Saturday, January 3, 2009

Big Island of Hawaii

We made it to the Big Island Vacation House! It has it's own website at http://www.bigislandvacationhouse.com/, very cool house. It has awesome views and is just a big great house. The kids love it because they have their own rooms and a bathroom. It is definitely different here from Oahu, it is more remote where we are staying. There are two main large "cities" they are Hilo and Kona or Kailua-Kona. We are approximately 35 mi. south of Kona, but it is a curvy narrow road, and then after you get off the hwy, about 20 more minutes down to the house. We don't have broadband access here, only dial up so the pictures take up a lot of time to load. We are loving this place also, we have hiked to beaches and the volcano's recent lava flow. We hiked through a lava tube, went to the volcano winery, and ate lunch at the Lava Rock Cafe. Madi and I also tanned at the house's private beach, when we got too hot we rinsed off in the outdoor shower. Pictures coming soon...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Hauula Loop Trail Hike and Luau





































Happy New Year! It is 12:17 am here, which means it is 4:17 am there and people are still popping fireworks! There is so much smoke in the air it looks like it is raining! The different fireworks all around us make this feel like a warzone. Some of them are REALLY loud! The kids are upset and sleepy, but oh well, I am getting caught up. Today we hiked a trail here in Hauula. It took a couple of hours and was pretty steep and tricky because of the recent rain. The views from the top were worth it though, one of those is now the Love that view picture. This evening we went to the Polynesian Culture Center for a luau and show. The PCC is very neat, it has miniature villages of different polynesian people groups, Samoan, Tahitian, Fiji ?, Hawaiian, New Zealanders. Each group teaches about their culture and there are actual students from these areas working at the Center. The luau was fun, but my sister Molly's Kahlua Pig and Rice is MUCH better than what they served here. They had a show after the meal that was awesome! It had all different dances, including hula done by two "grandmothers", samoan fire dancers, it was great! This is our last night in Oahu, we leave in the morning for the big island Hawaii. We have definitely enjoyed Oahu and would definitely come back here in the future. We do really enjoy staying in a home instead of a hotel, and the North Shore is a great place to visit.

Dec. 30, 2008






















Carey and Madi were very proud of their sand art, especially when other people came to take pictures of it! They did a great job. That beach was Ala Moana beach park in Honolulu. It is about 10 blocks from Waikiki and a calmer place to hang out. Before Ala Moana, we stopped at Holona Bay Beach. This beach was in the movie "From Here to Eternity". It is more secluded and we had to hike down to it. The water is way too rough to actually get in there, but there was a cool cave and the kids climbed on the rocks. We also went to Chinatown and out to dinner last night. It was a long fun day, especially when I didn't have to cook when we got back!