Our Hawaiian Vacation

Kona, Hawaii 2016

My parents have a beautiful 3 bedroom condo in Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii last year, so this was our first time staying at their condo. Growing up,my parents have always loved going to Hawaii and we have spent many family vacations visiting the islands of Hawaii. Tim and I went to Kona, Hawaii on our Honeymoon and we looked forward to taking our family back to where we spent our first week as husband and wife. We had decided that January or February was the best months to go since it's nice going to somewhere warm during the winter months.

On the shuttle bus

On the shuttle heading to the airport

And we are off........

Two thumbs up for a Hawaii vacation

Naomi hit the jackpot and got two seats to herself on the way to Hawaii to sleep

We arrived at the Kona airport at 9PM Hawaii time, which is 3 hours difference. I am so impressed on how well the kids adapted. All three kids slept on the 7 hour flight from Seattle. The flight from Seattle to Kona was not full, and they were able to put us in the back row with two extra seats. That meant Naomi got to sleep the entire way. When we landed, we had to grab our luggage (which for us consisted of 5 bags and 3 car seats) I'm pretty sure we got a lot of stares for the amount of luggage we had.  Mason and Allie helped roll the bags and Tim and I took 2-3 bags plus push Naomi in the stroller.  It was quite the site. We headed off to the rent a car shuttle to get our rental car. Which happened to be a mini van. The kids thought it was pretty cool. However, Tim tried his hardest to upgrade the car to a Tahoe but was unsuccessful. If you know Tim, he's not into driving a Mini Van but nonetheless....he did great! Ha!

We arrived in Hawaii 

Allie loved the mini van that we rented and thought it was pretty cool to see the doors open automatically

We drove the 25 miles to our family condo just North of the Kona airport. We didn't end up going to bed until like 2 am MST. However, the next morning all of us slept in!

Our family condo at Wai' ula 'ula down the street from Mauna Kea Beach

The masterbed room in the condo

The second masterbed room in the condo

The kids room

The kitchen

The other side of the kitchen

The patio looking out towards the ocean

The living room

The living room

The condo and the garage 

The scenic view from the patio is unreal

The first day we spent mostly at the condo, unpacking, playing games and swimming at the pool. We headed into Kona to go grocery shopping for the week, and while we were in the store our rental car was hit in the parking lot.  It turned out a witness saw the entire thing, and pointed us towards the person who had hit us. We approached him and he provided us with his insurance information. So, that turned out ok.  We went to dinner that night at a little restaurant on the harbor. We were able to see the sunset while we ate on the patio. It made for a fun first day!

The condo's infinity pool

Swimming in 84 degree weather

Mason sitting on top of the water

Naomi loved the water

This little girl loves to splash

These three cuties

Mason, Allie and Naomi at the pool

At the Harbor restaurant 

They had huge portion sizes. This was the hamburger that Tim ordered.

The beautiful sunset from our dinner table

The Harbor in Kona

 The next day we woke up and decided to drive the 2 hours to the other side of the island to Hilo. We wanted to go see the beautiful rain-forests and lush trees that the Hilo's side has. It is unreal. The forests are think and the green trees are simply amazing. I got camera happy in our travels. We first went to see Rainbow fall. And climbed to the top to explore the water lagoons. 

At Rainbow falls

Climbing to the top of the waterfalls

The scenery was spectacular. 

The vines on the ground and the thick trees made for some unbelievable pictures

The rain forests

At the top of  Rainbow falls

At the lookout of Rainbow falls

The falls were unreal

The trees of Hawaii

Tim and Naomi 

The leaves off the trees were huge!

The kids loved playing in the lush trees

 We then headed over to the Kaumana Caves just down the road from the falls. These caves were huge and very, very dark. We were on our way to explore the inner caves when Allie slipped on the wet rocks and fell cutting her arm. She was pretty startled and she wanted to go get band-aids for her cut arm. So, that made for some short exploring.

The dark abyss

The caves were spooky

But amazing at the same time

 That afternoon, we drove to the Volcano National park. We went and explored the Lava Tube (which was underground and pretty cool to see) and the volcano rocks. We took a 30 minute drive down to see the Holei Arch that is off the coast of the park. This arch was formed from the lava rock and can only be seen through entering the park. It was spectacular! 

