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!
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