day one
We made it! had to leave the house at 5am (which is why both girls were still in pajamas) a few zofrans and movies and stocked backpacks-of-fun-and-food and 6 hours later we were there. Richard, Cora, and I sat together-with Brett, Trevor and Shelby in the other group of 3 while Grandma and Grandpa lived the good life up in first class.
As always, we were light travelers. Two Tahoes please!
We made it! So great that San Jose has direct flights to Kona.
The parrots were there to welcome us to our hotel, the Waikaloa.
Which looks like this...
The ice cream shop!
The girls with their pineapple pants!
Both Uncles! So fun! Brett had been looking forward to this trip for two cold years!!!
Everyone was excited to hop on the tram.
lunch time!
I was definitely in the between pregnancy time...where people aren't quite sure...but what i am sure about is that the weather was SO hot and with the travel and my epic worrying i ended up with a massive headache and slept in the room for the entire afternoon while everyone else was at the pool. Eventually i gathered my strength and met them down there.
Richard, you know you love pictures!
Exploring grandma and grandpa's suite.
The bread king reigns again. Dinner for our first night was at Tommy Bahama's. yum!
day two
There was a coffee shop downstairs from our room and so almost every morning me and my buddy went down to get pog, chocolate croissants, and ham/cheese crossaints.
Did i mention that it is a huge resort? It is on 62 acres and has 14 restaurants.
Our favorite spot was the cabanas.
We white folks.
Mission tan lines!
One of cora's favorite pastimes was chasing native Hawaiian birds.
Smile Richard!
Pool side service, this pregnant lady loves you. Coconut smoothie anyone?
Lunch time by the dolphins!
Even though she needs her glasses at all times, getting them wet and sandy wasn't great either. We made the best of it and she never complained. Love her!
brett took a wonderful nap by the pool but the tops of his poor feet got so burned!
sneaky overcast skies!
We tried the resort's pizza restaurant that night! All the restaurants had different color plastic bands that the kids could collect and when they had enough they got free ice cream. Shelby was so into it.
day three
while dad, trevor, and brett went golfing at the super cool nanea, on golf.com it is #7 on the list of most exclusive golf courses in the world. Here's their description: Nanea Golf Club, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii: The brainchild of financial wizards Charles Schwab and George Roberts, this Hawaiian hideaway is carved from a Big Island mountainside with views of the Pacific on every hole. Nanea spreads out to 7,503 roomy yards, courtesy of Bandon Dunes architect David McLay Kidd, but they could shorten it by 3,000 yards and you still wouldn't see anyone else. According to CBS broadcaster Peter Oosterhuis, "You feel like it's just you and the golf and nothing else." 
While they were being fancy, the rest of us went shopping for hats and swim shirts and sunglasses because we white and it was july in hawaii. Hot stuff!
I wore this cute maternity number when I was pregnant with Shelby!
Boys are back!
Cora, enjoying her pineapple ice cream. She wanted all pineapple all the time! It also helped soften the blow of not being able to go on the kayak with daddy and shelby in the lagoon.
The lagoon is open to the ocean, so sea turtles swim freely in and out. There are usually a few by the waterfall and always a few fish as well.
I love the lagoon, no waves, just warm water!
That night we went glow golfing! SO FUN!
day four
Time for church!
We went to the church by the temple...because we love to see the temple and because it was later in the day and because my freshman year college boyfriend lives with his family in the nearest ward to the resort and my family was nice enough to not go to that one so i didn't look like a stalker.
After church we rewarded ourselves for attending church on vacation with the best brunch in the world. It's at the Mauna Kea hotel, an awesome, old school, Hawaiian hotel. It opened in 1965 and seriously, the food. We dream about it. There was a huge group seated next to us who had just gotten back from church at a different ward. They were from Utah. Everyone loves a good brunch after church on vacation!
Wishing that we all had two stomachs. It makes us angry when we have to stop eating.
Family picture. Sorry Cora!!!
Mauna Kea Kitties.
After a rest, we headed for the pool.
Willing to share her fruit snacks!
day five
Poor Shelby got a bad case of swimmer's ear-with a fever, and Cora had a really sore mouth which we think came from the sun, water, and way too much pineapple. So Trevor went to the store and got them medicine and then I took one for the team and stayed in the room with my cute kids all day. Her fever broke after a gooood nap and Cora was happy to rest too, so you know she wasn't feeling well! Luckily there were DVD players in all the rooms. I read the first Harry Potter again and we all felt better by the end of the day.
We scheduled family pictures that night, it was fun! The guys all had a great attitudes about it and then they were able to teach the girls the fine art of throwing rocks into the ocean. Family Christmas pictures, check!!!
For dinner we ate at the resort's nicest restaurant. The breeze felt great and the food was fantastic!
Our favorite was the dessert. Mine was a coconut creme brulee! Little fingers helped me eat it.
day six
Good morning! Mom went out early with Brett on the golf course, then we met up for pog and breakfast and then....the pool of course!
No cabana today! Let's get a tan! Really, we all just spent the morning counting the minutes until it was our assigned time to swim with the dolphins!!!
I got to go with Cora! It was the perfect amount of time for both of us! Right when she started to lose interest, it was over. Her favorite part was touching the baby dolphin's tale and feeding him a fish. She was so brave and good.
Next up were the boys and Shelby. They were all equally excited!
Buff Daddy!
Cool Uncles!
Sisters. Time for dinner! In matching pineapple shirts!
day seven
Another day, another golfing trip. So we went out to explore the resort's wildlife.
