Hawaii: Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday morning John took his parents to the airport to go to Maui. When he came back we went to the Pana'ewa rainforest zoo.

It was a pretty small zoo, but it was free and Scott just wanted to get out and run, so it served our purposes.

They had a pretty cool playground and Scott found a few older kids. He went down this slide, then climbed back up and did it again.

It was really hot and humid, so I was ready to get moving. We tore Scott away from the playground and enticed him with peacocks. He kept trying to give this guy a rock.

He had other things on his mind, apparently. The ladies were not interested, though.

Even the tiger bench couldn't convince Scott to stop and rest for a minute. There were only a few people there and they pointed out how sunburned he was getting, but he was just flushed from running in the heat.

When your zoo looks like this, who needs botanical gardens? Every place we went on the island was unique and beautiful.

Next we drove to Akaka Falls and hiked to the falls. It wasn't a typical hike because the path was paved and had railings, but the hundreds of stairs made it count.

Cool little sprouts along the walk.

We stopped along the way to enjoy the scenery and so Scott could point out each tree and rock to us.

People commented on Scott's beastly stair-climbing skills. One woman, carrying a small child said see? if that little baby can climb the stairs, you should be able to.

Walking back to the car I took this picture of his flushed cheeks. He walked the whole path himself which was good because it drained his energy and I didn't have to carry his hot little self.

We also went to Hilo's farmer's market. There were lots of cool foods for sale, like macadamia nut brittle and passion fruit jam. John bought 4 papayas for $1.

We walked across the street and ate our spoils at a pavilion by the water. Scott ran around and Jonah watched and laughed at him.

 The next day was not nearly as hot, but I still wanted to take the boys someplace where they could play in the water. The Hilo side of the island doesn't have typical beaches, so we drove down to Punalu'u.

It was pretty empty other than a small tour group of Japanese girls. Scott started running to the car and they herded him back in. Then they took his picture.

There were sea turtles sun bathing and then John found one in the water right by us. 

Scott loved the black sand.

He went up and down the hill bringing tiny rocks and throwing them in the ocean.

We all waded in a little and cooled off.

Just digging around.

We rinsed off, loaded up and drove further up the island to the place John kept calling the sanctuary. When people broke the kapu they could be exonerated by priests here if they made it before being captured. I couldn't find anything about a sanctuary in our guide book, though, and asked John what the real name was.

He couldn't say and eventually I found it on the map--the Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park. We just stuck with sanctuary.

Scott fit right in with the shrines. He was watching the beach across the little cove.

Since they are sacred grounds, swimming is considered disrespectful. We kept Scott moving along the pathways so he'd stop asking to get in the water.

It was a gorgeous and surprisingly peaceful place. Then we walked down the road to swim. John snorkeled and I played with two happy boys in the sand and water.

They knocked out on the way home. Good thing, too, because it was about a 2-hour drive.

We stopped in Hilo on the way back to pick up Karen and Alan. Even their cellphone waiting lots are gorgeous. Scott ran around (again) and loved the planes.

I changed Jonah's diaper and took his picture while we waited.