Favorite Foto Friday

In Hawaii, we found a little lizard on our back porch one morning (this was in addition to the handful of cats that hung out by our room especially after my mom started feeding them). Damien got the lizard and showed it to Dylan. He was not afraid of it one bit and in fact, wanted to hold it.
Then just a sweet photo of Dylan enjoying the beach.

Up and Down

Sometimes, I am just amazed at how Dylan figures things out. While in Hawaii, he figured out on the first day how to put his window down and up. No one showed him, nor had he ever done it before. He cracked us all up with his mad window skills. Oh and is it just me or does everyone hate their voice when they hear it.

Aloha - Day 7 (our depature day)

Today, we say aloha to Hawaii. Mahalo for treating us so well. We had to check out of our room by 10am, so we were packing and cleaning up the place. We realized we were missing a knife from the block but after searching all our back packs (we packed it to cut apples and fruit for Dylan while out and about), we decided that it was probably missing to begin with. I rearranged the knives in a way that would make it less obvious in case it wasn't missing to begin with. Before leaving the resort, we went to the office to try and check my mom and dad in on their southwe$t flight from LA to Nashville, but it was 25 hours before the flight so it wouldn't let us.

We decided to take Dylan to the play ground for a little while so he could run around and play. Our plan left that night, so we had plenty of time to waste. After the playground, we went to a little cafe that had internet access so that we could check my parents in again. I tried, but it still wouldn't let me. Damien had me check the flight status and it wasn't there. Damien was like, this doesn't sound right. I looked at my handwritten confirmation and realized their flight was today, not tomorrow. I felt so stupid. They had missed their flight. I was so confused by the late night departure that when I booked it I told them we would be traveling on the 2nd, but I forgot that we wouldn't be in LA until the 3rd...GRRR. I was able to get them rebooked on a flight on the 4th which meant they had to stay a night in LA, so we cashed in some hilton points for my goof. Problem solved.

Earlier in the week, we went to a farmers market where we saw this guy who walked on backs and stuff. Damien wanted to go back and get that done. After talking to the guy about his back history and his current pains and ailments, the guy decided to start off my loosening his neck. I was sitting and watching, waiting to take pics, and the guy asked Damien a question. Damien didn't respond and so he asked again. At this point, I was freaked out. I answered the question myself and jumped up and starting semi yelling, Damien, Damien....His eyes appeared to be rolled back into his head and his left arm had raised up off the ground. The guy assured me that he was fine and that he just couldn't hear him as the fabric was over his ear. Damien opened his eyes to find me bent over him. I told him what I thought had happened, he blacked out and Damien said he did feel kind of funny. After resting for a minute, he got up and sat down, but then felt sick immediately. I won't fill you in on the details, but he did get sick. He needed to rest a while, so we went across the street to King Kamehameha's house where there was a lawn for him to lie down on and open room for Dylan to run around. After resting for a while, the grounds were closing so we had to go elsewhere. We went back to our resort where there were swings and took a little nap. Then we went down to the shore to catch the sunset, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me and by the time I ran back through the golf course to our car, the clouds had covered up most of the sunset, grrr. Oh well, Dylan had a fun time trying to find the mongoose. He well yell mago, trying to get them to come back out...skittish creatures didn't of course.

at the king's house, knock, knock...

view of the king's house

the clouded sunset

My mom and dad's flight left earlier, so we drove them to the airport and went to grab a bite before our flight. When Damien pulled the car up to drop me, Dylan and the luggage off at the terminal, Dylan said Papa. I said no Papa's not here, sure enough there was Nana and Papa right behind us. They didn't have them booked on the flight for whatever reason, so they put them on our flight which was a better deal we were direct to LA, where they would have had gone to Oahu, San Fran, and then LA. After we got through security, the missing knife was found buried in my mom's book bag, whoops. She's probably on the watch list know considering they also have to wand her several times with her new knee and all.

Dylan did really well again on the flight home, we only had one melt down and that was on the flight from Atlanta to Nashville and that was for like 10 minutes before we took off. I am amazed by how great he did and it took a lot of stress out of the travel. Prayers are answered :)

