Our family recently returned from the Big Island of Hawaii. We had an opportunity a couple of years ago to visit the island of Oahu and our kids had so much fun that they have talked about it non-stop since then. Therefore, Joe and I decided that we would surprise them this past Christmas with another trip that would hopefully be just a memorable.
It was memorable indeed! Since we feel like our children are growing up so fast, (Kaylee is almost a senior in high school) we feel like we need to take advantage of as many opportunities to spend time with them all together as possible.
We had an absolute blast in Hawaii. We rented a condo in the Waikoloa Village about 20 minutes outside of Kona. This is the dryer side of the Big Island. It was an amazing resort village that had several miles of walking trails, golf course, pools, and of course...the beach!
Thanks to some good advice from my sister Lori, and some good friends of ours the Kurihara's who are from Hawaii, we had a lot of inside information that helped make our trip as enjoyable as it could possibly be.
One of our favorite activities when we go to Hawaii is boogie bording. Our favorite beach was Hapuna Beach just about 5 minutes from where we were staying. Tanner was a little disappointed the waves were not as big as the ones on the North Shore of Oahu but nevertheless, we had great time playing in the ocean.
Of course a trip to the Big Island isn't complete without visiting the Volcano! As you can see...it was very rainy and cold that day, still pretty neat though.
No trip to Hawaii is complete without enjoying some authentic Hawaiian shave ice. Mmmmmmm.
Can you believe this guy is going to stick that in his mouth? For some reason I am afraid that Tanner may try this at home. (Hide the matches!)
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| Kamryn trying on her hula wear. |
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| Just hanging out with some turtles on the black sand beach! |
