Friday, May 22nd, Steve and I got up at 4:10am to get things going. Steve was able to say goodbye to Kyle and Chloe as they had a 6:30am flight, I just missed coming out of the room to say goodbye. We were hoping to see them at the airport because Ellie was not able to see them the night before but alas it took us a minute to get through security and Ellie had to mail her pocket knife that was still in her backpack home so that took a few minutes and we just missed them. Their terminal was literally right across from us but we were clear down at Southwest which is a long walk at the Salt Lake airport. We had a couple hours layover in Sacramento where Steve had to do some work then everyone grabbed some food for the long flight to Hawaii. Everyone traveled really well, love that! The Kona airport was definitely a unique experience as it was mostly an outdoor open air airport with coverings over baggage claim and security. Then we hopped on the shuttle to the rental car company and that took forever. Steve and I even completed the check-in online before arriving but we waited for over an hour and a half before being assigned our car only to find it was still being cleaned. UGH! The nice VRBO offered us early check-in which I was looking forward to but alas we did not get to enjoy it because of how long the car rental took.
Alas we were on our way to pick up a food order I had placed then off to the rental. I have fun shopping and ordered several specialty Hawaii items like cinnamon raisin macadamia bread for french toast. One of our items was out of stock so I ran in and got teriyaki chicken and a pineapple (Andrew's request) and macadamia chocolates (we ate one whole box as we drove to the rental). As we went around the round about into the neighborhood Lila said there's a goat and everyone turned to look but most of us missed it then Marcus saw a whole bunch in the lava rocks so we were on the lookout for goats everyone time we went around the entrance area.
When ate a light dinner then the boys went swimming. The pool was literally right across the backyard from us so nice and quick access. There were flowers blowing off of the trees and Lila put one in her hair, it was so cute (I thought the girls took a pic of it but they didn't). There were also a lot of birds one white one in particular Lila called toasted marshmallow and then a family of birds that would be out on our patio every morning.
The kids noticed the poker table and insisted on playing for a bit. They thought it was fun to turn in chips for Oreos before bed.
We were all tired (we had been up since midnight Hawaii time) so we went to bed about 8pm. Then at 9pm there was a bunch of loud noises Steve said were fireworks which was odd because they insisted the facility had quiet hours from 9pm to 8am and absolutely no fireworks but Steve said they must have been the resorts because they were big and out. Then at 9:48pm our phones made the loud alert noise notifying us that there had been an earthquake on the island. I bolted out of bed ran around and checked on the kids and then I could not go back to sleep. My nighttime anxiety kicked in and I was freaking out about being trapped on the island with an earthquake and an erupting volcano. It took me quite a while to settle down.
The next morning, Saturday, May 23rd, we asked the boys if they heard or felt anything because there was an earthquake and they didn't believe us Steve had to show them on his phone (obviously they slept through it). Lila also said she heard some stuff and saw my text asking if she was ok but nothing really registered with her because she was so tired.
Ellie was still sleeping so we decided to walk around the resort a bit.
After walking around our area a little we drove down to a
different area of the resort to see petroglyphs and walk along the
beach, Marcus spotted a goat on our way around.
Then we got ready to head to the resorts private beach. The weather was really windy and we noticed we received
severe wind notifications on our phones. We were hoping it would calm
down but alas we could only put up one umbrella and had to strap it down and hold it during some of the gusty times. Steve was a trooper and took Lila out snorkeling then Andrew. Marcus really wanted to go with Andrew but we only brought one life jacket and Steve wanted to do one the first time to help each kid get a feel for it. When he got back Marcus was dried off and decided he would just wait until Monday to go snorkeling.
After drying relaxing for a bit at the rental we decided to walk to see the sea turtles and show Ellie some of the petroglyphs. When I opened the garage a little gecko was on the door and rode it all the way open. The kids thought that was hilarious.
Marcus spotted a sea turtle in the water right in front of us but I missed getting a picture of it then we walked over to see two sunbathing on the beach.
The kids decided to each try and pose like on of the petroglyph pictures. ๐
And another round of games. The boys played some chess and Big Island-opoly several times. Lila enjoyed coloring in her spot on one of the couches too, she said coloring is very soothing to her.
