Mmm Fresh Fruit

Just about every breakfast during our vacation had a spread something like this. All of it came from the farmers market or fruit stands of some sort (except for the kiwi).  All below, rombaton, pineapple, bananas, 2 varieties of papaya, mango, jabong, and avocado. So, what's a jabong? It's similar to a grapefruit, one of our favorites. And a rombaton? There is nothing I can compare it to, but it is my kids hands down favorite.Rombaton intact. Who was the first person to be so hungry that they thought, "I'm gonna see what that hairy red ball tastes like."?
Once you peal the outer shell there's a soft and sweet fruit waiting for you. You just bite through the soft outer peal enough to get your finger in, then peal it away. There's a small seed in the center about a quarter the size of the flesh.

Flowers, flowers, flowers!

One more thing about Hawaii that is quite remarkable is the flowers. Everywhere you went, there were flowers. And I don't mean in someone's flower bed. They grew wild everywhere. These are Angel Trumpets.

This is a Hibiscus. The state flower of Hawaii.

I don't know. This was growing on top of the volcano by a steam vent.

I don't know what these are either. These were growing in front of the house we rented.

These are an island favorite, Plumeria. They are often made into leis. 

This plant reminds me of Kudzu, the way it grows wild covering what ever it's on. I don't think I've ever seen Kudzu flower though.

This is another Banyan tree. They've made the blog twice, so they're obviously impressive. There's really nothing in the picture to give a good reference. The house is across a 2 lane road and on a hill.

I put this one of Justice with another Hibiscus to show how big they are. They're bigger than his hang loose.

Day 8 Aloha!

This is outside of the airport. That's actually not quite right, you see, there is no inside. It's open air through out. Justice is still hangin' loose. Saying goodbye is always so hard.

After we dropped grandma and grandpa off, we went to a little park for lunch and some fun. Chase and Colt got a little too close and a wave came in and splashed up over the cliff and got them.

Happy 20th!

A stark contrast to what we were seeing 24 hrs ago, but beautiful just the same. If this picture expands, you can see McKinley. 

Here you can see the airport and to the back left, the Mat-Su Valley.

Day 7 The Last Full Day

This is another fruit stand we stopped at. Yes, that's a lemon. The other is a tangerine and isn't small by any means. But the lemon, dang!

This is Hawaii's idea of a snow cone. They call them shaved ice, and they are good. This one is a medium and it's about the size of Justice's head.

Colt, I don't even know what to say about this look. Faked enthusiasm? 

Hang loose honu.

This is a brittle star.

This is a video of Meg with a brittle star so you can see how it moves. Very neat.

Day 6 Mauna Kea Beach

This is Mauna Kea Resort Beach. It is possibly one of the best sand beaches I've ever seen. It's white sand and very fine. The water was rough this day, and it was very windy, but on a sunny day I can't imagine any better. It supposedly has excellent snorkeling too. We tried but the current was too rough and kept whipping us around. That's Colt making the best of the surf trying to boogie board.This is one of my favorite pictures. We slathered the kids with sun screen so they weren't miserable with burns and everyone else's vacation wasn't ruined by their misery. Justice likes the water well enough, but for him, the sand is what it's all about. This is a kid who has to change his clothes if  they get wet or some dinner on them. He looks like he's wearing sand mascara. 
This is the namesake for the resort. It's the dormant volcano Mauna Kea, and yes, that's snow on top of old smokey.

It wasn't always sunny while we were there, but there's good things about that too. This is a double rainbow I snapped while shopping (again) in Kona. The top one is very faint.

Day 5 The Luau

If you go to Hawaii, you must go to a luau. If you don't, you're missing out on a awesome part of visiting Hawaii. You can't understand that until you go to one. Then you get it. Here, my beautiful ladies are framed by the male luau dancers. The one by Megan is the fire dancer. they're all talented but, DANG! This guy's got incredible skills! 

Hu-la!

While they were dancing, Justice looked at his momma and said, "Does that hurt their body."

This is a banana tree that grows way too close to the ground.

Way, too close.

Day 4 Part 2 Around Kona

Anyone who knows this man should be amazed by this photo. For one, he's eating Ah'i Poke, or Hawaiian seasoned raw tuna. It's one of our favorites. He says it's not in his top ten. Also amazing, he's using chop sticks. What a team player. And look at the view back there. After our snack we let the boys run around in the grass.

These are some palms in the grass behind the restaurant. I love this picture, I could have laid in the grass until...well, I'd still be laying there.

After our Ah'i, some of us needed a shopping fix, it wasn't me. So, I took Colt and Justice for a walk. This is a huge tree. It's a banyan tree. I think it's one tree, all of the trunks are attached. But, I'm no banyanologist.

This is another monster. I don't know what kind of tree it is.

This is where we turned and walked back. It's a great view looking south of the Kona coast. The second group of palms is where we had our snack. In the distance is a white building that looks like a ship. That's where we went to our luau. I'll cover that later.

Day 4 Pu'uhonua O Honaunau

The "eye candy" post earlier was from here. It's called "place of Refuge" for short and Pu'uhonua O Hunaunau for long. You don't come here for the beach. There's not much more than what little is seen in the picture. This is a beautiful view though. The history behind this place is  interesting. It was said that if a person broke the law the penalty was death, but he could come here and a priest would absolve him of his wrong doing.

This is how and where Colt learned to snorkel. He's only in a foot of water and there aren't any fish there, but he learned. 

There were lots of Ti'i all over the grounds. Some of these were huge.

You could walk freely around the grounds, huge palm trees. It was peaceful.

And then there's this guy in traditional garb. Yeah, that's butt cheek. What he's doing is nothing short of incredible. He's making a ceremonial cape or something. It's made of hundreds, if not thousands of little feathers. Each one is individually woven into a piece of netting and then tied. Very cool. 

Day 3 Hapuna Beach

All we heard the first 2 days was, "when are we going to the beach"? On day three, we went to Hapuna beach. It's not much for snorkeling, but it has great sand, a variety of surf, a great view and all the facilities. We did see a sea turtle here too.

One of our favorite beach activities is "burry your sibling". It was a bit busy here because it's a resort beach, but people walked around our "graves". Edlin's...what are you gonna do?

Nice view looking inland.

We really got into Boogie Boarding on this trip. The waves were just right for beginners.

Colt with his game face on.

Underwater Eye candy

O.K., so this guy isn't underwater. But isn't he cool! Or she. I didn't check under the shell. Anyway, we're at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Historic Park. There were lots of turtles here. This one sunbathed here for a while. 

This is an eel. Probably not in the category of eye candy either, but still cool to look at. 

Honu! That's Hawaiian speak for sea turtle. They don't fear you or swim away. They just continue about there business. Sometimes I'd be looking at fish, justing floating, and a turtle would come swimming by. More than once they scared the poi out of me. They're considerable larger than anything else in the water.

This is a moorish Idol and a convict Tang. More to follow.

This is a school of Yellow Tang. They're at about 15 feet deep.