Hawaii, part II ...

The rest of our vacation was spent in the water! After a few days of going going going and having some wonderful adventures, we were ready for some down time. Sunday morning we went to a place called 'U top it' for a late morning brunch. It was a beautiful Sunny day and we just wanted to spend the day relaxing and enjoying it together! U top it, is a great crepe place, that makes their crepes out of taro root. It was delicious! :) Funny thing about this picture is that I asked our server to take it for us, and you would have thought I asked her to murder someone! She just stood there for like 2 minutes nervously shaking her head, like trying to decide on what to do! It was hilarious and a little awkward. :) Ben and I kept on looking at each other, wondering if we had done something wrong by asking her to take the picture. :)

The next stop after brunch was the temple. From our house we had a great view of the temple, and totally passed by it every time we drove home. We finally had time to go and actually see the beautiful temple up close. It is gorgeous! :) I guess it looks like pretty much every other mini temple, but I think that palm trees can make any place seem more beautiful, including the temple! :)

It is beautiful though!

Sunday afternoon was spent relaxing at home, we had gotten food at the store to do steaks on the grill! YUM!

Our amazing view of the Kailua-Kona bay from our house...

And this is the sunset we got to see that night at dinner! It was amazing!

Monday we headed to do some last minute shopping. There were some things we wanted to buy before we left, and didn't want to have to worry about it last minute. After running a few errands we ended up at the old airport beach. We had driven by there on our first day here, and even on Sunday had walked around. But we heard there was good snorkeling, so we had to give it a try.

Old Airport Beach. We pretty much had it to ourselves, and we walked a little farther out to a place we had found the day before, to do some rock jumping.

We did some snorkeling. I love snorkeling!

And then we just swam and jumped off the rocks, and enjoyed playing in the ocean together for a while. This is totally my kind of vacation! By far, one of my favorite times on our trip!

{I think I need to work on my diving form!} :)

If you ever need to have someone put sunscreen on your back, I am, apparently, NOT the person to ask! Sorry Ben!

I had to laugh one morning as I looked on our counter to our assortment of sun screens! We are just a couple of WHITEYS!

On our last day on the Big Island, we headed to a place called 'The place of Refuge' There was supposed to be some good snorkeling there. I thought that I had taken some pictures there, but I guess I didn't because I didn't have any on my camera from there. Anyway, when we got there we noticed a sign that said it was a Dolphin resting area. We were so excited to see some dolphins. As we were entering the water, we could literally see like 50 feet away a whole bunch of dolphins swimming with people. They were jumping in the air and twirling and making noises, it was SO cool! Of course, by the time we got in the water and got out there, they were all gone! And since I was already like down by the water, I didn't have my camera, so no pictures! But it was pretty cool to see, even from a distance, the dolphins swimming and playing.

We also stopped at Mauna Kea Beach. It wasn't for snorkeling, but a great play in the water beach. It made me wish that the babies here with us. Tucker would have loved playing in the sand here. We could have spent all day here with the kids. It was a great family beach. Right next to a resort (that we had to hijack to get in-this beach is very exclusive!) :) Next time, hopefully they'll be with us! :)

Sunset at dinner on our last night in Kona! SO SO SO sad to be leaving this!

Everything is Aloha in the Islands, even the bathroom signs! :)

On our flight home, we ended up being stuck in Maui for a few extra hours. We were all boarded on the plane, on the tarmac when the pilot came on to tell us that we were like third in line for take off. A half and hour went by, then he comes on again to tell us that some skid gear mechanism, yada yada yada, thing needs to be replaced and the part is being sent over from Honolulu. We ended up spending only 4 hours in the Maui airport, so it wasn't awful, but still. It made for a long night! We didn't end up getting into Seattle until 3:30am, and with an 8am flight to Spokane, we ended up just spending the night in the Seattle airport! NOT sleeping! :) I don't know what it is with me and bad flying experiences! Something ALWAYS happens! :)

Outside the Maui airport:

Good bye Hawaii! Until next time, Mahalo! :)