Another day again....

Can't believe that we only have a week left in Hawaii and then we have to go home to winter!!  UGH! ! ! 

Here is grampa and Alyssa chillax'n

Interesting that we are sitting here in this fantastic condo on the beach and we are taking advantage of having wi-fi in the house.  Making travel plans to come back from the east coast for Kristina and Chris's wedding in November.  Was able to do it with air miles.  The only worry is that we have a leg through Chicago..   Weather, huuuuuummmmm.  Sure hope that all will be good!  We will come and go from Orlando so should have great weather on both sides of this quick week back to Oregon.  

Boating and Sunsets

 OMG, how close can you get to the whales???  Well, when Casey is captaining the boat, very close!!  We anchored in the exact spot that the Body Glove had taken us and the whales came very close to the boat.  Karen, Casey and Alyssa could hear the whale sounds under the water.  This is the first time that they had ever heard them.  They had heard dolphins before but never whales.  These pictures do not do the whales justice, they appear much further away than they really were.  These pics are from my phone. THANKS so much to Karen and Casey for inviting us to spend the day with them..  Was a great day!!

 

Random sunset pictures...  can't really go wrong!!

Another day

It is really hard to catch up when you have let the writing go for a few days.  Can't remember everything..  Don't like that. This has been a hard trip for Ken.  We went down south to the Tide Pools near Puna and Ken waited on the lava point for us.  Snorkeling was really different.  Great once you got into the water but hard to get in over all the different layers of lava.  When the tide came in it was much better but I was really tired by then.  Amazing how many fish there are in just a couple feet of water.  All the others were much braver than me and went out of the pools into the ocean side of the lava. I was swimming around and realized there was no one there so headed for a rocky point. Stood up and realized Ken was one point over.  He saw me and thought I was panicking so he rushed over and stepped into what he thought was a few inches of water.  Oh no, it was deep.  In he went, camera, phone, wallet, everything!! One quick step and that camera, lens and phone were ruined as well as a huge gash on his knee.. I was just fine!! 

Our grandson Kenny brought me a flower and thought it belonged just like he put it!!   Love this boy!!

Everyone has been enjoying the lava in front of the condo as there are plenty of turtles hanging out.  Karen was out looking for eels with the kids.  They come in to the lava pools when you put fish guts, skin and/or blood into the water.

Dinner out at Huggo's was really great. What a nice place right on the water with the lights of Kona and all the boats in the harbor.

The girls and I went shopping and stopped for happy hour!! That is a must here!!

Daniel liked adding Uncle Corey's hat to his own!!

Was finally able to corral the kids for a quick pic!!  Love these guys!!

The rest of the gang all went kayaking this morning.  Hoping to snorkel this afternoon at Two Step!!  The kayaking trip turned into an awesome one..  Dolphins galore and swimming right along side the kayak's.  Kenny and Alyssa told me it was the best thing that they have done here in Hawaii.  Snorkeling at Two Step (Hounouno) was a little rough.

Let's see, feels like I have lost a few days.  We went to the old sugar mill and snorkeled.  I loved it but most everyone else thought that there was too much surge.  Schools of yellow tang were amazing.  

Second Thursday in Kona

Today Ken was still not feeling good so Charlie, Joanne and I headed south to find South Beach.  It is the most southern spot in the USA.  A couple of young boys were jumping into this lava tube and floating out to the sea..  What really hard to watch them.  Was afraid that they were gonna end up on the rocks.  They acted like they have done this before

Lots of old stuff left from the shipping days.  The young boys, in their 20's, were all jumping into the ocean here too.  There is a ladder up the cliffs  




YAAAHOOOO, Corey and Angela arrived today also.

Good day, pork on the barby, kicking back watching the ocean.  Fry's and Stenberg's still out site seeing.  All is well in Kona Town!!

More Fun !!

Friday we were sad to have to say goodbye to Dan & Sharon Jackson.  They had to go home to snow, snow and more snow..  They called us to tell us that their flight was delayed by only one hour but it took them three hours to get from PDX to home.

Today, Thursday, was great.....  a snorkeling trip with the Body Glove boat and whale watching.  Everyone in the house went on this trip. The skies were quite grey which actually made it a tad bit cooler than the hot sun shining. But, we feel lucky, it is snowing at home!!

Saturday we spent the day on the other side of the island in the volcano area.  On the way we stopped at Keauhou Bay and watched the sea turtles for a while.  

Thought since the sky was so grey that it might be a wasted trip.  Boy were we surprised...  looking down on the caldera was such an awesome site.  It is sooooo huge.  A ranger was there giving all the history of Kilauea.  This is the volcano that took out a housing development.  Homeowners had to watch as this river of lava came down their streets and burned down there houses.  we stayed until after dark watching the caldera.  See the results below..  Love Joe & Celeste!!

Got back to the condo really late, stopped for dinner in Hilo at Ken's Pancake Cafe.  We were eating at 8:15 pm and the place was still packed...  Not only did we have our condo on Kauai named after Ken was a great restaurant too!!  What a guy!!

Today is Sunday and we had to take Joe & Celeste to the plane.  Was really hard to see them leave for home in San Diego.  Don't get to see my brother and his wife often enough!!  They hosted us when they were living in China so was very fun to show them around Hawaii on their first trip here.  

Judy and DeWilde went over to the Hilo side of the island today to zip line and visit friends of DeWilde & Dennis'. Can't wait to hear how the zip lining went.  This company gets great reviews.  Karen, Alyssa, Angela, Ken and I hope to go later on.  Hope I can keep my brave face on! ! ! 

Tomorrow is Sunday and two more couples are arriving!! New week ! ! !

Sunday ended up with just Charlie & Joanne Leeth arriving. Ken's sister Pat and her husband Lonnie had both their flight from Redmond and their flight from Portland cancelled due to ice and snow.  They are being told that Wednesday is the first flight out.  WOW !!

Sunsets have been incredible every night.

Well Judy and DeWilde left for home on Fox Lane and Vancouver WA on Saturday.  

We went looking for turtles next door and we found them!!!!

Kaye and BJ Frye along with son Daniel arrived on Monday!!

We went food shopping and sweet Kaye bought flowers for the house.  They are very pretty and make it look very homey!!!

We kinda were doing our own things, the Frye family went to the beach and the Leeth's and us went touring. We ended up at the end of the road up north past Hawi. Beautiful area. 

Then we stopped at Mahukona Beach Park and found a really special place that I would like to go back to to snorkel.  It is an old abandoned sugar mill.

Lots of yellow tang

Pat and Lonnie finally arrived today.  They are cramming all the site seeing they can into a day and a half. They are very happy to be in the warm weather

Tomorrow Corey and Angela get here.  Can't wait!!   Before they come we are heading south to the Green Sand Beach..