Big Island Anniversary Trip: Part 2

Well, I'm no longer guiltlessly blogging while listening to the lapping of waves. We're back home and while it's been a bit of an adjustment back to the realities of non-vacation life, we were so happy to be with the boys again!

I don't have as many pictures from the second half of our trip; we forgot the big camera one of the days, and in general did less "exciting" adventures in the final days. We packed all the adventures into the first few days because there was a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii that was possibly going to hit the island at the end of the week. Not wanting to miss out on star gazing and helicopter rides due to high winds and torrential downpours, we did A LOT the first days (which amounted to a lot of driving!). Hurricane Hilda never did come in force. The only effects we saw of her was a couple hours of heavy rain on our final night on the island. Daily watching the weather forecast because of the storm was a fun memory of the trip (especially because it didn't ruin vacation!)

The last days we did lots of beaches and snorkeling! The beach below was one of my favorites, called Waialea Beach. It was where I conquered my fear of snorkeling--well, actually where we discovered that I could handle snorkeling as long as I just used the goggles and not the breathing tube. Because being out in the ocean is already stressful for me, I need lots of air, and was hyperventilating with the breathing tube. However, with a boogie board at my side, and just goggles, I was able to snorkel with my more adventurous husband, which was wonderful. I was also able to return home and tell my six year olds that I put into practice one of Ben's favorite parenting lines, "Don't let fear rob you of a good experience."

That evening we ate dinner at Lava Lava Beach Club, and got the BEST seat of the night. We ate dinner with our feet in the sand while watching a beautiful sunset.

We knew it was the best spot on the beach because it ended up being the place that EVERYONE took their family pictures in front of. We laughed lots as we got asked to take pictures often. 

But in return, we got someone to take ours!

It ended up being the best sunset of the trip. It went from this (which was pretty spectacular) 

And finished as this. God is such an artist.

The next day was the day we forgot our camera; so we have very few pictures, but great memories that I better report before forgetting! We headed out in the morning to visit Kona. We had fun shopping for souvenirs (we had to buy Ben a new outfit because he hadn't packed enough clothes!) and we also stopped by the open air market to get a sampling of Hawaiian fruit. These things definitely don't grow in the Pacific Northwest!

Next we went to a place called "Two Step" because you step down two lava rocks and are in the ocean for some amazing snorkeling. Luckily as we were preparing to get in the water, I overheard someone talking about seeing dolphins and pointing. So Ben and I took our boogie board and swam out way further than I ever would have been comfortable--if there wasn't a possibility of seeing dolphins! Sure enough, we actually heard the dolphins first. Ben and I's heads both popped out of the water and we looked at each other wondering if those clicking noises were them. Then we saw them! For the next half an hour or so, we saw many different groups of spinner dolphins all around us in the bay. We would see the tops of them, we saw them swimming far below us, and we saw them jump out of the water and spin! We were even blessed to see a mama with her baby swimming right underneath us and then surface. It was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. The picture below is of Two Step Beach. Unfortunately, it does not have any dolphins in it :) 

The other beach we visited to snorkel ended up being a bit of a bust (and how could you compare to seeing dolphins anyways), so we went to a third beach and spent the afternoon watching people body board on a beach with decent waves. It was very fun and relaxing. Then we ate dinner looking out over a bay and were blessed with another amazing sunset.  (Ben was all about the tikki torches in the picture...very artistic, my love)

Friday was our final full day on the island. We had another slow morning at the hotel. The entire vacation, we stayed close to our pacific time zone schedule, so even if I slept in until 8:30 or so, that was 5:30 am Hawaiian time. We took advantage of this and would one of the first people on the beach each morning. It was amazing. 

Watching the sunrise on Hapuna Beach...Ben's are the only footprints in a half mile long beach

I would do my devotionals in a lobby so I could drink my coffee and have free internet. Here's my view: 

We didn't want to do a ton of driving that day (since we would be traveling the whole next day), so we skipped the waterfalls (next time!). We did, however, drive to a cattle community called Waimea and then on to see an amazing valley called Waipi'o. Someday, we hope to return and hike to the bottom of the valley and see those waterfalls we missed! 

That afternoon we hung out at our hotel's beach, which was definitely our favorite beach of the trip. Ben did some more body surfing:

Then, we got our first experience of Hawaiian rain. It was so funny to have warm rain. We stayed on the beach for awhile (we were already wet anyways!), until we heard thunder, and then headed to our room to play scrabble. It ended up raining the whole evening, so we didn't get a sunset. 

Here's our final picture of Hapuna Beach from the morning we left. It was such an amazing beach! Good-bye Big Island. We loved you and hope to return soon...maybe even with our kiddos this time!

Big Island Anniversary Trip: Part 1

Ben and I hoped and dreamed, planned and saved for a trip for our 10 year anniversary. It was a bit of a process to narrow down a place: we considered New York, Denver, Banff, and Hawaii. We're so glad we picked Hawaii. It has been a blast! So far we have swam, snorkeled, star gazed, slept in, hiked and helicoptered. It's been wonderfully relaxing and excitingly adventurous.

