Family Fun Days with FUNcle Erek & Aunt Awesome - Kona HI - Part 2 (Feb 2019)

Kona, HI - Part 2

Saturday (Feb 9)  

Hawaii…Kona….oh how I love you.  To have such a crazy long unexpected day on Friday and then to wake up to this view with the birds singing and sunshine.  Simply amazing.   My soul took in a nice long inhale.

We were up early on Saturday (5 am) due to the time zone change,

so we quietly got dressed and left Erek & Laci sleeping.   James and the girls went on a walk to what we call “the little beach” which is only a 5 minute walk down Ali'l Drive. 

They then continued their walk into Kona and I met them for our favorite breakfast at Island Lava Java.

Mac Nut pancakes with coconut syrup

After breakfast we checked into our condo which happened to be in the same building as Erek & Laci just on the opposite side and lower level. We got all settled in then had lunch and went to the pool.  

In the late afternoon we went to the Farmers Market in Kona for fruit and a few souvenirs.  Caroline and Kanani got new hula outfits (Thanks to Aunt Laci).

Then, to the golf course by Kona Coast for our usual non alcoholic pina colada and sunset.

It was pretty spectacular.  We had dinner that night at Umeke’s Fish Market.  It was pretty late by then and the kids were tired.  But the food was really good.  We ordered the girls a hamburger and when the food came Anikka inhaled her entire burger in about 2 minutes…for real.  We decided she as eating like a piranha and Uncle Erek nicknamed here Piranikka.  It stuck the rest of the trip.  

We called Saturday our “bonus day” since we really weren’t supposed to be there that day.  

And it sure was a really nice bonus day.

Sunday (Feb 10)  

We had a nice breakfast on the lanai of tropical fruit and yogurt.  

Notice the delicious passion fruit (my fav)

Due to a big storm coming in, all the beaches were closed for swimming so we took a quick walk down the little beach to at least enjoy some beach that day.

Then the girls all went to have our nails painted at the spa. Everyone got pretty summer colors with Hawaiian flowers painted on them.  

We stopped at Walmart for some groceries and other supplies then back to the condo for a late lunch.  The girls went up to play a pirate game with Uncle Erek at his condo so I was able to relax a little after lunch.

My view from our lanai

We went swimming in the late afternoon and relaxed by the pool for a little bit.  This year the girls are tall enough to touch the bottom of the pool and they don’t need life jackets so it is the first year that a parent doesn’t need to be with them at all times in the pool…which means we can finally have a little relaxation.  

Plus, when you have Uncle Erek to play with, parents are REALLY BORING...

We grilled steaks that night and tried to go to Scandinavian Shave Ice for dessert but they had closed before we got there. We ended up having brownie sundaes in the condo.  The girls were so tired by then they almost passed out in their beds.

Monday (Feb 11)  

We decided to do a little round island tour and spend the day exploring since the beaches were still closed due to high wind/high surf.  Erek, Laci and I were supposed to go on a manti ray snorkel that night but it was postponed due to weather so we had the whole day to drive around.  

We drove up north to Hawi and to the end of the road at Polo'u.  

Polo'u Lookout

We had great smoothies at a road side stand

and saw the King Kahmehemeha statute in Hawi.  

Then we headed east over the high road to Waimea.

We were heading to Honokaa to get malasadas at Tex’s Drive-In.   But, when we got to Tex’s it was closed!  They had no power.   The high winds had snapped 15 power poles and the whole area had no power. Such a bummer! Erek was looking forward to tasting them.  

Damaged trees from the high winds

So, down through Honokaa we went to the Waipio valley look out.  It was so breathtaking.  I had not been there in a few years and I forgot how amazing it is.  

From Honokaa we went east to Akaka Falls and did the short loop hike to the waterfall.  The forests there are pretty remarkable.

From Akaka falls we drove into Hilo to have an early dinner at Café Pesto, one of our favorite places to eat.  By then, the adults were all starving since we didn’t really have any lunch. We were counting on malasadas to be our lunch. Cafe Pesto never disappoints.  

We headed back to Kona in the dark…it’s about a 2 hour drive back on the saddle road.  We stopped for shave ice when we got back to Kona.

Snowcap Shave Ice

It was a long day…but lots of fun. My girls love being with Erek & Laci who make everything more fun. 

