Hawaii - Day #6

Today we decided to not do as much water and sun stuff.  Instead we explored more things we had never seen before...starting with an Abalone farm.

This place grows the abalone and then sells them and ships them all over the world.  They said that Japan gets a lot of their business.  They pack them just an hour before they need to be on the plane to ship so they arrive at restaurants in less than 24 hours to be cooked and eaten.

Abalone eat seaweed, so this farm grows their own seaweed to feed the abalone.

They let us pick out or own seaweed to try and eat it...the kids weren't too big of fans of eating seaweed.

Then we got to see where the Abalone grew.  They were attached to these large black plastic sheets.  They pulled up the sheets and we were able to touch and hold them.

At the end of the tour they had BBQ'd up some Abalone for everyone to try....of course, Dustin LOVED it!

Not too far from the Abalone Farm was a Seahorse Farm...so we made that our next adventure for the day!  They started the tour by taking us to a hole in the ground where there were tons of tiny brine shrimp.  We scooped up a cup of them and took them with us to feed the seahorses.

They allowed the seahorses to grow in these huge blue barrels.  They kept some netting in the barrels for something the seahorses could attach to while they slept.

We then each got a turn at holding a seahorse.  You had to make a 'net' with your hands and then they would place the seahorse with its tail wrapped around your 'net' fingers.

It was really cool!  The day didn't end there either.  We decided to hit up a local luau as well!

The kids were drinking up all the red punch they could get their hands one....this made for one interesting evening!

Trying out some of the luau props while waiting for the sun to go down...

Where the pig had been cooking all day long...

Unearthing the pig....

Some traditional Hawaiian luau dancing....

The sun is finally setting...the view was beautiful.

After we ate the party really got started...this is when we noticed the effects of the red punch the kids loved so much...

Great day!  We love Hawaii!

Hawaii - Day #5

Today we spent most of our time at the Hilton Waikoloa Village resort.  We started off with the Dolphin Quest experience.  Jen's dad purchased the experience for all four grandchildren and two adults.  It was hard to decided which adults would join the kids....no one had ever gotten up close and personal like this with dolphins before!  In the end both Jen and Renee joined the kids.

Here we are getting ready - outfitted with masks and life vests...

Group shot with our guide before hitting the water....

Yes, we were really that close to this dolphin - touching, hugging, kissing...all of it!

Dolphin doing some tricks behind us...

We LOVED this.  We would totally to this all over again!  Afterwards we bought the kids stuffed animal dolphins so they would have something to remember the experience by.  I love this picture of Zach holding his stuffed dolphin while watching the real dolphins in the water.

After the Dolphin Quest experience we decided to stay and relax at this place.  They had quite the spread of pools and waterslides for the kids.

The kids loved exploring the pool area with this raft...

A perfect fun in the sun day in Hawaii!

Hawaii - Day #4

Today in Hawaii we met up with the Emery's.  The Emery's used to live in Jen's hometown in California while growing up and now they live on the Hilo side of the Big Island of Hawaii.  The wanted to show us their favorite beach location the Kona side of the island where we were staying.

We hit up Waialea Beach (beach 69) - this place was perfect for us!  There was lots of trees with shade on the beach, we brought a picnic lunch, and the water was calm for snorkeling and exploring!

Zach and Logan had fun picking out pieces of coral that were washed up on the beach.

We saw lots of turtles swimming at beach 69.  We were able to get up close and personal with the sea turtles.

We enjoyed the beach most of the afternoon.  Afterwards we headed back to the resort to clean up and go out for some dinner.  The Emery's had a local favorite they wanted to take us to...it was a restaurant right on the beach.