The Big Island: Day 2

We had “Big” plans for our first full day on the Big Island, but they were somewhat diminished due the first Big swell of the season that arrived just as we arrived.  We went to A Bay, in Waikaloa, planning to do a glass bottom boat tour, rent beach toys, as well as the Aloha cruise.  Instead, we were told they were actually preparing to shut down the beach for the day due to the dangerous conditions, and that the entire West coast of the Big Island was affected. 

We settled for playing with some beach toys that Grandpa and Grandma had bought for the kids.

The ocean water was actually expected to go over this sandy area into this pond, although I’m not sure if that ever happened.  The beach boys were stacking all of the recliners on the beach in preparation.

The sand here reminded me of an “everything” bagel.

We walked over to Lava Lava Beach Club for an early lunch.

I liked the textured menu cover.

Fish ‘n Chips :: Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice :: Grilled Fish Sandwich w/Quinoa Salad :: Mango Smoothie

It was a nice meal to start our trip, and the restaurant is right on the beach, so the view was beautiful.

The flowers everywhere were so pretty—they don’t even look real!

Next we decided to go to the cove at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel to try out snorkeling since the water there was really calm during our last visit.

Double Red Flag = No Such Luck; The waves were huge and the water was too dangerous for us.

We did get to see the Fairmont’s coconut Christmas tree, however.

The kids were happy to just hang out at the Mauna Lani pool, where Grandpa and Grandma have their other condo.  They were able to try out their snorkel gear, though there was not much to see in the pool!

We had dinner at Sansei in the Queen’s Marketplace and ran into Santa beforehand.

Both k and n were able to let off some steam pre-dinner on the grassy area while D and I did a little window shopping. 

My dinner pictures did not come out well due to the dim lighting.  We shared a number of sushi rolls, a rare treat for D and me.  The kids enjoyed their kids’ meals (chicken teriyaki and Korean beef), which included a soft drink and ice cream.  Ahh, vacation life. 

The Big Island: Day 1

This was our third time going to visit D’s parents on The Big Island, but the first time going during Christmas.  The airplane tickets were expensive, so we ended up taking k out of school a little early on Thurs. (she missed Friday as well) and we took the red eye flight home on Christmas night to save some $$.

Unfortunately, there are no flights from John Wayne to Kona, so we had to fly out of LAX.  My dad was gracious to drive us to LAX on Thursday afternoon in the rain. 

The kids didn’t remember their previous flights, so they were super-excited.

LAX had a pretty impressive Christmas tree.

n put his hand on top of k’s during the take-off.  They were well-behaved during the flight and fell asleep for part of the time.  We were in the back of the plane, so the multiple trips to the bathroom were not too troublesome.  SO much easier than flying with babies.

We knew there would be no dinner served on board so we grabbed some food before boarding: A chicken/swiss sandwich and chicken Caesar salad from Homeboy Café, and 5 cheese pizza from Sammy’s Woodfired Grill. 

We landed around 9 p.m. Hawaii time (11 p.m. PST) and caught the Hertz shuttle right away.  D’s name was on the Gold Member board, but he had “***” instead of a number by his name.  They said they needed more information, or something like that.  However, it was not crowded so the wait was not long at all.  There was a snafu with the car seats we ordered for the kids, but we were able to make it to D’s parents’ condo in Waikaloa by about 10 p.m., which felt like midnight.

We were all pretty tired by that time, so it did not take long to go to sleep.

These were the beds on the third story loft waiting for the kids’ arrival—very cute.

Ikea Birthday Party

We are still recovering from our vacation on the Big Island.  Before I blog on that, I wanted to write about the monthly birthday party that Ikea puts on for kids.  I had signed up for n earlier this year, but someone was sick (can’t remember who), so we had to cancel.  This month, I signed up for k.  You can bring a maximum of 2 adults and 3 kids and it is entirely free.

 

We started out by making cute snowman photo frames.

Petals the Clown was running the show.  She did face/arm painting for all of the kids.

She also did a magic show, which the kids enjoyed.

(k is smiling funny because I told her to show her missing tooth, which she lost just a few days before).

Each birthday kid received an art set—cool!

The kids each received a kids meal.  The choice was either a hot dog or pizza, so I ordered one of both and had them split.  They had extra meals in the end, so I had a piece of pizza too!

There was also birthday cake for everyone (adults too).  It was a black forest cake with cherry filling, and was actually really good!  I hope they still have these celebrations for n’s birthday next year.

Christmas Program, Santa & k’s (Early) Birthday

The kids sang during our church’s annual Christmas program.

On Sunday afternoon, k went to a classmate’s birthday party @ Pump It Up!  We made it back in time to see Santa at the pool.

Not sure why n is wearing his tie on his jeans.

Then we went straight to my parents’ house for an early celebration of k’s 7th birthday.  The cake topper is a HK ornament she can add to her Christmas collection.

Seven years.  Oh my.

Christmas Fun

Here are some glimpses of our Christmas merriment:

These Chocolate & Cranberry Rolls from Trader Joe’s are SO GOOD!  In the store, they were toasting them up and putting a little butter on them.  I would suggest you do the same.

I made 48 reindeer cupcakes for a kids’ Christmas party.  This was my original, based on an idea found on Pinterest.  It looked kind of goofy, so I modified it to this:

Much cuter, no?

We visited this house at 2351 Caper Tree Drive in Tustin after reading an article in the OC Register about the over-the-top decorations.  You have to see this guy’s garage:

CRAZY!  He collects canned food for donations, which I thought was a nice gesture. 

Watching the kids ooh and aah over the little details together really warmed my heart.  k even put her arm around n while they were talking about everything, and it was just too cute. 

The house is on a cul de sac, and a few of the other houses have pretty impressive displays as well, including one that is synchronized to music.  If you are in the area, I suggest you check it out.