The Big Island Day 4-5

Sunday
Jackson was up at 5:00.  We got ready for church and headed South.  The kids were screaming and growling at each other in the car.  Instead of trying to stop it like we did yesterday, we just let them go crazy.  The fought a little, but had fun too, we just had to endure an earful and not get annoyed by it.  We went to the temple, but the grounds were locked so we only got a few pictures.

We attended church South of Kona in Ke'ei ward.  Our neighbor's brother was bishop there so we said hello.  After church we went to "the place of Refuge"  This was peaceful park with ancient Hawaiian buildings and boats to see. Hallie was melting down so I took her back to the car while Dave and Jackson finished exploring.

 

Captain cooks monument in the far background of this bay

 Both kids fell asleep on the way into town.  We decided based on a friends recommendation to eat at a seaside "Island Lava Java."  This was the ONLY time we went to eat out on the entire 5 day trip.   Mariah was crying the whole time, Hallie was whiny and complaining and Jackson was hitting things with the silverware and wouldn't stop.  Hallie peed all over Dave's lap, Mariah had a blow out and Jackson started yelling.  Embarrassed and overwhelmed. We left before even getting our food.  It was too late to cancel the order, so we got it to go and ate in the car, which meant that everyone had syrup all over their shirts.  What a disaster!  We learned the hard way not to eat out on Sunday (or maybe not to take kids out to eat . . . EVER).  My friend, Chiyo, and her son met us at the hotel and we got to catch up.  I knew her on my mission, she was such a great friend and inspiration.  She lives on the island with her two boys.  It was so nice to reunite with her.  We watched another amazing sunset from the hotel and said goodnight to a very rough day.

 

Monday - we decided to try to take it easy so as to leave the trip on a good note.  It was a perfect day!  We went to Hapuna beach and finally got the great beach we were hoping for.  It was perfect sand, crystal clear water, hot weather and a gorgeous stretch of sand and horizon.  I wanted to stay all day!  Dave and I got to boogie board because Chiyo came and met us and volunteered to watch our kids so we could go out.  We both caught a few waves.




At noon, we quickly checked out of our hotel and then went to the pool for the afternoon. There was a fun slide and sandy area for the kids (although Hallie refused to play in the sandy area - she only liked the cold pool and the hot tub).  We used the rest of our food vouchers (provided because of our brother's hotel point status!) for some amazing sushi, pizza, and sandwiches from the poolside store.
We met back up with Chiyo and her husband and he took Dave and I out snorkeling while Chiyo watched the kids again.  She is so amazing and willing to serve.  She was so prepared (with food, a tent, first aid for Dave's cut foot, etc, etc. )  She is still so inspirational!  Dave and I swam with a couple turtles and lots of fish.

The kids loved watching Winne the Pooh, it was so fun to see the grins on their face.

 

Second pool experience was very short.  She did like her first experience for 15 mins.

All worn out!

Jackson loved learning to play checkers

Our hotel entrance we stayed in the Palace Tower on the 7th floor with a Ocean view!

 The dolphins outside in the Lagoon.

We then went to a shallow reef area and saw more turtles and showed the kids turtles swimming.  Finally, we went to "Spencer's beach" for dinner and a gorgeous sunset.  It was the perfect end to a trip.

 

The hotel held our bags and offered us a room to 'freshen up' in (complimentary!)  it was so nice to be able to shower off the ocean and be totally clean for the flight.  The problem was that it took a lot longer than we planned so we were so late getting to the airport, Dave had to drop me and the kids and the luggage off alone.  I was scared, but just took it slow (luckily it is a super tiny airport with lots of workers doing nothing so I had help). Still, I felt like a super star doing it all on my own.  I hauled and checked 4 bags (while the kids were in the stroller).  Then I put Mariah in the moby wrap and got all 4 of us through security (with Jackson asleep, I had to carry him AS I carried Mariah through the metal detectors.) with a stroller, car seat, diaper bag, backpack and pillows.  Luckily Hallie was awake, so she walked through.  Mariah and Jackson were out and stayed sleeping until after we landed in Phx.  Hallie took a bit longer falling asleep and cried a little.  She was so whiny about dad doing EVERYTHING for her on this trip, it made it a bit difficult, but Dave indulged her and took great care of her.  She finally fell asleep (as did I) and the flight home was too quick (I would've liked to sleep more!)  We were able to fit everything in the car (as well as an extra person) and got Dave to work and me home.  Despite the little sleep the kids were happy to be home and were pretty well behaved after I got some food in them.  Clean up from a big trip like this was a bear, but things are almost back to normal.  It was so nice to have a break from dishes and laundry and clutter control.  With 3 kids in tow it wasn't exactly a relaxing vacation  (I only read 47 pages in the book I brought and didn't even sunbathe once), especially because we wanted to see so much on this 'new to us' island.  We did a lot of packing and unpacking.  But we were so grateful to stay in such an amazing resort and not have to move our stuff to different hotels.  We had a great time and Dave is already planning another trip back to the islands - but which one?!?!

