Days 4&5 - Church, Mauna Kea Beach, Kona, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, and Kua Bay

 After church and a little rest, we went to Mauna Kea for the evening.  The kids had a fabulous time riding waves, digging in the sand, and spotting sea turtles.

 We saw three turtles at this beach.  One was a tiny one.  So fun.

 The boogie boards were a hot item at the beaches.

 Jaren or rather "the master alligator fighter" as he named himself, finally nabbed himself a gecko.

 Sitting in these off-road wheelchairs at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.

 "Hey mom, take my picture by this REAL coconut tree!"

 Playing an ancient version of checkers.

 "It looks like an asparagas!" -Jaren

 Our first shave ice on the island.  Mostly just so, so.

 We went to Kua Bay after lunch at Killer Tacos (also only so, so) and our shave ice.  The waves were a bit too rough for the little ones and me :).  Some of our group had a great time boogie boarding however. The rest of us chilled on the sand.

 Mallory and Gabby rushing to save their castle.

 Ben watching over this flock of littles.

Day 3 - Volcano

 Looking for geckos before our trip to Volcanoes National Park.

 We made a quick stop at the farmer's market in Hilo.  We bought some apple bananas (tiny bananas that taste only like bananas) and some strawberry papaya that tasted like papapya. Ha ha.  The kids liked the fresh, cold juices they had for sale.

 We only did one hike in the park.  It was across this big crater.  So interesting.  Unless you happened to fall, then it was only painful.  Just ask the ones with the bloody hands and knees Tyce, Finn, and Henry.

 Loved all the random growth coming out of the lava.

 Tyce recovering from his wounds.

 Lots of silly jokes about climbing into and out of "the crack".

 Lunch in a crater...who would have ever guessed?

 She cracks me up!

 You can't see it, but there's steam coming out of this vent. Cool! And Hot!

 Our entire group of crazies minus Tyce who was on my back. Jaren said his favorite thing about the trip was holding Gabby's hand.  Notice him clutched to her arm?  Sorry Gabs.  We're still learning boundries.

 The crater is surrounded by thick rainforest.

 Right before this photo we were telling the boys what the word "cautious" meant and explaining that girls tended to be more cautious than boys.  Jaren and Wyatt took great offense to this information and said we were making fun of them.  We had them pose and say, "We're cautious!"  If only.

 Entering a lava tube...where the lava once flowed into the ocean.  Super dark and creepy (at least for the kids leading the pack).  They saw people a ways off in the tube and swore they were seeing ghosts.  Turns out it was only tourists wearing rain ponchos.  Ha ha.

 The active volcano ended up being somewhat of a letdown for all involved.  There were no active lava flows so instead of staying til dark to experience that, we headed back to Hilo after hitting a few more craters and a lava field.

 We stopped for dinner at Thai Thai.  We thought the food was pretty good.

 Plus Jaren had a noodle on his head by accident and that was really funny .

 Dessert at a yogurt place after failing to find a good beach.