Jan 25-26, 2022 Volcano, Manini'owali Beach, and finally a night out without the kids

The morning of the 25th we drove across the island to Volcano, HI to see the volcano. We saw lots of steam vents, smelled sulfur and had a 1.5 mile hike. Nobody saw any lava. It was technically flowing, restarted that morning, just nowhere near us. 

Nice photo across the crater. 

Freys

We walked through the lava tube. 

Made it out the other side!

Then we hit the beach, Punalu'u Beach to be exact.  This was the turtle beach.  I think there were a total of 6 here. Blackest of sand, it just filled up our beach shoes.  We ended up still dumping this sand, more of pebbles, even after we got home to Blanding. (When we first got here, Trisha was crying. Come to find out that Melissa's mom had texted that Melissa and Trisha's step-nephew, Mr. Anthony, had committed suicide. He is Ami's son.  We did not know him well, but we mourn for their family.)

Cool trees around. 

Lili loved it.  She climbed all over the beach and lava rock. 

This was the first turtle at the beach.  In a shallow pool and we were worried maybe he was dead. As we were talking a local fisherman came by to move his catch between pools to help stay cool and he told us not to worry.  He was just relaxing until the tide came in. We then saw 5 more a few yards down the beach up on the sand.  Melissa even got to watch one of them make his way out to the water. 

She loves me.

One of the awesome moments when this little girl just wanted me. 

Hannah saw me burying Lilian and got jealous, just as we were trying to get ready to leave.  So I buried her too. 

Tonight we learned to just eat at the small chain "Asian" joints. Big portions, something everyone likes to eat, and proof Hei Hei "the chicken lives!"

On the 26th Melissa decided to make a smoothie of some of the fruits people weren't enjoying on their own. Soursop, papaya (I don't know what is wrong with my children, papaya is awesome), and the last couple "apple bananas". The rambutan didn't make it into the smoothie, what with the big pits.  

After breakfast we headed for Manini'owali Beach. The sand was bright and soft, the water was bright blue and the waves were crashing hard. 

This kid won't dunk his head in the tub at home, but spent 3 hours getting pummeled, rolled and pounded by the ocean. Smiling the whole time!

Ava was such an awesome cousin, the whole trip.  Just a blessing to have around. 

Wave jumping. 

They would hold hands and wait for a wave to come, then belly flop and let the wave push them up the sand. 

Not sure how the smallest girl got a chair to herself, but she liked it.  She spent the whole of her lunch break just watching the waves and slowly enjoying each course, which I brought her. 

Meanwhile, sitting on lava rock!

After the beach we hit the pool again. Lilian fell asleep on the 25 minute drive, so Melissa stayed with her in the car for another 45 minutes.  We had to pull the kids out of the water after probably 2 hours at the pool.

They found the rub on tattoos Melissa brought, and we decided to just get them over with.  Then we made quesadillas, turned on Disney+ on my laptop and told Ava she was in charge!

We went to dinner at Foster's Kitchen at Kings Shops. 

There was a pretty pond at the outdoor mall.  We had about 30 minutes to wander. 

Then we ate and ate! Goat cheese bruschetta, crab cakes, steak, BBQ chicken, ribs and salads. Melissa actually preferred the cheesecake, but that ultra dark flourless chocolate cake she's eating was right up my alley! We ran into a couple from Portland who overheard Jeremy talking about building reps and they had actually been on the same flight which cancelled on the Freys.   

Then back home to screaming bedtime and exhaustion.