Honu

Honu is the Hawaiian word for turtle, and we were in for a sweet surprise when we visited the beautiful black sand beaches of Punalu'u. Months before our visit here, we saw Punalu'u on the Travel Channel ranked in the top ten beaches in the world, and it did not disappoint!



The turtle was just calmly hanging out, sunbathing on the beach as we walked up. Rebekah wanted to name it Lindsay. We had also seen sea turtles when we went to Georgia a few summers ago, but this one seemed much more comfortable around people.



At first the girls seemed hesitant to get too close, but they quickly got braver. Because there were signs asking visitors not to disturb the turtles, I wouldn't let them touch it, but they were definitely close enough to.



"Lindsay" had lots of little friends swimming just off shore who kept poking their faces out of the water. I think they were monitoring the gathering crowd that came to see them. They preferred to wait for some of the people to leave before coming in for a rest in the warm sand.



What a sweet turtle face ~ At least she wasn't at all camera shy :-)









It was a little funny how after a while of standing there, watching the turtle, Rebekah ran right past her up and down the beach as if she was just running past a dog, hardly taking notice of the spectacular site.



The texture of the black sand was very soft, making for such a nice beach! We packed some sand in a ziploc to bring home, and at the airport headed back to Oahu, the TSA people had to check it out. The lady first asked me if she could go through the bag. A minute or two later and almost like she was scared of me, she asked if she could run a chemical test on it...Dave speculated that maybe they thought it was gun powder or something else harmful. They laughed at us when the test showed it was sand. I completely understand (and I'm very thankful) that they check everything thoroughly, but we can't possibly be the first to try and bring some of the pretty sand home.

Little did we know as we headed to the Kona side of the Big Island that we would have the chance to see lots more sea turtles, but for today we were wowed by Honu Lindsay.

Coconut Girl

Occasionally, people will ask Dave about his ethnicity. When he tells them he is Hawaiian, there's usually a whole other list of questions that follows (at the top of the list is usually what in the world would bring you to live in WI when Hawaii is your home?) But there are other questions and sometimes misunderstandings that he has encountered as well. One of the more common things he gets is that some people equate being Hawaiian, with being Samoan. He doesn't mind explaining, but it is a totally different chain of islands, and a totally different culture. Which makes this next series of pics a little funny.

We visited the Polynesian Cultural Center one day last week. I hope to do an entire post about our visit there, it's a wonderful place for anyone who would like to learn more about the different cultures of the Polynesian islands to go! But this post is about Emma, our resident coconut girl.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is set up a little bit like Epcot, where you can visit different nations, see presentations and experience a bit of their culture. During this coconut tree climbing demonstration, I watched the man climbing the tree and my first thought was that I have seen Emma use these same Samoan climbing techniques ~ often{!} ~ the child cannot keep her feet on the ground!! I looked over at Emma to see her reaction and I could tell she wanted to climb the tree.


Shortly after the presentation we left Samoa to visit New Zealand, and she would have to wait all day long until we returned to Samoa, but she did finally get her chance to give it a try:

She was so eager to climb and she started out quickly, surprising the guy who put her harness on.



As she approached the middle of the tree he was shocked and wondered out loud if this little girl was really going to make it to the top.



It was about when she got to this spot here that she started to lose her grip a little, and run out of places to put her hands and feet.



Then she changed her technique slightly which gave her all the boost she needed. I knew once she got past the half way point that there was no way she would give up without a fight.



Kahiwa made it all the way to the top and was so excited! The guy helping her said she was the only one to make it all week. So while she's not Samoan, she can climb a coconut tree like a little Samoan boy. It is customary in Samoa that the men do all the work, which among other things includes cooking, cleaning, hunting and coconut retrieving. So being a girl, it's very unlikely that she would ever be sent up the coconut tree if she were actually Samoan.



And this little one is crazy about coconuts! Rebekah had no desire to climb the tree, but she picks up the coconuts wherever we go, and wants very much to drink the juice on the inside...we'll see.

The Beautiful Pana'ewa Zoo

Near Hilo is the only zoo in the United States that is located in a rain forest.

It was absolutely beautiful. It was hard at times to remember that we were in a zoo, the animal's habitats all seemed a natural part of the environment there, and all the plants were so pretty.






This macaw was right near the zoo entrance and says "Aloha" to the guests as they come in.












Walking around the zoo was incredibly peaceful and relaxing. I wanted to soak it all up. It seemed quite possible that these were the most perfect flowers ever created and I didn't want to forget a single detail.



And I loved this sign! Not like anything we see at home. Falling rocks? Yes. Danger Ice? Yes. But fruit? Funny.



The zoo's featured animal is this white tiger, Namaste. He was owned by a magician in Las Vegas who visited the zoo and knew this would be a better home for him, so he allowed the zoo to adopt him.












