).  Liv got the same, but, I opted for my personal favorite, Lilikoi Cheesecake and Dave had a coconut ice cream with chocolate chunks and macadamia nuts.  The ice cream is made here in Hawaii if you hadn't already guessed!

The kids were enjoying having their pictures taken and hammed it up for me!

Owen wanted his picture taken in front of this building while we were out walking around.  Not sure what it really is now, but, I know it's old.

We headed back to the condo for a nap and then had a quick swim in the pool before calling it good!

Taking off for Hawaii!!

We decided last year when we went to Hawaii that we'd make Owen keep a journal and each day he'd have to write down everything we did. It was a fight, but, so worth it when we go back and read it.  So, we decided to do the same again this year.  He was ok with it until he actually had to start doing it!!  Anyway, I tend to do a recap here myself, on my blog when we get home, but, figured instead, I'd do the same as Owen and maybe I'd remember more detail!!

So, here goes!!  Please forgive any typos and a lack of photo editing.  Because I'm doing this while still on vacation, I'm loading the pics to blogger straight from my camera. I may go back and replace them with edited photos later and most likely will add more photos too after I've dowloaded them all!

Between spring break, Liv's birthday and the upcoming trip, the kids were about to drive us nuts!!  They were having trouble sleeping and were just super restless.  Of course, there was also daylight savings in the mix and the fact that the temps have been in the 40s one week and then dipping back to zero the next ALL WINTER LOOOONG!  It was kind of cabin fever at its worst for all of us!!

I took these random pics in March of the kids just for fun.

Owen's doing really well with his guitar lessons and looking forward to learning how to play his sister's pink ukelele she got for her birthday, haha!

Liv had her first haircut right before we left and thought it was so great.  Her hair curls so much more now than before even!!

We headed to the airport around 9am Friday morning and I made the kids take pics while we waited for Dave to get back from dropping the truck off.

Each kid insisted on taking one pic themselves...

Not too shabby considering! 😊  Afterwards, the kids killed time walking back and forth on the moving sidewalk until Owen stepped in front of Liv right as she decided to dart off.  She ended up falling and skinning her knees, poor baby.

But, she was still super excited to fly and insisted that we fly only on a "red plane".  We assured her that's what we would do and didn't point out the white plane parked at our gate, hahaha!!  We had barely taken off and hadn't even leveled out when she turned to me and asked if we were in Hawaii yet...she was in for a LONG flight!!  She eventually gave up and took a short nap. One of the flight attendants stopped to see if I'd taken a picture of her because she thought she was so cute!

Owen struggled with a little nausea and about the time he fell asleep, the dude in front of him stood his lap baby up who then coughed, spitting all over Owen.  I was not amused at all.  About an hour before we landed, the same baby puked all over his mom.  The smell was SO bad.  Both of my kids just about lost it themselves!  I thought for sure we'd have a chain reaction!!

But, on the upside, we were about 40 minutes early into Kona!!  On the landing, Liv insisted on holding her dads hand the whole way down.  I just thought that was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen.