Hawaii, Part 2

OK Erin, time to catch up!!!!

I realized that in the last post I didn't even thank the wonderful people who were responsible for this amazing trip in the first place!!! THANK YOU so much Grammy and Papa for allowing us to have this adventure with you!!! :)

Day 4 was a pretty low-key day. Teage, the boys, and I went to the store in the morning to get grocieries for the rest of the week's dinners and then stopped by the Kona Temple on the way back to the house. What a beautiful temple it is! We grabbed some lunch and ate on the temple grounds with the boys, who had a great time. Then just took a few moments to snap a few pictures (with my camera propped up on the car hood :) ) before we left. What fun we had.

When we got home the boys took a much needed nap while the older "kids" decided to have some fun playing volleyball in the sand pit. I actually had just as much fun shooting pictures of them while they were rolling around in the sand. And honestly, they did really well for hardly ever playing beach volleyball before! Another dip in the pool before dinner, and our day pretty much came to a close. :) Well, after a few games of Knock of course!!!

Day 5 was a busy and wonderful one!!! Day 5 was also a Sunday, so Teage and I took the boys to church in Captain Cook. The Hawaiian people are just so wonderful and friendly. The minute we walked into the church building we were greeted by a very enthusiastic man who gave us all hugs and just dooted over the boys! As we were in Sacrament meeting, I looked around and realized that I was the only blond one there.....how FUN! :)

After church we took a drive around the island to the volcano on the other side and met the rest of the family in Volcano National Park. Teage and I had never been to this part of the island before, and it was such an amazing experience. It actually worked out great, because the drive was so long, the boys slept in the car and were ready to go by the time we got there. We drove over to the lookout point where you can see some huge craters, then to the steam vents (the boys had no idea what to make of those!), and finally to the lava tubes, which was our favorite part. You can actually walk through these lava "tubes" for about a quarter mile which were formed naturally from the volcano's lava flow.

Mommy and Grammy at the crater, and then the whole family.

Lucas is definitely not sure he likes this steam!

Walking through the amazing act of nature. Good thing my Dad wasn't there! :)

Then on the way back, we took advantage of our time and stopped at the Black Sand Beach, which truly does have jet black sand. The rocks all around were also jet black and it made a really neat effect with the water coming and going. We took a few minutes to grab a few model shots and throw some rocks before we were off again!

Since we STILL didn't want to go home, we stopped again for dinner at the Southernmost Resturant in the US and had a fabulous and relaxed meal, though Uncle David couldn't finish all of his and lost his bet. Poor David. :)

Only two more days to go!!!! Getting a few more pictures from my brother this weekend and then I promise to finish up! WE MISS YOU HAWAII!!!!!!!!