Sunday, May 24th we were getting up a little earlier to be on the road to South Point. When I was planning this trip I asked the kids which island they wanted to go to and Andrew was the only when that came prepared and said he wanted to go to Kona to see South Point, the green beach, and the Volcano park so today was for him. It was a two hour drive to South Point (one of the downsides of the big island longer drive times). There is a famous bakery, Punaluu Bake Shope, down there so we decided to hit it first and get some malasadas then the hit South Point and then hike to the Green Beach. About 30 minutes in we drove past the Kona temple which is being renovated but at least we got to see it. The drive was long with lots of curves, Andrew was not looking so great in the back and I kept checking on him. He insisted he was fine then 5 minutes from the bakery he threw up. UGH! We didn't have any bags or change of clothes. I asked Steve to pull over but before he could Andrew threw up again. We got pulled over on the side of the road and thankfully I had put a box of kleenexes in the rental van so we could wipe up some of it and clean him off a little. I googled car washes as we drove the couple of minutes into the "town". We stopped at Ace and picked up bags, paper towels and some deodorizer and asked if there was a car wash or vacuum somewhere near by we could use. There wasn't. We stopped at a thrift store hoping to buy him some shorts to change into but it wasn't open and wouldn't be until Wednesday. No stores nearby. I saw a beach apparel store at the black sand beach about 5 minutes away so I drove there while Steve and the other bought and ate Malasadas. The only shorts they had were size 40 not going to work. So I headed back to Steve who washed the shorts in the mens bathroom (I tried to do that in the women's but there was only one sink and it was always busy, Steve said the men's bathroom had a side sink out of the way he used). Then I hung the shorts out the window to dry on our way to South Point while the girls cheered Andrew up with the different types of malasadas to try. I felt bad for Andrew but also told him it would have been easier if he told us and we could have pulled over for a break or even moved him to the middles seat in the row next to the girls (don't worry he sat in the middle seat the rest of the trip).
The most southern point of the United States, south point. We knew it would be windy there as it always is and the trees on the drive out show how windy it is because they are permanently blown to one side.
Then we drove to the Green Beach trail head. It was hot and windy. I forgot to sunscreen my neck and it got burned. Everyone was covered in dirt and dust. We got this far where we could see the green beach then Marcus and I turned around. The girls went to the top and then turned around. Andrew and Steve hike down to the beach which I'm glad they did because it was on Andrew's bucket list and he insisted he still wanted to do it. There are only 4 green beaches in the world Kona, Guam, Galapagos Islands, and Norway.
Then I told them we had to stop at the black sand beach on our way to the Volcano Park. We probably wouldn't have done that if I had not gone looking for clothes for Andrew so everyone got to see a green and black sand beach. Steve said this black sand beach was different than the ones he saw in Iceland. The drive there was gorgeous. I didn't walk over to the beach with them because I was tired and hot and already seen it earlier, I was getting out lunch to eat as we drove to the Volcano Park.
We drove into the Volcano Park and stopped by the steam vents on our way to the Welcome Center (the Visitor's Center is under construction). It was windy and we were cold from sweating on the hike earlier so the kids thought the steam vents were awesome because they were warm.
At the Welcome Center Ellie got deck of Hawaii cards and we got a sticker for our bike rack and a map with some recommendations. Then we drove out to the point where you can get the closest to the volcano.
At this point everyone was cold and tired. I asked them if they wanted to go out to eat for dinner but they just wanted to pick up food so I found Frankie's Pizza with good ratings and tried to order pizza online. My order wouldn't go through so I called and they were hesitant to take my order because it was so big but I promised we were on our way so he went for it. As we pulled up to the shack of a pizza shop connected to the scariest gas station we have ever seen (Steve's words and he has lived in Russia) we were a little nervous. Everyone was out of water. We had packed an extra water jug but it tipped over and spilled every where during the curvy throw up road adventure so we were out of water. Outside the gas station was a water refill station so for $.40 you could get a gallon of water. Steve was like that is way more than will fit in the jug and I was like we'll just take everyone's water bottle and switch as fast as we could. So we did just that, it was kind of funny and I'm sure some locals wondered what we were up to but we were grateful to get more water. The pizza took a little longer then we hoped it would but it was yummy and everyone was happy to have a good warm meal. We saw the most amazing sunset on the way home as we drove up and over the mountains to our side of the island.
When we got back to the rental everyone took a shower. Steve even ran over and had the hot tub all to himself for a bit.
The boys were always good about getting up and doing something quietly in the morning. They started Big Island-opoly the morning of Monday, May 25th.
Then we got ready to go to the beach again. Marcus was super excited to go snorkeling. Andrew debated going out with them but decided he wanted to wait for the life jacket.
Marcus loved it and went to the board to point at all the fish he saw. Then Andrew and Lila went out. Lila got going a lot faster than Andrew and I was grateful she was wearing her red bottom swim shorts so I could see her out in the ocean. She would pop her head up every now and then and do her cute little wave. Lila and Marcus said snorkeling was one of their favorite activities so I'm so glad we planned for that. Then the boys wanted to be buried in the sand.
