Hawaii Day Four

Early, early day!  Neither of us could sleep last night (weird) but we rolled out of bed a little after 5:00 to get ready to go.  We were driving out of the parking lot at 5:45, with a big day bag stuffed with coats, snacks, water, sunscreen, hiking gear, and maps.  

We headed across the island again, back to Hilo, to catch an 8:00 helicopter flight.  Oh my lands, stars, whistles, and everything else.  Incredible!  We signed up for a "doors off" helicopter ride- we left those suckers at the airport!  So, so glad that my assigned seat was between J and the pilot.  It was squishy, but I wasn't hanging out!  I was the only person not next to an open hole- works for me :). I loved the take off and landing- much nicer than an airplane.  The turns were nuts, though.  We flew over macadamia orchards, towns, and finally Kilaeua.  We saw lava- check it off the bucket list!  It wasn't what I expected- I thought we would fly over the crater, peer inside, and see a bit of a glow from a crack somewhere.  We saw lava flows, mostly black and cooled but burning the fringes of a forest where it touched and was molten.  Maybe four spots?  The pictures are on the other camera.  The pilot showed us where there used to be a subdivision, but it's now covered in lava.  There are still people living there!  Guess they just rebuild if it burns down?  The lava is slow, you have weeks of notice to get out.  Just incredible- we couldn't stop grinning when we got off!

From the airport we drove to Rainbow Falls, just outside Hilo.  Beautiful spot!  We walked down a bit to see some banyan trees- J adores banyan trees.  He really, really likes wood.  A lot.  He clambered all over the rocks at the top of the waterfall- I stayed on the shore and shook my head and took pictures.  I am not as much of a clamberer as he is :)

We poked around a bit in Hilo and got a late breakfast/early lunch.  I had a plate lunch with tempura vegetables and tuna, a garlicky yellow rice, and a great mixed salad.  J had Katsu chicken plate lunch with the same rice and salad.  Afterwards we found shave ice- I have been looking forward to shave ice for a very long time! Mine had all kinds of mochi, gelatins, evaporated milk, purple yams, and a nice scoop of purple yam ice cream on top.  Yum!

After lunch we took off north to round the tip up there and stop along the way if anything looked interesting.  North Hawaii is incredible and just what I thought the island would look like- lush, a bit old, lots of little bridge and waterfalls.  We saw a botanical garden and stopped in- tickets were more than we wanted to pay but we picked up a field guide for the island and checked out the neat artifacts on display.

Lolo, this is an alabaster Buddha from China.

Cocoa, these are Japanese...zombies??  I don't know, but they are ivory.

Next we found Waialoa Valley- this is the view from the lookout.  There is a way down there, and it's 1,000 feet in 3/4 of a mile.  Unless you were a 4wd vehicle driven by a better-than-average driver, it's no vehicles allowed!  There are still people living in the valley, farming rice and taro, but the beach is open to the public via this old county road with an average 25% grade.  Walking is totally allowed though.

It was really really hard to do!  Really really hard.

I may have tried to make it go faster by taking 3-foot-lunges up the hill, speed walking till I cried.  J reassured me that I would make it, even if he had to push me up the hill.

From there we booked it to the King Kamehameha statue and then kept driving.  We were so hungry and nothing was open!  Hawaii seems to shut down at 5:00.  The sun goes down at 5:30 and by 6:00 it's pitch black.  We found an open sign in the window of a really sketchy looking place in Kohala- I was pretty sure it was going to be a stinky bar, even though their sign promised burgers and tacos.  Surprisingly instead of Buds and sports tv inside we found clean booths, thank you notes from kids on the walls next to first place awards from the local chili cook-off and a happy man back in the kitchen hollering that the catch of the day was Ono and the avocado burger was great.  J had the avocado burger with onion rings, I had the ono fish tacos with fries, we shared a pineapple shake.  Man it was good!  Fish is the thing here- it was perfect.  Nice and firm, great clean flavor.

Home for swimming, hot tub, showers, and lights out.  We are exhausted, haha. What a great day, I still can't believe what we've been able to do this week.  It is so far outside of anything I had ever considered I would be able to do!  Snorkeling, turtles, lava, helicopter, petroglyphs, amazing food... Just wow.  So grateful for this week.

Hawaii Day Three

Well, rising early wasn't an issue today!  After yesterday's exertions we didn't roll over until 8:00.  Slipped into our resort clothes, and went for breakfast.  

Koi pond, while waiting for our table

rentals.

Birds waiting for someone to walk away.  Just waiting...for breakfast :)

Omelette, soup, fruit, and a little scoop of muesli for me.  Omelette, fruit, and four little donuts for J.  Man doesn't mess around!  We explored the resort a bit- I looked for a beach hat but looked ridiculous in all of them.  I later complained to J that next to all the glamorous women here I feel like a fake in a place like this.  He retorted "You're not fake, they are!  YOU are real!"  Love that man.

