The Big Island Adventure

Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early to get on our way to Hilo. As luck would have it, we left a BEAUTIFUL day on Oahu so that we could enjoy even more rain and chill on the Big Island. Who's idea was to go this island anyway?! Hahaha, nah, it was way fun... just wish the sun woulda come out on our North Shore day instead! So on the plane, we took some pictures of Oahu from above. Here's Diamond Head Crater (in case I haven't mentioned it enough, we hiked here earlier in the trip).

We landed in some cold-ish weather and waited for Jason to pick up our sweet ride :) It was nice and roomy for all 6 of us. At least everyone got their own seat and then some! We even let Flat Alix take a turn at driving... riiiiiiight. We just let her have a feel at the drivers seat.

Our first stop: Akaka Falls. Rain, rain, rain is mostly what we saw. Two umbrellas, two kids, 4 adults. Well, we at least managed to keep the kids and the mother mostly dry. When we got to the falls we told dad to take a picture. He said, OK! ...where is it? His picture turned out to be a blur of mist and water. You should look at Jason's recap of this day to see what the falls are supposed to look like.

We took the scenic route on the way to our next destination. It was pretty scenic indeed and included these cliffs on the way.

Next up was Rainbow Falls. No rainbow to be found here. In fact, the water looks a little... dirty.

Flat Alix keeping dry. This is one of my favorite Flat Alix pictures :)

Then we went to look at the boiling pots, which weren't as cool as I was hoping, but it had a pretty view of Pe'epe'e falls (no, not peepee falls...). I bet it would look even lovelier with the sun out and a nice blue sky.

Later that day, after going to the grocery store and dropping our stuff off at our vacation rental (Hawaiian Retreat), we went to Ahalanui Warm Springs which is naturally heated by the volcano. It was nice. And a little strange. There were warm spots and cold spots... and mostly it was cold on the bottom and warm up top.

Dad finally got to make use of his swim trunks!

Ash had a blast in the water. She practiced floating... and it kinda looks like I'm about to eat her...

And where was Jax? Well, in his usual spot taking a little snooze.

We went back to our place for a cozy meal and all fell asleep by 9:00. But not before we all had a chance to use this all natural feeling shower... Look at J's blog for other pictures of what the place looked like.

Here's the bed I slept in. Both beds had mosquito nets... although I'm not sure there were any mosquitos.

After it rained all night long, we woke up to lovely sunshine. We had a scrumptious breakfast and took off so we could enjoy the sun before it disappeared (which was soon after...) But before we took off, we had a chance to lounge in the hammock.

Our first stop of the day was the State Lava Tree Park. The behind the scenes photo of taking Flat Alix pictures.

Here's the picture. It turned out a little bright so we took a better one after that.

Then we went into Volcanos National Park. We found out that a lot of the park and the roads were closed due to the sulphur dioxide coming out of Kilauea (behind us). Too bad. We still got to see a lot of the park but we didn't get to do some of the small hikes we thought about doing for safety reasons.

One of the hikes we did was to the Lava tubes. It wasn't a difficult hike as some of us wore flip flops.

Inside the lava tube.

We drove along the chain of craters road and saw many craters like this one.

We also found the July 1974 Lava Flow. This is significant for dad since that is the month and year he and mom were married. So naturally we stopped to take a picture. Although to me, all the lava rocks look the same.

At the end of the road was the Holei sea arch.

Our goal was to get to see lava pouring in the ocean. From this point on, it was an 8 mile hike to that smoke you see billowing in the background. So we opted for the drive out of the park and a short 3/4 mile hike to see it from the other side. If we had known this the night before, we could've gone and stayed longer to watch since we had stayed down that way. Oh well.

We drove over and followed the dotted yellow lines to our watching spot.

Unfortunately, they don't let you get any closer than this. So for a long time we waited for the sun to go down so we could see some real action. It was the longest hour ever. Plus we had a plane to catch so we were really cutting our time close!

And look who finally decided to wake up and enjoy the scene! What an adorable little face!

Even Flat Alix got to enjoy the scene for a moment.

Darkness finally approached... finally you can see the lava glowing in the smoke! We had to leave very soon after this but at least we got to see some of it! It was pretty really cool when it got much darker.

We made it to the plane on time where we ate the worst dinner we probably ate this whole trip (jerky and trail mix), and got home where this one passed out for the night. Poor kid.

North Shore!

Oops! Dropped the ball on my updates...but here we go. Monday brought little chance of sun and mostly clouds but we decided that the weather would not stop us from fulfilling our plans. We put on our swim suits and off we went to the North Shore in hopes of some sudden change in the weather. Unfortunately, the weather turned worse and on the drive up north, it dumped loads of rain. We were going to stop at the Pali lookout but since there was little visibility, we decided there would be no point (don't worry, we got there later in the trip!). We went to Lai'e Point where it was windy and rainy... I stayed in the car and took this picture while Heather and Dad braved the weather to get some of their own pics.

