Hawaii Trip 2009

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to Hawaii (all of us except Nathan, who stayed with Grammie). I've been late in posting pictures because of post-trip depression as I still can't figure out why we don't live in Hawaii. :-)

We had an absolute blast. We spent the first 2 days on Oahu and took the kids to the Polynesian Culture Center and Pearl Harbor. Jacob was called on stage at the PCC to drink coconut juice -- he drank the whole coconut and spent much of the rest of the day in the bathroom dealing with the consequences. At Pearl Harbor, I was surprised by how much the kids understood. They took a real interest in learning more about WWII and hopefully this builds their interest in US history.

After Oahu we spent 5 days on the Big Island. We enjoyed the diversity of landscapes here -- one side the island is covered in lava rock and receives very little rain, and the other side is the very lush and is the wettest part of Hawaii. We stayed on the dry side at a fantastic hotel in Waikoloa. The hotel was massive -- you had to take a boat or a monorail to get around the place -- and the features were impressive. It had its own lagoon full of tropical fish and turtles that we snorkeled in every day, a dolphin park that was right outside our hotel window that houses a dozen dolphins, three pools, etc (Jacob and Anna provide a brief tour below).

Some of our highlights on the Big Island included:

• Visiting the Volcano: We took a helicopter tour over Kilauea, the most active volcano in the world. We saw active lava running into the ocean, fresh lava fields and beautiful waterfalls. We also hiked in Volcanoes National Park through a lava tube and visited the crater.
• Kayaking to Captain Cook: It was quite the adventure to pack us all on a kayak and head out by ourselves to an awesome snorkeling spot. Along the way we were visited by a school of spinner dolphins.
• Running into a turtle: While snorkeling in the hotel's lagoon, we (Jacob, Anna and Mike) went under the bubbles of a waterfall. Because of the bubbles we could not see anything...and we ran into a 100 lb turtle. The kids freaked out...and so did I...when the turtle looked at us. You've never seen three people swim away from a turtle so fast.
• Jeeping to a secluded beach: Our rental car was a Jeep so we had to find some off-road trails. We followed a trail though an old lava field to a secluded black sand beach.
• Boogie boading at Hapuna Beach: The picture postcard beach with waves the right size for the kids.

...to name a few. All in all it was one of the best vacations ever. Jacob and Anna are at such a great age where they are so curious and love to have fun. I realized the other day that we finished at Stanford 5 years ago, and at that time the twins were still just babies. In 5 more years they will be 13, and in 5 more they'll be headed to college. Wow. Not enough summers left for great vacations.