Andrew and Melissa

Recently, Andrew had a work conference in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He convinced me we should all come along and I'm so glad he did because it was so much fun. It was quite a trek to get there and it was reconfirmed that Bitsy is a terrible traveler. (She would only eat fruit snacks and french fries the whole trip.) We packed our stay full of fun activities; a helicopter ride over an active volcano, a snorkeling tour, a luau, swimming, and lots of playing on the beaches. We also saw dolphins, a whale, a couple of sea turtles, lots of colorful fishies, a native Hawaiian temple, and a macadamia nut factory. The kids were in heaven, even Bitsy decided to warm up to all the fun, minus only eating fruit snacks and french fries that is.

Helicopter ride. Bitsy fell asleep within the first few minutes and Tank lasted about 30 minutes before conking out. Everyone loved this!

Scenic drive. Honestly, whenever people talk about taking a scenic drive I never believe all the hype, but this one was awesome! It was like an untamed jungle with small one way bridges and vines hanging down off tons of trees. Parts of Jurassic Park were actually filmed here. We saw a pretty lookout point and decided to snap some shots.

Ha! Andrew and I spent a good while laughing at these next two photos. Here I am with my irritated face on trying to get Tank to pose for a family picture and...

here he is! We love him

Hawaiian ice. Love! We got this a few times, sorry Andrew, he only got it once cause he was at work.

Looking at fish and crabs. There were lots and lots of crabs at this particular spot.

Lava tube. On the Kona side of the island there are lots of old lava flows and some of them have collapsed underneath and turned into lava tubes. It is like walking through a cave. When we first headed toward the tube Tank started acting like we were going to feed him to the wolves by having him go in there. After further inquiry, it turned out, he was pretty sure dinosaurs lived in there due to our recent conversation about Jurassic Park on our scenic drive. He was pretty sure dinosaurs were alive and well on this island. I love kids. Once that was clarified, he was all about exploring that tube.

Snorkeling tour. The kids loved being on a catamaran and Bug had an especially fun time snorkeling. She was pretty fearless and went straight on in the water. It was all very fun, except for when I fell off the boat! After snorkeling, one of the instructors said I could go use the shower (just a very low spout off the back of the boat) to rinse Bitsy because the salt water gets sticky when it dries. Turns out the spout was at the top of three larges steps leading into the water. Well, I turned on the water, held Bitsy out a bit to get her wet and slipped. I thumped down every step on my back while clinging to Bitsy who wasn't wearing a life jacket and started screaming bloody murder on step one. We then plunged into the water. It was embarrassing, funny and traumatic all at the same time. When I popped my head out of the water I handed a very scared and screaming Bitsy to the captain who's mouth and eyes were large from shock. He really had no idea what to do with Bitsy, but I had to catch my breath for a moment. The instructor then helped me up and told me to watch out cause the steps there were really slippery. Ummmm...you think? while also telling me I scared the crap out of him (he used other words). Everyone was super nice to me afterward. I mean SUPER nice and I was offered the use of the 'shower' again! I'll pass.

Tired after snorkeling.

Before the luau. Bug loved the dancing and waited so patiently to meet the dancers after their performance. The kids were all mesmerized during the fire part and now they all think you can eat fire no problem.