Monday
Monday morning we went down to the clubhouse for a presentation about various activities around the island.  They had great doughnuts.  Afterwards, we headed to Waimea to get some cough medicine for Elizabeth & I, eat lunch and do a little shopping.  That night we went to Kahua Ranch for their Evening at the Ranch program.  The ride up was beautiful (we took a chartered bus) and they showed an interesting video about the paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys).  The evening included history about ranching on the island, all-you-can-eat buffet including wonderful steak, music and S’mores.  But the highlight was definitely the sunset.  I have never seen a more beautiful sunset.  Watching the sun drop literally made me gasp.  The pictures don’t do it justice.   The evening was really nice.  It was a late night, so I worried about the kids but they did great!

Tuesday
We set out down the coast to see the Painted Church and Punalu’u Black Sand Beach.

St. Benedict's Painted Church

The church, St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, was beautiful.  It was painted by Father John Velghe, a self-taught artist, in 1899.  It is beautiful!  And the details are amazing.  In addition to the scenery pictures you can see in this picture, there are six other paintings on the walls including a depiction of Temptation of Jesus, Handwriting on the Wall at the Feast of the King of Belshazzar and Hell.

After we left the church, we headed down to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park.  It was incredibly windy we so had lunch in a picnic shelter (the blue Aloha picture is the side of the shelter) before heading down to the beach.  We got to see a few sea turtles and watch one return to sea (video in the picture folder).  The beach was beautiful, the kids had a great time and it was a nice place to just sit and relax.

Punalu'u Bake Shop

On our way to the beach, Jim & I spotted a bakery.  On the way back, we decided to stop.  Oh my!  The bread there was SO yummy!  It was sweet but not overly sweet.  It made for fantastic toast with peanut butter.  We also had some yummy desserts. Wendy & I had delicious apple turnovers, Elizabeth got a cinnamon roll and Jim got a couple masaladas (Portugese fried donuts, sometimes with fillings, that are very popular here).  And for the low price of $40 (including shipping) you, too, can have three loaves of their bread!  It was great bread but not THAT great!!!  If I can’t find it at a local store, I think it will just have to live in my memory because I’m not spending that much!

Wednesday

Benjamin trying to figure out what is on his hand

Today was a quiet day after the busy last two days.   We had a lazy morning before heading out to Spencer Beach Park.  I had heard about this beach from a couple ladies I was talking to at dinner the night prior.  It was such a lovely beach!!  There were big trees with plenty of shade, nice sand, clean bathrooms, picnic tables and a big shallow area of the water that made for easy water play for the kiddos. We stayed for several hours.  Benjamin spent most of it digging in the sand while Elizabeth made friends with another girl.  They played great together and spent the time digging and trying to relocate all the ocean water.   I slept a little and caught up on some of my podcasts.  The breeze was perfect for relaxing.  Elizabeth got her first sunburn–on her sholders.  We put sunscreen on her but, obviously, not enough.  Luckily it was mild and is now a dark shade of brown, just like her father.

Thursday

Kilauea Caldera

We drove over Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Thursday.  The drive over was beautiful.  It led us across the north side of the island and down the other coast through Hilo.  We first stopped at the visistor’s center.  They had some interesting displays.  While Jim, Wendy & E watched the movie, I walked outside with Benjamin who was in no mood to sit through a movie.  We then drove over to see the Kilauea Caldera and have lunch.  We saw one of the park rangers give a demonstration about the volcanoes.  After wards, we stopped by the steam vents and then over to the Thurston Lava Tube before heading home.

Friday

Moku'aikaua Church

We spent the morning around the condo packing and such before leaving.  Kids got to swim in the pool.  This time Benjamin wasn’t thrilled by it, so I didn’t stay long with him.  Mid-afternoon we decided to head down to Kailua.  Before we went there, though, we stopped by the Kailua Candy Company.  We got there near the end of the day so the kitchens were closed (earlier in the day you can watch them work).  We got samples of macadamia nut chocolates and coffee swirls (dark & white chocolate with Kona coffee).  I’m not a fan of either but it was very good.  Both of the kids LOVED the coffee chocolates.  Ben ate an entire piece and then, when we picked a few pieces to take with us, Elizabeth chose two of the coffee swirls.  I had a white chocolate solid and it was really good.  We left there and headed to downtown Kailua.  The first church in Hawaii, Moku’aikaua, was there and I wanted to see it. It was beautiful!  The first two churches on the site burned down.  This one was completed in 1837.  It has an active congregation.  After we stopped by the church, we walked around a bit before heading to dinner.

Ben & I ate dinner

We ate at a cute Mexican restaurant, Poncho & Lefty’s.  We had a table that overlooked the sidewalk and road below.  The kitchen in the restaurant had windows so you could watch what they were doing.  Ben and I both enjoyed watching.  Mom, you would have gone nuts–there were many birds that sat at the balcony just to the side of our table (not while we were eating, thankfully!)  After a wonderful dinner, Jim (unbeknownst to him) bought me a beautiful chocolate pearl necklace.  It is so beautiful!!  He did a great job picking it out.

Saturday

E's self-portrait on the plane

Our last day!  Our plane left early afternoon, so the morning consisted of packing, loading up and then heading over to the airport.  Our return flight was uneventful except for Ben’s refusal to nap and crying.

We had such a wonderful week.  I’d really like to return before we leave.  The military has a small camp at the volcanoes and I’d love to stay there so we can spend more time on that side of the island.

Elizabeth starts back at Awanas this week.  She’s very excited.

Ben’s two bottom teeth are fully in and he’s working on the top two now.  As you can see in the pictures below, he’s pulling up now.  Elizabeth gets so excited when he does and says “Good job, Buddy Brother!!”

I’ve uploaded some new pictures & videos.

Look at me! My boy is pulling up & standing!!

Jim’s Kids Elizabeth has a couple old Nintendo controls that she likes to play.  She decided to get one out for each of them.  It kept them occupied for a good ten minutes.

I’ve moved the videos again.   Just from one Google location to another, so there shouldn’t be any problems viewing.  If there are, please let me know!  I don’t remember which ones I’ve already posted, so here’s the link to the folder of videos.

Videos

I booked our trip for December.  We come in on the 22nd (hopefully to snow!) and leave on January 13.  I’m really hoping for a big snow during the trip!  I don’t need two feet like we got back in 2004 when I was home for Christmas but I’d take one foot!

E @ playground
Ben on couch