Aloha - Day 6

This was the day to vindicate ourselves. Earlier in the week we had tried to hike to the green beach at South Point, but time and daylight won out. Today, it would be the first thing on our agenda. After the day of torture the day before, this somewhat flat, rock terrain would be a piece of cake. Again, I would like to remind you that the locals all said this was a 2 mile hike that took 30 minutes. Damien and I clocked it, and we did it in about 45 minutes. (when we got home, my Dad said that he read it was a 6 mile roundtrip hike). The green sand is formed by gemstone olivine which is brought to the surface through volcanic action. The sand is considered to be tears from the Goddess Pele by the Hawaiians and is used in healing ceremonies (Although I saw numerous signs that said not to remove. They better do their ceremonies on site.) Once we got to the green beach site, I was a little overwhelmed and terrified. It was nestled in between 2 huge cliffs, which meant we had to go down into it with Dylan on Damien's back. There were a few steps that were carved into the cliff. I was thankful when we made it. It was very secluded and not very big at all. A nice little gem ;) We rested up and played for a while and headed back. Dylan was not happy about this. He screamed and cried as I tried to put him in the backpack. Everyone was staring and I felt uneasy, but I had to force him in. He couldn't get out on his own. Before leaving, I asked a local if I could get a picture of his back. He gave me the strangest look and after I told him that the sand looked really green on his back, he gave in.

Dylan fell asleep in the pack on the hike back. We made it back and we felt dirty, sweaty and muddy. Not to mention, we had several new blisters, especially my mom. We stopped for lunch at the "most southern bar in the United States" and it was yummy.

After lunch, we headed to the black beach, which thankfully, we could just drive right up to it. There we saw a sea turtle basking on the shore. We didn't really get in the water and play as it was starting to get dark, but we did see, from the rocks, some sea turtles munching away on some dinner. Dylan had fun running around and picking up rocks, he's strong like that. We were hoping to get a good view of the sunset, but we were in the wrong place at the right time. After a short visit to the black beach, we headed back to the resort to take showers.

Aloha - Day 5

Today was a day of relaxation. It was back to the beach and a night out. Papa and Nana rented a beach chair and umbrella so Dylan could rest with Papa and take a nap while Damien and I did some snorkeling. We saw some of the most beautiful fish. We were surrounded by them, all different kinds. I wished I had an underwater camera but no such luck. I learned that I bite the mouth piece of the snorkel way to hard as I had a problem with my jaw popping out of place every time I opened my mouth for like an hour or so. I guess it was worth it though.

For dinner, we ate at Bubb@ Gumps...yummm. Damien especially enjoyed his shrimp. Oh and it was New Year's Eve, but I guess you could say that we celebrated on East Coast time as we were in bed at 10:30 their time. All and all, it was a good day of relaxation and we needed it considering the day from your know where the day before.

Aloha - Day 4

or the day of torture and death as I lovingly remember it.
the valley, remember how the air quality isn't that great because of the volocano...

We started off with this great notion to go to the Waipio Valley to do a little hike and when I say little, I mean it was only 1000 feet to get into the valley. The walk down was pretty much a straight descent, a 25% grade. At the bottom of the grade, you could make a choice to go to the right and hit up the black beach or you could take the route to the left, which we did, which would take you to breathtaking views of the falls. Unfortunately, we didn't won't to walk any further after a while, we decided we needed to turn around and head back as my mom waited behind as she was sure she wouldn't make it considering she had a knee replacement in July. Well, as she found out, we almost didn't even make it back. However, before we started the hike back, we felt that it was only fair to let Dylan get out and play for a while in one of the creeks we crossed. He had a lot of fun even though there were restrictions on getting to wet. On the way back, Damien was a trooper. He had Dylan on his back and he pressed onward with only 2 brief moments of rest. While my dad and I lagged way behind. I think I could have made it with better time and less breaks, but I was worried for him. We kept hoping for someone to drive by so we could hitch around, but no dice, we had to hike it, UGH! We should have known that it was not worth it, as we asked people as we were hiking down, that were coming up, if it was worth it. They hesitated and said, ummm.....yea. Anytime, anyone hesitates, don't believe whatever comes out of their mouth next. As they saw us continue to our death, they laughed and thought, SUCKERS! When we got back to the top, Damien was spot on as to what my mom would say when we got back..."you were gone all that time and you didn't even go to the beach" If she only experienced what we had experienced..sheesh

see rock city bird house in the valley

playing in the creek

the hike back up, this picture doesn't do justice, you can see the trail through the trees...

Later we drove on to see the Hilo side of the island. Along the way, we passed waterfalls on the side of the road. That would never get old to me.

Then we did a little detour to check out Akaka Falls Park. Here there were 2 water falls, but the most majestic was the one pictured below. This fall plunges 442 feet into a gorge. Absolutely breath taking.

After our detour, we trekked on to Hilo, where we played in a park for a while. I wasn't too impressed with the Hilo side from what we saw. If I were to live on this island, it would definitely be on the Kona side, for sure. Hilo's average rainfall is 130 inches per year where as Kona is 10 inches..just to give you an idea, Seattle's average is 143...you decide.

to be continued...