Where In the World Are James, Maija, Elin and Anikka?: A Pineapple A Day — HAWAII Part 1

A Pineapple A Day

HAWAII , Part One

🌸🌺 March 23 - April 3, 2023 🌺🌸

It has been just over week since we returned home from our Spring Break vacation to Kona, Hawaii. This was my 6th trip to Kona (9th trip to Hawaii). There is just something special about Hawaii, at least for us.

Hawaii is our girls very favorite place to vacation. To make this trip even more fun, FUNcle Erek and Aunt Laci were also there. In fact, Erek was on our flight from LAX to Kona (Laci met us in Kona since she was already in HI). AND to make this trip EVEN BETTER our niece Kiely met us in Kona the next day.

Look who we found at LAX

After a LONG day of traveling (15 hrs?) we landed in Kona at 7:40 local time on TH March 23. We were so tired and it was 11:40 pm CO time. We checked into our condo at Kona Hawaiian Resort and went straight to bed.

Here are the highlights from each day:

🌺March 24 - Friday🌺

We spent the morning getting our usual first morning pancake breakfast at Lava Java (sadly it was not good- pancakes were undercooked and rubbery).

After breakfast we did errands, stocking up on groceries and other supplies, like pineapple …. We literally ate a pineapple a day (thus the blog title). It was so incredibly delicious and sweet, different from the pineapple we get at home.

James and Laci were listed on the VIP list

We had lunch at the Kona Country Club with friends from Montana, Wes and Jorgja, who were also in Hawaii.

Then we were off to the airport to pick up Kiely. Not only was it her first time in Hawaii but it was also her 19th birthday.

We got Kiely settled in at the condo and went to the pool for awhile.

then had birthday dinner for her on the lanai

and went into town for a birthday shave ice.

🌸March 25- Saturday🌸

When you are not on Hawaiian time...you wake up really early...like 5 am early...everyone. We had plenty of time for breakfast and shopping at the Farmers Market for fresh fruit and souvenirs.

Then we packed up lunch and ALL THE THINGS to go to the beach for the afternoon. We ended up at Manini'owali beach, also known as Kua Bay.

We spent all afternoon there playing in the water

having a picnic lunch

and we even saw a blowfish that was washed up on the rocks.

Back at the condo we had a bit of pool/hot tub time

a quick dinner on the lanai then a rush against the sun to the Rock Church to see the sunset. And we were lucky we did...it was spectacular that night.

🌺March 26 - Sunday🌺

This trip we decided we wanted to take the girls to Volcanoes National Park on the south east side of the Big Island. Because Erek is a DOD contractor he was able to book us a night at the military camp, so we stayed the night on the volcano Sunday night.

We started our day heading south with a stop at the Coffee Shack in Captain Cook for a mid morning snack. Really we wanted the lilikoi cheesecake (passion fruit) and it was amazing!

They also have an incredible view, I would have loved to stay and eat there but the wait was 2 hours. So we had ours to go.

Elin got a coconut lemon bar

Ani got chocolate cream pie.

Everything was great. We stopped to take a few scenery pics and Ani said “ I can’t believe I’m eating chocolate cream pie, sitting in a van looking at the ocean”. It was a spectacular view of Kealakekua Bay.

The drivers

We continued south and stopped at Kalae which is the southernmost point in the USA.

Then on to our next treat spot (this is Erek’s itinerary) where we stopped for post lunch malasadas at Panalu’u Bake Shop in Naalehu which is the southernmost town in the USA (we packed sandwiches and ate lunch on the road)

Next, a quick stop at Panulu'u Black Sand beach.... it was HOT and Elin declared it the worst beach ever. It is pretty to see but the sand is really small black pebbles and there is no shade. We stayed for maybe 15 minutes.

We did see green sea turtles there.

Back on the road we finally made it to Volcanoes National Park

We checked into our cabin and went to the visitor center with our Junior Rangers to get our passport stamps.

It was getting dark and cold by then and there was a foggy mist so we couldn’t see the caldera. We visited a couple of steam vents instead.

When it got dark we drove to Hilo in the pouring rain for dinner. Erek entertained the kids with chop sticks while we waited for Thai food.

🌸 March 27 - Monday 🌸

We stayed overnight in a cabin at Kilauea Military Camp which is in the National park. The cabin was two bedroom, two bath with a couch (for Kiely). Definitely no frills, but it was clean and the beds were fine. The girls thought it was a bit “sketchy” but only because it was a little rundown. The adults all thought it was just fine. It was nice to be in the park and minutes away from the caldera. Sadly, we missed flowing lava by 3 weeks. An interesting fact about this camp, it was used as a determent camp for Japanese detainees during WW2.