I didn't say much about Mariah, but she really was the easiest kid on the trip.  I would feed her when she would cry (even if it was more or less than 3 hours apart).  I didn't stick with any sort of schedule or routine. She had times when she cried in the car, but within 5 mins calmed down.  She spend a lot of time sleeping (or calmly awake) in her car seat.  She loved being wrapped in the Moby and fell asleep every time.  The kids didn't bother her nearly as much as they do at home (since she was hiding out in her car seat tent).  I found it was super easy to nurse in a swim suit.  Anyway, she slept for 5 of the 6 hours on the flight there and slept the entire 6 hours home (if she did wake up I was too asleep to hear her!).   I think this age is better for traveling than an older baby that has a more difficult time getting to and staying asleep.  She was a doll. 

 

Good morning Arizona!  (it is only 3 am in Hawaii!)

 

The Big Island - Day 3

Saturday we took a whirlwind trip around the island.  We really meant to just go see the active volcano, but since it was a 2 1/2 hour drive with little kids, we took many stops along the way.  We stopped in Waimea because we saw an awesome playground.

We then went to Lanaipoepoe to see the raging seas crash into the rocks.

 

We went to Akaka Falls.  We knew the kids were tired, but we really wanted to hike this short (paved hike) to see the falls.  The kids completely melted down.  Jackson and Hallie were SO whiny   It was a moment that we questioned why we brought them at all.  Totally embarrassing and annoying.  After trying our patience to the max we finally finished the hike.  I carried Mariah and Dave took turns carrying each kid (it was only a .4 mile hike!).   But I still think the hike was worth the view of these falls.

When we got back in the car, both kids fell asleep for the rest of the way to the volcano.

Dave and I took turns getting out of the car to see waterfalls, overlooks and the sights of Hilo.   It was cool to see the dry side of the island in stark contrast to the wet side.  It was so green and rain was falling.  We couldn't imagine it was good weather at our hotel, but that is the way the islands work!
This is rainbow falls in Hilo.



Right as we made it to Volcano National Park the kids woke up.  Jackson was in a MUCH better mood.  Hallie took a while to warm up, but finally we were having a good time again.  It was raining when we hiked through the rain forest and Thurston's Lava tube.  The kids were really nervous and scared (maybe it was the video that showed all the flowing lava) so we had many discussions about what Lava is and how it works and that we would only take them to safe places.  I think Jackson learned so much about lava (I only wish I were more educated so I could explain it completely properly, but I did have a random woman comment on how knowledgeable I was on my geology as I was explaining it to Jackson!)  This made me think about how informational field trips can be. 

We then saw the active crater.  It was super foggy and raining, so the steam from the lava lake didn't seem too amazing.  I wish we could've seen it at night, but not to be.

 HOT steam vents

Jackson chose to buy a junior ranger hat for his souvenir   The visitor's center did a huge ceremony welcoming Jackson as a JR ranger because he completed this packet through our trip.  He was pretty proud.  

 

 

 

Finally, we went to see some craters (I was thinking they were small divets and they were huge holes!!) and real lava from the 1975 flow (that was almost in our lifetime!).   Once again, the kids were nervous and stayed close to us.  It was so interesting to see the different kinds of lava.  It was awesome to imagine how it was formed.  It is incredible to think about the geology of the islands.    One crater had a great echo that the kids enjoyed.

 

 

 

We left the park and headed to the Black sand beach.  This is one of the only TRUE black sand beaches.  Other black sand beaches are formed by streams eroding lava as it heads out to the ocean.  But this one was formed when the lava hit the ocean and was shattered into sand.  It was awesome!

Can you find my black Jacketed arms holding Mariah?

 I loved feeling the soft sand, but seeing the black.  There was a turtle beached on the sand.  It was great to get so close.  Jackson was very brave. 


