Hapuna Beach

After a slower morning and a walk over to Starbucks we packed up our gear for the beach. The house we stayed in had beach chairs, towels, umbrellas, snorkel gear, boogie boards and a cooler. It was awesome! We decided to check out Hapuna Beach because it was highly recommended.

We quickly learned why it came with a high recommendation.  It was a beautiful sandy beach with great waves for boogie boarding.  We all had a wonderful time hanging out at the beach and enjoying Hawaii even if we were with hundreds of other people.

 

Don't worry I was the sunscreen police.  

Pool time

We made it to our final stop in Waikoloa Village. One of the perks of this place was the Pool Pass we got for the hotel. So as soon as we unpacked our stuff we headed over to the hotel. We had to drive over since it was a long walk from our place. The kids played in the pool for a bit and Brad and I checked out the sunset.  We also saw some whales playing in the ocean. 

 

Hilo and some

We finished at Volcanoes National Park with a quick stop at the Visitor Center so Brad could get a magnet for our collection. Then we got back on the road and headed to Hilo. We stopped in Hilo for some lunch and then watched some surfers. We didn't stay long here but continued our drive up north.

We broke up our drive a little bit by stopping at a beach along the way.  It was a nice break and it was fun to see a different beach plus its always fun to be at the ocean and watch the waves. 

 

Kilauea Trail

The next morning we woke up and headed back to Volcanoes National Park. We decided to hike the Kilauea Trail which was a relatively easy 3.5 mile hike. It took us down into a crater, across the crater and back up the other side. Thankfully we got an earlier start so we didn't have to deal with too much heat.

 

 

At the end of the trail we headed over to the Lava Tube.  We walked through it (and Darby hit her head but was ok).

 

Volcanoes NP

After driving the southern route we made it to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was raining when we got there so we went to the Visitor's Center to check it out and get some ideas of what we should do. We also watched a video about Hawaii that wasn't quite as well done as we were hoping. When we came out it was still drizzling. The ranger gave us some ideas and we decided to drive to a crater lookout. It was a few miles down the road and when we got there it wasn't raining....but it followed us and started raining soon after we got there. We took a quick picture and got in the car. The house we were staying in was only 6 minutes away so we decided to head over there and we said we would come back in the morning to explore a little more. 

 

We did get these fun rainbow pictures. 

 

 

Our house had a hot tub and since we were all a little bit chilly from the rainy conditions at the park the kids decided to test it out.  It warmed them up and it was fun to be in the hot tub in this tropical place. 

 

 We stayed in a nice house and spent the time hanging out.  We played our version of Trivia which was enjoyable for all of us.   We also watched some TV. 

 

Malasadas

After the black sand beach we stopped at the Punalu'u Bake Shop which is a well known place. They have a lunch menu and they also sell Malasadas a portuguese donut that has become very popular in Hawaii. 

 

We all sampled different flavors and definitely enjoyed them.