Big Island

   

Okay, we've drunk the koolaid.  I used to know a few people growing up that would go to Hawaii every winter and think how spoiled they were.  Well, now I guess we're turning into those spoiled people.  There is just something about Hawaii that just makes me want to retire and move there come back again. It is totally opposite Alaska in the winter and is such a welcome reprieve from subzero temperatures.  The humpback whales have had it figured out for a while...Alaska summers and Hawaii winters.
This time to get our Hawaii fix we visited the big island for the first time.  We joined Terry and Lisa for a week and enjoyed fresh food on our beautiful ocean view patio, awesome snorkeling and coral, Swimming with a pod of dolphins,  going to Volcano National Park, Visiting the grounds of the Kona temple, going to "bubble gumps" and several great beaches.  It was a fantastic trip.

 Noelle and Liz in front of the caldera of the volano.  Not much lava action was going on when we were there but you could still appreciate how the volcano makes an impact on this "relatively" new island.

View from our condo.  It was amazing.  The sunsets were beautiful and the surf was really really loud.  You pretty much had to close the sliding glass doors in order to hold a conversation inside.

Where's Lizzy?

Family selfie by black sand beach

Sunset over the tide pools.  These were right outside our condo and the girls loved exploring this area. 

We even found this guy right outside sunning himself.  The girls took all of their self control to try to give the turtle his 10 ft of space required by law.

Grandma Lisa running to hop into the ocean before her feet burn.  Hapuna is a beautiful beach but it is lacking a lot of shade so the sand was HOT.

Elizabeth's black sand recliner.