We headed home.  It was a little too long, the kids watched a movie to pass the time.  All three kids were asleep when we got to the hotel, so we were hoping to eat a meal together in peace while the kids slept in the stroller (they had this super nice Teppanyaki grill and we had vouchers for food in the hotel).  But we were 10 mins late, so we missed our chance to eat out without the kids :(.

 

 

This is our bag-mobile.  Jackson is actually sleeping underneath the carseat carrier, so all three kids fit in it, not to mention a bag of food, beach toys, extra clothes and the diaper bag.   We are so happy we got a little nicer stroller.  It made it so much easier to get around.

The Big Island - Day 1-2

We knew we wanted to take a trip to Hawaii for our birthdays in June.  However, as we scouted out options for flying in, we realized flights were already looking really full.  We saw that this may be our last weekend to go with lots of extra seats.  We were able to trade hotel points for buddy passes with Dave's sister and brother (THANK YOU LORI AND JIM!)  and we got to stay at a SUPER ULTRA AWESOME hotel.  Usually we go with the cheapest room we can find.  But this resort treated us like royalty with all the extras you could EVER ask for.  It is like a mini-disneyland.  There is a tram or a boat to take you to your room or around to the swimming pools, man-made beach, dolphin lagoons, shopping and artwork all the way around the hotel.  This Hilton was amazing.  We found ourselves thinking maybe we would want to spring for nicer places in the future.
Anyway, back to the beginning.
We packed for several days before hand.  I shopped and packed an entire box with food, snacks and meals for the 5 days we would be there.  We had everything very planned out because I was nervous to fly and stay for so long with a newborn.  It went really well .  I don't think we forgot anything.
We left Thursday morning.  We checked 3 bags, a box of food and a car seat so we had very little going through security (diaper bag, 2 backpacks, 3 kids, a car seat and a stroller) Dave had the worst flight of his life going to Hawaii.  Mariah ate and slept pretty much the entire way, so I got some time to relax and even sleep a bit.  Jackson and Hallie were demanding and Dave gave most of his time and attention to them.  In out past trip to Hawaii, we gave them some 'sleepy meds' and they slept for half the flight.  We thought this would work great. .  .but it backfired.  Both kids did fall asleep, but were woken up within an hour and cried and whined because they felt awful.

Hallie had diarrhea and we almost ran out of diapers by the end of the flight.  The plane was the older ones and didn't have a changing table.  Luckily, we had the last two rows of the plane and were able to change he on the seat without too many people noticing. Finally, we arrived at the Big Island.  I had been warned but I was still shocked at the ugliness of the area surrounding the airport.  It was dry, black lava rock.   It took so long to get our luggage and car.  Luckily, I figured this might be the case, and I was able to continue to entertain the kids.  We stopped by Costco for pizza (despite Jackson's impatience to be at the hotel) and then headed to the Hilton resort.

We spent our first night swimming at the kids sandy pool and the hot tubs.  We were amazed by the resort and loved exploring it a bit.  despite it being 11 pm Arizona time, the kids were having a difficult time settling down in the hotel room.  We sat on the balcony enjoying the view while they finally crashed for the night.
                                                  On the boat ride around our resort

P.S. I LOVE the moby wrap!!  Why has it taken me 3 kids to discover this little wonder?!?

Sunset from our the pool

 

Friday morning we explored around the tide pools around the hotel.  The kids are total scaredy cats.  I guess I should realize that, I am a pretty scared person myself, but they kept asking if the things we saw could hurt them.

Later, we went to a beach called "A" bay.  It was windy, cloudy and the sand was rocky.  The water was a bit murky (for Hawaii).  The kids were scared of the water and didn't play much in the sand.  It wasn't exactly what we were hoping for.

 

Jackson and I hiked 1/2 mile on a coastal trail back to the resort.  It was a gorgeous walk and helped me appreciate the black lava mixed with the white rock (I'm still not sure what it is).

We headed back to the resort and  played at the pool and hot tubs some more.  We were exhausted from the kids getting up early, so we watched a movie in our hotel (they have free DVD and play station game rentals!)  We went back to the pool for the sunset and then had late night hamburgers.  One of the only problems with the resort was that it is so big that it took a while to walk places.  Plus, there were a few places we had to carry the stroller up and down stairs.  We really liked the stroller to hold all the stuff we needed (plus the car seat and the baby), but it was a bit inconvenient at times.  Dave was a trooper to keep loading and unloading it from the car.  We eventually realized that we could get it onto the tram and that helped us walk a bit less.

Another day in paradise comes to an end. . .  taken at our resort pool. 

 

3 more days to come!