Then we had lunch with Uncle Richard and the girls got their free ice creams. A side note, I was so happy that I got their hair cut short before the trip. Made life easier for all of us.
Then we drove over to a nearby beach club so we could catch some waves. Also, this bag of Munchies was my favorite treat. A little zofran a little munchie mix and we were in business.
Windy but warm.
Snorkeling with Daddy!!!
Cora and Grandpa, floating happily.
Richard and his cool go pro camera and abs.
Checking out their footage from their snorkeling adventure.
Maternity bathing suit alert! They are the most comfortable suits in the world. fyi.
We got to play the jail bait game...it's just where we all try to guess if the girl is over 18. It's the girl to the right of my kids. She was 16! Put on some clothes! You are with your mom for heaven's sake! Not that my brothers were complaining.
Family tradition night....dinner in the tea room...hold the tea of course.
The girls may not have liked the food, but they LOVED being able to feed the koi fish! And these fish don't get fed from guests very often so they were going crazy. If you had a koi phobia then this would have sent you to a mental institution for sure. Their mouths were so big! I couldn't quite capture it on camera. Total coincidence that their dresses matched the fish so well.
Eating snacks after dinner since the food was a little much for the little ones.
Apparently tempura chicken nuggets are a no-go!
day eight
Sleepy Brett, still recovering from two years of hard work!
We had dinner at the Kona Inn, which was a hotel built in 1928 and is now a great restaurant. Nothing fancy, perfect for us.
Afterwards, the guys went to buy sweatshirts and long pants for their planned trip to the top of Mauna Kea for stargazing. While they shopped, we looked at the Hawaiian kitties at Petco. We almost went home with this orange kitten who was so friendly and happy that we started asking about how we might fly him home...we are crazy cat people sometimes. We named him Kona but then came to our senses and said goodbye.
day nine
The boys had been looking forward to their stargazing trip all week, but the company canceled because of overcast skies. They were bummed. Instead they saw a movie since us girls planned to go to the luau and there were no more tickets for anyone else!
So happy that they have each other!
Playing catch in the pool. So glad these guys all have each other!
Time for the luau! Grandma got them leis and new dresses!
We got VIP seating which was super great because we were the first table to the buffet (thank you from the pregnant lady) and we had a perfect view front and center (thank you from the 3 year old with glasses!) They had an awesome set up with a kids food buffet of their own. And the VIP seats also had sample of all the desserts brought to the table and unlimited fun drinks!
Shelby got to go right up to the front and sit on pillows...which the kids used to block the rain!
Eventually they had use towels since the sprinkles turned into real rain. They brought warm towels out for everyone at the luau. It NEVER rains on this side of the island. So even a sprinkle was a big deal! It felt great to me! Shelby LOVED the show, especially the fire dancing. Cora fell asleep.
When we got back I took some bump selfies. Getting there!
day ten
On our last full day, Trevor and I and the uncles took the girls over to Hilo to visit fun tourist stuff. First was the Imiloa Astronomy Center.
Then the Hilo Zoo-it was free! This probably explains why this butterfly sanctuary had 1 butterfly.
RIO!
On Saturdays they have a petting zoo. Heaven! Here are my little chickens.
Peacocks! Their favorite!
The boys LOVED it. hahahahaha! Not really. It was free you guys.
Happy girls in Hilo!
Next up was the volcano.
This little almost 6 year old was SO EXCITED to be on a REAL LIVE VOLCANO!
Middle children stick together! We loved this visitor's center. It's seriously worth the trip. The last time I was there, we could drive past it, but because of it being a live volcano and all, now it's too dangerous and the road is closed. so cool.
This was so much bigger than my camera could capture.
Are we done looking at rocks mom?
It was a long drive (for hawaii anyway!) but the girls took great naps! We were all happy to get out of the car though and enjoy our last night.
Dinner at the beach club with grandma and grandpa, then a little night swimming, and then packing!
day eleven
Time to say goodbye to the parrots. so sad.
Time to share mommy's phone. so sad.
Time to go back home. so sad.
Time to get one the plane. yay! because seriously, it was SO HOT. all the airport employees were complaining about it. SOOOOO HOT. The Kona airport only has one air conditioned area (the little restaurant) so we somehow wrangled a table and ate ice cream until it was time to go.
Loading the back of the plane first! We were in the back two rows. The best part? Cora and I were in the very very very back row...and no one sat by us! An extra seat! My prayers were answered. The doctor said I had to walk around every hour and being near a bathroom is important for children and pregnant ladies. Even though being in the back meant they ran out of digital players by the time they got to us (we went up and borrowed grandpa and grandma's) the flight attendants took such great care of us and gave me and cora all sorts of free food. Eventually both girls sat by me, since I'm so fun and had packed all sorts of surprises in their bags (silly putty, treats, special coloring books, puzzles, etc.) We did it. 6 hours.
Then we were home! So happy! I was very happy to be home. It was hard, but I did it. Being morning (all day) sick while in Hawaii is not exactly ideal. I don't recommend it. I look forward to going back when I'm not sick and hot and maybe grouchy? It's possible. Anyways. I survived. Barely. But the girls had an awesome time so that sure makes me happy!
The next day, before Richard flew home, we went to Aptos all together so that Brett could eat Village Host pizza, something he missed so much on his mission. First time he had seen the beach house since he got back!
Trevor and Brett recreated this picture from 2004 back when Richard was still on his mission and we had just gotten engaged!
Trevor was happy to have his little brother back from his mission!
We will miss you Uncle Richard!!!! Aloha!
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