more Waikoloa fun in the sun!

"A~Bay" and dolphins

Our first full day with Bop and Nan was a blast. We went back to the same beach because all the other beaches were still closed. We had fun hunting for shells, tossing the pink football, swimming in the warm bay and relaxing at A~Bay. We also took a long hike around the lava rock to go see the dolphins in the day light.

Bapak and Nana in KONA!!!

Our Kona vacation got more exciting when Bop and Nan arrived. The kids could hardly wait to see them as life is always more fun with them around! We met up with them for a quick bite of dinner and then quickly walked around the gorgeous Hilton complex to see the dolphins before it got too dark.

Then, we drove over to the Mauna Kea shopping center to watch a free Fire Luau. Our kids loved watching the ladies dance and they couldn't believe how the men would put fire in their mouths. It was a fun night with Bop and Nan!

While we were sleeping...

High Surf rolled in while we were sleeping! And we were bummed to learn what High Surf means… all major beaches get closed! Yesterday, we took a break from the beaches to let our boys' legs rest but today we were ready to boogie board again. Although, the beaches were not! They were full of 20 foot waves. Fortunately, we figured out that "A-bay" or Waikoloa beach was open so we got to enjoy another sunny day at the beach.

Even though this beach is sheltered by a bay it still got hammered by the high surf and brought in TONS of new shells.

hilo

The first 6 days of our Kona vacation were full of laughter, warm sunshine, TONS of boogie boarding and just constant… FUN! The kids were having so much FUN that they were exhausted! At bedtime, all 3 of them asked that we not go to the beach the next day. What?!? But, we totally got it. Their little bodies had played harder than ours and the boys' legs were thrashed from boogie boarding! Once the kids were all tucked in, we researched what we could do in Hilo. In the morning, our sleepy munchkins were rolling out of bed and we told them our plan to drive for 2 hours to a waterfall and rainforest. They all cheered. Ha~ it was the weirdest thing! But, Kep and I also enjoyed the gorgeous drive as we basically had a "date" since the kids were tuned into a movie that we rented at "JetBlitz".

We all loved the change in scenery. Noah is our nature boy so he especially loved seeing all the different plants in a rainforest.

This row of Banyan trees was crazy cool! Great climbing trees!

A yummy stop for Shaved Ice and chocolate ice cream for sis!

Our last stop in Hilo was at this zoo that was FREE! Perfect place to run around and see some rainforest animals.

We were all glad we made the trek over to Hilo. Crazy to see how the vegetation can change so drastically just 2 hours away.