We ate lunch, leftover pizza that I put in individual bags with the crust side at at the bottom so we could eat them out of the bags without getting sand on them (I thought it was genius and the kids appreciated it). I told them one time while at the beach in California with Steve's parents, Carole found a sandwich in the cooler that was soggy (it wasn't in a zip bag and the ice had melted around it) so Carole got it out and basically wrang it out then handed it to Russ who dropped it on the beach and still picked it up and ate it. ๐Russ really did just go with the flow and he was the best beach napper you will ever find. The kids relaxed in the chairs and read on their kindles for another 30-45 minutes before we decided to pack it up and head back.
On our way back we saw Ellie out on our master balcony.
She chose not to go to the beach that day and enjoyed relaxing up there
while we were gone.
Everyone crashed for a bit. Then we grilled dinner and ate outside. The wind was finally starting to calm down.
Then we played the Bohnanza (the bean game that evening). We haven't played that in a while and it was fun.
Tuesday, May 26th, was our zip-lining day. Everyone was really excited. I had also managed to snag a reservation for the Volcano House that evening for dinner and we were hoping the volcano would be erupting while we were there. The original time frame was Saturday-Wednesday, then it tightened to to Sunday-Tuesday and nothing had happened yet so we were really hoping!! Then Tuesday morning they announced the volcano had started to deflate delaying the eruption. I think the earthquake caused some change in the lava flow underground changing the eruption pattern. We were bummed but still excited for our day.
The drive out to ziplining was beautiful we were driving through the rainforest side of the island. We got checked in and were excited for our adventure. I picked this ziplining company for a couple of reasons but the main one was you didn't have to climb up on to towers to zip from, most of them were from ground to ground (I was worried about Marcus and me ๐). Our guides were great and talked us through everything and hooked us in and out of each line which was nice and explaining the local terrain to us. The kids were having a blast and Marcus even did no hands most of the time and would wave at us. He was so excited he could zip the lines all by himself. . .until he got stuck on the 2nd to last line. Don't worry they know what to do and went and got him.
The last run was the longest over the waterfall in the background of the picture above and the wind had picked up a little (truly the weather had been lovely all morning) so the guides were worried both of the boys wouldn't make it on the last line. So the guides asked if the boys if they would ride them. As they were getting strapped in a couple of ladies who were zipping in the same group with us were worried and asking why the boys were going first. Usually one of the guides would go so they could break us at the end. I joked and said not to worry the boys are going to brake us on this line. They looked stunned and confused then I said they are riding with the guides. Ellie and Lila didn't make it on this last line either but they reached up and grabbed their lines so they wouldn't slide back, thankfully they didn't get hurt, they reached up in front of their ziplines just as they started sliding back (they guides had told us not to do that so I'm really grateful they didn't get hurt).
We were starving afterwords so we sat in the parking lot and scarfed down lunch before driving to the Volcano Park. We had plans to do the lava tubes and decided to drive by them to see if there was any close parking and there wasn't so we kept on doing the drive (it was the section of the canyon rim we hadn't done yet) and it was amazing to see the lava flows and how it went right off the end of the island basically extending the land pictures don't do it justice. Steve, Ellie, and Andrew hiked out to this sea cave at the end of the drive.
Then Steve dropped us at the lava tubes and drove back to the parking and ran back to meet us. To be honest the lava tubes were a little underwhelming (we loved the ones in Snow Canyon) but the hike back to the car had amazing overlooks.
Marcus was a little sad in the above picture because we were not going to make it to the Welcome Center before it closed to buy a pen he saw the last time we were there. However there was a gift shop at the Volcano House and I managed to find a pen with a stuffed turtle on top of it and Marcus was in heaven. He even wrote a little journal entry about how soft and awesome it was. Then we had a great dinner at the Volcano House. The food was really good and the view was amazing (would have been better if the volcano was erupting but we did the best we could).
Our last full day in Kona was Wednesday, May 27th. The kids decided they didn't want to go to the beach but just hangout at the pool. The boys played for hours in the pool while Lila and laid out for a bit and got in with the boys for a bit. The wind was finally almost gone and it was really a lovely relaxing day at the pool. Honestly all the times we were the only family that got in the pool, we practically had the thing to ourselves which was nice (a few people would layout next to the pool but didn't seem to be bothered by the noisy boys swimming). Late afternoon/evening we went back and played games and ate out on the patio. Marcus and Lila kept winning teams Trio. He had his new
turtle pen and was calling it their magical charm. He said it could see
peoples cards and send secret messages to Lila. It was cute and frustrating all at the same time. ๐ Then we started packing up for our flight to Honolulu the next day.
