Ockey Family Adventures: Hawaii Day 2

Everyone was up pretty early, and Grandpa made french toast for breakfast. The plan was to go to one of the beaches within two minutes of the house and snorkel, but the water was a little too rough. The boys did explore a little bit while Mom helped Grandpa cook. After breakfast, we rode up to Kaumana Caves, which are really lava tubes.

Seth and Audrey looking for fun things among the rocks.

Exploring the beach with cousins.

We really loved the view from the house balcony.

We weren’t too sure what to expect, but we started down the right tube with the Webbs in tow. It traveled about a hundred yards over rough strewn floor before it narrowed down. We could have squeezed down a little further, but we wanted to check out the left fork. This one went close to a half-mile, and had a little side tunnel that the kids enjoyed. Finally, we came to a window in the cave ceiling. Just beyond that, there was an exit passage. The exit sent you off into the jungle, and the best route back to the car was back through the cave.

Mom changing into her hiking shoes.

We had a great time at these caves.

The Webbs came with us to explore the caves.

Lava tubes are really open and round.

It was very dark inside the cave.

Mom loved this view back to the opening.

Dad helped Charlie explore.

It was a great adventure.

This was the far exit after a long walk through the second cave.

Our next stop was Rainbow Falls where we met up with the Pooles. We enjoyed the waterfall, but the kids enjoyed the massive banyan trees even more. They hung and swung and climbed and took a bunch of photos. This was the same place that Mom took a photo swinging on a vine on our first trip to Hawaii in 2011 before Seth was born.

It was so fun being in Hawaii with the kids again.

Rainbow Falls is so pretty!

We actually caught a rainbow at Rainbow Falls.

Family pic with Jonny!

The whole gang who came with us!

Seth climbed all over the banyan tree!

Mom explored with the cousins, too!

Mark had fun climbing.

Dax went pretty high!

Here's a better look at how big the tree is.

Back in Hilo, we went to the Queen’s Garden, which is a really pretty place downtown. We walked among the ponds and spotted a few fish. More exciting than that were the nenes nesting on the shore. We even walked across the bridge to Coconut Island, which is a tiny island off the coast of the Big Island. While we were crossing the bridge, Dad spotted a sea turtle, but it went under and only about half the group saw it. We waited for a while for it to surface, but it never came back up. Dad had to spot a second turtle on the island, this one much closer for everyone to get a good look.

We have a lot of fun together!

The three amigos! The twelve year old cousins.

The gardens were beautiful.

Mom and Dad are so happy in Hawaii!

Mark pondering in the gardens.

We loved all the little bridges and stepping stones.

Ben loves Dax so much!

Mom and Seth were just happy to be in the warm weather.

Nenes!

The sky was beautiful with the palm trees.

One of the turtles Dad spotted.

There are so many beautiful spots on Coconut Island.

We also loved finding lizards and geckos.

We split up for lunch, and we went for Hawaiian cuisine. Most of us had rice and chicken and pork, though Seth had breakfast, and Mark had a burger. That didn’t matter, because everyone ate really well, so we headed to the beach just across from the house called Richardson Ocean Park. Mom stayed on the shore and waited for the Ferlans to arrive, while Dad and the boys went snorkeling. This place was even better than yesterday's, and we saw so many fish, each more colorful than the last. We even tried to help Ray and Kate see a few fish, but they struggled with the gear. We weren’t sure if they saw any fish or just said they did so they could get out of the ocean!

We saw a mongoose family of 5 at the beach.

James loved the black sand!

Waiting for the snorkelers.

We were in charge of dinner, so Mom made tacos while the kids broke into the games. After dinner, we even had cake and ice cream for Tiffany’s birthday. Then we turned in early, because at this time of year, the sun is up from around 6 am to about 5 pm. We decided we’d rather sleep while it’s dark and wake up early, mostly for more snorkeling!