The Big Island

For Labor Day weekend, we had an amazing adventure on the Big Island of Hawaii.  This all got planned 6 days before we headed out on a Friday afternoon flight to Kona.  Once we arrived, we got our rental car and then headed up to Hilton Waikoloa Village, to stay in a lovely lanai room with a view of the ocean. Our real adventure started Saturday morning, with walks around the resort and fun time in the water. 

After some morning fun in the water, we had a chance to meet and swim with Dolphins!

This was an amazing experience.  Their skin is very soft.   We then headed up to the Queens Marketplace for lunch and some shopping. It was a good break before heading back to paddleboard in the lagoon, where we saw many turtles.

That night we enjoyed a lovely sunset as a family.

The next morning we we up early for a "Circle" tour of the island.  We headed out in our minivan at 6:15.  The first stop was breakfast in Waimea at the Waimea Coffee House.

Then we drove to the Akaka Falls state park, where we arrived just as it opened and went on a short hike to check out the waterfalls.

As we were driving south to Hilo, we decided to take the Scenic Route and happened upon the Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden.  

This was an amazing find.  It had many great plants in a lovely walk down a ravine to the sea. 

We then made a short stop at the Rainbow Falls before heading down to Volcano National Park.

At the National Park we were able to get Liam's 4th grade National Park Pass and head into the park for lunch at Volcano House and some exploring around the rim and in the Lava Tube Cave.

The next stop was Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.  The water was welcoming and the sand amazing.  We enjoyed swimming with the waves and Liam loved his coconut.

We drove back from there, but did stop during a massive rainstorm in Kailua for dinner. Once we were back at the hotel, we were able to enjoy a night swim before heading to bed.  We used every minute of daylight, and then some, to explore around the island.

The next morning, we had a family breakfast at the hotel before heading back to the lagoon for one last swim and chance to check out the turtles.

We checked out of the hotel and headed up to see petroglyphs.

We headed to the airport and played in the outdoor courtyard, before boarding our plane to head home. 

It was an amazing long weekend adventure.