We explored some corners we'd never been in before, and checked at the beach shack about equipment 

Found a lily pond

 

Looking towards the water from outside our room.

Beach at the resort, with schools of little snorkelers

Pretty sure these are parakeets eating bugs in the grass.  Hawaii is crazy.

Flowers on the grounds

Hibiscus 

After breakfast we came back to the room to book a helicopter flight and check on zip lines in the area.  

The beach sounded like a REALLY good idea today, we spent all afternoon there!  We both snorkeled for the first time- incredible!  There is a coral reef between our cove and the ocean.  It was scary to breathe at first , but I saw red, blue, yellow, white, and black fish.  I saw two eel- y things , a puffer fish, lots of sea urchins, and a whole school of white fish.  We saw big turtles too- amazing :). We sat on the beach long enough to dry and warm up and rented a kayak.  Very fun, and saw more turtles swimming.  Watching them float there just like the snorkelers and pop their heads up, open mouthed, to catch air was really funny :)

We didn't take a camera with us , but I would like to state how unfair it is that J gets the long legs, the long eye lashes , and now beach waves.  My hair just got bigger, phooey.  What a rip off, beach waves are supposed to be THE THING.  Ha!

Neither of us burned today, but we used up half a bottle of sunscreen to make that feat happen :)

(This is his smolder)

After showers, we put our hiking shoes and left the resort on foot to find a petroglyph trail just north up the coast.  Very cool :). We got back to the resort with just enough time to plop into chairs on the lounge and see the nightly tiki torch lighting ceremony.  A fellow in a green skirt and a shell necklace blew a conch shell and jogged around the grounds lighting the tiki torches.  If there were kids nearby he was a good sport about letting them help :)

We watched the sun set and then got dinner at one of the open air restaurants. Just across the path we found a group of turtles sleeping on the beach.  

Another amazing day- snorkeling, turtles, kayaking, hiking, petroglyphs, tiki torches, and open air dinner!   We need to leave at 6:00 am tomorrow, so early bedtime tonight :)

Hawaii Day Two

 We planned on waking up with the sun and starting our day right.  I didn't plan on waking up an BEFORE the sun, ha,  but it started the day just right.  I snuck out onto the patio and started yesterday's blog post around 5:00 and was surprised when J joined me around 6:00.  So much for catching up on sleep!  We got dressed in appropriate clothes and took a walk on the grounds before stopping for breakfast at the buffet.  Miso soup, fried rice, papaya, pineapple, and some juice for me.  J went all the way with eggs Benedict, sausage, fried potatoes, fruit, juice, and three little donuts.  

We stopped at the concierge on the way back to our room to check on recommendations for helicopter rides.  ( Dad was right- the ones by the airport are hundreds of dollars cheaper.  They didn't get a mention though, not at this swanky place ;)

We got into our hiking gear and headed out to Kilauea National Park.  We did everything we could, and hiked about ten miles!  We went through the lava tube, and then got on a road down to the ocean.  Totally worth the long drive down!  

We went to where the lava had flowed into the sea and made huge black cliffs as it wore away into arches and stacks of rocks.  Those were directly in line with the constant sulphur dioxide cloud coming from the crater, and all the metal in the railings and signs is rusted.

We hiked out to ancient petroglyphs in a lava field.  It was humbling and amazing.  

We hiked out to a viewing point for the large crater.  

We hiked down to the caldera in the crater.  That was phenomenal.  J ended up stumbling a bit on the way down and sat out that hike, and I went on alone.  I was the only person there, alone in an enormous crater on the crust of an old lava eruption.  It started misting, and steam was billowing out of holes and cracks in the ground.  I could see where the crust had buckled and cracked, a little miniature of the tectonic plates we live on.  

What an amazing, amazing, amazing day!  We left the park around 4:30 and stopped in Hilo to get dinner.  I don't know why I chose sushi, but we kept the man behind the counter busy for a long time as he tried to keep up with our appetites.  No lunch (just car snacks- don't worry) and ten miles of hiking, we were hungry :)

We stopped at the Mauna Kea visitors center on the way home, around 7:30.  There are telescopes set up there (it's at 9,000 feet) and all the lights are red to not mess with night vision.  It's also twenty degrees colder up there with a wicked wind.  We saw the moon, Venus (in crescent!  Did you know it has phases from our shadow just like the moon ?), a nebula....very cool.

We finally got back to the hotel at 8:30, 12 hours after we left, and stumbled into the showers.  (This room is crazy big- there is a powder room, a sitting room, a bedroom, two double closets, a desk, a sink area with a tub/shower, and then finally a bathroom with a big marble tiles shower.  We were upgraded when we checked in, nice surprise!)

An incredible day- petroglyphs, volcanos, drives across the island, and star viewing at 9,000 feet.

At the caldera

Back at the trailhead of the crater.  Steep climb!

