Kona/Kailua

Our plans for Kona were impacted by high surf. First they canceled the snorkel trip Maria was going to take with the Manta Ray's. Then, on Wed morning, we were to meet at the dock at 8:30am, after a 1 hour drive, to go out for a family snorkel trip. Right as we got there, we found it that it was going to be canceled too. This meant we had until 4:30pm to waste away the day, even though we had already checked out of the hotel. So we drove to downtown Kailua/Kona to see what we could see.
Nate is eating a traditional Hawaiian shaved ice. Pineapple, Coconut and Blue Hawaii flavored. Of course he didn't each too much of it before he got bored.

Nate and Baba hanging out on the breaker. Nate was having a hard time posing for photos.

We ate lunch at a place called Splasher's. It was great food. Loved the fish n chips and fish taco's we had. Service was great, and Mai Tai's were only $3. Note the matching wrist bands we're wearing. Nate picked red ones because he thought they could help us shoot out lava from our hands.

Nate and Daddy hanging out. In the background is the cruise ship that Robert intends to take in the next few months. We talked to some of the folks on the cruise ship and they said the food was horrible. Couldn't wait to get off and get some better local food. Otherwise, they loved the ship.


This is the view from our hotel in Waikoloa, just north of Kona. We got an Ocean front room that had a pretty amazing view. Sunsets would have been amazing, as it set right out our window, but we were never in our room at sunset, too busy driving around seeing the sights.

Nate's favorite part of the resort and quite possibly the entire vacation. Our first day they said he was too short to ride the water slide, need to be 42". He was about 1/2" short and I couldn't believe they wouldn't make and exception. The next day we tried, we made sure he wore his sandals and stood as tall as he could. He passed, although this "new" girl that measured him did notice he had sandals on, but was much nicer and let him go. After about 60 trips up and down the slide, he was warmed up. Couldn't get enough. I guess this summer we'll need to take him to Golfland Sunsplash there in Roseville.

I mentioned in the previous post that the white rocks on a black lava rock were used to spell things out, here's a better example of that.

Volcano

Jan 4th. Spent the day driving from the Kona side of the island to Hilo, where we boarded a helicopter to see the Volcano's from the air. Nate was hugely disappointed as we only saw small glimpses of lava, that he may have missed entirely. He wanted to see huge lava explosions and eruptions. Afterwords we headed over to Volcano's National Park, something we truly enjoyed. Then we made the long drive back to Kona.
Our time on the Big Island has been fun, if not chaotic. I had intended to take time off, but escalations at work have forced me to work and I'm starting my days at 3am, and done by 11am to spend the rest of the day with the family.
This island is a lot different than the others,with many unique things. The Kona side, where we're staying is not like a typical tropical island. It only gets 4 inches of rain per year. Very dry, lot's of old lava flows and sparse trees and plants. One of the interesting sites is where all the people have spelled out things on the lava rock, with these white colored rocks. The Hilo side of the island, is hippy town, a lot like Berkeley. Rainfall there is 11 FEET per year. Wettest city in the US. Very green, tropical plants but also lot's of lava damage.
Lava flow into the sea as seen from helicopter.
Lava flow from helicopter. Note the small areas that were saved. I believe somewhere we got a picture of 1 house that was spared, but can now only be gotten to by helicopter. It's a vacation rental for those that like to be isolated.
One of two areas we saw lava.
While you still have to zoom in these photos, note that they were taken from a helicopter with my new 18-200MM lens. So these appear even closer than what we saw. It's part of the reason Nate was so disappointed.

One of the many waterfalls we saw while in the air.
This is an old lava lake that took over 36 years to cool. Was quite a site in the 70's when it was a pool of lava, quite the tourist attraction. Steam vents rising from the floor make it very dangerous to walk on.
Nate with one of his silly faces at the Jaggar museum in the National Park.
Nate and I walking around. It was 62 degrees out, cold for Hawaii. We were up some in elevation, but all the natural steam venting going on provided pockets of warm moist air.


One of the helicopter views that show the continual venting of VOG, Volcanic Osomething Gas.
Nate and I exploring a lava tube. The neat thing here is you can walk down it about 200 yards and see how the lava travels underground towards the sea. This section was lighted, but at the far end of it, the tube extends another 330 meters, but you need a flashlight to walk up it. We didn't have one and it was getting late so we only walked through the lighted portion of the tube. Gives a whole new meaning to subway.

