Grandma and Grandpa decided to join us so they could go to the temple and spend time with their grandkids (brave souls!). We landed and were starved so we headed to Kona town and ate at the Big Island Grill - highly recommended! Yum! Since we were so close to the temple, we decided to visit.
We stayed at the Paniolo Greens in Waikoloa Village. It was literally in the middle of nowhere and just comes up out of the lava fields and surprises you. You don't appreciate living on Oahu until it takes you all day to drive to the next town when visiting the Big Island. Not used to driving for a half hour to get to the next place. But the weather was superb and we were on vacation, right?! The minute we got there - the kids wanted to head to the playground and the pool. The pool was c-o-l-d! But, they jumped in anyway!
We read about it before we came but didn't realize how many (and how often we would see them) "wild" turkeys were on the grounds. We saw them everyday - we fed them bread and Frosted Flakes right off our balcony. And like almost every other bird, they congregated to where the food was! I think there were 2-3 different flocks because some of the Toms got territorial with certain others when we fed them but at one time, we counted over 30 turkeys all gathered trying to get to the food. I'm glad we didn't have downstairs neighbors!
We also headed towards our regular stop every time we visit the Big Island - the Waimea playground. It was fun, of course, but they took down all the swings and the tire swing! What a bummer for the kids! They were SO looking forward to the tire swing again! Chyler found some really delicious rocks - even though the picture looks like my Mom is feeding her a rock, it was actually my Mom taking a rock out of her mouth...but I thought it was more funny the other way around.
We also headed towards the beach! We've always heard about Hapuna Beach but we've never been there before so since we were SO close (about 20 minutes away), we decided to do a beach day...or a beach afternoon actually. It was really nice! There were waves and currents but my shore babies loved the water coming up on them while playing in the sand. Dallen wished that he had his boogie board and so did Austen, who is becoming a stronger swimmer. Lad took all of them out into the water - what a Daddy! Dallen found a couple of nice shells in the sand but on closer inspection, he realized that something was living inside! He put the animal (?) on the rocks and also saw some opihi clinging to the rocks too! Brennen just loves to be buried in the sand and his brothers were more than happy to oblige!
Happy Thanksgiving! Although we could have cooked in our full kitchen - who wants to do that on vacation??? Not me! So, we splurged and went to the Hilton Waikoloa's Water's Edge Ballroom to eat our Thanksgiving meal. $59/head later we probably should have cooked a bird ourselves. But, thanks Dad! The meal was delish! We also walked around the grounds while my boys looked longingly at the pools and slides - I was beginning to feel so bad because my sons were looking like starving puppy dogs at the pound because they couldn't jump in the pools! Dallen wants to stay here for his birthday. Umm, Daddy??
On our last day, today, we found this GREAT (even better than Waimea great!) playground! I saw it on a previous day while we were driving around but we didn't have time to stop and explore. So today, before our flight home - we decided to go and look around for it. I didn't tell the kids because it would have dashed their joy if it wasn't a public place. But, it was!!! If you head on Hwy 19 (or 11, not sure - map shows 19 turns into 11 - about 10 minutes past the Kona Temple) going past Keauhou from Kona town towards Kealakekua you will see the Kona Baptist Church on your right - on your 2nd right, you will see a little hidden sign that says Harold H. Higashihara Park. At that park, you will see the Kamakana Playground! It's huge - it has a playground for older kids, a playground for little kids, huge fortress-like structures with little and big slides; it has swings and seesaws; they also had this sliding bar 'thing' where you hold on and slide across. The park also has a tennis court, a basketball court, a volleyball court, a baseball field and BBQ pits - very nicely shaded so you can picnic there too...if you wanted to. My kids had a great time!
We had a great time - lots of good memories for the family! We're glad to be back home because we missed Sugar a lot. I think he missed us a lot too because he's been following us around the house since we've been back. Thanks to the Bell's for coming by and feeding him - they did a GREAT job because all of us noticed that Sugar got really fat this past week. Poor thing...all he could do is eat...no one to chase him around the house! I'm going to have to have the kids chase him around a little bit extra because I can no longer feel his ribs!
