We were up and out of the house by 5 am on Christmas Eve. We arrived at the airport and had a smooth and quick transition through security. They use dogs now at San Jose airport, which allow you to keep all of your electronics in your bag and your shoes on, decreasing the time for each person to get checked through security. The terminal was pretty empty with just a handful of flights leaving San Jose during the wee hours of the morning. As you strolled through the terminal we came upon a cute chicken and as you may have guessed from the last post, Phoenix loves chickens.
We had to convince her to take a picture with this chicken. We didn't realize there would be more chickens all over the terminal!
This one she was excited to take a photo with and asked for my sunglasses. I love her smile here!
We decided to take a family photo with the one next to our gate since Phoenix's friend Helen's family had arrived. We were tired, but ready to start on Aloha vacation!
We had a bumpy ride for the first couple of hours, but things settled down. Phoenix sat next to her friend Helen and Helen's mom sat next to me. It was nice to chat a bit and close my eyes a bit. We landed safely around 10:30 am Hawaii time. After getting our car we headed to Costco and enjoyed a sushi lunch and picked up a few meals for the first half of our vacation. Once we were packed to the brim in our car we headed to Waikoloa Village where we and three other families were staying. We met at the beach and strolled along the ocean until we arrived at the Hilton Lagoon.
Much of the big island's coast is covered in rock with beaches spread out pretty far apart.
It was nice to see the beautiful Ocean and feel the late afternoon breeze.
There the kids played in the water and sand. Helen and Phoenix decided to bring the same swim suit.
Daddy and Rubix played catch.
We saw beautiful turtles.
Phoenix made a mermaid tail and then...
made Rubix a mermaid!
Rubix tried to boogie board.
It was an afternoon and evening of fun in the sun!
We headed back to make dinner and call it a night around 7pm. It was a very long day!
The next day, I was not feeling my greatest, but we got up and enjoyed a breakfast of mochi pancakes and breakfast sausage and then headed for our first hike of the trip.
We climbed 1800 feet of elevation in 6.75 miles on the Pu'u wa'awa'a cone trail which took us exactly 2.5 hours.
The first mile was on pavement and then it turned to gravel.
It also started out a little too warm for us in the sun, but luckily the clouds came in which allowed for a more comfortable second half of the hike.
The coolest thing is that the trail turned into grass on a hill side!
And eventually into dirt as we traversed up the steep "cone" portion of the trail.
It was likely 25% or more grade in steepness. We all loved it!
The way down was back on the green pasture and then we retraced our steps that we initially ascended.
After lunch, Axel and I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon resting, as we both didn't feel well. it was difficult for me to know if I had a stomach bug or a stomach flare. Axel just wasn't hungry. We though Rubix ate something bad at Gma's house because he ended up throwing up around 11:30pm on Sunday night after our Christmas get together. He had a reduced appetite for a couple of days, so both Axel and I started thinking maybe he had a stomach bug and gave it to us.
Daddy took Phoenix and Rubix to play in the water and look at chickens on the golf course. I managed to make dinner while everyone showered and after dinner we took pictures in our matching PJ's and then watched the new release of Mean Girls. We had planned to watch Wicked, but it was only available to reserve and not watch on Amazon Prime. We were all very disappointed with how bad Mean Girls was and actually how inappropriate it was for both Phoenix and Rubix. Despite this, we enjoyed spending the day together as a family. I read the Christmas story from the bible and we called it a night tucking almost everyone into bed by 8:30pm, including myself!
The next morning Axel and I rested in bed, while Phoenix and Rubix went to do a swim workout at the lap pool down the street with Daddy. Once Axel got up he worked on this origami mini grasshopper while I did some laundry and prepped for our afternoon/ evening.
After lunch, we visited Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation and then met the other families for a luau in Kona. Here you can see Phoenix and Axel tasting coffee with Daddy. Phoenix said, "coffee is good with lots of cream!" Axel said, "wow, that light roast was bitter, but the dark roast was okay."
We enjoyed the 30 minute tour lead by one of the workers and then a self guided 30 minute tour. We saw Hawaii ginger root trees, banana trees, lava caves and much more than just coffee trees!
Here we are at the end of the self guided tour. Phoenix making a funny face as usual!
The most exciting portion of the tour was heading back to the car to see chickens and beautiful roosters!
After the coffee plantation we headed for Kona-Kailua to meet the other families. Phoenix and Helen waded in the water while we waited for the luau to start.
