Day of exploring and the beach

After a long day in the sun that resulted in some sunburns, we decided that the next day we would drive to the Hilo side of the island to see some sights. We woke up to it being overcast on our side of the island and by the time we drove around, it was raining off and on. Our first stop was to one of the black sand beaches. You have to hike down to this particular beach, but when we got there it was too wet and slippery from the rain, so we decided not to do the hike. We were glad we didn't when a couple that arrived at the same time we did had started to hike down but had to come up because one of them had slipped and hit his head and was bleeding! We did enjoy the view from the top though!

Landon and I...not sure we are ready to head out into the rain!

"There are literally 5 ways to right here" ~Travis

Our next stop was Akaka Falls (or as my boys would say APoop falls). This was a neat stop. We were able to walk down into the thick vegetation and see two different waterfalls. The vegetation and small creatures we saw were amazing. The boys could have spent all day here trying to catch little lizards. They were everywhere!!

One of the many little lizards.

The first waterfall we came to was a lot smaller the other one. Landon was not impressed that I made them take a picture!

As we left the falls, we stopped by a little stand on the side of the road for some fresh treats. The guys was selling pineapples, coconuts and sugar cane, so we got some of all! The pineapple was divine! We had never had sugar cane before and it was so yummy. They guy squeezed fresh limes on it and it was amazing!

 

Watching the guy prepare their coconut.

Carson with our bag of sugar cane.

Landon finally got his coconut! Last time we went to Hawaii all he wanted to do was get a coconut. We tried twice to get one but it never worked out, but this trip his dream came true. I don't think he was super impressed with the coconut water, but he liked the fresh coconut that man cut out of it!

 We drove on into Hilo for some lunch and then made the drive back to the resort. After we got back to the resort, Grandpa took the boys to the pool and grandma and I went for a walk. It was a beautiful sunset that night.

Thursday we spent the whole day at the beach and the boys were in heaven! We had bought boogie boards at Costco when we went so we wouldn't have to rent them. The boys rode wave after wave getting tossed time after time and loving every minute of it!!

Grandpa was the best and went out and taught Landon how to boogie board. He would make sure he was on the board, steady and ready to go. It didn't take long before he had the hang of it and was able to do it on his own!

Travis dug a hole big enough that when he went down in it, you couldn't see him any more!

Grandpa and Landon sunning!

Late afternoon, after some shave ice, we decided to head back and get ready to head out to dinner. We had dinner on the beach at the Lava Lava Beach Club. Dinner was so yummy and it was fun to sit on the beach and watch the sun go down.

Waiting for our table.