Thursday, May 28th we were packed and ready to go about 40 minutes before we needed to leave so Steve, Lila and myself went and walked the fishery by the beach area. It was beautiful we saw all kinds of fish, birds, crabs, and even eels.
The car rental drop off was way easier than pickup (I forgot to mention that Steve and I worked really hard on the car without a vacuum the day after the incident and were grateful everyone reported no smell the 2nd day we drove across the island) and we made it through security before the big rush and enjoyed the open air terminal seating.
The flight was a whole 29 minutes in the air and getting our rental car was a lot easier. We were on our way driving to our hotel on the north shore fairly quickly. The views were incredible. I pointed out diamond head to everyone as the plan was taxiing and then everyone was enjoying the luscious rugged mountains as we drove and Marcus said, "welcome to Jumanji" ๐๐ Our hotel room was not ready when we arrived at 2:30 (I thought checkin was 3pm but apparently it was 4pm) thankfully the Polynesian Cultural Center was right next door so we walked over and started looking around (we had tickets for the luau and evening show that night). The kids walked around the shops for a bit before we decided to go check ou the center. We took a canoe ride then stopped at Hawaii where the girls went to watch the presentation while the boys played the Hawaiian games.
Then our room was ready so the girls went back to check in with Steve while the boys and went to the Tonga presentation which was a lot of fun then we managed to catch the fire and knife throwing at Samoa.
Then we met up with Steve and the girls to go to the luau. Andrew noticed when we arrived at the airport in Kona that some people had leis (I think their families brought them to them as they were picking them up) so he and everyone were excited to receive leis. We were seated at a great table for the show. I was just thinking I needed a little caffeine when they told us we could hit up the soda machine and then they brought the best pineapple coconut smoothies in pineapples for us to enjoy. Lila was thinking she was going to ration hers so she could enjoy it longer when they came around saying they would refill them. YAY!
Then we got to see the pit where they cooked the pig and see them bring it in to be served. The pork was delicious and they had yummy ube rolls. The rest of the food was ok but the experience was awesome and the kids loved it!
Marcus even braved going on stage to learn a traditional Hawaiian dance. I think immersion at school has made him more open to trying new things. It was so fun to watch.
We had about an hour after dinner before the evening show so we went back to the hotel. Everyone brushed their teeth and got a little settled into the room which was nice. Then we headed back for the night show which was fabulous. Marcus sat in seat 6-7
It really was nice our hotel was so close. We could walk right back without fighting any traffic. The morning of Friday, May 29th, we had the most amazing breakfast. I had purchased the breakfast package for $40 more a night thinking it would be access to a buffet style breakfast but no it was a made to order breakfast that would have cost over $100 each day. The lady that ran the cafe was so nice. Then the boys checked out a basketball to play for a bit before we headed to Pearl Harbor. We drove around the other way getting to see some surfers on the North Shore. We had tickets in advanced for the Arizona Memorial and the Ford Bus tour but no one was at the information desk to give me any guidance and when I asked the ticket desk they were pretty clueless so we wandered around for a bit then we finally figure things out but it was too late to see the movie in the theater (which I'm bummed we didn't get to watch oh well). We enjoyed the other displays and saw a good film in one of the rooms. Lila had just interviewed me about 9-11 for her history class and asked how I felt seeing ground zero when I was there a month after it happened and I told her it was a sacred experience something she would experience at Pearl Harbor.
I remember seeing the oil still consistently dripping out when I was there 18 years ago with my family (Ellie was a baby) but the oil has decreased significantly and the park ranger said you can still see it occasionally. As we were waiting to get back on the ferry, I happened to look out and see a small drop of oil and quickly pointed it out to the kids before it dissipated in the water then we saw a couple of more but nothing like it was before.
Then we walked around a few more exhibits before boarding our bus to see go on to base to see the USS Utah and the USS Oklahama memorials the other two ships sunk during the attacks on December 7, 1941. They only do this tour on Mon, Wed, & Fri and there are 40 spots on the bus so we felt really lucky to be able to do this (Steve and I were right on the website the moment tickets became available a couple of weeks ago).
The USS Utah was struck by two aerial torpedoes. It capsized and sank in just 12 minutes, resulting in the deaths of 58 crew members. They tried righting the ship with cables but were not successful so it sits out there today as a memorial They said surviving Pearl Harbor veterans who were not on one of the ships can have their ashes scattered off the memorial dock there at the USS Utah. Veterans who served on the USS Utah or Arizona can have their urns entombed on the ships, divers take them down.
