hawaii 1 – big island

we got to go to hawaii for two and a half weeks around thanksgiving! (ian was able to work out being away from work so that we could go the day before flights got really expensive and come home the day after the stopped being really expensive!) we had such a great trip. we went to the big island for a few days, then kauai for a few days, and then to visit my brother and his family and explore on maui for the last week. i have been to hawaii many times before but never with my kids and not for ten years! it’s pretty incredible.

we flew from salt lake airport – all decked out for christmas already – to kona and upon landing we headed straight to the beach for a dinner sunset picnic!

we spent the next day at hapuna beach – everyone had a blast! moses and ian did some snorkeling, august fell in love with the “sand truck” we had found at the grocery store that morning, gabriel and eve loved the soft sand, and we found a little secluded cove that we had all to ourselves for beach play.

we saw an amazing rainbow and found an amazing playground to finish out the day.

the next day we drove through the incredible junglely landscape to akaka waterfall. the nature walk around the waterfall was totally perfect for our family and i loved all the different varieties of green and shapes of leaves and flowers. it was so beautiful!!

we found a black sand beach to enjoy under the moody cloudy sky. moses is such a fish and just loves being in water – and he even really loves getting totally smashed by waves! gabriel and eve were a little more cautious but still had fun in the surf and august was totally happy with just his sand truck.

the next day we explored volcanoes national park. we hiked down into, right through, and back up out of a huge crater. we drove to some amazing viewpoints along the lava rock coastline, and walked through a lava tube! gabriel and moses worked on completing their junior ranger workbooks and the next day they were sworn in and awarded their badges 🙂

we stayed at the coolest place tucked back into the jungle near the national park. the hosts of this airbnb left us the most incredible assortment of fresh tropical fruit and i teared up with deliciousness eating the papaya sprinkled with lime juice.

we went to punaluʻu black sand beach, which was just incredible! moses swam right next two three sea turtles, eve and i went on an exploratory walk along the lava rock, and gabriel and august had tons of fun in the unique, jet-black, gem-like sand.

i saw this incredibly colourful lizard while picking up some food for everyone at a food truck, we enjoyed it at a playground, and then we hit up one more beach (this one was super crowded … i don’t remember the name of it!) before heading to the last place we stayed close to the airport.

that last place we stayed was an airbnb on a coffee plantation, where there was a pet cat – the kids lost their mind with excitement about that cat! after some kitty petting and photos, we hopped on a plane to kauai!