Hawaii: Friday & Saturday

Friday morning we headed back to Kona and stopped first at the temple. 

Karen and Alan played with the boys while we went inside.

Then we went to Hapuna beach, which is supposedly the best in the nation. 

There were some great waves with lots of body boarders.

Scott liked playing in the sand.

Jonah took a dip in the water with dad after his nap.

It was nice, warm water and perfect beach weather. It was sunny, but enough overcast that I wasn't worried about burning through our sunscreen. And hats. And rashguards. I'm pretty anti-sun to tell the truth.

Jonah went right for the sand, which he put right in his mouth.

I gave him a bottle instead.

This was probably our overall favorite day. 

We're looking forward to taking them to the beach more this summer, although it will be much chillier in Santa Cruz.

We hadn't brought Jonah to the beach since he was a tiny newborn and this time he could actually enjoy it.

Now both boys are old enough to really play. The best part of this beach was the warm shower on the way out. We all de-sanded and headed home. We tried another shave ice on the way home, but it wasn't up to our Wilson standard.

Being in the brand new home in the evenings with two little kids was tricky. At home we typically go for a walk after dinner, but there were no sidewalks or street lamps and plenty of mosquitoes here. So we did our best to entertain them without letting them touch anything (like the beautiful bamboo floors.) Scott ran his car around this table about 5,000 times and we played games like hide-and-seek. It made me appreciate our old house and weather that permits outdoor activities most days of the year. Being inside like that is exhausting.

One night Scott was throwing away Jonah's diaper for me and I heard a thump. I found it in the bottom of the decorative vase shown in this picture (I moved it to the corner where it was less vulnerable). He's obviously not used to the luxury lifestyle.

The next morning we went back to the farmer's market. They had lots of lunch options.

John tried the spam musubi. I had egg rolls and a maui onion bagel which Scott mooched half of --can't blame him because it was delicious.

I think Scott napped every day we were there. Probably a combination of running all day, getting up at night and the sleep-inducing drives. 

We went to Volcanoes National Park which was really fascinating. 

I was a little nervous about being on an active volcano, but John was so excited that we had to go see it. Luckily there were no major eruptions while we were there.

We went back at night to see the glow. It was even more impressive. The fog rolled in and blocked the view shortly after so it was perfect timing for visibility.

At the park, Jonah was a happy clam doing some stroller exercises.

We stopped at the steam vents in the park. At the higher elevation it was much cooler, so the warm steam felt nice.

Grandpa took a turn following Scott as he ran free.

We also went through the Thurston Lava Tube, which John was looking forward to seeing.

It was longer than I was expecting and you only walk through a small section of it.

It gave me the heebie jeebies and I was glad to get out of there.

I held Jonah while John used the facilities and he was so happy to be out and held. He just kicked and smiled the whole walk back to the car.

Grandma took a turn following Scott. He just runs and runs.

Our next stop was to see the lava trees. Jonah was happy to get out of the car again.

Scott found new ground to cover.

Some of the tree holes were little like this and others were deep like a well.

Trying to lift the rock.

Alan was doing some work from his phone and Scott wasn't happy about it.

Another favorite part of our vacation was using a van. They are incredibly convenient with little kids, not to mention lots of people and gear. We miss that guy.

John used Atlas Choice and we definitely recommend

them if you want the best price. Other places cost as much for a small car, so in our case 

it also saved Karen and Alan from renting and paying for gas, so it was an even better deal overall.

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. 

Hawaii: Monday & Tuesday

We wanted to go on a family vacation before Scott turned two and needed his own plane ticket. Some of the flights had an empty seat for him, though and it was nice not having him on my lap the whole time. He studied the emergency procedures thoroughly. I'm not kidding, like 15-20 minutes.

We also had grandparents who could take a turn holding a kid while we used the restroom. Here Jonah is showing off his new trick: sticking the entire pacifier in his mouth.

We chose Hawaii because Karen's friends let us stay in their vacation home there in exchange for her watching their business for a week last fall. Scott liked sitting in the regular chairs with us.

Jonah liked being held all day and night because there were no rugs or baby-holding contraptions in the house.

Both boys loved playing on their huge lanai. It was a really nice home.

Our first morning we went to see the Kapoho tide pools

The ground was sharp and tricky to maneuver, but Scott didn't mind at all.

He held hands with Grandpa or me and tried to jump in every "puddle."

When we arrived in Hawaii, I bought him this bucket and shovel at Target for the beach and it ended up being a great purchase.

It stopped raining while were exploring and was just misty. The humidity hair meant hats for Karen and me.

Alan snorkeled in one of the deeper tide pools.

Since Scott kept trying to jump in the tide pool, we knew he'd love Alahanui Park because it has a thermal pond. It was like a giant tubby.

We laughed at Jonah showing off his swim lesson skill--vigorously kicking the water.

John researched shave ice and determined Wilson's By the Bay would be the best.

The owner (with 7 kids, the youngest Jonah's age) makes the syrups herself. Our favorite was the Li Hing Mui, which is a dried plum candy they eat in Hawaii. Here John is enjoying the small size, for $2.50.

We tried out various shave ice places around the island all week and decided for ourselves that Wilson's was the tastiest. 

We stopped here every time we were in Hilo and it still wasn't enough.

Jonah 6 months

I took the boys to their check-ups at the same time. Jonah was a nice plump 19 lbs 1 oz (76th percentile) 26.5 inches tall (45th percentile) and had a head circumference of 17.76 inches (91st percentile).

Even when he's sad, it's easy to get a smile out of Jonah.

 He did not want to be put in his crib, but then he found his toes.

Love those chunky legs!