6/1/13 Cram Packed Day

We went to Waimea to pick up a friend of Elijah up to hang out with us today. We also went by a market there. I got some lychee and some cinnamon sweet bread to snack on for second breakfast. It was delicious. 

We went to Mahu Kona to snorkel around a wrecked ship. It's chain, engine, propeller and boiler are in the harbor. There is also the ruins of an old port where the train came and used to put sugar on ships. It looks a lot like swimming around Atlantis with all the man made things under water. The coral in the area is recovering. There were a lot more kinds of fish than I thought I would see. The ones I know the names of that I saw are needle fish, yellow tang, moorish idol, milk fish, rasp fish, reef trigger fish, brittle sea star, sticky sea urchin, pencil sea urchin and a bunch more that I don't know the name of. 

Our little covered area. 

The yellow tang. 

The place where we snorkeled. 

Bryan and I took turns staying on shore with Josiah.

Snorkeling around. 

The brittle sea star that Cliff dove for and let Elijah play with for a little while. 

Elijah asleep in the car after a long day of play. 

We got dinner from Annie's a burger and sandwhich place that was amazing. I got garlic basil fries and a catch of the day sandwhich which was ono grilled lettuce tomato and wasabi sauce on sour dough. It was delicious! We ate in the car and drove to Volcano National Park to see the lava glow at night. It turned out to be a clear night with no moon. The glow was amazing and so were the stars!

Taken with my iPhone above and taken with Cliff's camera below. 

5/31/13 Beach trip!

Josiah slept from 8:30pm to 3am!!! Bryan gave him a bottle at 3am and I didn't have to feed him until 6! I decided that with all that sleep I might have the energy for a run. I ran 4 miles along the ocean view road. The photo below is a view on my run!

Cliff had some errands to do in the early morning so we played in the pool for a while before heading out on the days's adventures. 

This is the PDF I got at Costco for Josiah. It is supposed to float babies face up. It is possible to flip face down if Josiah flails his arms and legs a lot, so we are teaching him to be calm in the water. 

Hands free floating calmly. He actually fell asleep. He was tired or he probably wouldn't have fallen asleep. 

We went to two beaches today. We walked a little way through the lava field to a beach called Kahaki or maybe Mahailua.  We carried quite a lot of stuff. I guess we used most of it except a canopy and one chair. 

It was rather empty which was nice. 

There were some abandoned buildings on the beach. 

I followed a trail over to another area of the beach and Elijah went through the water. 

There was also this old water tower. 

Cliff brought a hammock. With the beautiful beach and the water and a trail, Bryan of course chose to hang out in the hammock when he wasn't having to watch Elijah play in the ocean. 

Cliff and I walked another lava trail over to another beach called Makalevena. It had beautiful teal colored water! We played in the water for about 20 minutes and had to head back so I could feed Josiah. We left him and Elijah with Bryan. I didn't pack any bottle of milk or anything today, so we went back after I bummed some sunscreen off a stranger so I wouldn't burn my legs. 

I fed Josiah while laying in the hammock. It was doable but would have been easier in an asymmetrical one like Bryan's blackbird. Josiah liked laying in the hammock. Maybe it was the bright red contrasting fabric blowing. The wind. 

We got Josiah propped up in Elijah's chair pretty easily and sat around chatting watching the ocean for a while while Elijah played with some kids he just met and while cliff took pictures. 

So cute!

Elijah playing with his friends. 

All the stuff Bryan carried to the car while I used the restroom. Notice Josiah is helping to carry his bouncy seat. (That bouncy seat might just be one of the most useful inexpensive baby items. It is a clean place to put Josiah pretty much anywhere: the pool, the beach, the kitchen counter, the bathroom while showering if I don't want to hold him the whole time I shower and I am sure many more. It's actually where Josiah is sleeping at night while we are here because there are very poisonous centipedes that make it a bad idea to leave him unsupervised on the floor.)

The sun coming through the clouds!

Sea turtles and dolphins we saw in the pools at the Hilton. We went to take the boat ride and let Elijah look at the fish b

Bryan and I behind a waterfall in one of the Hilton's pools. 

5/30/13 Dreams of grandeur.

I hung out with Yoshimi in the afternoon today. In the morning we all played in the salt water pool. It had filled 2 inches above the tip top with the rain over night and had a bunch of small sticks and degree in it. Bryan and I both messed with the pool skimmer for quite a while and it was rather clean when we finished. 

I walked to meet Yo for lunch in town. I made it 1.5 miles in 20 minutes. I was pretty sweaty when i got there but the work out felt good. We went to lunch at a sushi place that is like Subway called Hayashi's. You tell them what you want in the roll and they add it all in. It was delicious. I had smoked salmon, water crest, lettuce, avocado, and massago. It was delicious. 

We also went swim suit shopping because I have grown a few sizes since the last time I wore my bikinis. I had success with Roxy separates at Costco for 12.50 each! I also got an infant PDF for Josiah because it was so cheep.  

Yo took me to see the salon she works in on Saturdays. It is part of the Hillaluli (sp?) resort where the 4 seasons Hotel is. We walked all around. It was so relaxing and serene. It makes me want to stay there some day. I think the cheapest rooms go for $599/night though. 

They had fancy covered chairs. 

Beautiful private beaches. 

An upscale restaurant right on the beach. 

An infinity pool!

It made me want to stay there for sure. 

We saw this trail that goes through lava fields connecting the northern part of the island to Kona. 

We ate dinner at a place called the Lemongrass. This is one of three huge prams with the head on, plus 5 with the head off and all those veggies. It was delicious! We also had a wonderful papaya salad and a beef short rib soup to go with it. I did try to eat one of the shrimp heads but failed. It tasted similar to crawfish heads which I also prefer not to eat. 

It was wonderful to hang out with Yoshimi. Josiah sure likes her. She gets the biggest smiles and tons of little giggles out of him. He just talks to her about everything. It's really cute to watch!