Hawaii: part 2

We did manage to do a touristy thing which is visit Pearl Harbor. It is very moving and emotional. Hector and I went to Pearl Harbor about 18 years ago and I believe they built a new park area etc. I really can't remember much about the last visit but we went on the early tour so the crowds weren't too bad at all.




Another gorgeous day with a slight breeze.











If you want to check out more of my Hawaii Flickr set. click on the linky....

Hawaii Vacation

Hey everyone! Just got back from a terrific 5 day vacation in Waikiki!! Unfortunately, H wasn't able to join us but next time for sure! So the kids and I had a nice relaxing and fun time with great weather. We pretty much stuck to California time so we would beat the breakfast rush and enjoy a leisurely meal and walk around before most of the people were up.

We were able to explore the area and find some nice, reasonably priced ramen places that the kids enjoyed and a massive food court that has almost every imaginable cuisine there. :) I intended to take pics of our food but we were always starving so that never happened.

The kids went SUPing in the lagoon twice and it was lots of fun. Josh got to try SUP for the first time and did a good job. Maybe he will want to try again here.

Did some uploading and here is the Flickr set so far.

Beat the Summer Heat

You didn't think I'd forget, did you? Just in time for fall, I have uploaded a couple of Hawaii videos. Our summer season in SoCal has been absent mostly but this weekend it's supposed to get HOT! I'm not sure whether to believe all the reports but if it is true then why couldn't have made an appearance last weekend when we could have used our Soak City passes.

So enjoy the beautiful ocean, sunset and my kids and try to stay cool. :)

ETA: I forgot to post this because I was waiting for the video to load to Youtube. So here it is just in time for the real heat.

Hawaii: day 5 and 6

I hadn't finished recapping our Hawaii vacation so here goes. After super relaxing day at Mauna Lani with Jill and her family, we hit Costco for some cheap pizza. Hector had read that Costco decided to locate on the Kona side because it is the up and coming area. Apparently it is the only one on the island so residents on the other side have to make a 2-3 hour drive to load up on goodies. I shudder to think of that drive both ways. Yuck.

I had bookmarked a beach about 5 miles south of our condo that is perfect for snorkeling. We went on a nice Sunday morning around 9:30am so we found parking in the lot. Small sand beach with picnic area further on the trees. Shallow pools surrounded by rocks which made it nice for small children although the rocks can be hard for people to navigate.

Testing the snorkel equipment in the pool.

Hector took the boys out snorkeling for a short bit before Joshua got cold. I couldn't figure that out since the water is much warmer than Cali but still on the cool side. Hector said the water here is much clearer and there are lots of fish even in the waist high water. I ventured out there to wade and swim for a bit and I did not see ONE fish. Strange, huh?

That was our adventure for the day with the usual pool time. Hector booked a snorkel trip on a Zodiac for Tyler and him the next morning. Josh and I stayed at the condo and swam that day. This is what Hector told me...they travelled to the Cook's monument and snorkelled in 2 places. The Zodiac bounced them around to their first stop and Hector got sick which he expected. I'll spare you the details but he did manage an underwater pic while he 'fed' the fish. Tyler had lots of fun and even got a camera to take photos with. The captain thought Tyler might not know about film cameras but he didn't know we've entered that realm months ago.
Tyler really had a great time with his dad so that was a nice event to end the trip.

The boys have a nice tan where they've inherited their dad's genes. I have a tan but it was harder for me. I put the same sunscreen on as the kids and they got much darker. Go figure.

Our last night in Hawaii. Sunset from our balcony.

Now that our vacation is over, all we have is our memories, photos and the cold we all caught from Tyler. :)

Hawaii: day 4

Today was another kickback kind of day, just what I needed after our long day before. We came back really late the night  before so I thought the kids would sleep in thus allowing me to sleep in. Um, no that didn't happen. I heard them talking around 6:30am and I tried to go back to sleep but it just didn't work for me. By 10:00 am we were headed up to Kohala Coast to see Jill and her family. They are friends and neighbors who happened to be in Hawaii as the same time as us but staying further up the coast. The Mauna Lani is a very nice resort hotel with a big pool and beach area where the kids can swim and snorkel.

Great cabana loungers with hammocks and palm trees complete the perfect scene. Oh and add some green sea turtles that hang out by the shore feeding on the algae. Took a whole bunch of pictures of them. Hector took the boys out snorkeling and after 10  minutes I decided to join them. I barely got my gear on and was heading deeper in the water when Hector brings Josh back because Josh was too cold. Oh well. I got Josh settled in the jacuzzi where he became the local resident. That little kid needs to add some muscle and fat to his frame.

up close and personal.

It was a great day to unwind and relax by the water. :)

Hawaii: day 3

Today was our big driving adventure day. Our goal: to see the volcano. The route(s) that we could take was one of 2 choices. We chose the more scenic route on the north side of the island that took us through different landscapes before arriving in Hilo. We saw desolate areas with volcanic rock, sprawling green fields, lush, thick, dense forests and then rainforest with all sorts of gorgeous greenery and flowers that brought to mind, Fantasy Island.

