Hawaii- the Big Island

In August, we went with our three daughters and their spouses to Kona, Hawaii.  We had planned this trip for a couple of years and it was no small feat getting them all there at the same time. The plan was to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary. We are grateful for sacrifices family and others made to help it happen.  We have two timeshare weeks in Kona Coast resort, so scheduled two rooms close together for the week.

When Kristen and Jared arrived at the airport on Sunday night, Roger and Pam were there, waiting for their flight to leave. They had been there the week before.

Ken and I were the first to arrive.  We went to a Thai restaurant that evening.  Ken's food was smoking hot- almost inedible.  But he still smiled for the picture.

Monday

Monday morning started with snorkeling.  The snorkeling ended ubruptly, though, when Kristen was stung by a jelly fish.  The tentacles wrapped around her arm in several places.  This picture was taken later that day. She soaked it in water and Jared ran and bought vinegar that she soaked it in. We googled it, and those were the suggestions. After she was feeling better, we got cleaned up and went on our adventures for the day:

We drove to the other side of the island to see the sites.

We ate lunch at a fish and chips place.

Funny sign on the bathroom at the restaurant.

Yummy fresh fish and chips.

This little guy was on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

We ended the outing by stopping at a resort to watch this Island show.

Shonna and Blake came in on Monday evening.

Tuesday
The day started with most of the people kayaking to the Captain Cook monument and snorkeling.

Ken came back early to spend the afternoon with me in the pool.  It was a fun afternoon.

Those socks!

This is one of the books I read on this vacation.  I highly recommend it.

That evening we went to a really good little restaurant.  Before we went, we got a list of good restaurants from my sister.  They were all really good.

Each evening, we played games at the condo.

This one was hilarious.  It was kind of like charades.  Team members had to get one team member to guess what they were acting out.

Notice there are no pictures of me acting crazy.  My blog- my rules.

Wednesday

Wednesday was my favorite day.  We went to the Kona Temple.  Patty and Hal were serving a mission there.  We did a session.  Hal officiated, Patty was the follower, and Kristen and Jared the witness couple.

We took lots of pictures after the session.  You'll probably see one of these on this years' Christmas card.

So which is the best one for the Christmas card?

We then went to lunch with Patty and Hal.

Then did a little bit of shopping.

The sunsets were absolutely gorgeous.

Another fun game night.

I love this picture.  Trying to talk with these things in was hilarious.

Thursday

Blake and Brian hiked a very difficult trail on Thursday.  The rest of us went to a beautiful beach.  The road out there was a little dicey, but it was worth it.

While we were there, a turtle beached itself right by us.

For some reason, I really like this picture.  Christmas card?  Huh?

This was my favorite meal of the week- one of the favorites of my whole life.  It was delicious!

Everyone enjoyed their meal.  Jared even liked fish!  That's big!

Game playing at night was often punctuated with yawns.  The time change made for tired evenings.

Brian and Blake showed pictures of their day hike adventures.  They had a great time.

Most of the group hiked out to a beautiful green sand beach.

This doesn't show it, but the sand was an olive green color.

Kristen and Jared and I stayed as I wasn't up for hiking.  Kristen and Jared did some more kayak snorkeling, hoping to see the dolphin pod that is often near the Captain Cook monument.  But they didn't see them.  But they got in some good snorkeling.

Ken got some stunning pictures of the powerful ocean on the south side of the island.  They went to the southern most point in the United State.  Blake jumped off that point- cliff diving.  Many people do that to say they jumped off the southern most point in the US.  He's pretty brave.

The waves were extremely powerful as a hurricane was in the area.  It was a sight to behold.

We all met for dinner back at my favorite restaurant- Sun Dried Specialties.  Man, I loved that food.

The pictures aren't clear, but we then went out and saw manta rays.  That was cool.

Saturday was shopping day.

We ate lunch and dinner at this place.  Kristen really liked it.

Best frozen yogurt I have ever had.  Maybe it was because it was SO hot!  Look what my hair does when it is hot and humid.

We then went back to the resort and all got in the hot tub.  Michelle and Brian and Shonna and Blake had to fly out late that night.

Reminiscent of when we went to Hawaii when these girls were young and they all tried on matching yellow dresses and we took a picture, they all bought these Aloha shirts and modeled them.

The four of us went back downtown for dinner.

Sunday (our 41st anniversary)

We went to Patty and Hal's church on Sunday.

It was such a nice vacation with our family.  Ken and I flew to Maui for a 2nd week of vacationing.  Kristen and Jared flew home later that evening.