Here's some pictures from the first half of our vacation:

 The view from our room!

The night view of the hotel lobby: yes, that's me standing there with my arms crossed shaking my head at Ben laying on his back to take this "artistic" picture. Not bad my love, not bad.

 I am calling this Ben's Baywatch picture

 First ones on the beach in the morning (due to the time change!)

 Hapuna Beach, the beach our hotel is on, is rated one of the best not only in Hawaii, but America and after exploring many beaches the last few days, nothing has compared to Hapuna. The sand is so soft that it feels like butter under your feet and the waves are calm. We feel so blessed to be staying here!

 The beach on our Day 1 hiking through lava rocks adventure. To get to this beach we had a 20 minute sketchy drive on a one-lane black lava rock road. Then a 15 minute walk to this beach.

 Then, we had read with another 20 minute hike we could get to an amazing isolated beach. So we did that hike too. Hiking over lava rock in sandals and 90 degree hot, humid weather is not fun. And while the beach was nice, it was not worth the time and effort. Live and learn.

 The Big Island has old lava flows everywhere. It's amazing to see the texture and imagine the rocks actually being lava. We took this one to show the boys. It was in the parking lot.

 Another beach: Ben snorkeling to see a couple turtles.

 The Big Island is home to Mauna Kea, a mountain (inactive volcano actually) that has what scientists believe to be the best star gazing in the world. There are about 10-12 enormous telescopes on the top of the mountain. It was really neat to see them!

 Watching the sunset from atop the world

 And yes, despite the beanies and jeans, we are still in Hawaii. It was 43 degrees and windy on top of Mauna Kea. Freezing, especially after a day at the 90 degree beach!

 Beautiful sunset above the clouds.

Unfortunately, because I'm not savvy enough with my camera, I didn't get any pictures of our star gazing experience after sunset. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I had not, and will not, ever see that many stars. The milky way was completely visible to the naked eye. We saw Saturn and its rings through a telescope. We saw shooting stars and had constellations described to us. It was amazing to view the heavens that the Lord has created!  

 The next day we had one of the other most memorable experiences of our life: a helicopter ride!

 We were so excited!

 We sent this picture to the boys via phone and Sam thought Ben was driving the helicopter. Nope, we all had cool, professional looking headsets so we could listen and talk to the pilot if needed.

 Off we go: these are fields of macadamia nuts.

 Our first look at the most recent lava flow. The biggest reason that we wanted to do the helicopter ride was because lava is currently only visible via air. This lava flow started in 2014 and is burning through the surrounding forests.

A lava vent: the bright red lava was flowing through a crack as we flew over. It was so amazing to see real live lava!

 This crater had lava in the bottom of it. It was hard to get a picture of.

 Flying away from the crater

 I couldn't stop smiling. It was such an amazing experience.

 We also saw some waterfalls from the air. It was neat, but I think that they are cooler from land.

 We're hoping to see these in real life in the next couple of days.

 I loved seeing the coast line from the air.

 After the trip. Did we really get to go on a helicopter? Wow!

 Next we visited Volcano National Park. This was our lunch view. That's the newest crater of the volcano; it is filled with lava. The entire brown part of land used to be a sea of lava about one hundred years ago.

 We decided to do a recommended 4 mile hike that takes you through rain forest and then down to the bottom of another crater. That straight, light-colored line in this picture is the trail we would later take. There are little black specks on the trail if you look close--those are people!

 Rain forest part of the trail

 Ben has been all about his binoculars this trip

 I'm pretty sure that my hand is supposed to be turned the other way for the "hang loose" sign. I'm such a dork.

 Entering what looks like "The Land of Morador" (for all you LOTR geeks out there). In 1959, this entire crater was full of lava. Crazy!

 Plants are already beginning to grow on it. Beautiful plants! God is amazing!

 In the lava rock field

 I found it a little disconcerting that there are steam vents along the trail, Ben found it exciting and cool (men!)

 Our final leg of the trip: in the rainforest again. The contrast of the trail was really neat.

 These flowers were scattered throughout the trail and were extremely sweetly fragrant.

 After a long and exciting day of helicopters and volcanoes, we made it back for a relaxing sunset on Hapuna Beach. Check out the puffy cloud: doesn't it look just like a camel? Best cloud animal I've ever seen!

 Ben loves his sunsets, and we were not disappointed!

 "The heaven's declare the glory of the Lord,"

 "The skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalms 19:1

 Dinner view, night 3, from the restaurant outside our hotel pool.

Thus, the first half of our trip is documented. Who blogs while on vacation one may ask. Me, because I have time. Sweet time. Blogging is something that I really enjoy, but struggle to find time to do at home between all the real life activities. But here, on vacation, I can peacefully sit at a table, watch the waves of the ocean and guiltlessly blog. I'm so thankful for this vacation and for my and Ben's parents watching the boys!