Snorkeling

Our first full day back in Kona we headed to our favorite snorkeling beach and spent most of the day in the water. It was a lot of fun I finally got to swim with a turtle!

I brought our little waterproof digital recorder and took a few pictures with it too. It’s not the highest quality for underwater, but I was able to get a few good ones of the fish. I only took a shaky video of the turtle (trying to swim and record is hard :)), so no pictures to share of him.

These fish would swim right up to us and just hang out, they were very friendly.

Drive to Kona: Pt. 3

After the coffee farm we hurried to see 3 more sites before sunset. Our first stop was a quick look at the Captain Cook monument from across the bay commemorating where Cook died. The only way to get close to it was either by rugged hiking trail or by boat.

Next we drove to the City of Refuge and walked around the ancient settlement with unique huts and carved wooden statues. Our last stop was to see the beautiful St. Benedict’s Painted Church.

Drive to Kona: Pt. 2

After the sea turtles we found a quaint coffee plantation (Greenwell Farms) that offered free tours and samples of their 100% Kona coffee. The farm also had a few animals that Ada fell in love with, especially this dog. The dog followed her during most of the tour and kept her entertained, it was pretty cute.

Drive to Kona: Pt. 1

We said goodbye to Hilo and headed back to Kona for our last 4 days. It took us all day to drive 120 miles but we managed to squeeze a lot in. We visited the VNP one more time to see the volcano in daylight, stopped at Punaluu Black Sands Beach to see the sea turtles, visited a coffee plantation, viewed the Captain Cook monument, walked around City of Refuge National Historical Park, and lastly before dark, visited the Painted Church.

The black sand was amazing. It looked like coffee grounds and rolled right off of our skin, not like normal sand that sticks for a long time. I guess we were not supposed to get that close to the sea turtles but we didn’t know it at the time 🙂

Ada found each shoe’s match and lined them all up for us before we left that morning. She is very talented 🙂

Star Gazing

That night, after the zoo, we drove up Mauna Kea to the visitor center at 9,200 ft. and it was cold! We could have gone further to 14,000 ft. but Ada was too young and we needed 4-wheel drive. The visitor center sets out telescopes each night for free viewings of the stars and planets. It was spectacular. We got to see Jupiter and its rings, details of the moon, the milky way, and several other stars. If you ever get to the Big Island you should visit Mauna Kea, I hear it is one of the best places in the world for star gazing.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 19:1

I couldn’t get a good picture of the Milky Way but included this one to show how thick the sky appeared with its billions of stars.

Hilo Zoo

And now back to Hawaii! You thought I was joking about having them up by summer 😉

These were taken at the Pana`ewa Rainforest Zoo & Gardens in Hilo (which was surprisingly free). They had some beautiful animals and birds for being a small zoo. My favorite was the Blue Hyacinth Macaw named Zoey, she was stunning!

We ended our afternoon by visiting the official Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory. Since it was a weekend, their self-guided tour was a little dull with no one working 🙂 We did get to sample everything in the gift shop though!

Ada is 2!

Ada turned 2 last Sunday. We had a little last minute party for her with our friends Marla, Breanna, & Dylan who also live right across the street. She enjoyed opening a few gifts, blowing out her candle (all by herself) and playing with her balloons.

I also made her cake, not too bad for my first one. I need to work on my frosting techniques but Ada didn’t seem to mind, she definitely enjoyed eating it 🙂

Leavenworth

How’s this for a break from warm, sunny Hawaii 🙂 Over a week ago we rented a lovely lodge with Todd’s family for 2 nights in Leavenworth. Todd’s cousin and her husband even stayed with us who we hadn’t seen in 5 years.

Todd and his brother Keith upgraded a previously made sled run by smoothing it out and making it longer next to the house. Ada even enjoyed going down with Todd and on her own. The best run (and pictures) was when Todd and Ada wiped out while going down together, everyone was fine but Ada looked hilarious holding the rope in her teeth 🙂

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Volcanoes National Park

We spent a few hours driving around the park stopping to see the lava fields, craters, and of course the volcano. We started out in rainforest and then slowly descended into the dry lava fields near the ocean.

Our first stop was at the end of the highway where we walked 1/2 a mile to see the 2003 lava flow that covered part of the original road. On our way back up, we saw the craters, steam vents, Thurston Lava Tube, and ended with the night viewing of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater (volcano).

I thought we would be able to see actual lava when in the park, but all the current lava flows were about 15 miles away and viewable only by hiking trail or by helicopter. The volcano was pretty cool at night though 🙂

23 Months

Ada will be 2 this Sunday! I can’t believe she is that old already, where has the time gone?! She is still her normal fireball self, full of energy and curiosity. She loves to learn names of people and objects and asks us to “name!” them quite often. She can count 1-10, though not always in that order…2, 6, 7, 8, 10! (yelling the last number). Ada says “right here” but imagine her having a southern accent when she says it, makes us smile. She knows a few opposites, forwards/backwards, up/down, open/closed, etc. She likes to say “ok” when she understands something or “nope” when she disagrees 🙂

These were taken towards the end of our vacation in Kona, but thought I would throw them in since she is almost 2. The dress was a gift from her Gramma & Grampa.

And no, I can’t get her to smile for me anymore unless I have a bribe (preferably chocolate) or a person behind me to get her attention…I had neither for this shoot but managed to get a partial smile (the wall) 🙂