Tuesday (Feb 12)  

We decided we all wanted to go to ANY beach and the public beaches were closed again so we decided to go to the Keiki ponds near the old airport.  It’s a protected area so the surf can’t come in. Everyone had a nice time playing in the water and sand.  We packed a lunch and enjoyed the day.  It was nice and sunny.    

Starfish

After dinner we went to the resorts welcome luau and saw Aunti Tutu and Joy who sing and dance every time we are there.   

The manti night snorkel had been rescheduled for that night so Erek, Laci & I headed for that while James took the girls swimming.  When we got to the dock for the snorkel we learned it had been cancelled again. So we went back to the condo and I joined my family at the pool to enjoy the sunset.  Erek and Laci went into Kona for sunset, dinner and a little shopping.  

While they were gone we had popcorn (after swimming snack) and Elin lost a tooth!  She always seems to lose them while we are traveling.  Luckily her tooth fairy always seems to find her.

Wednesday (Feb 13) 

We all went to breakfast at Island Lava Java

then loaded up and went to Waialea Beach (beach 69 as the locals call it).  

We went the entire day swimming, playing in the sand and relaxing on the beach. We packed lunch and stayed there from 11 am to 4 pm.

Erek and Laci in the water

  
We headed back into Kona for dinner in town.  We ended up eating on Ali’l drive at a place called Humpy’s.  It was the only place we could find without a wait. It ended up being great. The food was good and priced right and we were right along the edge of the deck with a perfect view of sunset.

It was at Humpy’s that Elin told Aunt Laci as she was taking this picture “I think they are becoming friends”.  It was funny.

We did a little shopping after dinner for girls destination t-shirts then picked up Mauna Kea Pie from Huggo’s to have for dessert back that the condo.  Yet another fun filled Hawaiian day.

Thursday (Feb 14)  

Happy Valentine’s Day!  

Also, Erek & Laci's last day in Hawaii.  So sad.   

The girls went to do jewelry making with Joy and she had made them these beautiful head pieces ...

then we all went to the pool to relax for a few hours.  Well, I relax and the girls play super exciting pool games with Uncle Erek.   

After lunch we went on a snorkeling cruise with Fairwinds to Kealakekue Bay near the Captain Cook Monument. We have done this cruise with Fairwinds before and we loved it.  

The weather was questionable at first but it cleared up right as we got to the bay.

We spent a couple of hours snorkeling and relaxing on the boat. Both girls got into the water and were able to look through a viewing box they called “Fish TV”.

Elin with James and Anikka in the background

Elin

Elin & Maija

It's such a beautiful place with crystal clear water.  

Both girls liked it and Elin even went out by herself (without a parent) the 2^nd time. Ani enjoyed hanging out on the boat and wouldn’t go in the water again.  

James and I were able to take turns going out on our own.  

James is in the white long sleeved rash guard

Erek and Laci also loved it.   

As we were leaving the bay we saw a humpback whale and then on the way back in we saw 3 more.    Everyone had a great time.  

After a quick dinner, shower and a shave ice at Scandanaivan, Erek & Laci had to head to the airport.

We were all sad to see them go.    The girls had a great time with Funcle Erek and Aunt Fun Awesome.

--to be continued---

The Snowaggedeon Exit - Kona, HI - Part 1 (February 2019)

Kona, HI - Part 1 

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Full Disclosure before you start....Part 1 of this trip blog is mostly about how we ended up getting there one day early and why.  It's a lot of words...not as many pictures. If you don't want to read the exit story...feel free to go to Part 2 for lots of pictures.

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For vacation this year we booked a 10 day trip to Kona, Hawaii to stay at our favorite place on the islands, Kona Hawaiian Village Resort.  It looks like this.    

Old style Hawaiian village type houses with lots of lush greenery and across the street from the ocean.   2 bedroom condos, 2 pools and close to Kona.  We've stayed their 4 times, it feels like home.  My brother Erek and his wife Laci were meeting us there (flying in on TH from Kentucky)  and we were so excited to spend some time with them. 

We barely made it there.  It’s a really interesting, miraculous story of a trip that was clearly meant to be.

Our trip was supposed to start at 11 am on Saturday February 9^th when we would fly from SEA to SFO and then at 4 pm SFO to Kona.  Seattle had a snow storm the week before our trip and what was supposed to be a trace of snow ended up at 7 inches in Kirkland.  We were out of school for a few days and the neighborhood looked like this.  Perfect time to head to the islands.