The USS Oklahoma Memorial is fairly new, it was dedicated in December 2007 (so after my last visit to Pearl Harbor) and is a made to look like a Navy Tradition of Manning the Rails as they come in to port. The black granite slabs at the front represent the hull of the ship and the white marble pillars are to represent the 429 men who lost their lives on the USS Oklahoma dressed in their whites. The marble was picked because it ages differently so each pillar is unique as each man that day was.
The USS Missouri is docked where the USS Oklahoma was that day. The Missouri is where the peace treaty was signed.The Oklahmo has an interesting story. They were able to right it and it raise it up but it took years at which point they realized the technology was old and outdated so they started to scrap it. Then they were towing a large section of it to California when they encountered trouble and it sank somewhere in the Pacific Ocean no one knows for sure. Also I learned that Hawaii was not a state during the war, I did not realize that. It was really a fascinating afternoon. I hope my kids appreciate it. We want to watch some more documentaries and of course the girls want to watch the Hollywood move Pearl Harbor now.
I had made a reservation at a restaurant really close by so we walked over there and have a yummy meal overlooking the marina near Pearl Harbor. Steve said it was the best fish he has had in a long time. Then we went back to our hotel.
Saturday, May 30th we had a delicious breakfast then took the kids to the Laie temple where we had an appointment to do baptisms. It was a really cool experience.
Marcus and I had planned to go to the visitors center and we walked in and were about to sit in front of the Christus when an alarm started beeping and I looked around and realized no missionaries were around. So then I looked at the door and it said it didn't open until 10am and it was 9:17am. . .I think we may have set off the alarm but the door wasn't locked so we left and walked around the grounds and looked at these carvings.
We had planned to walk back to the hotel but it started to downpour so we waited it out under the coverings then walked back and saw this bird with a frog in his mouth.
The crew after baptisms.
We had planned to go explore more islands with our tickets to the PCC (they are good for three days to explore the islands) but we also had to check out of the hotel we hoped for a late checkout but that was not available but they said we could use the pool until 4pm so the boys went swimming while the girls lounged in a cabana near by. This hotel was really nice, they gave us macadamia chocolates every night and coconut face masks and the layout of the room was fun. There were two sets of bunk beds so the kids each had their own bed, Marcus even laid out everything out of his activity bag on the desk section of his bed (see his cute new turtle pen there in the middle).
They changed in the bathrooms out by the pool then we headed back to the PCC. Lila really enjoyed the PCC and the cultural activities. I think everyone did but Lila kept mentioning how much fun she was having and I told her after the first day she should plan out what she wanted to do on Saturday so she took the lead. First stop Samoa where Kap told us about their culture. He even called on Marcus and said at 10 he would be catching and cooking for the whole family. They showed us how they crack and shred a coconut. He also told us that a brown coconut is ripe and that a good ripe man is brown too, we should throw the rest back. ๐ He was a lot of fun.
Then we hit the canoe parade which was fun but the seating wasn't great and it was hot (to be honest we have had pretty great weather on Oahu with overcast skies and a slight drizzle just to keep things cool).
Then we made fish with leaves, watched the presentation at Aotearoa, played Tฤซtฤซ-tลrea stick game, hit a Tahitian Wedding Ceremony where Steve and I "renewed" our vows (it was different then the last time we went they called Venessa and Nate up and did a whole thing with them because they were newly weds). Then I got some shaved ice because we were hot. The girls watched a Fiji presentation while we enjoyed the cool treat. Then tattoos and Andrew really wanted to try Poi at Aotearoa.
The kids rowed a canoe while I saved seats for the Tonga presentation which we all enjoyed then they wanted to try starting a fire with sticks and twirl a fire knife (baton) while we waited for the fire knife demonstration.
We felt like we saw and did a lot so we headed to Taro Hut for some burgers (Lila was craving one). They were really yummy on ube buns.
We took a different route to our hotel next to the airport which was fun and pretty.
We took a quick picture of all of us with our tattoos: Steve is Navigator, Britney is Queen, Ellie also got Queen, Lila got Princess, Andrew got a cool lizard, and Marcus got Warrior.
Then Steve returned our rental car while the boys and I took a quick shower. It has been a great trip but I am ready to go home and the airport hotel was not helping matters (it was a little sketch and loud cars driving by) but we survived and Steve pointed out the boys needed the sleep because they were out and we now have Hawaiian memories!
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| ALOHA! |