This cockatoo's name is Eisenstein, and he's the same kind of bird as the naughty bird in the movie, Rio. We also saw a blue macaw like Blu, but my photo didn't come out great. Einstein was sweet and I think he wanted company... he would talk to us in a really low voice like he wanted us to lean in close to his cage to listen, and then as soon as we walked away, he squawked really loud, beckoning us back.






It's a small zoo, I think we were able to walk through the entire place in about 2 hours, but it was definitely one of our most favorite places on the Big Island. It felt like an adventure in a perfect little corner of the world.

What's Shakin'?

I took this picture for my dad. When I saw this house looking out over the ocean, I thought of him. It's the kind of place I could imagine catching his attention as he drove by. I think I could even imagine him building a place like this and loving it! The different shades of blue made the house blend in with the horizon and the ocean, it was just perfect. And just a short walk across the street from it is an awesome little smoothy stand...



The best smoothies ever came from this little roadside house/restaurant.



The home was surrounded by trees filled with various fruits, and they were literally pulling the fruit from the trees and putting them right into the smoothies. All the signs were so cute and decorative.



Emma either concentrating very hard on her menu, or trying to dodge my photos.



Enjoying her Tahitian vanilla ice cream ~ yum!






Playing under the banana trees.



The perfect vacation pit stop as we drove to 'Akaka Falls!

Arriving in the Big Island

We arrived in the Big Island today, and it is beautiful. This is my first time here, and the girls too, so we are excited! All the plants are really green and beautiful, and the flowers have such brilliant colors. Last night we got a small preview of what it is going to be like when we have to go home...we were leaving Dave's parent's house to come here until the end of the week, and Emma was crying because she wanted to stay with her cousins. It will be sad when we actually have to leave at the end of our trip.

On a happier note though, our hotel on the Big Island feels like we are staying in the middle of a tropical rain forest. The air smells of rain and there are the tallest, greenest trees surrounding the entire place, and the bird's chirps are so loud and vibrant, they sound unreal. We are pretty sure they might be computer generated sounds that the hotel pipes through speakers to add to the ambiance :-)

Today, we started to head up to the top of Mauna Kea, and found out the the girls would have to stay at the visitor center which is about a half hour drive below the summit. I could tell that Dave was really disappointed they couldn't go up, but the Rangers strongly recommended that we did not attempt to bring them to the top of the mountain, so we took their advice.



I ended up being very thankful that they stayed behind with Grandmommy, the road going up was rough, slippery and scary. Dave made fun of me the whole way back down to the visitor center, saying I had the altitude sickness. I was just really drowsy and couldn't keep my eyes open.



The summit was an amazing site though...I'm sorry the girls missed that part! It's the world's tallest mountain, 13 feet taller than Mount Everest, but most of it is under sea level.



After our safe return to Dave's mom and the girls we stopped to see the Boiling Pots. It was already late in the afternoon and the girls made me work really hard for these next few pics.












The Boiling Pots view.



We also stopped at Rainbow Falls ~ it was so pretty. More scenic pics are to come...everything we have seen so far is so nice.

Surfer Girl Dreams Come True

One of Alyssa's biggest dreams is that she will someday be a great surfer. Back at home it's a dream that is a little hard to live out {before yesterday she had never surfed}, but here the dream is probably very common for a kid her age. She was so excited to hear that Uncle David would take her out surfing.


Here they are paddling out for the first time. Uncle David was a professional surfer and if he looks familiar, he has been on the show Hawaii 50 and in the movie Soul Surfer. She could not have had any better teacher!



Watching for the right wave.



Uncle David helped her stand up so she could catch her first wave.



I was surprised at how confident and relaxed she seemed out there.






While Alyssa was surfing, Aunty Kehau kept Rebekah busy playing in the waves ~ thank you, Kehau for taking such good care of her, the baby had so much fun!



Kaliko so sweetly looked after Emma, scooping her up when the bigger waves washed in. She loved it.



Getting a little stronger as she stands up on the board.



Her victory jump into the water on her first time back in to the shore.



Ka'iulani being washed over by a wave.



Emma went out too. I think she was a little more scared, feeling tiny out in the big ocean, I'm proud that she hung in there and went out more than once even though she was way out of her comfort zone.



I loved this picture. From watching on the shore, you would not have guessed that she was scared, but I know she was trying to reach her arms behind her to hold onto Uncle David.



Happy to have her feet back in the sand.



Out on her second run, this time you can see the arms reaching back like I mentioned earlier. She loved surfing and I know she'll be more aggressive the next chance she gets to go out.



She knows what to do :-)



Intently watching the water.



She didn't need any help to stand up this time! I was so happy for her. I know she didn't expect to become an expert on her first try, but it was so important to her that she could feel like she had tried and done well. It could not have gone much better, she accomplished what she set out to!



Now if that isn't one happy girl I don't know what it is!

Thank you so much to Uncle David for taking the girls out and being so watchful of them. I was a little nervous, but from the very first minute the girls were in the water, I could tell they were safe with him. It really was a dream come true for them, especially Ka'iulani!!