As the week progressed, another bigger storm was predicted to come into Seattle on Friday, February 8^th. One day before our trip.  The newscast was foreboding and we were worried about actually getting out of Seattle.  I called the airline on Wednesday to see if we could get rebooked from SEA to SFO on Friday night (we would get a hotel on Friday in San Fran then back to the airport in SFO on Saturday for our afternoon flight to HI).  That option was $595 per ticket in change fees…..times 4 people plus the cost of a hotel in San Fran.   It was not worth it. So, we decided to just wait and see.

I watched the weather all day TH hoping the airline would issue a travel advisory so that we could get the change fee waived.  No luck.   I worked most of TH packing to have us ready to go if needed. I even told someone that I was getting us ready so that we could leave the house with one hour notice if we could get a flight out.  We discussed booking a hotel near the airport for Friday night so we would be close enough to get to the airport if the roads were bad but the airport was open.   But, we didn't end up doing that because they were all full.

Friday morning, the 8^th, I got the girls up and ready for school.   Lunches packed…ready to go.  It was 8:45 am.  James happened to call the airlines and they were finally issuing a travel advisory for Seattle, so the fees would be waived if we changed our flights to a 12:35 pm flight THAT DAY and then straight on to Kona that afternoon.  We decided to go for it.   (Miracle #1)  We had ONE HOUR to get out of the house.  Good thing I had preplanned and packed early.   

James and I hurried to shower and get everything packed and out of the house.   We did it….it was a bit frantic and we ended up leaving some stuff…but nothing that we couldn’t replace in Hawaii (ie: like socks...I forgot to pack socks for everyone, but we didn't really need them anyway)…and more importantly we did it!!!  (Miracle #2)   It was a bit crazy. In fact, the girls were putting their shoes on for school and I told them “No school, we are going to Hawaii today…right now”.   Then we started hurrying to get everything ready and things were so crazy that at one point Anikka said “I’m scared!” So, I explained to her it was EXCITING!   And how lucky we were to be going at all. 

We hurried to the airport and parked.  Luckily there was no traffic and no issues with parking. We were at the airport by 10:40 am and there was barely a line checking into our flight.  BUT....... the line for security was THE LONGEST I have ever seen. It was all the way back to where the ticketing gates are. I asked the TSA lady at the end of the line how long it would take us to get through security?  She said 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I looked up at the clock and it said 10:50 am. We had 1 hour and 45 minutes until our flight left.  We just kept moving forward and before we knew it we were through security and to our gate just as they started boarding at 12 pm.  It ended up only taking 45 minutes for security.  (Miracle #3)  James went to the gate agent to see if we could get seats near each other. Because we had rebooked only hours before, we had 4 random middle seats.  The lady was able to get the girls and I in a row of 3 with James just ahead of us in a middle seat.  (Miracle #4)

 As we were sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off it started snowing.  

Due to deicing we didn’t actually take off until 12:55 pm.   I sat on the plane completely amazed that we had pulled off that fast of an exit and that we were actually going.  It was smooth flight to SFO and when we landed we learned that SEATAC delayed all flights leaving SEA at 1 pm.  We had literally left with 5 minutes to spare.  (Miracle #5).   

In SFO we had lunch (because we had no time to get food at SEATAC) and then we asked the gate agent for seats together if possible.  She seated us all in row 23, 3 girls in one row, James across the aisle.   We got on the plane and this never happens anymore...but the other 2 seats next to James were empty.  So,  for the long part of our journey (7 hours) we were able to spread out a little and sit with 4 of us across both rows.   (Miracle #6)  

A seat for Kanani...

And one for Caroline.

Long but uneventful flight....We made it to Kona around 9 pm HI time.  One day early with no place to stay and no car….but we made it out of Seattle.   The rental agency didn’t blink an eye about us coming a day early and we stayed the first night with Erek & Laci who had flown in the night before and had a two bedroom condo in our same resort. (Miracle #7)

I learned on Saturday that our original flight that would have left Saturday morning was delayed due to weather. We would not have made it to Hawaii on our original connecting flight and it probably would have taken a few days to get us all to Hawaii.  There were so many people rescheduling flights, the flight we left on from SEATAC had 60 people waiting on standby.  

Seattle ended up getting around 2 feet of snow from that storm and then another snow storm also came in the next Monday.   It was called Snowmaggedeon.  And we missed it ALL!!!  

It was a miracle from start to finish that we actually even made it to Hawaii.  7 miracles actually.

---to be continued---