Helen's brother, Aaron, pulled a crab out of the ocean. We all enjoyed looking at it and helped him return the crab safely back into the ocean.
So cute!
It was finally time for the Luau. We had wanted to dress up and buy matching Hawaiian shirts, but Phoenix choose to spend the hour with Helen so we skipped the shopping. Keith and I brought ours from our last vacation, but ended up not changing. We still have a family photo, even if we are not all dressed up!
A selfie of the Mr. and Mrs.
The luau started with a reenactment of the royal court procession starting from on the water.
The royal court....
Happy couple!
Daddy wanted a picture of us kissing. Thank you Mulan for taking the picture!
The luau was excellent. We had up close seats and the finale with the fire act was awesome. The guy was incredible and his fire routine was much longer than the other two luau's I have seen.
I would highly recommend the Island Breeze Lu'au at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort.
The following day, after Phoenix, Helen and Rubix swam in the lap pool again with Daddy-o, we hiked the Makaula-o'oma trail that was in the same rainforest as the coffee plantation we visited the day before. It was a much shorter hike of only 3.85 miles, 715 feet of climbing and took us an hour and a half.
The footing was very challenging the first mile because there were tons of roots along the trail. The second half of the trail was wide open flat dirt trails as you can see in the picture below.
It ended as it started with a narrow root ridden trail of about .7 miles, that went straight up. It was a perfect way to end the hike. It was quite beautiful.
Here's a close up!
After the hike and lunch we headed to the beach. We had plans to meet up with Helen, but the beaches along the Kona coast were closed, so we ended up at Waikoloa Beach, where Helen and her family were an hour south where the beaches were open.
The overcast weather made the water a bit murky and the weather just cold enough the water did not seem enticing at all, or at least it didn't to me. The kids however, played in the sand for hours! It was just like old times.
I couldn't believe all three of them worked together as if 5 years hadn't passed since we were in Maui doing the same thing!
Their castle creation with the clouded covered sunset behind them.
We were all very hungry so we went into Waikoloa Village shopping center. We enjoyed a fish n chips meal and then the best "Kona Ice" and Ice cream shop "on the planet", Obisic.
The kids enjoyed this combination ice cream, shaved iced dessert that will be remembered for years to come!
The following day, we checked out of our Air BnB and headed across the island and down south to Volcano National Park. We arrived just in time to check out the visitor center and eat lunch (the kids are tired of turkey and peanut butter sandwiches, day 5, but they were troopers and at enough to hold them over for the next 5 + hours.
We hiked trail after trail, starting with the Kiluea look our point.
We then headed to the lava tubes through the beautiful trees.
The entrance into the caves.
The lava tubes!
We then traversed across the crater...
and then back up into the forest.
We took the trail less traveled by and enjoyed a new trail that was absolutely lovely and.....
lead to another crater, the Kiluea crater! We were the only ones who appeared to walk through the edge of this crater, but it popped us out on the other side of the visitor center and right next to the lava bluffs trail.
We then saw the cool steam vents,
got a closer look at the lava flow,
and
walked along another trail to the sulfer bluffs!
It was truly a special day. We managed to get in an 8.5 miles hike, which took 3 hours due to all of the picture taking. We finally got dinner just before 7pm at a local Hilo Ramen place. Yummy!
Our plans changed for the next day because we found out that our zipline reservation was for 2 pm and not 1 pm. We decided to go to the local zoo. It is the only natural rainforest Zoo apparently in the U.S.
It was overcast and there were rain showers so many of the animals, including the tigers were not out.
We did manage to see the feeding of the snapping turtle which was fun. We left the Zoo and after stopping to pick up Subway sandwiches (a change from the home made ones), we arrived at the Botanical World Adventures. We started off with a walk through the garden and then....
through the giant hedge maze.
We stopped by one of the falls while we waited for all of the families to arrive.
All of the families arrived, but only four of us ended up doing the fun zipline course because of a price fiasco. The other families were surprised they did not get the discount they were told, so Helen joined Axel, Phoenix and I.
Axel was the first to go. He had no fears at all.
Helen went next and Phoenix took a little convincing before heading off on the first of the 8 lines.
Happy zipliners!
Each line got harder and harder. It was either longer or higher or had a bigger slant.
I mostly took videos, but decided to snap a few photos for easier sharing.
Yep, still having fun!
The view of the ocean from where we were was gorgeous.
