Hawaii Day 9

Tuesday Dec 20

Today we visited Volcano National Park. This was something I had been greatly looking forward to and was not disappointed. We were not able to see lava on this trip since the active flow is a long hike in and out near the ocean and is not recommended for young kids. It was a bummer, but keeping Liam healthy and happy was more important. Even though we were not able to see that we did have an awesome time hiking around different trails. The first trail we did was Kipukapaului and it is known to have awesome bird watching. We all had a great time, although Jason did learn that birding with Liam is a bit different than by himself. Liam had a great time chasing pheasants. We called them Liam chickens and he would chase then into the forest then ask for more. That hike was cut a little short however because of a dirty diaper.

The second hike we took was the Kilauea Iki trail, which hikes the rim of the Kilauea Iki Crater and over the crater's bottom. The hike was amazing! It is a strange feeling standing on the crater floor of an active volcano, which could at anytime erupt. Today it did not and we are very happy about that, but we were able to see steam vents where water from the surface gets down far enough to reach the magma below and his heated up and released again as steam. This trail was about 4 miles, but in the end didn’t feel that long. Jason had a great time walking through the forest portions on this trail seeing if he could find new birds, and Liam did a great job in his backpack even taking a hour plus nap at the end.

Hawaii Day 8

Monday Dec 19

Today we got up early and packed up the condo, got in the car and headed to Hilo. Once we got away from the Kona area the rain started and didn’t stop all day. Liam was a trooper in the car all day as we made our way to Hilo. Once we got to Hilo we checked into the Hilo Seaside Hotel, which is a big change from the Outrigger and the timeshare. It clean and the hotel staff were really nice. Later we headed out to do a little shopping since it was raining, but the overall attractiveness of Hilo is missing. Oh well we will be off to the Volcano in the morning. Hopefully it is not raining.

Hawaii Day 7

Sunday Dec 18

Today we decided to go out to breakfast at Island Lava Java, which has the best cinnamon roll that I have ever tried. After breakfast we all headed back out to the Place of Refuge in hopes of seeing dolphins. We did not see any in the 4 hours we were there but we did get to see 3 sea turtles. Two of which were right in by the shoreline so we were able to show the kids. Liam was quite impressed with them and kept asking for more. He also came very close to losing a finger as he tried to touch one (we didn’t let him) and the turtle surface and snapped at his finger. Liam was un-phased, but I have a feeling there are people feeding the turtles in this area since that doesn’t seem like a normal thing for a turtle to do. We all decided to go out for dinner since it is out last night together. Tomorrow the Fischer’s will head to Hilo and the Cruz’s will island hop to Oahu. We had dinner at the Kona Brewery and Pub. They are known for their beer and pizza, and I have to say that both are really good.