We stopped by the library in Kahuku to visit Aunt Peggy (look at J's blog for our picture with Peggy) who knew mom and dad's family when in Hong Kong (that is a direct quote from J's blog). While there, Ashlyn read books to Jason.

Our next stop was Sunset beach so we could eat lunch. Since it was blustery and rainy, we actually just ate in the car and looked out at the water. Heather and I did eventually get out to snap a few photos... which included the Japanese tourists.

On we drove to Laniakea Beach where the Honu (Hawaiian green sea turtles) come to feed and bask. According to the nearby sign, the turtles come ashore for several hours to sleep and bask for body warmth.

Our flat friend Alix and her flat person caretakers.

Despite the threatening clouds you see here in this picture, the sun did make a lovely appearance for about an hour.

Bliss! We spent that hour here.

Ashlyn and dad had a joyous time playing in the sand together, building castles and throwing sand in the air. They even managed to get a little wet... by accident.

There's Jason. Just curious to see what you could see from over there.

After the sun went away, we left and continued onward to get some shave ice at Matsumoto! It's never too cold for delicous shave ice!!! Jason had me do the ordering for the experience... there's a certain order in ordering (2 large with ice cream and 2 holders... guava, mango, and lilikoi) which I practiced over and over in my head so as to not look like a fool when it was my turn to go. The poor tourists behind us did it all wrong... good thing I have a local to show me the way!

Ohhhh scrumptious! Dad and I actually shared one and J, Heather and Ashlyn shared the other.

Don't think that we didn't try to include Jax all day in the festivities! He was with us the whole day... but he chose to sleep most of the time, only getting up to eat and to say hello. He's just sleeping with his arm out here.

Well even though we didn't get to get in the water or bask in the sunshine, it was still a fun filled day up north. On the way back, Jason wanted to show us this area where you can see the skyline of Honolulu... too bad it wasn't a clearer day! Here's Jason taking a picture of Heather taking a picture of...

...this lovely sight. The rainbow is a nice touch.
And here's Jason's sorry picture of the sunset. Hahaha. Ok well we'll give him a break since we were driving south and he was squished in the passenger seat with Heather (i drove most of the trip). The sun was setting in the west (drivers side), so he took this blind picture by sticking the camera out the passenger window trying to get his arm above the roof of the car (which you can see in the picture) and take a straight picture (not so much) while the car was still moving... and this was the outcome :) So now you know the story behind it and you can think... ohhh, very artistic!

What a busy day we enjoyed. We went home, got packed up and ready to fly out to the Big Island the next morning! That adventure is coming next so stay tuned!

The Weekend -- in Hawaii

Although Jason claimed that we didn't take any pictures on Saturday, I'm pretty sure this was our Saturday entertainment...

Ashlyn is already practicing her poses.

Other than those few pictures, it was a terribly windy, rainy, cloudy day that we filled with food, movies, and a trip to Costco. It was very exciting.

The next day being Sunday, the sun finally broke through all morning long. A lovely day to visit Pearl Harbor. It was an educational experience for me. What I knew about Pearl Harbor is what I learned in US history when I was 16... which was not much. I found that there was MUCH more to know. While dad and I were in the museum reading up on history and seeing things like this,

Ashlyn was outside doing this... hugging palm trees. Hahaha.

After going through the museum and seeing a short film, we hopped on a boat that took us over to the Arizona.

The list of names of all those who died on the USS Arizona... so many people...

Most of the Arizona is under water though you can see parts of it out of the water too. We read that 1-2 quarts has been leaking everyday since it sunk. You can kinda see the oil on the water here. Even so, the fish still swim around... can you see the fishies in the water?

Us on the boat again that took us back to the museum area.

Another lovely creation... I forget what this is. But see that big black thing right there? Ewww... well he found Jason smelling so sweet that he buzzed all over him and even summoned his friend to join him. Poor Jason, he was the only one that was attacked. Luckily, no one was injured.

Remember this picture of the tourists on Jason's blog? Well, I thought I'd give you a looksy of what Heather and I are taking pictures of...

Jason was correct. Palm trees! Here's Heather's picture.And here's mine!

Oahu! Jason's finger is.... pointing to something specific I'm sure. That gold colored thing almost straight down from his finger is Diamond Head crater that we hiked a couple days before. That white circle to the left of that is about where they live (i think), and then of course Pearl Harbor over to the left more.

And our last stop before leaving was the submarine graveyard. Jason would not let us leave till we paid tribute to the submarine name after us... the USS Tang. Ok it's a total lie but whatever. You can see the picture of it on his blog is you so desire.

After church that day where dad seemed to know everyone and their dog... ok just one person which led to a few connections and no dogs... we joined the Nitahara's for thanksgiving dinner. Who's to say that you can only eat a thanksgiving dinner at thanksgiving? Fact (that has nothing to do with this trip): In the last 6 months, I've eaten at least 8 turkey dinners (turkey and all the trimmings). That's the most turkey I've ever eaten in such a short period of time! I'm turkey-ed out!

Anyway, up next, the North Shore tour!