Hawaii (1)

December 24, 2018 to January 10, 2019

December 24, Monday
On Christmas Eve we left around 7:00 in the morning and got to watch the sunrise on our drive to Sioux Falls!

 We checked 2 suitcases and a car seat bag at the airport.

 Our first flight was to Denver and  we enjoyed seeing the beautiful snow-covered mountains there!

 We needed to keep track of the 5 of us, each carrying a backpack and a rolling carry on suitcase!

 We had just enough time to eat a packed lunch before we boarded for Kona, Hawaii!

On the 7 1/2 hour flight, the boys enjoyed having their own screens in the seats so they could watch movies, TV shows, and play games like Battleship!  They all did wonderful on such a long flight, but Mason did wonder at one point if there was any way we could take a short cut to get there!

Yeah!!!  We arrived safely!  What a blessing!  It was too warm for the winter clothes that we were wearing!

Despite having a rental vehicle reserved, there were none left.  We knew that the grocery store closed at 11:00pm and that it was going to be closed on Christmas.  So we scrambled to get a taxi to our condo and have Nathan dropped off at the grocery store to get us supper and food for the next day!

December 25, Tuesday
Merry Christmas!!!
We were all excited and still on Iowa time, so everyone was up at about 4:30am despite a short night of sleep!  (It was 4 hours later in Iowa!)  Nathan and Levi decided to get an Uber ride to Budget to see if a vehicle came in that we could snatch up for the week.  It worked!  They came back very excited with a bright red Jeep before the sun even came up for the morning!

We surprised the boys and took along one present each for them to open on Christmas morning...even though it didn't feel much like Christmas.  Snorkels for the beach!

It didn't take long to get our swimming suits on and gather some things to take to the beach!  We couldn't wait to check out the Mauna Lani Beach Club.

So beautiful!!!

Everyone snorkeled and saw many tropical fish and coral!

We went back to the condo early in the afternoon.  This was the view from our back patio!

The boys enjoyed swimming in the pool!

We had a delicious pasta supper and then went for a walk to the beach to see the sunset!

We walked through lava fields and fish ponds to get to the ocean!

The shoreline was a beautiful mix of black lava rock and white coral!

December 26, Wednesday
We had fun looking for and spotting the wild goats.

We enjoyed another morning at the Mauna Lani Beach Club to snorkel, swim, and eat a packed lunch.  It was fun to see a whale breaching out in the ocean while we were there!

We came back in the afternoon to swim at the pool.

We went to get some ice cream and had fun seeing Christmas decorations at the shops there!

It was strange to see snowmen and even more funny to see a snowman in a hula skirt.  :)

Christmas trees and palm trees!

December 27, Thursday
We enjoyed a day driving to the other side of the Island with many stops along the way.
The Waipio Valley lookout was beautiful!

Nathan and I were feeling brave for lunch.  I had a soft shell crab sandwich and Nathan ordered octopus!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our next stop was Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park to see the giant waves crashing up over the beautiful lava rock formations.

The boys had fun finding the splash zone!

Our next stop was at Aloha Farm where we got to drink out of a coconut and try sugar cane!

Mason and Levi weren't too impressed.  Dorian loved the experience!

Levi found a friendly dog to pet!

Next stop: Akaka Falls State Park.

The mossy covered trees, bamboo, and lush green vegetation was beautiful!

Check out this amazing tree!

We found out that Akaka Falls is more than twice as high as Niagara Falls!  We also learned that fish climb up it!

We arrived back at our condo and Mason found a baby gecko inside!  We went swimming and ate supper by the pool that night.

December 28, Friday
We left at 5:45 to go Deep Sea Fishing! It was fun to see all of the huge boats in the harbor and watch the sunrise from the boat!

The bait was huge and we were hoping to catch a blue marlin.  We had one get tangled on our line, but didn't get any in the boat.

One highlight was seeing grey whales right by our boat!

Levi wasn't feeling well and he and Mason both fell asleep for part of the boat ride which helped them both to feel better.

Dorian caught a small slapjack tuna!

Another highlight was seeing a huge group of spinner dolphins that swam right up next to our boat as we were heading back to the harbor!

In the afternoon, we relaxed at the condo and went swimming at the pool.  We ate supper and played Forbidden Island.

December 29, Saturday
We drove to Hapuna Beach to try out boogie boarding!  On our way I stopped to take a picture of the miles of lava fields with the sunrise in the background.

Mauna Kea had snow on the top of it!

It was another beautiful morning!

We all tried out boogie boarding and loved it!

While we were there, Todd (who Nathan works with) and his family came over to sit with us!  Todd was taking pictures with a nice camera and got some great pictures of Nathan!

We hadn't packed a lunch, so picked up some fresh donuts from a stand on the way back to our condo to shower and clean up.  The boys found another baby gecko.

We ate lunch at the Lava Lava Beach Club where we could look out at the ocean. Afterwards, we took a walk and found sea turtles on the beach!

The boys were finding little fish and crabs in the tide pools.

We picked up swim shirts for the boys because we were using so much sunscreen to keep all of our fair skin from burning!  Then we went swimming at the pool and played sharks and minnows with the boys.

December 30, Sunday
At 6:00am we watched the Bethel live stream service while drinking our coffee.
At the boys request, we went back to the boogie boarding beach!  On the way there it looked like we were on a roller coaster, but it was actually just the wind blowing them since the top was off on our Jeep!  So much fun!

In the afternoon, we relaxed and cleaned at the condo.

Nathan and Mason went for a walk to the fish ponds.  Then we watched Sunday night football and Nathan made homemade pizza for supper!

December 31, Monday
New Year's Eve
We left in the morning to go on a drive down to the south side of the Island.  Our first stop was to trade in the Jeep for a minivan.  Then the boys had fun climbing through a huge lava tube that we found alongside of the road.

This National Park was closed due to the government shut down, but we took a quick walk though to see an ancient village.

We spotted sea turtles swimming in the water while we were there!

Nathan found a spot for lunch called Big Jake's and we ate some delicious barbecued food.
Then we stopped at a coffee plantation and also spotted a banana tree and avocado trees.
Later on our drive, Levi spotted a sign for a stand that was giving away chocolate samples so he wanted to stop.  They had many delicious foods to try including macadamia nuts, honey, and coffee which was all grown locally.
Our next stop was at the South Point Park.

There were cliffs down to the water where people were fishing and cliff diving.

We started out on a hike along the ocean but realized that we weren't going to make it to the Papakolea Green Sand Beach before sunset.

We did make it back to our vehicle in time to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean!  So beautiful!

We thought when we left in the morning that we'd for sure be back for supper but we ran out of time.  Thankfully on New Year's Eve we found a restaurant open and while we were eating we even got to watch the ball drop in NYC!  Everyone in the restaurant was cheering.
Happy New Year!