Aloha

Jeff and I had the opportunity to go to the Big Island of Hawaii for 6 days. Jeff realized we had a $50 Alaska Airlines companion ticket that was expiring, so off we went! We are soooo very grateful for friends and family that helped with kids and dog that made this trip possible! It was a little hectic organizing it, but it was well worth it. (Warning: really long post :)

We stayed in a studio style condo that was right on the water. It was perfect! Our view was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. We could see the tropical fish swimming in the reef from our balcony.

One of the first things we did was a zip-line tour through the rainforest. It was 4 hours long!! You took an off-road jeep up the mountain, and then went through a series of 8 zip lines. It was wonderful!

It was so exciting running off the edge of the mountain! We had gorgeous views of waterfalls and the ocean. The guides were amazing! They told us all about their daily life of living off the land, and hunting animals for food. I asked him if there was anything he had to buy at the grocery store ever, and after thinking, he said, "I guess we buy milk". They are incredibly resourceful.

One day was spent at the Volcano National Park. It was a little bit of a let down as we didn't see any lava, just steam. But we did hike in some lava tubes that were really fun, and very dark. Kind of spooky.

Our highlight of driving all the way to the volcano, was getting to see the black sands beach.

We enjoyed visiting a local ward on Sunday, which happened to be in the same parking lot as the temple. It is a beautiful temple.

We ate some really yummy food. We love Hawaiian food! At this little place, plates were $6 each, and came with steak, shrimp, or chicken with rice and salad. What a deal.

We loved eating dinners at restuarants on the beach. The menu at Lulu's had us cracking up, they had very creative meal titles. If you look closely, you can see $1 bills on the walls and ceilings. You could staple a $1 bill with a personal note on it, anywhere on the walls or ceilings. There was easily over $1000 dollars in $1 bills everywhere. Kinda cool.

Our mornings were spent snorkeling. The pictures don't do it justice. The colors of the coral and fish were breathtaking. I really wanted to see an octopus, and I ended up seeing 2 of them. They quickly hid under a rock when they realized they were noticed.

Another highlight was getting to swim with turtles! I didn't think we'd be luckily enough to actually snorkel with them, but we did a few times. They are so large!

Can you tell what else we snorkeled with?


Dolphins! A pod of 18 spinner dolphins, including a few babies were hanging out in the little cove we went snorkeling in. AMAZING!! We snorkeled with them for a few hours, listening to the noises they made and relishing in the fact that we were swimming with dolphins. We were close enough to touch, and see all of their markings/scratches/etc. This was the highlight of our trip. Something I will remember forever, and that I still think back on and cherish.

Getting in and out of this little snorkel spot was pretty hard, it definitly did not have easy access. I poked myself a dozen of times on sea urchines, resulting in painful pokes. But it wasn't until we got back to the car that I realized I slit my foot open on the lava rock. OUCH! It still hurts a week later, but it was sooo worth it :)

Our afternoons were spent boogie boarding at some beautiful beaches. It was so much fun to catch a wave next to each other, and watch each other getting pushed up the beach. We laughed and enjoyed ourselves so much. I can't remember the last time we had so much fun playing together.

Sadly, our trip had to end and we had to board the plane. We had such a wonderful, magical time, that it was hard to come back to reality. We can't wait until next time.