Honolulu to Kona

On Saturday, we said goodbye to beautiful Waikiki. We went from a week of being in a city, where the kids had the constant attention of their grandparents, to a week at a quiet resort, where the kids had near-constant access to cousins. They were very different, but both great.

 Lucas modeling one of the two new hats he bought.

We had to leave behind the beach mats and boogie boards we bought. I hope someone on the housekeeping staff took them home to enjoy.

Stripes peeking out of Eva's backpack.

(Traveling with children old enough to carry their own supplies and/or suitcases is so nice.)

It's always good to have grandparents around — they are endlessly entertaining.

Also, as they were sitting there chatting and laughing, a woman who works in the condo came up to Mim & Bob. Of course they knew her. They have friends everywhere they go. She excused herself for a moment, went to the souvenir shop inside, and came back with two t-shirts for Eva! So nice.

Just one of the many brides we saw in Hawaii (most were on the beach).

Our flight to the big island was SO short! From the time they told the passengers we could use  electronic devices to the time they asked us to turn them off, Lucas listened to exactly one song! Crazy.

This is the cute little airport in Kona.

As we drove from the airport to the resort, I marveled at the strange, volcanic terrain of the Big Island. We were told the air is filled with a volcanic ashy fog, called vog.

Movable graffiti: people are constantly rearranging the white coral rocks on the side of the road to spell out different messages.

As we got closer to the shore, we started to see the beautiful tropical vegetation we had come to expect.

We were a bit shocked when we checked in and the man at the front desk told us to take the monorail 3 stops to get to our room! We had certainly never been to a resort like the Hilton Waikoloa before. (Our shuttle driver told us the locals call it Disneyland because it has a monorail and dolphins.)

We walked around the resort for a bit (it is 64 acres, after all) and admired the lagoon, where you can swim with sea turtles and tropical fish. We could see immediately that this was going to be a fun place to be!