Family Pictures

A HUGE thanks to Josh and Mimi for taking our family pictures while we were in Hawaii! There were SO many great ones to choose from!

Ziplining and Manta Ray dive

Our brave Sydney did the Manta Ray Dive with Gary! The rest of us were too chicken!

Lauren, Gary and I were able to zipline in Hawi. It was so beautiful!

Mauna Kea Beach

We finally made it to Mauna Kea Beach! It is in a resort area, and although every beach is public in Hawaii, the resort only allows 30 cars to park there! We tried once before to go here, but the lot was full. So this time we got up super early, and made it in! It did not disappoint. The water is a beautiful deep blue, and crystal clear. The beach is huge, which is not common in Hawaii, and it's amazingly soft sand! We happened upon a day where the surf was small--ok non-existant! But it was still fun to play in the water. I watched many swimmers swim from one end of the bay and back, doing laps. I thought of my ocean swimmer friends! Water temperature is 80, air temperature is 85, doesn't get much better than that! Even the shark patrol helicopters that make their passes over these beaches every morning didn't bother anyone at all! :) We swam, played some frisbee and enjoyed another day in paradise.

Kikaua

One cool thing about the Big Island is how different all the beaches are. There are great beaches for every activity, swimming, boogie boarding, surfing, snorkeling, to name a few. This beach, Kikaua is GREAT for little kids! The water is shallow, only knee high and there are no waves. It's got a soft sandy bottom, so no reef shoes are required! Our youngest 2 loved this beach, and spent a few hours practicing standing up on their boogie boards. They had a few other kids trying it too! There is a nice grassy spot to lie down under the trees, and plenty of room to throw a frisbee.

Kiholo Bay revisited

Remember this post? That afternoon we couldn't get across the chute to the lagoon, because the tide was so high. We we came back to Kiholo Bay to try again. We left early in the morning this time, and found that morning is the BEST time to visit! The water was so beautiful, and the tide was out, allowing us to explore as far as we could! We swam to 2 different little islands, trying to keep our backpacks with our phones and cameras dry, found a great rock to "cliff" jump (it was about 3 maybe 4 feet high!) saw more turtles than we could count (they would swim right by you!) and enjoyed the whole thing all to ourselves. If anyone else ever swims out to the island, see if our name is still there! We "wrote" it with white rocks on the black lava rocks. It was an adventurous morning, hiking, climbing, swimming, jumping, and snorkeling! In the morning, when we first crossed to the islands, we could walk with our backpacks up, but on the way back, the tide had already risen and we found we had to swim across with our backpacks held up! Diana and Jordi even met the man who was the architect for the Bali House! In case you were wondering, the Bali house and the pace maker guys house and property there appraise at about $70 million. Chump change! :)

Captain Cook Monument

We took a morning and kayaked Kealakekua Bay to Captain Cook Monument. It was a beautiful morning! We rented kayaks from Maile's Kayaks. They are AWESOME, and launch their boats in a great spot. We kayaked across to Captain Cook Monument. There is a lot of history here, which I loved! The Hawaiians gave the spot of land that the monument stands on to Britain, so we were able to stand on British soil! The water is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Crystal clear and varying shades of bright turquoise, depending on how deep the water was. We came the week before and saw dolphins playing out in the bay. Unfortunately, there weren't any the hours we were there kayaking. The kids snorkeled when we got there, along with all the other tours of snorkelers there! It was such a great morning! Such a beautiful place! I could have kayaked there all day--if we had brought enough food! :)

New trail

We found a new trail the other day! It's on a small road on the way to Hilo. It was such a cool place! It let down to the ocean, with lots of water falls and beautiful rainforest all around us.