Phoenix zipping, a little more timid than Axel. :)
Axel and I getting ready for the last zipline which was half a mile long and overlooked a beautiful water fall.
After the zip lining we stopped by an organic goat farm and said hello to a dozen 3 week old goats and bought some yummy goat cheese.
Rubix and Daddy swam two mornings at the Sparky Aquatic Center in Hilo. It was really run down and the water was only 72 degrees. Rubix managed to do about 1200 yard each day before he got too cold and had to get out. Phoenix passed at the opportunity, as the cold water was absolutely not enticing.
For lunch the next day, we went to Ken's Pancake house.
Axel and Rubix shared the sumo breakfast plate.
Phoenix had the pancake and ice cream plate, while Keith had the Hawaiian pork and I had an omelette.
We fueled up and then headed to Mauna Kea visitor center which was about 45 minutes away and at 9200 feet of elevation.
We headed up the Humu'ula trail toward the observatory. there were crazy winds with gusts up to 60 mph and it was straight up a sandy dirt path.
Before entering and when exiting trails they make you clean your shoes to avoid cross contamination of the soils to make sure people do not bring seeds from non native or invasive plants. Here Rubix is cleaning his shoes.
We gained elevation quickly and had the most amazing views.
It was truly "breath taking" with lower oxygen levels and the amazing views of the island from above the clouds.
I couldn't stop taking pictures.
Rubix was really scared, so Keith turned around with Phoenix and him after the first mile and 1200 feet of climbing. Axel and I continued on to 11,000 feet before turning around. We only hiked 3.5 miles with 2000 feet of elevation, but it was still an epic short hike with the crazy winds.
We did a short hike and looked at the Silver Sword plants where we would be hiking out to once the sun went down to view the stars. Apparently, these are very rare and only found on Mauna Kea.
We then headed up another little half mile hike to the top of a mound to watch the sun set. The only caveat was the exceptional high winds that were blowing dirt into our eyes and the fact that it was freezing out.
The boys and I decided to turn around and go back to the car. We felt we saw enough of the sun set. Keith and Phoenix managed to make it to the top of the little climb and find some shelter from the high winds. They also captured some pretty cool photos, like Phoenix's hair looking like it was on fire!
And holding the sun in the palm of her hand.
Daddy also held the sun in the palm of his hand!
We warmed up in the car and then stayed for the most amazing site ever. Axel's and my camera did not give the view of the stars justice. We were able to see the Milky Way!
It was one of the coolest things that Keith and I have ever done.
On New Year's Eve, we had a mellow morning. Keith and Daddy did a short swim for the second time, I did laundry and went for a run in the rain and once we were all packed we headed back to Kona to shop and get food.
The only issue was by the time we got food for lunch and for dinner on the plane there was no time to shop. Phoenix was a little disappointed, but did manage to buy some Hawaii flower earrings at the airport. :)
We had a smooth flight home and landed at 11:17pm (20 minutes early). We even managed to get home several minutes before midnight and wish each other a happy New Year at Midnight before heading to bed.
Hawaii 2024 Holiday week was a fun adventure!
On New Year's Day we did our tradition of hiking together one more day. Phoenix was the least excited, but the rest of us had such a blast hiking Mission Peak together. We managed the 2000 feet of elevation and 7 mile hike in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
We did it! Another hike in the books.
And another beautiful view.
We ended the night with family game night and our excited about what 2025 will bring.
Here's to a year of fun and laughter!
Update on Axel: We went to the doctor's on Friday and Axel's was cleared to run! We discovered he had stress reactions in both of his tibias! We also discovered that the doctor doesn't really know if his stress reactions are "high risk" or not because it is not definitely clear on his MRI. He is "high risk" in the sense that he is too light and he needs to gain weight. We have already started Axel on vitamin D, a multivitamin, a probiotic drink and extra leafy greens mixed into a banana/milk shake the past 2 days. He is working really hard to make sure he consumes more calories and we all hope he gains weight. He also ran a half a mile yesterday and plans to do a mile tomorrow. He is very excited! The doctor gives him a 50% chance that he is able to run track and a 50% chance of reoccurrence. It really is a toss up, but Axel is on board to do his best to listen to his body and not over train. Any signs of pain, he is on strict orders to stop running. He is committed to strengthening and we went to the gym to use heavier weights today. He did great and continues to be pain free. I am very proud of him and hope he is able to have a smooth transition back to running without a reoccurrence. Only time will tell.