Wild ginger

(These are just the pictures from my phone)

Hawaii Day One

I am writing this in the dark on a patio in Hawaii.  I am looking at Palm and plumeria trees, I can hear the ocean and the water feature on the property.  My body is still on Seattle time, so I popped awake at 5:00 am!  Just about the same time as the kids back home ;). The sun is just starting to come up.

We had a great flight out- my dad drove us to the airport in the morning and we had plenty of time to spare.  I was nervous to leave the kids behind, especially Cocoa, but once we lifted off....well, I wasn't worried anymore because staying wasn't an option!  I have a funny head.

We touched down into Kona after a six hour flight- what a cute, funny little airport!  We picked up our car, a great big red Jeep, and headed into the island.

First stop was Costco for lots of bottled water, some bananas and oranges and granola bars, and sunglasses and sun screen.  

Next stop was food- quick google search for good eats in Kona led us to a Filipino fusion place.  I had a huge bento with a piece of garlic fried chicken, some kalbi beef, and a big disk of spam scrambled eggs.  When in Rome...!!!  J had a plate lunch with a fishy pork, an incredible purple sweet potato salad, and a few other meats.  We had a lot of leftovers, but it was our only big meal that day :)

We stopped at a market for some souvenirs, and then made the drive to the resort.  We are staying on the Kohala Coast, in the NW corner of the island.  It's all black rock and little tufts of brown grass.  There are goats grazing on the side of the highway.

The resort is absolutely incredible, and we were probably the only party checking in with a trunk of groceries.  I always feel like a poser at nice places :)

We got settled into the room and went for a walk around the grounds, and decided we needed swimsuits and some time in the hot tub. Then pool.  Then hot tub again, and at that point it was about 8:30 local time and 10:30 back home.  Showers and day's done!

December 6th

We are marching on through the holiday season!  Piano is done for the year- my lessons, the lessons I teach, and the piano recital.  I am happy to have such a long break so I can figure out our plans for next year- music for the kids, transcribing songs I can't find in print (a new adventure for me!), etc.  Plus, it gets so busy this time of year that I like having the recital early and letting the kids and families loose.

The kids all did well at the recital.  The kid with the most troubles seemed to be my daughter, the one who (again) switched her songs right before the performance without telling me.  Silly.  We have ten piano kids right now, and one little pre-music group.  They played (most) of Jingle Bells on boomwhackers (plastic tubes tuned to a c scale.). The kids all enjoyed the treats after their performances, and definitely enjoyed playing together afterwards.  

The kids have been earning stickers all year for songs passed off- Christmas songs have made a big difference in their tallies but no one had managed to reach the magical ten-sticker-mark to earn a big candy bar.  One little girl reported last night, as her family was packing up, that she had one last song to pack up and she walked out the door with an XL Hershey bar.  I can guarantee that her brother is going to be playing like a madman over break to come back and earn his bar!

Just so you know, Cocoa is a monster.  That's his monster hat.

December 3rd 2013

Mimi is flexible.  Did you know that Mimi is flexible?  She was bored, too.  She's messing around with her hair with her feet.  Ouch.  Ouch.

Today was Fudge Day.  Oh yum.  As of right now, I have 12 1/2 pounds done- that's two triple batches.  Cocoa licked the spoon.

So Littlest Pet Shop is hot around here right now, and I found a good deal on Craigslist on a "about 100 animals" and a few playsets.  Turns out it was 140 critters, six playsets, and a grocery sack full of accessories.  Not everything is in perfect condition, but that's the breaks on Craigslist, yeah? Guess what every little person I know is getting for Christmas??  Hooray!  They are going to have so much fun :)

Starting the holidays

To count down to Christmas this month, I made an advent candle.  We light it every night and let it burn to the next mark, while we read a new Christmas book and a few verses of scriptures about Christ's birth.   I don't quite have 24 Christmas books yet, but we are close and we will spread Luke 2 over the last few days :)

 I knew that I wanted this Christmas to be different from other years.  We need more focus on the miracles and less focus on everything else :). I sat down with the kids a few weeks ago and made a list of all the things we like to do during the holidays, and then ranked them as A,B, or C.  All the A's went on the calendar, and all the B's fit too.  None of the C's did.  We will make sure we do what is important and everything else can sort itself out :). So far it has been great- I have a list on the fridge and my worrying planner, Ernie, can look and see what is coming up next.  Last night was our annual trip to the botanical gardens to see the lights, and today we make and deliver fudge.  

Cocoa and I on Thanksgiving at my sister's house.

Cousins spent the night the day before Thanksgiving.

Cocoa taking a Sunday afternoon impromptu nap.  Just a minute before this he was chatting wth me :)

The pecan pie for our Thanksgiving feast- I used almond meal for the crust, it was amazing!  We also had a lemon chess and a chocolate cream.  Pie for days, but I don't mind!  We got all the leftovers :)

The kids and I set up the Christmas decorations while Daddy was at the Apple Cup.  Go Dawgs!