At the Volcano National Park

Volcano National park

The pathway up to the lava tube was beautiful 

Our family at the entry way to the lava tube

The kids were intrigued with the bridge leading into the lava tube

The tube 

Inside the Lava Tube

It was pretty awesome inside the lava tube

The lava rock burst of 1974. The year that Tim was born.

These three loved picking up the lava rocks

The Holei Arch 

Allie, Mason and Tim overlooking the arch

My better half, Tim

Mason loved playing with the sand 

At the Volcano National Park

After we left the Volcano National Park we drove down the coast to Panalu'u Beach, which is known for the black lava sand. I remember going here with my family when I was little and thought the kids would get a kick out of playing with the black sand. The water was super cold, so the kids just stayed mostly in the sand but we also saw a few sea turtles swimming and laying on the beach!

The Black Sand Beach

Allie thought the water was super cold

We brought our buckets and shovels to play with 

Naomi and Tim watching a sea turtle swim

Allie's face says it all....cold water and not that great of a beach for playing in the water..(lots of rocks)

Naomi dipping her toes in the water

Black Sand Angels 

The Black Sand

The drive back to the condo's was about 2 1/2 hours so we grabbed an early dinner at Punalu'u bake shop and had some yummy sandwiches on the Hawaiian sweet bread. It was delicious. 

At least 2 out of the 3 are looking 

The next day we drove to Kiholo Bay which is also known as Turtle Beach. It is not a very known beach.  It was quite a little walk up the rocky shores to see the turtles. On our way, we explored the fresh water baths that are little caves of fresh water that you can swim in. 

Kiholo Bay

The trees that made an archway made for a cool picture

Allie and I overlooking the ocean

Once again, Mason isn't a fan of having pictures taken (he's looking elsewhere)

Turtles out basking in the sun

They blend into the sand, it was hard to see them at first

The kids decided to jump right into the ocean

Oh, look a turtle

Tim, my smiling happy Naomi and the turtle in the background

The fresh water baths

The Queen's bath is what they are called

It was quite deep and hard to get in and out of...we didn't go in.

Family picture time at Kiholo Bay

After we visited the turtles we decided to grab lunch at the Seafood Bar just north of our condos. I had the best coconut shrimp there! It was amazing...after lunch we needed to make the stop just next door to the Big Island Shave Ice truck. They are known for the BEST hawaiian Shaved Ice. They did not disappoint! They were huge! Tim and I split the pineapple & coconut with cream. Allie got the strawberry shortcake and Mason got the rootbeer float.

These were HUGE

Mason was in HEAVEN

We then went back to the condo and got our beach wear & beach toys and headed over the Mauna Kea beach. This beach has been rated #1 beach in WORLD...and I can see why. It is super clean, and well taken care of. It is too gorgeous and the pictures don't do it justice!

Allie and Mason spent the afternoon figuring out how to body surf.  Allie got the hang of it pretty fast and LOVED IT! Mason was all BOY and wanted to play and get dirty. He spent most of the time building sand castles with Tim. I spent time relaxing with little Naomi. We had purchased this awesome foldup chair, that has a place for snacks and sippy cup. She thought it was awesome not having to touch the sand. (she wasn't all into her feet getting dirty from the sand)

Mauna Kea Beach 

Body Surfing

Knee boarding 

Body surfing

Allie loved riding the waves

Naomi and her AWESOME seat

Every Monday and Thursday night they have a Polynesia fire show at the Manua Lani resort and shops. 

Mauna Lani Shops

Precious little Naomi

Our three beautiful kids at the fire show

These three are my everything

Allie was excited to have her picture with the hula dancers

Mason, Tim and Noami with the dancers/performers 

The next morning we slept in, and hung around the condo for a bit. Naomi did a great job adjusting to the 3 hour time difference and slept through the night the entire trip. It was AWESOME!  A dream come true.  I loved waking up to these smiles and hugs...

