Hawaii: come and gone

I'm so delinquent in posting possibly the coolest little family vacation we have taken yet! Oh man, I can only rush through this in pictures, but I hope Anna remembers all the fun experiences, from the long airplane rides to and from the Big Island, to the museum treasures she had to stop and check out along the hallways of the resort. The collections of rubber bracelets she gained from each restaurant, in a rainbow of colors, that led to a free ice cream cone. The swimming pools and the snorkeling in the salt water lagoon at the resort, the volcano hikes (We had no idea Anna would love hiking so much) and helicopter ride, and the submarine dive down to 107 feet where we saw fish galore and shipwrecks. She snorkeled like a little careful pro with sea turtles and arrays of fish (the salt water burned her eyes (yes it does!)) and she got used to it. She hated the windy convertible but tolerated it as much as she could stand :)

I should have documented it all daily here but the best I could do was Facebook posts daily. We'd go to bed late and sleep late, as our bodies were on no real clocks. Our balcony faced 2 volcanoes, with a view of the ocean and the beautiful grounds of the resort (Hilton Waikoloa Village). I got to spend the whole week in a fun paradise with my two favorite people!!! Life is good!









































Dolphins!











The boat shuttle transportation all around site.


















Submarine in Kona





























Finding a black pearl in an oyster game :)





















































Steam coming up as the lava pushes into the ocean. Anna pushes her headphone button to tell us "this is fun!!"




Right about now she pushes her headphone button to ask "can we go swimming?!" WTH girl? That's a volcano! From a helicopter! But have you seen those pools...?














































Sea turtle right at the resort's lagoon shore with the kids!































Petroglyph fields



























Headed home!




The long journey home and a noon landing in Houston had me trying to keep her awake until bedtime. 6:30pm came and she was down for the next 13 hours. Fine by us! And that same day, this in my fortune cookie:




Ok then! Let's do another!

Super fun 7 days with my two peeps, total bliss. 2013 has been good to us. I'm already aware of how much I will miss these days.