Kind of hard to see in this photo, but the dark areas is old lava flow, and the white rocks have been placed their by people to spell out things, usually someone's name or declaration of love. Will try and get a better example before we leave.

Aloha.

Outigger Canoe Club

Spent New Year's day hanging out at the Outrigger Canoe Club. Sherry and Robert were kind enough to grant us passes to their private club. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's a view from the water outside the club, looking back at Diamond Head and the club.

The kids at the start of the day, or is it the start of the race. Nate has been trying so hard to keep up and today was no different. Although he came back a few minutes later to tell us his raft was feeling squishy. Turns out it lost some air and we needed to blow it up further.
Here's Nate showing everyone how to surf.
Nate and Chloe sharing a surfboard and flashing the Shaka Brother or hang loose.
Mike put on the inner tube, but not the pink one this time. He was showing us all how to do the Tahitian dance we learned the night before at Germaine's Luau.
Nate and Chloe trying to fight for balance control on the board. Nate had an easier time dropping to his butt on the board, but Chloe was clearly the leader at rocking the board.
Nate loves riding the waves in his tube. When asked, this week he says he prefers Hawaii over the snow. Quite a change from a week ago when he preferred the snow and never wanted to leave.

Diggin in the sand.
The cocktails were great, company even better. Love traveling with the Cottle's.
Shayne playing it cool on the beach, had to have is iPod on the whole time. At least he took off that purple sweatshirt he insisted on wearing. Teenager's, get your's while they still know everything.
Nate did really well at keeping his hat on today. Only took it off for a little while, even chased after it in the water when it came off.
The perfect end to a perfect day. The girls feel this is where they should be in 30 years, on the beach, Cocktail in hand and watching the sunset. I guess Mike and I will have to go golfing since they don't picture us in this scenario.

Golf in Hawaii

Golf from Ko 'Olau, where we played on Thursday. Behind us is a view of Kaneohe.

Downhill par 3
Long par 4, with Pali lookout on the upper right.


Lot's of forced carries on this course, makes shot selection really important. Also note the close proximity of the jungle to the edge of the rough. Hit a ball in there it's a lateral hazard, you ain't finding your ball.

Went to golf today at Ko 'Olina. They had a special where they will pick you up from your Waikiki and drop you off. We booked it, but were a bit surprised when we were picked up in a Limo. The limo driver was really nice and friendly. Ko 'Olina is located on the other side of the island, west side. It was right next to the Paradise Cove Luau, which is the Luau we went to with HP a few years back. I like it much better than Germaine's that we went to this year. They are building a Disneyland resort right near Ko 'Olina, it's scheduled to open in Nov 2011. It's also where all the NFL pro bowl players would stay, when the Pro Bowl was being held in Hawaii. Overall it was a very nice course, wide open. In a lot of ways I liked it better than Ko 'Olau, but it felt more manicured and professional.



Nice little par 3 here, great views, not so great scores.

Santa's Secret Adventure

As I mentioned in an earlier post, many of these are going to come out of order. These photos are from our visit to Santa's Secret Adventure with Nene, Dani and Claudia. Above, we're waiting for our turn with Santa.

Nate leading Claudia on a tour of the Santa's Secret Adventure grounds. We were about to head home and Nate was so cute helping Claudia.

Nate getting one of his many included Pony rides. It was great that there was no lines, the kids were able to do what they wanted, when they wanted.

Nate was more into horses this time. The first time he rode the one at the Pumpkin patch he was quickly bored, but we couldn't get Claudia off.
Here we all are on one of the carriage rides.
Nate having a great time, he was all smiles.

Don't they look cute together. Only problem was Nate wanted to lean on the bear behind him and kept knocking it over.
This would have been a really great photo, but Nate decided he had to do his Incredible Hulk pose.
The people were great. Santa made a list and wrote down what all the kids wanted. For Nate it was a remote control airplane, blue. It was nice, they didn't rush us and we were able to take as long as we wanted for photos and stuff. Then they even posted teh photos up on the web for us to download for free.
It may be hard to see, but the elf had Vulcan ears. Another great Xmas for our family. Can't wait to do it a gain next year.

Back in Hawaii

Ready, set go!!! We made it to Hawaii with the Cottle's. Nate is trying his best to keep up with Shayne and Chloe. Poor little guy, having so much fun but is so tired.

As usual, we are hanging out in front of the Pink Palace.

Waves weren't too big, for most, but were more than Nate could really handle.

Hi everyone!!!
Nate now says he likes Hawaii better than the snow.

Good day or bad day?