On a side note, Hector and I had a hankering for whoppers so the iPhone became our travel guide. Yelp finds the closest Burger King on our route through Hilo. Then Hector asks an obvious question of if there is a yarn store in Hilo. Believe it or not, I didn't look this tidbit up before our trip. Usually I'm on top of that bit of fun (for me). This is where Knitmap comes in handy; type in the city, coose your parameters and voila, yarn stores in the area. That's how we found The Yarn Basket. A little difficult to find from the physical address but a phone call straightened that out right away. Hector took the boys in search of ice to leave me alone in yarn happyland. Boy, I was so surprised at the selection and quantitites of yarn in there. I was able to browse and pet all the pretty yarn. There was a local woman who sheared, spun and dyed her own yarn but it was wasn't enough for me to do a small project. I just picked some pretty Noro and Ranco for my Hilo souvenirs. I was deifinitely a happy camper.

Okay, on to the volcano. We drove 28 miles up the mountain to the the Volcano National Park and started exploring right away. First, a stop at the visitor center and rest room. We had sporadic rain in different areas along the way this morning and it was sprinkling when we arrived at the park so I had to pull out a long sleeve shirt for Josh and my hoodie for me but other than that, it soon cleared up and we were pretty comfortable in our shorts and T-shirts.

We saw steam vents, the crater from several viewpoints, the Jagger Museum, sulfur crystals, rainforests, lava flow, lava tubes and the chain of craters. There is just so much to see and even though we rushed through a lot, we still managed to spend 4 hours in the park which is pretty impressive with the kids and all.

Okay, now I'll get to the pictures because that's what you've been waiting for.

entrance to the park.

Gotta have a jumping photo by the crater.

there is no way to tell how massive ths crater is...this is the active part. the flat area around it which extends further around is also the crater.

about to start the sulfur banks trail..told the kids to ignore the sign.

sulfur crystals

These are just from my camera for now. I'll just sum up that we had a super long day, about 6 hours of driving half of which had super winding, hairpins turns that gave me a mega-headache and Tyler got motion sick. Overall, we did have lots of fun and adventures jammed pack into one day.

memories are made of this....

Day 2

We are in island mode and having fun. We spent most of the day by the pool and in the condo but we did venture into town to rent snorkel equipment. Since we paid for 2 hours of parking, Hector and I dragged the kids on a walk. They grumbled a bit because it was hot but I spotted an ice cream parlor so that stopped the bellyaching right away. Tyler settled for macadamia nut ice cream, Josh had mint chocolate chip and I had mud pie (Oreos in kona coffee ice cream). Hector wanted shave ice so he disappeared while we enjoyed the air con and ice cream. We soon caught up with him and his monster shave ice so of course we had to help him eat that too.

Best buds at the pool.

We kept walking and saw people fishing along the sea wall. A certain section of the sea wall and sidewalk would get sprayed periodlically which fascinated Joshua. Soon he and Tyler were braving the ocean in their water bender stance to fight the ocean. Lots of fun and laughter. :)

Insert excited screaming.

Found a small cove/harbor and the Kona Boyz shack that will rent SUP. Tyler and I can rent then just paddle on out. We will try it in the next few days. The boys enjoyed the small beach with sand and had a great time playing. Naturally, I told them not to get too wet since they had on street clothes but I looked away for a second and then Josh appeared in front of me soaking wet from head to toe! His reason was that he tried to do an air flip and somehow got totally wet. Oh well. :)

Colorful gecko at Kona Boyz shack.

sunset.

Gonna head out soon for a day of exploring and the volcano...

kailua-kona

We are here!!

 After a long day of travel that started at 6am, we arrived safely to Hawaii. We slept long and hard so we are ready to relax. Our condo is decently furnished. It has one bedroom which is unfortunately on the street side but the road noise doesn't bother Hector or me at all. We are on the top (3rd) floor with an ocean view overlooking the pool area. Gorgeous. There is no typical beach wiith sand but a rocky beach so we hear the waves crashing constantly which I personally love.

Leave it to Hector to find internet from our condo. Okay we do have better access from our balcony but it's nice not have to go to the lobby for wi-fi.

Okay, I'll got to the pictures since that's what you're interested in anyway.

The pool is saltwater that the kids enjoyed but the pool bottom is very slippery. I took a quick opportunity to walk to the other side of the building to catch the sunset and just enjoy the scenery.

The view from our balcony.

Sunset.

It's been a while since I've used my camera so I had fun trying.
A great travel gadget that I use is Yelp. It is on my iPhone so it will use my current location to find whatever I want nearby like restaurants or businesses and bring up reviews. This is how I found Big Island Grill for dinner last night. A mom and pop kind of establishment that serves traditional American fare along with local faves. I had the chicken katsu loco moco and I thought I died and went to food heaven. Yum. The brown gravy made the entire meal delicious. Plus the portions were enormous. I finished about a third of it and took the rest to go. This morning I made another egg and threw it on top of my leftovers. Still darn great. Lots of chicken and I only finished half of this and gave the rest to Hector. That meal went a long way. :) My kind of dining.

Okay, it's to relax by the pool now. I'll upload some pics from Hector later...