Swimming at the condo

What is cuter than a baby in her swimsuit

That afternoon we drove up to the Waipio Valley. This is on the upper side of the island. It is known for the lush trees and swampy areas. The road into the valley is very steep. In order to travel into the valley, you must either ride down in a four wheel drive vehicle or hike down to the valley floor. Waipi'o means "curved water" in the Hawaiian language. The lovely Waipi'o River flows through the valley until it enters the ocean at the beach. The valley was closed to people because of the mosquitoes that are carrying the disease that is called Dengue fever. It has been confirmed that because of the lush trees and standing water that the mosquito's in the valley have been known to carry this virus. Which is way scary. We were still able to go to the overlook which had a great view of the valley.

Lookout over the Waipio Valley

Picture perfect

The Kehl Family at Waipio Valley

The trees and landscape was beautiful 

We then went to a park in Waimea to let the kids play. They loved every moment.  This was a fun park.  We ate dinner at a little Chinese place down the street and then drove to the beach to see the sunset. 

At Sunset at the Mauna Kea Resort

Action shot of Allie on the beach at sunset

A gorgeous setting for a family picture at sunset 

Playing on the beach

There is nothing like a Hawaiian sunset on the beach

This looks like it was taken with a professional camera....nope just my iphone

Kehl written in the sand

Family Picture

The next day we decided to make another long day of it, and drove the 1 1/2 to the other side of the Island again. This time we went to Akaka Falls. This waterfall is huge and lies between the gully of the rainforests. It is twice the height of Niagara Falls.

This was so awesome to see in person. 

At the beginning of the hiking trail at Akaka Falls

The lush trees were gorgeous! 

The scenery was unbelievable 

Hand holding for these two as they went exploring

The tall trees were unreal

The waterfall in the background was spectacular  

Akaka Falls

Akaka Falls

The water and scenery on the trail 

We decided to head over to a place for the kids to swim and get into the ocean. I had researched some fun locations on the internet and found a cool little oasis called Carlssmith beach, where most the locals go to. It was unbelievable and insanely beautiful. The beach has these little lagoons of water that are beautiful with bright blue water. It was on a Saturday, and you could tell most of the people were the locals that come every weekend to swim and have a picnic. The trail leading to the beach was something out of a movie. It was like a 3 minute walk up through the amazon and it felt like we were in the middle of the AMAZON! 

The amazon trail

Carlssmith Beach 

After swimming we went to Ken's house of pancakes and ate lunch. It is famous for their macadamia white chocolate pancakes with coconut syrup!  I had the oriental chicken salad that was in an edible wonton bowl.. simply delicious!

We drove back to the condos, and headed to the ocean to see the sunset. That is my most favorite time of the day, going to the beach to see the sunset and hear the waves crash.  It was so fun to hear the giggles the kids made running from the waves.

That night we drove to Waikoloa. This is where Tim and I stayed on our Honeymoon. We had dinner on the deck overlooking the golf course at Benjy's paradise.  Their was a live music and the food was amazing! I had fish tacos and the kids had pizza made from the hawaiian sweet dough...It was one of our favorite meals here in Hawaii. 

The next day was Sunday. We drove into downtown Kona to visit the Kona Temple. This was a fun place to take the kids to, and to have our picture taken there once again 9 years later from when Tim and I first came here together. 

Tim and I 

We spent the afternoon in downtown Kona, buying souvenirs at the ABS store. (which is our favoite place to buy little souvenirs.)

Mason, Allie and Naomi in downtown Kona

We then went to the Waikola,to the Queen's marketplace and had lunch.  That afternoon we spent at the swimming pool. Naomi was so close to taking her first steps without support. 

Our rental van for the week

We loved spending time at the pool and we must have had 3-4 Hawaiian Shaved Ice's through the time were there.

Getting our ice cream and Ice's fix

On Monday, we went to Mauni Lani and made Lei's and saw a Hula show. 

We had dinner on the terrace right in front of the Hula show. We had a great time!

Allie loved making the necklaces

Lots of fun making Lei's

Making Lei's at the Mauni Lani

The beautiful flowers 

Allie with her Lei necklaces

The Hula show

This trip was amazing. We saw everything and did everything we wanted to do.....We made some lasting memories and we look forward to going back next year.....so until next time Kona, you have my HEART!!